Editors: Ana Tostões, Ivan Blasi
Guest editors: Bárbara Coutinho
Keywords: Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern interior design, Furniture modern design, Modern global design.
Thanks to Finland, the motto “Survival of Modern” justifies going deeper in the relation that connects form and function, aesthetics and ethics. That’s also why the argument is Global Design. The aim of this collective and interdisciplinary reflexion is to contribute for the discussion that relates Modern heritage and interior space, common daily life and musealization of Modern Interior Spaces, gathered underneath a global strategy to better understand and preserve these delicate monuments. In fact, the interior space with all devices and furniture pieces is frequently neglected as an essential matter in safeguard interventions.
Published:
2012-12-01
Book Reviews
Documentation Issues
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Nadir Afonso, one of the most well known (and recognized) Portuguese painters, has dedicated a great deal of his life to practicing the profession from which he graduated as an architect a facet that is still commonly unknown by the great public, as it was just slightly studied by the history of contemporary Portuguese Architecture. Regarding his career, it is to particularly note the periods he spent abroad, working with Le Corbusier and Niemeyer. These influential authors of the Modern Movement gave him the opportunity to participate in various projects that marked the history of...
Editorial
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Thanks to Finland, the motto “Survival of Modern” justifies going deeper in the relation that connects form and function, aesthetics and ethics. That’s also why the argument is Global Design. The aim of this collective and interdisciplinary reflexion is to contribute for the discussion that relates Modern heritage and interior space, common daily life and musealization of Modern Interior Spaces, gathered underneath a global strategy to better understand and preserve these delicate monuments. In fact, the interior space with all devices and furniture pieces is frequently neglected as an...
Essays
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Interior design had a major relevance for Modern Movement and Modern Living. Actually, for the fully understanding and experiencing of Modern spatiality, interior design is determinant. Furthermore, the study of interiors is now marked by an increasing interest, with recent literature that emphasizes interior spaces globally and summons architecture, design and fine arts in an interdisciplinary approach. Despite all this, interior design is still a subject that requests a more in–depth study and a more extended debate in order to improve appreciation, understanding and preservation....
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The relevance of the Bauhaus and the Ulm School of Design to the development of a global design is widely acknowledged. With the inclusion of the Bauhaus on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites, this received worldwide recognition, and thereby acknowledged not only the architecture, but also the pedagogical concept. Since a comprehensive analysis of the pertinent issues far exceeds the parameters of this contribution, I would like to focus on two aspects: a brief exposition of the Bauhaus building and the Ulm School of Design as built manifestoes of their pedagogical concepts and the...
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Nearly fifteen years after the beginning of the first systematic documentation works in the so-called “Masterhouses” in Dessau and actually with a distance of six years time since the inauguration of the restored “Bauhaus” school-building it seems to be useful to draw a critical résumé for further leading discussions. This is especially desirable because the guidelines, the methods and the strategies developed and finally realized during the conservation works were at the time without doubt at an experimental state.
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In the post-war disciplinary discourse, the theme of architecture as a synthesis emerges evoking the idea of gesamtkunstwerk, this time associated with society’s collective spaces. This debate sought the integration of functionalism with a more humanist approach as an attempt to bring together architecture and society. Using as support two projects designed by Portuguese architect Alberto Pessoa (1919-1985), this text will explore the architect’s design of furniture as a fundamental token in the search for a Modern global design, to discuss one instance of how the idea of modern...
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Even more than eighty years after its inauguration in 1930, Jan Duiker’s ‘First Open Air School for the Healthy Child’ in Amsterdam remains in use as an elementary school for the education of children between 6 and 12 years old. The building has recently undergone substantial restoration works, including some changes that were necessary to keep up with current regulations. Some 1950s interventions have been retained which posed particular challenges regarding the colors and finishes. The clear cut appearance of the building seems to ignore the complexity of the design decisions that had...
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Since its very beginning, the design of educational spaces is strongly connected with issues on pedagogy, hygiene, order and discipline, collective identity (hence with history, traditions, modernity and innovation). To materialize the concept of global design, seeking formal coherence and a close functional and ideological articulation between all components, furniture design is fundamental as is the role of fine arts. Addressing the relationship with the context implies considering the links established with all other objects which form the school system in its several degrees...
