in 1930 oesterlen enrolled at the university of stuttgart, where he trained under paul schmitthenner. the latter's conservative architectural philosophy, which later went on to be known as the stuttgart school, was as far removed from the bauhaus ideals as it could be. this did create a dilemma for oesterlen. but he was also drawn to schmitthenner's philosophy of looking at a building's design and detail as a homogeneous whole.