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Voit and Werder: The Munich Glass Palo.ce, Munich 185J,from Ludwig Hilbmheimtr: 'Hallen Bauten: Leipzig 1931, p 107 Voit and Werder: The Munich Glass Palace. plan Contemporary cityscape 9H MODERN AND POST-MODERN ARCHITECTURE Jurgen Habermas The need to undmtand the fondammtal issues underlying the crisis and confusion in rTU!dLm architecture over the W.st years is only too clear, befort one can consider the question of the future facing architrcturr Uxlay: a critical continuation of Modernism or a radical break.1 A possible answer to this dilemma is given in the following ttxt; an inaugural sperch presmtrd by Professor jiirgm Habermas in December 1981 at the exhibition 'The Other Tradition - Architecture in Munich from 1800 up to Uxla)". This text was first published in the Siiddeutschr Zeitung of 5-6 December 1981. It rrcmlly appeared in Der ArchiUct No. 2, 1982,joumal ofthe BDA- the West Gmnanequivalenttothe RIBA -onthtoccasionofthe lOth Goddtsberger lecture on 'The Architecture of Modernism an Incompletr Projtct', triggered by Professor Habermas's ideas and organiud by the BDA. In this text Professor Habermas analyus the present dispute between Modernism arui Post-Modernism., criticall)' delineating the main trends in opposition to the Modem Movement. In order to evaluate the inherent arguments and possibilities ofthe two fronts, Habermas reassmts the social, economic and technological conditions. in response to which the Modem Movtment arost,the problems it attempted to answer through its programme, its successes- whtrt historical architecture failed- and its failures to fact the overpowering mechar1isms of the development of industrial capitalism Within this context, a 1110rr 'objrctivr' assessment of the W.test trends and 1/lOtJtmmts in architecture- (Post-Modernism., Neo-Hirtoricism andA/ter- natzvr Architecture), becomes possible; b;·critismgopposing trends to Modem Archittcture, Habermas suggests that a critzcal continuation ofModemzsm which is still an 'fncompkte Projrcl' constitutes a viable alttr110live. The exhibition 'The Other Tradition- Architecture in Munich from 1800 up co today' offers an opportunity lO consider the meaning of a preposition. This preposition has inconspicuously become pan of the dispute on Post-or late-Modern Architecture. With the prefix post the protagonists wish to dismiss the past, unable as yet to give the presem a new name: To the recognizable problems of the future, they, that is to say, we, do not yet have the answer, At first the expression 'Post-Modern' had only been used to denote novel variations within the broad spectrum of the 'late- modern', when it was used during the 1950s and 1960s in the United States for literarv trends that intended to set themsrlves apart from earlier mode.:O writings. Post-Modernism only became an emotionally loaded, outright political warcry in the 1970s, when two contras ti ng camps seized the expression. On the one hand the 'Neo-Conservatives', who wanted to rid themselves of the supposedly subversive contents of a 'hostile culture', in favour of reawakened traditions; on the other hand, certain critics of economic growth, for whom the New Building (Neues &uen ) had become the symbol of the destruction brought on by modern· ization. Thus for the first time architectural movements which had still shared the theoretical position of the Modern Architecture -and which have rightfully been described by CharlesJencks as Late-Modern - happened to have been dragged into the 'co nser· vative' wake of the 1970 s, paving the way for an intellectually playful yet provocative repudiation of the moral principles of Modern Architecture. 9
Transcript
Page 1: 01 Habermas

Voit and Werder: The Munich Glass Palo.ce, Munich 185J,from Ludwig Hilbmheimtr: 'Hallen Bauten: Leipzig 1931, p 107

Voit and Werder: The Munich Glass Palace. plan

Contemporary cityscape

9H

MODERN AND POST-MODERN ARCHITECTURE Jurgen Habermas

The need to undmtand the fondammtal issues underlying the crisis and confusion in rTU!dLm architecture over the W.st years is only too clear, particular~y befort one can consider the question of the future facing architrcturr Uxlay: a critical continuation of Modernism or a radical break.1

A possible answer to this dilemma is given in the following ttxt; an inaugural sperch presmtrd by Professor jiirgm Habermas in December 1981 at the exhibition 'The Other Tradition - Architecture in Munich from 1800 up to Uxla)". This text was first published in the Siiddeutschr Zeitung of 5-6 December 1981. It rrcmlly appeared in Der ArchiUct No. 2, 1982,joumal ofthe BDA- the West Gmnanequivalenttothe RIBA -onthtoccasionofthe lOth Goddtsberger lecture on 'The Architecture of Modernism an Incompletr Projtct', triggered by Professor Habermas's ideas and organiud by the BDA. In this text Professor Habermas analyus the present dispute between Modernism arui Post-Modernism., criticall)' delineating the main trends in opposition to the Modem Movement. In order to evaluate the inherent arguments and possibilities ofthe two fronts, Habermas reassmts the social, economic and technological conditions. in response to which the Modem Movtment arost,the problems it attempted to answer through its programme, its successes- whtrt historical architecture failed- and its failures to fact the overpowering mechar1isms of the development of industrial capitalism Within this context, a 1110rr 'objrctivr' assessment of the W.test trends and 1/lOtJtmmts in architecture- (Post-Modernism., Neo-Hirtoricism andA/ter­natzvr Architecture), becomes possible; b;·critismgopposing trends to Modem Archittcture, Habermas suggests that a critzcal continuation ofModemzsm which is still an 'fncompkte Projrcl' constitutes a viable alttr110live.

