Other itineraries: modern architects on countryside roads

For some architects at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the interest in vernacular architecture was partially linked to the experience of travel. This interest often revealed a new way of taking position against the sterile eclectic historicism taught in the Academies and Schools of Architecture at that time. The process of acquaintance with this kind of architecture was based more on direct experience rather than on scholastic studies in opposition to the well-known classical architecture. The sketches architects drew during travels in native lands and abroad, accompanied by annotations, letters, essays and articles, form the legacy of these experiences. An analysis of this material provides us with an understanding of why architects were interested in traditional vernacular heritage and what elements they took from it to nourish their intellectual and practical work. The paper will interpret the main travels of some Masters of the 20th century architecture from different European countries in order to disclose similarities and differences in the ways they sketched and/or wrote about vernacular buildings. The analysis will further focus on the modalities through which these croquis and writings have been 'translated' into some of their projects.

John-Théodore -alias Jack- Cornaz (1886-1974)

Nadja Maillard

On November the 14th 1974, Jack Cornaz died in Lausanne, the town where he was born in 1886. This study traces the unusual career of this architect – a singular figure in the field of Swiss-French architecture of the twentieth century – whose name, from the 1920s, is associated with a wide range of neo-classical buildings on the shores of Lake Geneva, and analyses its context. Labelled both marginal and a dissident – depending on the standpoint of the critic – Cornaz's production is presented for the first time, through minute exploration of his unpublished archives, extensive information gathered in the course of interviews with numerous protagonists, both near and far, of the "cornazian scene", and comprehensive lateral research. Diversified in terms of quantity, and yet so uniform in terms of typology and program, his production appears consistent enough to express in itself the themes and motives which permit an understanding of both the variety of its expressions and in the unity of its intentions. The analysis of some of its nodal points – types of clients, production under influences, relevance of the old, problematic relationship to the tradition – provides an opportunity to grapple with broader architectural issues, some including ontological dimension : notion of imitation, bound to a style, relations between the architect and his patronage, autobiographical nature of his relation to the object, properties of the settlement... Though considered as a passéiste architect, Cornaz – at least at the start of his career – appreciated a form of modernity, understood as a progressive development of classical and regional types into a new language, which did not reject or betray the heritage of the past. In this respect, his work may be considered as representative of one of those traditionalist tendencies taken into account by the history of architecture over the last two decades. Based on the analytical cataloguing of the architect's archives deposited in the ACM (Archives of Modern Construction, Lausanne), the method applied in this study is a cross-disciplinary approach combining historical research with the principles of anthropological investigation. It is also based upon the interlocking of two propositions : it is a historical inquiry analysing sources as well as an epistemological reflection about cognitive procedures at work in the material in question. Adept at disciplinary nomadism and in mimetic fit with her object, the author applies a "patchwork" method. She is convinced that the effect of contiguity and accumulation is meaningful in itself, and that the interest of this matching of quotations, which leads to admittance for the need of the gaps and interplay of the elements, resides in its unsteadiness, like in a mosaic. The book consists of two closely connected volets. Chapters are thematic in the first one, these theoretical essays are completed with monographs of twenty of J. Cornaz's constructions and catalogue entries for his works.

