Monuments of Country, Climate and Culture: Michel Écochard and the Design of the Postcolonial Tropolis

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/63.A.JJRX94UU

Keywords:

Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing

Abstract

The French architect and urban designer Écochard, was one of the numerous architects that designed buildings and cities for newly independent nations in the post-war era of decolonization. Many of these young nation states were in search for urban and architectural projects that would explicitate a “proper” model of modernization that differed from that of the former colonizer. This essay argues that the principles of tropical architecture would play a key role in representing and monumentalizing such an alternative model of modernization.

How to Cite

Avermaete, T. (2021). Monuments of Country, Climate and Culture: Michel Écochard and the Design of the Postcolonial Tropolis. Docomomo Journal, (63), 32–39. https://doi.org/10.52200/63.A.JJRX94UU

Published

2021-08-31

Plaudit

Author Biography

Tom Avermaete, ETH Zurich

(Belgium, 1971) Professor for the History and Theory of Urban Design at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on the architecture of the city and the changing roles, approaches and tools of architects and urban designers from a cross-cultural perspective. He is an editor of OASE. Architectural Journal.

References

Avermaete, Tom, Casciato , Maristella, Casablanca Chandigarh: A Report on Modernization, Zurich, Park Books, 2014.

Avermaete, Tom, HAVIK, Klaske, D’AURIA, Viviana (ed.), “Crossing Boundaries: Transcultural Practices in Architecture and Urbanism”, Rotterdam, oase, No.95, Nai010 uitgevers, 2015.

Ècochard, Michel, Casablanca: Le Roman D’une Ville, Paris, Éditions de Paris, 1955.

Le Roux, Hannah, “The networks of tropical architecture”, The Journal of Architecture, 8:3, 2003, 337-354.

Royer , Jean, Vivier, S. E., L’ Urbanisme Aux Colonies Et Dans Les Pays Tropicaux: 1, La Charité-sur-Loire, Delayance, 1932.