The exhibition 'The Other Tradition- Architecture in Munich from 1800 up co today' offers an opportunity lO consider the meaning of a preposition. This preposition has inconspicuously become pan of the dispute on Post-or late-Modern Architecture. With the prefix post the protagonists wish to dismiss the past, unable as yet to give the presem a new name: To the recognizable problems of the future, they, that is to say, we, do not yet have the answer,

At first the expression 'Post-Modern' had only been used to denote novel variations within the broad spectrum of the 'late­modern', when it was used during the 1950s and 1960s in the United States for literarv trends that intended to set themsrlves apart from earlier mode.:O writings. Post-Modernism only became an emotionally loaded, outright political warcry in the 1970s, when two contrasting camps seized the expression. On the one hand the 'Neo-Conservatives', who wanted to rid themselves of the supposedly subversive contents of a 'hostile culture', in favour of reawakened traditions; on the other hand, certain critics of economic growth, for whom the New Building (Neues &uen) had become the symbol of the destruction brought on by modern· ization. Thus for the first time architectural movements which had still shared the theoretical position of the Modern Architecture -and which have rightfully been described by Charles J encks as Late-Modern - happened to have been dragged into the 'conser· vative' wake of the 1970s, paving the way for an intellectually playful yet provocative repudiation of the moral principles of Modern Architecture.

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Page 2: 01 Habermas

/V OPPOSITION TO UOJ)fRNIS\1

It" not t•aw w <hwmanglt• til<' fronuer\ for all parties agree in the criuqueofthe ~oullt"~~ 'comamer' architecture. of the absence of a rt'lauon~htp wtth tlw em tronment and the \olitar: arrogance ol the unantculated offict· block. of the momtrous depanmem \tore'>. monunwmal univef\ities and congre~~ centre~. of tht·lad. of urbanitv and the mi~amhrop' of the $atellite towm. of tht· heaps of '>P<'< ulati' t' building,, tilt' brutal \uccessorto the'bunker architecturt•'- tht• ma\\ prod union of pitch-roofed dog house\, the dt•,trunion of dtit''> in tht· name of the auwmobile, and so fonh ... So manv \logam v. ith no disagreement whatsoe,·er!

Indeed what one ~ide call\ immmtml mltrism, the other 5ide comtdef\ to he oppnutum 111 ilv 'm/)(f,m'. The same reasom that encourage tlwone sidt• to a criucal connnuation of an irreplaceable tradmon an• '>uffi< tt•nt for the other side to proclaim a Post· Modern era. Funhennore the e opponents draw contrasting conclu5iom ac('orcling to wht•t)l{'r thev confront the evil in temH of co~metic'> ot tn tt•nns of criticism of the svstem.

Tho\t' of a comrrwlit•r disposition satisfv themselves with a stvlistic co,cr·up of that which nonetheless exi ts either like the traclitionaliM von Branca or like the pop·an ist Venturi today, who tramform\ tht• \pirit of the Modern Movement into a quotation and mixe\ it ironicallv with other quotations, like dazzling radiant neon light texts. The radical anlt·modtmuts, on the other hand, tackle 1 he problem at a mort• fundamemallevel, st'eking to undermine the emnorntr and admmistrative constraints ofindus· trial constnlnion\. TIH'ir aim is a de-differentiation of the archuecwral r uhun•. What the one \ide consider'> as problems of Sl) le, the other penei'e' as problemsofthedecoloniz.ation oflost human habitats. Tlnl\ thost• who ''ish to continue the incompleu-d projt'<l of tht· \haken ~1odem \1o' em em st-e tht.msel' cs confront t-el b,· \arious oppon<.·ms who agrt.•t• onlv in a~ much a~ the\ arc dett•rmint·d to lm·ak a''av from modt'rn architecture. Modern arrhitt•t wn·" hit h haH'\t•nleft its mark on evervda, life. after all, i' \tilltht· fiN and onh unifving \l) It· \incc the d~ys ofCiassictsm. It ha' de' elopt·d out ofbmh the organic as well as the rationahsuc origins of a Frank Llovd Wnght and an AdolfLoo,, and noumhed m tht· mo\1 \UC<t'\\ful work, of a Cropius and a M ies van dt:r Rolw. a L<·Corhmin,md an Ahar \alto. It i'>theoniV"archnectural mon•mt.·nttoonginau· fromtht· a\alll·garde spirit: it is equivalt•nt to a,·am·ganlt• painting. lllll\ll' and htt•raturt• of our ccntuf\. It t'ominut•d alung 1 he u adutonallmt• of on idemal rationalism and was powt·rful t•nough w <Tt'<ltt• its own mocleb: in other worth, it became d,t\\lt. itwlf <1nd \t.'t the foundations of a tradition, that from tlw wrv bt•ginning no\St'd n<~tional boundaries. How an· ~uch hatdh di\putablv fat 1\ ~t•wncilable with the fact that in the vt·rv name of tht\ lnternauonal Stvle those unanimouslv con­demnt·d dt·fonnauot\\ which followed World War II, could havt· come about. Might it bt• that tht• rt•al fan· of Modern Architecture i\ revealed 111 tht•w atrtKHit'\, or arc thn misrepresentations ofits true spirit;'