EPFL2005

Densité et logement collectif

Nicolas Bassand

As a measurement, built density (coefficient of land surface to be built and total floor space) has been the object of numerous researches on urban morphology and architectural forms during the twentieth century. However, for the last ten years, its sensory and qualitative dimension seems to be particularly valued: the perceived density. In multi-unit housing, dense, innovating and compact forms show a significant change of architectural and urban conception. In fact, project practices seem to have been marked by three major changes. Firstly, the importance of the precept of sustainable development, attempting at reducing urban sprawl. Secondly, the increased interest in urban values and the idea of "building a city within a city". Lastly, the current asserted need to redefine density: on one hand, new means are being researched to control it, on the other hand there is a widening of its definition due to the main impulse of architects and researchers. Within this framework, it is illuminating to reconsider the multiple disciplines using this term, as well as the distinct spatial scales tackled in this notion and changes in its use through time. However, focusing only on built density, the present research concentrates on the architectural and urban framework, also known as physical density. It is measured by a density figure but is also qualified by the perception of density. We propose as preliminary approach, an examination of this perceived density in fields where it is more frequently used, such as literature, painting and music. Another important notion of this research requires definition: architectural and urban innovation. Standing out from pure invention, this type of innovation consists essentially in a reinterpretation of previous architectural and urban productions worth naming "retro-innovation". Despite a housing program dependent on past models reluctant to rapid and important changes, radical innovations do occur, though more seldomly. Several ''moments'' of the collective housing architectural history allow for an updating of the different stakes manifested in the density – innovation relationship. Density perception plays a large role in a particular problem emerging from these two notions in contemporary Switzerland. The issue is how encouraging people coming back to the urban centers by proposing larger apartments with more square meters and urban architecture composed of numerous and various spaces, but protecting them at the same time from too close a proximity between neighboring housing and from environmental nuisances. The state of the art brings to light the enormous influence of the researcher and anthropologist Amos Rapoport on perceived density starting with his article, "Towards a Redefinition of Density", published in 1975. For more than thirty years now, architects, psychologists, city planners and geographers refer to this work when defining this notion in their respective fields. As a consequence, it nourishes several reflections in this research. Following these various observations, we propose the analysis of fourteen contemporary multi-unit buildings. They represent the current urban stakes at play and show the architectural and urban conception facing the double requirement of density: to insure a high enough floor area ratio (measured density) and to qualify the housing density (perceived density). In parallel, this research determines if this conception, unique to dense multi-unit housing, tends to modify architectural practice. In the first phase, we examine seven rectangular housing units, in which the width of the building is significant, and seven courtyard buildings in order to examine the exterior spaces contained by the building's volumes. In the second phase, we focus our attention on the wall expression of the fourteen buildings. In this way, these distinct analyses offer three new definitions of the perceived density expressing conception aspects particularly significant for understanding the architecture and urbanity of these dense multi-unit buildings. As a fundamental knowledge, it is shown that density, within the corpus, orientates the architects project's mode. The frequent reinterpretation of paradigmatic dense lodgings is one of the most striking proof of this conceptual change searching for innovations in the register of collective housing. So, in the density of depth, introversion and anonymity on the exterior seems to encourage distinct individualized space within the building as common domestic spheres only opened towards the inside of the apartment. In several cases, the usual urban and public spaces are integrated into the private interior of the apartments as if to domesticate a certain urbanity. In the density of the void, the proposed introversion of semi-public courtyards seems to help maintaining a larger sense of community in these multi-unit buildings. Altogether, it demonstrates a particular capacity to produce small cities within the city, at the same time independent and linked to the city. Finally, through the analysis of wall density, the exterior materiality and expression, dynamic or static, monumental at times, present a decidedly urban architecture enhancing a compact city in quest of new inhabitants.

EPFL2009

Contaminazioni linguistiche

Paola Tosolini

In contemporary debates about sustainable development, vernacular architecture plays an important role. Presenting itself as a dictionary of man’s constructive logic, it declares with no uncertainty its own usefulness, its connection to the soil, to the climate, the economy and technology. The capacity to incorporate change, to absorb the passing of time without losing the architectonical idea on which it lies, has made its forms intelligible and its language comprehensible to everybody. These qualities, together with the wide variety of forms that are found available within it, make vernacular architecture a reserve from which one can draw in order to stimulate creative thought upon a project. Despite vernacular architecture having been partially revalued, the role that it has played in the debate around ‘modernity’ and its contribution to the birth and development of modern architecture have been scarcely analysed and very much undervalued by both critics and historians. This thesis demonstrates the importance of the contribution made by vernacular architecture, investigating the architectural practice of some of the most renowned protagonists of architecture in the 20th century, among whom Mackintosh, Hoffmann, Loos, Le Corbusier, Sert, Aalto, Figini, Ponti, Rudofsky, Stirling, Abraham, the Smithsons, Venturi and Scott Brown. Furthermore, this thesis shows how some linguistic contaminations have been produced in the work of architects through their encounter with vernacular architecture during travels in native lands and abroad, and through the resulting theoretical reflections which have been documented in a large quantity of written material. For linguistic contamination I mean the analogous action undertaken by an element over another, on a morphological or semantic level. These actions are the result of a process that starts with the act of seeing, of observing and which matures in the thought put down on paper. For this reason I have decided to structure my thesis around the activities peculiar to architectural practice – seeing, thinking, projecting – to which the three sections of this thesis – travels, writings, projects – refer to. The first part demonstrates the importance of travel as a means to discover and gain direct knowledge of vernacular architecture and its legacy. For legacy I mean that baggage of impressions, sketches and photographs used by architects for reference in their future intellectual work. The second part highlights the existence of a large quantity of written material (articles, essays, books, conference papers) that witnesses the real and steady interest of modern ‘orthodox’ architects towards vernacular architecture. This section also considers the way in which some theoretical parameters of ‘modernity’ have been defined according to the observations contained in the written material. Finally, the third part shows the presence, in modern projects and works, of elements, structures, materials, and spatial and morphological devises that can be traced back to vernacular architecture, and that allow me to support the hypothesis of contaminations of vernacular architectural language on modern architectural language.

EPFL2009

John-Théodore -alias Jack- Cornaz (1886-1974)

Nadja Maillard

EPFL2005

Densité et logement collectif

Nicolas Bassand

EPFL2009

Contaminazioni linguistiche

Paola Tosolini

EPFL2009