Abstract

In the mid-1950s the Hoesch steel company invested in the diversification of its products and started to develop plastic-coated steel. This composite material was named Platal, meaning ›plated steel‹. The trademark was registered in the early 1930s and is valid until today; production in the post-war era ranged from powder compacts and containers for the chemical industry to construction elements for prefabricated houses. During a phase of generally intensified advertised building with prefabricated elements in West Germany in the late 1950s/early 1960s, Hoesch started cooperative ventures with companies, engineers and architects experienced in system construction, like Ernst Neufert, and to expand existing production facilities. This chapter discusses the planning, decision-making and production processes of these prefabricated houses from a material and fabrication point of view.

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