Tiff. C/1 HI f \Cf Of /Iff 19/H CF,\TUR}'TO 4RCII/Tl: CTl/Rf:

I should likt• to auempt a pro' hional answer b\: I listing the prublt.•nl\ ''hit h f.ttt·d archi1et ture in the nmeteemh centuf\, 2 gi' ing an account of tht• programmauc answers which the Modnn \1ovt·nwm offt"rt•d in rt',ponse to tht· problems, 3 pointing out tlw kind of problt·nl\ whith could not be solved b, thi' programnw. Finallv, 4 tht'\t' wmitkrations should help to rnakt· a judgt•mt·m on tlw \U~t·stion, which this exhibition attempt\ w makt· (prt·,uming its imemion havt· been corrt•tth undt•Nood). Ho'' good is the: rt·wrnmt·ndation to adopt the modt·rn tradiuon unemngh .tnd to continue it cnticalh instead offollowing tlw 't'\t'ilf>i\llllO\ t.•menl\ · whit'h are turrenth domin­ant: be it tradition· wmt'it)U\ 'Nt'O·IIt\toricism',thc ultra-modt.•m '<,tage·\C't' archHecturt•that wa\ prt·scnted at the Venice Bicnnale in 1980, or tiH' 'vitalism' of 'implified hfe in anon)'mOU\, dt•­proft•\\ionali.rt'd, V<'rnatular architcnurc? The industrial revolu tion and tlw a<cdt•ratt·d social rnodemi.t.ation that followed, introduced .t new situation w nineteenth cemurv architecture

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F Dutrrt a11d ~· Conlamm ~fachmm Hall for thr Pam lnlemaltonal IYhtbtlum. Pam I 889, from C 4 Pial:: 'Dtt BauAunsl der nrunlrn Zfli' Btrlm /927, p !.'10

8 raul and f Hofmann 51trl ~fonumrnt. Lttpz.tp, 191 J.jrom G A Pint:.: thtd, pI '19

\fa\ Btr~r.: Cmtmary Hall, Brrslau 191 J.from C .4 Plat:: tbtd, P _'>09

Page 3: 01 Habermas

Waltrr Gropun: 1-agur Factor,, Al/rld an drr Lrinr 191/.from W Miilla­Wulckow: 'Bautrn drr Arfmt und dt.\ Vukrhrs'. Lrtpz.tg 192 5, p 21

Alfrtd Mrml: Wrrthmn Drpartmtnl Storr, Brrlm J904.from G A Pial%.: p 2)2

jo1rph Pa'l:ton· Cmtal Palacr. l.Jmdon I 'iH-18~4. photograph ofthL bui/dmg uru/a CtlllllrudtOTI. from lht l !pprr .Vont'Ood Public LJbrary f lM Cry1tal Palau Foundalton). London

9H

and town planning. I would like to mention the three best known challenges: - tht• qualitativclv new requirements in architectural de~ign,

the new material\ and comtruction techniques, and finally: - tht· \ubjugation of archil<'cture to new functional. above all economic. unpetati,·e~

I ndmtrial <·apita)i,m Ul'.ttcd llt"!L mtrrrst sphtrts that evaded both counlv-t'Cdc\ia\tical architenure, as well as the old European urban and ntral ardlitt·uural cuhute. The diffusion of culture and the formation of a" idt•r, educated public, interested in the ans, callt·d for nt•w libnrie\ and schools, opera houses ana tht-atres. Howt·n·r, tht'\t' W\.'rt' comemionaltasks. Emireh·diffen·m i' the challcng<.· prt'\t·nu·d bv the transpon-network which wa\ revolutioni/.ed bv tht.• rail\' -a'; not onlv did it give to the alread~ familiartran\pon \llunutt•s. the bridge\ and tunnels. a different nwaning, but introduct·d a nt•w task: the construction of railwav statiom. Railwav \latiom arc charactcri,tic places for dense and valied a' wdl a' anonvmou\ and Oeeting encounters, in other word,, for the tvpt• of interactions which were tO mark the atmmphere ol lift• in tlw big cities, described bv Benjamin as on·rflowing wid1 t•xciwmem btu lacking in contact. As the motorway,, airpon' and tdt·vision 10wen. have shown, the dt·vdopnwnt of transport and communication networks have initiatt:d innovatiom tinw and again.

