Eisenman's Speech in Berlin Congress, Resource Architecture and the Modern Movement

A review of the works of the stars of modern architecture shows that, in addition to producing many of the great and lasting works of the twentieth century, these architects succeeded in fittingly carrying out their difficult responsibility before the world and the great human problems of those years — through the brilliant ideas and innovations they offered in the context of the new conditions and possibilities of that period. In the first half of the twentieth century, two world wars imposed special circumstances on the world. The number of those killed in the First World War in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, France and Britain alone reached ten million; Germany, with 1.8 million, set a record. Berlin, like many other cities, lay in ruins, and great numbers were displaced and homeless. In the post-war years, rebuilding ruined cities, settling the displaced and answering the problem of the housing shortage in destroyed cities were among the basic problems. At the same time, the new phase of the industrial era at the start of the twentieth century — after the first round, that is, just after the Industrial Revolution — was approaching maturity, and so the ground was prepared for a new shift in the world. In these circumstances, the great responsibility that the architects and urbanists of the modern movement, alongside the responsible parties and planners of the day, undertook was the search for practical answers to the great problems facing the world and humanity — and it should be noted that this could not have been simply carried out without using the possibilities and conditions that the era of industry had provided.

There was another problem too (it still exists), which Gombrich described thus: "the principal feature of the twentieth century is the terrifying increase…" — and what part of what the stars of the modern movement tried to do was to seek an answer to this "what is to be done?" Soon time and the test of life lifted the curtain on serious limitations and shortcomings of this era. Even so, the value and importance of this responsible professional movement, and its social, ethical, human and humanitarian dimensions — built upon a commitment to the spirit of the time — should not be lost sight of.

A review of the body of work by Le Corbusier — apart from buildings such as Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp (1950), and a unique project like the Villa Savoye (1929), which clearly express his views on aesthetics and his theoretical thinking about architecture — shows that the activities of this star of the modern movement were never restricted to mere artistic and theoretical temptations. Many of his architectural projects, such as a complex for housing refugees in Paris (1929), the Murondins houses using wood and clay materials for war casualties (1940), and prefabricated schools for war refugees in the same year (in cooperation with Jean Prouvé); urban projects including the rebuilding of Saint-Dié through the proposal of dense residential complexes (1944); his project for the rebuilding of Berlin (1958, which was unsuccessful in the competition); and many other similar projects — these alone are samples of the achievements of this celebrated architect, in the midst of two world wars. Other architects too were not idle. The interesting invention of German architects to address the housing shortage between the two wars — the construction of dense residential apartment blocks in horizontal volumes lined up on the site, known as the Zeilenbau pattern (Walter Gropius's Dammerstock project of 1929 is one example) — was among the architects' activities of this period.

On the other hand, the rising population of those needing housing in the world, which in those years drew the attention of much of the relevant strata, gradually took a more serious form. Finding a practical solution to the problem became, step by step, a general concern of architects and urbanists. Le Corbusier's role in this regard too was unique and remarkable. The Modulor, first published in 1948, was Le Corbusier's exploration of a series of dimensions, with the aim of standardising the building for industrial mass-production. Standardisation and prefabrication of the building and its parts was a topic he had pursued for years. Projects such as the Domino houses (1914) — an experiment in standardising the building skeleton — the Citrohan houses (1920–1932) — the experience of systematically standardising the skeleton and other parts of the building — the Pessac village (1925) with Pierre Jeanneret — the experience of industrial production of cheap housing in the form of a complex — the Loucheur houses (1929) — the experience of...

The architects of this period, with relatively different motives, also tested experiences with climate and with the sun. The projects Le Corbusier designed in different parts of the world, particularly his work in Africa and India, show very well his special attention to the question of climate and the brilliance of the sun in shaping the building's architecture. Some examples may be mentioned: the Carthage House in Tunisia (1928) — in which the principal issue was creating shade on the body of the building through external sunshades, and producing natural cross-ventilation in the unified interior space; the Ministry of Education building in Rio de Janeiro (1936) — designed by Oscar Niemeyer and his colleagues, with Le Corbusier as design consultant — in which external sunshades, as brise-soleils, gave a particular form to the building's outer skin; the high-rise building in Algiers (1938) — designed in the continuation of his investigations from 1930, and one of his earliest experiences of using brise-soleils on the external skin; the Marseille housing complex Unité (1946) — in which Le Corbusier sought to shade the body through brise-soleils with specific shapes designed for the purpose, although these did not perform appropriately on the east and west fronts; the Mill-owners' Association in Ahmedabad (1954) — the use of shade and the impact of local winds were among the matters of attention; the Sarabhai house in Ahmedabad (1955) — the appropriate use of natural cross-ventilation in the interior space and shading on the building were issues of this project; the Shodhan House in Ahmedabad (1956) — in which shading was again a principle the building's beautiful form followed; and finally the Chandigarh Parliament building (1961) — in this memorable building, the entrance porch on the south-east front, with its attractive form, in fact created a colossal sunshade.

