Editors: Ana Tostões, Zara Ferreira
Guest editors: Franz Graf, Giulia Marino
Keywords: Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing, Mass housing, Post-war housing.
Post-War Housing Complexes in Europe are symbols of architectural, technological and social aspirations. These grands ensembles of Mass Housing have nowadays begun to be appreciated by users and authorities, as integral part of the current city. Whether discussing demolition (as faced by the Smithsons' Robin Hood Gardens and Toulouse's Le Mirail, and commonly seen as a focus for social marginalization), or the growing phenomenon of heritagization (as implicit in the type of person now using the Marseille Unité d’Habitation), the debate today has mainly become centered on the question of: how to keep these large structures alive, while meeting contemporary standards of comfort? Characterized by adventurous experiments in the use of new materials and techniques, space creation and gender transformations, the obsolescence of these big complexes is determined on two different levels: the technical one (regarding comfort, such as thermal or acoustic, and the need for mechanical and safety improvements, as infrastructures, systems, elevators), and the functional one (involving space dimensions, organisation, orientation, and the introduction of new uses); all while complying with current regulatory standards. In addition, these buildings have frequently been intensively used and modified.
Published:
2016-04-01
Editorial
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Post-War Housing Complexes in Europe are symbols of architectural, technological and social aspirations. These grands ensembles of Mass Housing have nowadays begun to be appreciated by users and authorities, as integral part of the current city. Whether discussing demolition (as faced by the Smithsons' Robin Hood Gardens and Toulouse's Le Mirail, and commonly seen as a focus for social marginalization), or the growing phenomenon of heritagization (as implicit in the type of person now using the Marseille Unité d’Habitation), the debate today has mainly become centered on the question of:...
Introduction
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“Should the grands ensembles be demolished?” This question was a major preoccupation for architects in the 1990s. Incidental as it may seem today, the question is not completely old hat. The initial, progressive shift towards the practise of maintenance is to be welcomed. But we still need to be conscious, looking forward, that the qualities or values of constructions built between 1945 and 1975 are only rarely recognized and safeguarded. A tremendous variety of strategies have been adopted, and this thematic issue on collective housing's present-day relevance proposes to revisit, on the...
Essays
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The timeliness of swiss architect Georges Addor's oeuvre is indeed vast and heterogeneous. Illuminated by a few successful operations, which should be showcased as such, the picture is, however, highly nuanced, since many questionable conversions have hurriedly followed each other in recent years. The broader reflections on the methods and techniques of preservation of the contemporary heritage that emerge from the current relevance of Georges Addor's work appear to be decisive; extended to a broader production, they deserve to be addressed without delay
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The collective apartment building, Miremont-le-Crêt, in Geneva is the product of the inventiveness of the local architect Marc Joseph Saugey (1908–1971), who planned and built it between 1953 and 1957. Listed as a Cantonal monument in 2002, it is considered today an original and unique example, far beyond the context of Geneva. Recently, it has become the object of a large rehabilitation project, led by the Geneva-based architecture office, Meier+associés. Mainly focused on the building's envelope, the project also includes several technical improvements of some of its other components;...
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The Cité de l’Etoile, in Bobigny, design by Candilis Josic and Woods (1954–1963) is one of the housing estates, results of the french national competition named opération Million. Commissioned by Emmaüs, the 737 homes are a kind of synthesis of the experiments of Candilis in Marocco and the city planning thinking of the team. The demolition planned in 2008 has been avoided and the Cité de l’Etoile has been labelled 20th century heritage. The rehabilitation project brings to light the contradictions of an highly conflicting situation. Between blind demolition and a well-thought out...
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Marked by numerous setbacks, the history of the GEAI housing estate La Grand'Mare in Rouen is troubled, even highly controversial. It clearly epitomizes the twists and turns in the debate over the preservation of postwar architecture, whose “industrialized” (often meaning “experimental”) dimension, is mistakenly made the excuse for its demolition. This is exemplified by the uncertain future of this now badly amputated pioneering housing complex, designed by Marcel Lods and his fellow architects.
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The prototype “EH, evolutionary building” at Solomeo by the design team Piano & Rice Engineers and Architects Vibrocemento Perugia s.p.a. is an example of the experimental design of residential buildings for emergency situations and represents a crucial phase of transition from traditional prefabrication to open prefabrication. Built on the basis of the project prepared for the competition held following the disastrous 1976 earthquake in Friuli, many of the ideas tested in the prototype were later used to construct the RIGO housing estate at Corciano. The text describes the...
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The Corviale is one of the most controversial pieces of 20th century Roman architecture, having been simultaneously debated, demonized, mythologized, loved and hated. The architecture is unquestionably extraordinary, and not only for its size. The complex, comprised of public housing and services for more than 8,000 residents, was designed between 1972 and 1974 by Mario Fiorentino, along with a large group of associates, and was built in the following ten years. As a result of deterioration due to its incompletion, lack of maintenance, continuous squatting and difficulties for diverse...
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Now that Le Corbusier's architectural oeuvre has been nominated for the third time for inclusion in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, it is useful to revisit one of his icons built in the aftermath of World War II: the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille. Far from wishing to retrace the genesis of this outstanding building, it is a different story that I would like to sketch out here. Less well known, it is, however, fundamental to the material understanding and conservation of modern architecture. It is a history of the many repairs and other restoration projects that have...
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The project for the renovation of the Willy Van Der Meeren apartment building known as Ieder Zijn Huis [“A House for Everyone”], in Brussels, raises a question that is crucial for the conservation of modern work using prefabrication techniques. The debate focuses on the original design and construction values, and above all on how best to keep them alive and contemporary despite the building's age and changing standards and techniques. In the wording of the renovation specifications, the project owner — the public company Beliris — laid stress on the importance of preserving the...
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In the residential districts built after the Second World War, the qualities of landscapes are not, in most cases, taken into account in understanding projects nor are they considered as a resource in renovation projects except as a “compensatory greening” once the main spaces have been divided, privatized and fenced off. We suggest considering this residential landscape heritage as a potentially structuring one, through the landscape approach, based on three levels for interpreting space: that of the relation to the geographic and urban site; that of the neighborhood defined by its open...
Documentation Issues
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In 1935, Alberto Sartoris transformed an old mill into a private club for artists: le Cercle de l’Ermitage. The young architect conceptualized the space as a manifesto of rationalistic architecture. The resolutely modernist choice of the intervention contrasted with the rural and bucolic existing building. In 1971, the work disappeared under fake rustic decoration and everybody considered it lost, only remaining one of the most famous axonometries of the Italian master. Forty-five years later, the work reappears miraculously while the space is under transformation into a private...
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The aim of the Fondation Marta Pan — André Wogenscky is to promote the work of the architect and the work of the sculptor. Nowadays there are a lot of issues that arise regarding the accessibility and the museography of the house/workshop in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse. This house/workshop deserves a wider recognition and in that sense, before making any changes, the intervention has to be considered in the interest of the work's integrity. The house is a complex heritage object due to its conception made by an architect and an artist at the same time, evolving according to their needs and...
News
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Docomomo International has launched the docomomo Virtual Exhibition (MoMove) on the 23rd November 2015 in Tecnico-University of Lisbon. The original concept was developed by Ana Tostões and Yoshiyuki Yamana in September 2013 as an online exhibition to disseminate and to foster build- ings, sites and neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement throughout the (online) world, under the scope of docomomo. The website exhibition.docomomo.com is a great achievement in the pursuit of the docomomo mission that could not be set up without the generous support of the Lisbon Municipality and...