fhi' a),o applied to tlw d<·vdopmem for commercial communi­cation. It not onlv nt•atcd tht· dc·mand for a new scale of warehou\e~ and markt•t-halls, but introduced unconvemional con\truction projet.t\ a\ well: the depanmem store and the exhibition hall. A bon· all, howen·r, industrial production with its fanorie\, workt•r,· homing e\tatc~ and good~ produced forma'' comumption, creawd IH'\\ ~phcre~ of life imo which fonnal dt•,ign and ardlitt•nural articulation \\as not able to penetrate. at fiN.

In tht• "'cond half of tht· nineteenth cemurv thol.e mass­products for daih me. which had escaped the stvlistic force of the traditional an\ and craft\, were the first to be perceived as an aesthetic problem. John Ru\krn and William Morris sought to bridge the gap that had opt•ned between utilitvand beau~· in the e\t'rvday life of the indu\lrial world bv refonningtheapplicd arts. Thi'> reform mownwnt wa' lt·ad bv a wider forward-looking architt'ctural notion which accompanied the claim to fom1, from an architt•cnrral point of view, the 1'/llirr phvsical environment of boufl.,rroi\ \odetV. Morris in particular recognised the contradiction bt·twt·en tht· dt·rnot'ratic demands for universal participation in culture and the fan that, within industrial capitalism, increa~ing domains ofhuman an ivitv w<·rt• being alienated from the creative cultural forces.

Tht• \econd challt:ngc to an·hitenurc arose from the development ofnrwnul/triail (\uch as glas\ and iron, steel and cement) and nw mrthnd.r of produrtion (above alit he usc of prefabricated elemems). In tht• course of the nirwtt•errth ccmurv the engineers advanced the tcchniqut''> of comtrunion, therebv developing new design possibilities which shauercd tht• classical limits of the con­structional handling of planes and volumes. Originating from greenhou'>t' construnion, the glas' palaces of the first industrial exhibitiom in London, Munich and Pari'>, built from standardi.t.ed pans. com·ned to tht·ir fascinated comcmporaries the first imprt'\sion of new order' of magnitude and of constructional principles. The\ n•vohuioni.t.<·d \'i,ual t•xperience and altered the pectatOf\' concept of spate, as dramaticallv as the railway changed

the pa\sengt·r•> ton<;cpt of timt•. The imerior of the cemreless repetitive London Cf\\tal Palace must have had the effect of a transcendence of all known dirnemiom of desigJled space.

Finally. tht• third cht~llenge was the capitalist mobili::atron of labour, rt•al t'\late and building\, in general of all urban lirmg condtltom. Thi'> lt•d to tht• concentration oflarge masses and to the incursion of sp<:wlation in the field of private housing. The reason for todav'> pwte~t\ in Kreu/.berg and elsewhere. originates in that p<.•riod. As hou\ingconstruction became an amonizeable investment, \O decisiom about the purcha~e and the sale of estate, about cormrunion, demolition and reconstruction, about renting and ''acating propertv wt'rc fn·ed from the tics offamily and local trctdition; in other words thev made themselves independem of

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use-value considerations. The laws of the building and housing market altered the attirude towards building and dwelling. Economic imperatives also determined the uncontrolled growth of cities. Out of these arose the requirements of a kind of town planning which cannot be compared to baroquecitydevdopments. The way these two sons of functional imperatives, those of the market with those of communal and state planning, intersect, and the way they entangle architecture in a new system of subordin­ations, is demonstrated in a grand style by the redevelopment of Paris by Haussmann, under Napoleon Ill. The architects played no noteworthy part in these plans.

FAILURE OF HISTORICISM, MODERNISM'S ANSWER

In order to understand the impulse from which modem architec­ture developed, o ne has to bear in mind that the architecture of the second part of the nineteenth centurv was not only over­whelmed by this third requirement of industrial capitalism, b ut, although the other two challenges were recognised, it has still not mastered them. The arbitrary disposition of scientifi cally objecti­fied )tylcs, having been tom from their formative context, enabled historicism to side-step into an idealism which had become impotent, and to separate the field of architecture from the banalities of everyday bourgeois life. By setting utilitarian architecture free from artistic demands a virtue was made of the nece)Sil\' of the new domains ofhuman concerns which had been alienated from architectural design. The opportunities offered by the new possibilities of technical design were only grasped in order to divide the world between architects and engineers, style and function, impressive facades on the exterior and autonomous spatial disposition in the interior. Thus hi~torical architecture did not have much more to set against the immanent dynamic of economic growth, to the mobilization of urban living conditions, to the social plight of the masses, than the escape into the triumph of spirit and culture over the (disguised) material bases.