Of course in this regard one can also point to instances of Le Corbusier's failures: the refugee-housing complex in Paris (1929) is one such. In this building, the external skin was foreseen as a single large unopenable glazed surface, with mechanical systems for cooling and heating the interior — but since this last was never realised, the external skin was later replaced and brise-soleils were added to the new skin to solve the problem. Other architects too played interesting roles. In those years Walter Gropius, drawing on the principles of the Zeilenbau row-apartment pattern in Germany already mentioned, paid attention in his complexes to the elongation of the blocks east-west and to the relationship between height and the distance between two blocks for the optimal solar exposure. Mies van der Rohe, in the German pavilion at the Barcelona Exhibition (1929), whose aim was to be a sample of an ideal house, designed the cantilever roof so as to cast shade on the terrace and the building's wide glazed surface. Likewise in Frank Lloyd Wright's Kaufmann House — Falling Water — large concrete cantilevers were so designed as to cast shade on the terraces and glazed surfaces; cooling of the interior space was naturally provided through the cool air rising from the waterfall (although this brought certain problems for the building in winter). Louis Kahn's outstanding work, the Dacca Parliament building in Bangladesh (1962), was an unparalleled example of bioclimatic design. In this project, by creating an enclosed building focused inwardly, Kahn succeeded in providing natural light in the interior space in a special way and in establishing a pleasant cool environment in the very hot climate.

Let us return to Peter Eisenman's lecture at the World Congress. One of the issues from the second part of his talk, [is that] the architects of today's world have preferred to keep their work focused on the aspects of architecture that, according to Eisenman, are turned chiefly toward making history, the creation of unique and lasting architectural works, and theorising in this field. Despite the passing of two years since the events of 11 September, examples of proposals offered by famous architects — over 500 — for finding a suitable substitute for the World Trade Center towers, and the theoretical perspectives behind these proposals, are still being raised in the major architectural journals of the world. We hear of the seriousness of the responsible parties, and of the long debates of the trustees of the matter and the specialists about these projects — while we have perhaps not heard of even a single one of these renowned architects' serious projects offering a fundamental solution to the problem of housing in a problematic region of the world. Today, it seems, the globalisation of architecture and the universal theoretical views of architects manifests itself only through formal projects.

The questions of our time may be cast as: who, in the field of architecture, takes up the resolution of the major and vital global and human issues of our time? What share of the architectural activities of the world's architects can be devoted to the creation of architectural works and history-making? Architects of our time, by employing their ideas and innovations, against which subjects of today's world should they be able to accept responsibility? And finally — the field of architectural ideas, beyond aesthetics and theoretical disputes, can it extend to what other subjects?

Notes: 1- Resource Architecture. The question raised was: "Or do you not think that the [architectural] stars are part of the resources?" For the full text of Peter Eisenman's lecture, see Memar magazine, no. 19, Winter 1381 SH, pp. 10-something; 2- Ernst Gombrich, English art-historian; 3- as Le Corbusier said, "It is life that is always right, and the architect who is always wrong." In any case, the fate of this global movement halted it in the middle stages of its movement; 4- it seems more appropriate to evaluate the ideals and goals of this movement separately from the fate that befell it; 5- the English equivalent of the Zeilenbau is "row building"; 6- the institutionalisation of the global approach to halting environmental degradation is barely a few decades old. The very industrialisation that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, was reckoned humanity's saviour has — by changing its face — been turned into a dangerous enemy. Industrialisation and the development of technology is, to use Heidegger's expression, an imperative we are committed to and from which we cannot escape; the only road remaining is to limit its negative consequences; 7- in those years the use of cooling installations was not at all common in India, so the question of climate, in the hot and burning Indian climate, imposed itself as a priority on design. Captions: Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, Le Corbusier, 1950; The Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier, 1929; The Unité building in Marseille, Le Corbusier, 1946; Algiers high-rise, Le Corbusier, 1938; Parliament building for Dacca, Louis Kahn, 1962; Parliament building for Chandigarh, Le Corbusier, 1961.