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For George Everard Kidder Smith, the Protestant Church at Altstetten (a former Zurich suburb, integrated in 1934) was “unquestionably the finest Modern church in Switzerland, and possibly anywhere else”. In his famous anthology of Swiss architecture from 1950, he points out that it embodies on the one hand “almost all the church building philosophy which both the protestants and catholics have sought: one room of simplicity and dignity, binding the pulpit and the altar to the congregation in respectful unity”. On the other hand, he was interested in the fact that the church, built on the...
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his essay analyzes the cinemas that were featured in L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui from 1930 until 1939. This being one of the most influential magazines for the spread of Modern Movement ideas, its editorial line focused on the adaptation of building to function and on the distinction between European and American cinemas. Theoretical texts separated classic live theatre from cinema design since programme and features were completely different. Far from American euphoria and classic theatre sobriety, how was architecture for cinema envisaged?
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In May 1931, the first issue of the long–awaited Spanish modernity platform appeared: A.C. Actividad Contemporánea. Although the publication of the magazine had become an indispensable requirement for the existence of the GATEPAC, its manufacturing process turned out to be very long and fraught with difficulties.
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Designed in late 1932 by Josep Lluís Sert and Josep Torres Clavé, Casa Bloc is one of the paradigmatic works of these architects who represented the most active core of the Modern Movement in Catalonia, known as GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture), founded in 1930 echoing the Spanish GATEPAC. I use the word “paradigm” in the sense of a theoretical framework or set of theories. In fact, Casa Bloc was not only the first major social housing building in Barcelona conceived in functional terms but it also exemplifies the...
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This study presents a brief history of design in the context of historic avant-gardes. It shows that, in parallel to the more classical historiographical interpretation which followed Pevsner’s ideas to “internationalize” the production of the 20s and 30s, other models with vernacular Latin roots were obviated.
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Although Chandigarh is linked to Le Corbusier due to the urban planning and the buildings of the Capitol complex, the footprint of the tandem between Jeanneret and the Fry–Drew team goes far beyond as reflected for example in different housing typologies and the design of interesting furniture collections. These have been seldom described and evaluated, perhaps partly due to the lack of attention that the authorities have towards Chandigarh’s heritage.
Heritage in danger
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The Ofir holiday house was the first work by Fernando Távora (1923–2005) published in the Arquitectura magazine (nº 59, July 1957). It was presented as a work that searched a personal language which reconciled the values of traditional Portuguese architecture and new technologic and material achievements.
Interviews
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In July 2012, Bárbara Coutinho, Director of MUDE–Design and Fashion Museum, Francisco Capelo’s Collection since 2006, interviewed Alexander Von Vegesack, founding Director of the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein and the person who set up Thonet Museum in Boppard am Rhein. The subject of this interview is the importance of Collect—Curate—Exhibit—Publish to the Preservation and Communication of Modern Architecture/Design.
Lectures
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The following keynote lecture was presented at the 12th International docomomo Conference that took place in Espoo, Finland, this past August 2012. The author began his lecture thanking the Chair of docomomo International, Ana Tostões, and all docomomo members and friends who have done so much to ensure that the now historical heritage of Modernism might be saved for the future. Following the stimulating talks of John Allan and Mark Pasnik, he entered what for many in this field was a territory that was at least ambiguous if not impossible to accept: that the so–called Brutalist...
News
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How does good design affect our physical surroundings in all scales from coffee cup to plan? This eternal question seemed be as topical as ever during the 12th International docomomo Conference in Espoo, Finland this August. This was evidenced by the amount of abstracts offered to the conference, 356 in all. The International Scientific Committee of the conference achieved a minor miracle in laboring out a selection of 78 to be presented as papers during three intensive days from August 8 to 10. A number of abstracts were also offered the chance of a poster presentation, and delightfully...
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The Helsinki University of Technology got its present placement and layout in Otaniemi with Alvar Aalto ́s competition winning entry from 1948. Aalto ́s red brick buildings freely grouped in the middle of green revolving around the focus of a Greek theatre, the main auditorium, soon became landmarks of modern architecture. The group of buildings was complete to start as a functioning campus university in the mid–1960s with student housing surrounding the educational buildings. The area has during the decades got additions and alterations but the main features have however re- mained...