In the reformist tendencies o f the jugtrllbtil, from which modem architecture emerged, the protest was already raised against this falsity, against an architecture of repression and symptom-formation. It was no coincidence that, in the same period, Stgmund Freud developed the foundations of his theory of neurosis.

The Modern Movement took on the challenges for which the nineteenth centurv architecture was no match. It overcame the stylistic pluralism ci.nd such differentiations and subdivisions with which architecture had come to terms. It gave an answer to the alienation from culture and industrial capitalism domains with the claim for a style that would not only make a mark on prestige buildings. but would also penetrate everyday practice. The spirit of modernism was 10 participate in the totality of social manifesta­tions. Industrial design was able 10 take up the reform of the applied arts: the functional design of utilitY buildings was able to take up the engineering skills demonstrated in transport and commercial buildings; the concept of commercial quarters was able to take up the models of the Chicago School. Over and above that, the new architectural language seized on the exclusive fields of monumental architecture, of churches, theatres, law courts, ministries, town halls, universi ties, spas, etc. On the other hand it expanded into key areas ofindustrial production, into serdements, social housing and factories.

WHAT DOES FUNCTIONALISM REALLY MEAN?

The New Sryle could certainly not have penetrated into all spheres of life had modem architecture not assimilated the second challenge, that is, the immensely widened range of technical design possibilities with a determined aesthetic approach. The term 'functionalism' incorporates certain key notions- principles for the construction of rooms, for the use of materials and methods of production and organization. 'Functionalism' is based on the conviction that forms should express the use­functions for which a building is produced. But the expression

12

Walltr GrofRw: BauJuJw, Dmau 1926.from W Miilkr-Wuldow: '&utm dtr Gnnnnschaft', Lnplig 1928, p 84

Bruno Taut: Sudlung BriJ1. 'Das Hufwm', Btrbn 1927,from W MiUltr­Wuldow: 'Wohnbautm und Sudlungm', Ltlpug 1928, p 106

Pettr Behrens: Aircraft Hangar of the Carnage Worls, Hannover 191 5, from W Milller-Wuldow: ibid, p 55

'functionalism' also suggests false concepts. II nothing else it conceals the fact that the qualities of modem buildings result from a consistently applied autonomous system of aesthetic rules. That which is wrongly attributed to Functionalism it owes tn fact to an aesthetically motivated Constructivism, follo\\;ng independendy from new problem definitions posed in art. Through Constructivism, modern architeaure followed the experimental trail of avant-garde painting.

Modern architecture found it~clf at a paradoxical point of depanure. On the one hand architecture has always been a use oriemated art. As opposed to music, painting and poetrv, architecture cannot escape from its practical contextual relations any more than prose of a high literary standard can evade the use of colloquial speech. These arts remain tied to the network of common practice and everyday communication. It is for that reason that Adolf Loos considered architecture, together with anything else that serves a purpose, to be excluded from the sphere of an.

On the othtr hand architecture is dominated by the laws ol modem culture - it is subject, as is art in general, to the compulsion of attaining radical autonomy. The avam-garde an, that freed itself from perspective perception of the object and from tonality, from immitation and harmony, and that turned to its own means of representation, has been characterized by Adorno with key words like construction, experiment and montage.

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lltdu·tg lllibashmntr: Design foro Ctll Dn.rlopmmt, oYonomrtric, from I. 1/tlbmhrtmrr: tbul. p 128

I.udu·tg Htlbmhrunrr· Dtsign foro Ctt) Dn.·rlopmrnt, pions, srctions and rln.•atumr

According to Adorno, the paradigmatic works indulge in an esoteric absolutism, 'attht vcptnst ofrtal approprwtrntss. within wluch functiOnal ObJrCts, as for o:amplt bridgts and industnal facililits, sttk lhttr uumformallaws. Onlhtconlral), lhtautonomous workofart,functtonal on/) u tlhm tis tmtnanrotltlto/og), suh toallam tluJt wluch was oncualltd brautJ'. Thus Adorno contraslS the work of an, functioning'within itselr, with the use-objea. funCtioning for 'exterior purposes'. However, modern architecture in its most convincing examples, docs not comply with the dichotomy outlined by Adorno. Its functional ism rathercoim:idts with the inner logic of a development of an. Above all, three groups worked on the problem which had arisen out of cubist painting: the group of purists around Lc Corbusier, the construCtivists around Malevitch, and in panicular, the De-Stijl movement (with van Doesburg, Mondrian and Oud). Just as de Saussure had analysed language struCtures at that time, the Dutch NeoplasticislS, as they called themselves, investigated the grammar of the means of expression and design of the most general techniques used in the applied ans in order to incorporate them in a total work of an imolving the comprehensive architeCtural aniculation of the environmem. In Malevich's and Oud's verv early house plans one can see how those objects of thefunetionali;t Bauhaus architecture emerge from the experimental approach using pure means of design. It is precisely in Bruno Taut's catch­phrase: 'whotfunctions wtl~ looks good', thattheatsthttic lignificanaof Functionalism, expressed so clearly in Taut's own buildings. is lost.

9H

While the Modem Movement recognized the challenges of the qualitatively new requirements and the new technical design pos ibilities, and while it essencially responded correctly, it reacted rather helplessly to tht" pressures of the market and the planning bureaucracies.

The broadened architectural concept which had encouraged the Modem Movement to overcome a stylistic pluralism that stood out against everyday rcalitv, was a mixed blessing. Not onlv did it focus auemion on the important relations between industrial de~ign, imerior design and the architecture of housing and town planning, but it also acted as a sponsor when the theoreticians of the New ArchiteCtUre (Nruts &urn ) wanted to see total form~ of the life completely subjugated to the dictates of their design tasks. However, such totalities e'\tend bev·ond the powers of de ign. When Lc Corbusier finallv managed to realize his design for a 'umtr 1ardm !'trltcalr', it was the communal facilities that remained unused or were eradicated. The utopta of preconceived forms of life which had already inspired the design of Owen and Fourier. could not be filled with life. Not onlv because of a hopele ~ undcrcstimation of the diversitv, complexitv and variabilitv of modem aspects of life, but also because modernized societies with their functional interdependencies go beyond the dimensions of living conditions, which could be gauged by the planner with hi~ imagination. The crisis which ha' betome apparent todav withm modern architecture cannot be traced back to a crisis in architecture itself, but to the fact that it had readilvallowed itself to be over-burdened. ·

TII£C0.\1PULSIONOFTH£SYSTEM,ARCHIT£CTUR£ANDTH£ WIU TOUF£

Moreover, modem architecture, with the indsitincrions of functionalist ideology was poorly armed against the dangen brought about by the post-World War II reconstruction, the periodduringwhich the International Stvle broadlyassened itself for the first time. Gropius cenainlvemphasiLed the close relations that architeCture and town planning had with indust:ry, commerce, politics and administration. In those early days he already perceived the charaCter of the process of planning. However, within the Bauhaus, these problems only appeared in a 'format', which was tailored only to didacuc purposes. Funhermore, the ~uccess of the Modem Movement led the pioneers to the un1u~tified expectation that 'unitv of culture and production' could be achieved in another sense as well. The economic and politico-adminiSLrativc limitations to which the design of the environment was subjected, appeared in this transfigured view­point to be a mere question of organi7.ation. When in 1949 the American Architects Association sought to insert in its statute the condition that architeCtS should not operate as building contraCtors, Gropius protested - not against the insufficiency of the means, but against the purpose and reason for the proposal. He persisted in his belief: 'Art, tluJt luJs btcomr o cultural foetor m grnrraL will br m a ptmtton to gwt lht social rnutronmtnttht umlr. wluch will bt lht trot basu foro culturr tmbracing tva) oC]tcl, from a mnplt chair to a housr of pra_)tr'. Within this grand synthesis, all the contradiCtions charaCterizing capitalistic modernization especially in the field of town planning disappear - the contradiCtions between the requirements of a structured environment on the one hand, and the imperatives shared by money and power on the other.

RESTORATION OF URBAN/1Y1

No doubt that development met with a linguistic misunderstanding. Those means, that are suitable for a cenain purpose, are called •functional'. In this sense one can understand • FunCtionalism' as seeking to construct buildings according to the measure of the users' purposes. The term •funCtional' however also characterizes decisions which stabilize an anonymous relation of aCtivities, without the system's existence having necessarily been called for or even noticed by any of the participants. In this sense, what is considered as 'system functional' for the economy and adminis­tration. for example an increase in the density of inner city areas with rising prices in real estate and increasing tax revenues, by no

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Page 6: 01 Habermas

mt>am ha~ to provt> to be 'Junctional' in tht> background ol the Ji,es of both inhabitants and neighbouring rt>sidents. The problem~ of town planning arc not primarih problt·m~ of design. but problt>m\ of controlling and dealing will1 the anom'lnous sv tem­impt•rati\t'~ that influence the 'phc.·rev of cit\ life and threaten to

dnastaw the urban fabric. Toda\·, t•wrvone is talking about recalling the traditional

Europt•an citv. However. as carlv as 1889, C;unilo Sine. who wa~ ont' of tlw first to compare the nl('dit·\•altown with the modc.·rn citv, had warned against such forced lack of constraim~. After <l

cemun··~ criticism of the large cit\', after innumerable. repeated and disillu~ioned attempts 10 keq> a balann· in the cities. to \a\'t'

the• inrwr cities. to divide urban ~pace into residemial areas and comnwrcial quaners, industrial fariliuc.•s and garden suburb'>: private.· and public wnes; to build habitablt• 'tatellite towm: w rc.·habihtate• slum areas; 10 rc.-gulate tr.tllit mo\t \t'nsibh· etc the.· quemon that is brought to mind i\ whet her the anual notwn of the cit\ hav not it.,t•lfbeen super~eded . Ava compreht•nsible habitat, the.· Cit\ could at one time be· architenutalh de!>igned and nwntallv represented. The socral funnionv of urban life, political and economic, private and public, tlw a'>'ignmems of cultural and teligiouv rcprcsemation, of work, habitation, recreation and cdc·bration rould be lramlatrd into use-purpo\es, into functionv of te•mporallv regulated u~c of dcsigrwd spat c•v. However, bv the· nHtetcc.·mh cemun· at the lau:~t. thc cit\ bc.·came the intersection point of adiflamtlt.ind offunctional rdauonvhip. It was cmbedckd in abvtract vy\lemv which could no longt•r lw captured acsthcticalh Ill an tntdligible presence. The fan that from the.· middle of tht• nim·tc•t•nth n·ntun· tillth<' lat<' 1880,, tlw grc.·at indu\lrial<."1.hibi tiom wc.·n· planned as big archttt•nural event\ reH·ah an impulvt· whKh \l'l'tm toufhing today. Wlulst for tht• purpose ofintemation­al competition arranging a ft·,tin· and vivid display of their induvt1 ial products in magnificent halh fort ht• gt•neral public, tht• gowrnmt'nl\ literally wamt'd to vettht· \lag<' for the world markt•t and bring it back within the limit~ oft he· human habitat. How<.·ver. not t•vt•n the railwav stations. which had brought their passengers into roman with the trampon netwod ... rould represent th<· nt•twork\ function~ in the ~amc· wa\ '" tlw dt\ gates had once rq>rt'\entt•cl tlw actual connenionv to thc nc.·arb\ \'illages and tlt'ighbounng towm. Beside\, a•rp<>rLS wd.t\ arc situated ''a' oul\idt• ntie'>. for good r<·avon\. In tlw characterless oflice buildmg\ which dominate the.· town n•mre,, in tht• banh and minivtcrics. the law court\ and coq>Oratt• admini\lrations. the puhli,lung and printing houses. tht• pmate and public bureaucra­tic'>, ont• ran not recognize the funuion.tl rdations whose point of intn\t'(l ion t hev form. The graphir., of wm pam 1 rademarks and of neon-light advertisements dcmomtrat<· that diffcre111iation mmt tak<' placc bv means other than that of 1 ht• formal language of architecture. Another indication that the urban habitat iv inut·a,•nglv being mediated b\· W\lt'mir relatiom, which cannot be giwn concrcu: form. is tht• fatlun· of perhaps the most ambitiou' project of the New Architc.·eturt• ,\'rurs Baum . To this da\, it ha\ not been possible to mtt-gratt' social housing and factorit•v within theciry. The urban agglonwrauons ha\eOutgrown the old conn•pt of the city which peopk· '>O cherish. Howe,·er. that " nt•ith<'r the failure of modern architcctur<·. nor of an\' othcr arch itt•cturt•. ·

1'/· HPU:X/TY AND REACTIONS

A\\llltting this diagno~is is not ab,olutd\' wrong, then it first of all mt•rdv wnfinm the dominating pt•rpl<·xitv and the need t<> seardt for nt•w solutions. Of course. it aho raises doubts as to the.· reaniom which have been \Ct off bv the divaster of the simul­tant•ou'h ovc.•r burdened and imtrumc·malin·d architecture of the \1odnn \itovt·mcnt Xrub Baum . In ordt•r to at le~t pro\'i'>ion­alh onentate m,·,elf within the complt--1. wrrain of counter­moH'Illt'nts, I ha'e distinguisht•d thn·t• tendencie~ which ha\e on<' thing in common: contran· to tht· wlf-critical continuation of tlw Moclt-m Movement, the\ break awav fmm the Modern Stvlc•. Thc·v want to dissolve the tie~ of the· avant-garde formal language and the· inflt•xible functionalistir principles; programmaticallv, form and function are to be ~eparatt•d otKt' again.

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On a trivialle\·el. thi~ holclv tnt<.' lor Nco-Htstonetsm, wh1ch tramforms department vtorc.•s imo medieval rows ofhou~e,, and underground ventilation vh.thv 11110 pocket-book size Palladian villa\. As in the past centun. tht• n·turn to eclectici~m iv dm· to romp<.'n'<ltory· needs. This traditionalism fall s under the lwadmg of poltucal Neo-Comen·amm, not unknmnt to Ba\'aria. tmofar a' it redefines problem'> which lie· on a diffrrmtltt·rl. in tt•rrn' of qut•\fions of stvle, thus rcmoving it from the consciousnt'\'> oft lw public The t'!>CapiM reaction i' tehm·d to a tendcnn fot tlw allirmative: all that rcmaim should .,ta\' as it is. The separation ol lm m and function abo applies 10 tht• Polf-,\fodl'm ,\1rwmrt'lll. which <·on <.''>poncb to Charles Jcncb' ddinitiom and which is frct: ol nmtalgia whether it i'> Eiwnn1.1n nand Gra\'l's, who autcmomi/t' dw lonna! repertoire of tlw 1920v anivtkalh. or whctht•r it h Holkin and Venturi. who. likt· vurn•ali\1 \!age desigtlCI\, uuh/e' modern design meLhod'> in ordt•rto roa' pinuresque efft·n, from ,lgrt'v\1\Th-mixed sty-It-\. Thc·lanJ-'tlageofthi' \tage·set archit<•nun· indulge' in a rhetoric that \It II \l't'kv to t''l.prevv in cipher'> wvH'Jillt rdauonv which can no longc.·r be ar(hitenuralh fomllllaH·d ~ malh. tht• unit\' ofform and fuunwn "brol..t•n in a difft·n·m wa\ IJ\ the 'lltmm/11·r Arrhitt'clurc•' "hith i'> ba.,ed on the problt•mv of t•wlogv and of the pre,cn•ation of hivwrirallv dc\'cloped ut ban divtlict\. Tlwse trend'> oftt·n rharant•ri.,ed as 'vitalivlic·', .ut· prim.1rih aimed at clo,clv linking .1rrhitecwral design to vpatial, tuhural and his10riral rorm''l.l' Thcrt'in vun·i,c vomt· of dw tmpulwv of the Modnn Mmt•mem. now ob,ioush on tlw ddt•n,l\t' Abo,eall. it iswonh noungtht•initiativeswhichaimat d tommunal 'panicipaton arrhm·nun··. which dt•\lgm urhan an·av in a dialogue with tlw dit·mv. Wht•n the guiding nwrhan~Vmv of tlw market and the town planntng administration funnton 1n \Ut h a wa\ a' to ha\'e divfunntOnalromc·quc·nces on tht· ltn·' of thow conn·rned. failing tlw •functionaJi,nl' as it was under\lc)()d, tlwn it onlv follows that the fonnati\'l' communication of the pat licipant~ be.· allowed to wmpeH' with the· mc.·dia of mont'\ ancl powt'l.

llmwvcr, the nostalgia for de-differentiatt'd forms of t•xi\lt'nt"l' ofu·n bt•vtow' upon thew tt•nd<•ncit•v an air of amimodnnivm. Tht'\ art· then linl..ed to tht• cult of tht· n·macularand to n·n·n·nn• for the· banal. Thi' ickolol{' of tlw unromplicated dt•ntt'' tlw vt·mible potential and tht• 't><•nfic II\' of nrltural modcrni\m. fht· J>liltvt' of anom,llOu\ architt'<..tUrt', ofarchitec:ture\\ithout archit<'t "· hav a prin· which thi' \ italivm having beromc critical of the whult• vv\ll'JII, i\ willing to pav c•wn if it ha., anmher 'Volkvgt•iVI' in mind. a' for example. the om· whovt• tratl'>figuration in il\ tinw brought the monumentali'>m of tht• F(ihrer-architectun· w itv ultimme completion.

A good deal of trllth abo lit•s inthi'> fonn of oppositioin. ltt.tkn on the unanswered probkms which modern architecture had left in t ht' barkground - that i' to'"' the.· coloniation of thc human habnat bv the imperati,·c~ of autonomitt•d systems of economK ,mel admini!>trti\'c proCC)'>CV. llowt•n·r. it will onh- bt: pos)ible to learn \Oillething from all of thc.•vt· oppo\itions. if we kcep one thing in mind. At a certain fonunate moment in modern architc.·oure, theaesthcticidt•nut\'OfConstructi\'ism met wnh tht• practical spirit of strict Funnionali~m and cohered infonnallv. rraclitions can only live through '>Uch historic moments.

JufKt·n Habennas has anl'CI "' lht· Diu•ttm .11 lht· \ta,·Piant 1.. hl,tiluw.u St.lmlx·fK for re•earch imu tht· li' ing <"onduwoh in !Itt' 'l inuifit· H't hn1cal world \Inn· 1971 . I k wa'" rnc•ard1 a•~i\lant a1 the lmtitutt• for Snti.ll Swdu:' in Frankfurt from 19'ih 111 1<159. He held lht· Chaor for Plulmo11ll\ a1 1he Un•n·r\U\ of llt-iddb<·f'K from 1961 10 19b1 .• utd "'h't'qut·n!lv he wa' appoinlt'd 1lw Ptofl'\'iOr for Philo,oph\ .:tnd Sunulo~ ;u1hc Uni,·el\il\ ofl-r.ml..fun J urgt•n Ho~benna~ ha., publi•lll'd wideh. among\! his mo'' \\Til -known boo I.., .m· Thrort ar1d Prn-.:11 of I t)63 ilnd CultuuatldCriltnll11of1973. In 1976. he received llwSigmund-Frc·ud Prite for ~dcmilic prose awarded bv llw Ct•rman Acadcnw for L..·utgu.tgt ,mel Poe1rv.

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