Housing Reloaded Collective. Housing in Europe, 1945–2015

Abstract
“Should the grands ensembles be demolished?” This question was a major preoccupation for architects in the 1990s. Incidental as it may seem today, the question is not completely old hat. The initial, progressive shift towards the practise of maintenance is to be welcomed. But we still need to be conscious, looking forward, that the qualities or values of constructions built between 1945 and 1975 are only rarely recognized and safeguarded. A tremendous variety of strategies have been adopted, and this thematic issue on collective housing's present-day relevance proposes to revisit, on the European scale, this very multiplicity of approaches.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing, Mass housing, Post-war housing.

Issue 54
Year 2016
Pages 4-9
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/54.A.FQC6H30X

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The European Large Scale Heritage

Abstract
Post-War Housing Complexes in Europe are symbols of architectural, technological and social aspirations. These grands ensembles of Mass Housing have nowadays begun to be appreciated by users and authorities, as integral part of the current city. Whether discussing demolition (as faced by the Smithsons' Robin Hood Gardens and Toulouse's Le Mirail, and commonly seen as a focus for social marginalization), or the growing phenomenon of heritagization (as implicit in the type of person now using the Marseille Unité d’Habitation), the debate today has mainly become centered on the question of: how to keep these large structures alive, while meeting contemporary standards of comfort? Characterized by adventurous experiments in the use of new materials and techniques, space creation and gender transformations, the obsolescence of these big complexes is determined on two different levels: the technical one (regarding comfort, such as thermal or acoustic, and the need for mechanical and safety improvements, as infrastructures, systems, elevators), and the functional one (involving space dimensions, organisation, orientation, and the introduction of new uses); all while complying with current regulatory standards. In addition, these buildings have frequently been intensively used and modified.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing, Mass housing, Post-war housing.

Issue 54
Year 2016
Pages 2-3
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/54.A.90OFK4NM

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João Luís Carrilho da Graça interviewed by Ana Tostões

Abstract
On July 2016, Ana Tostões interviewed João Luís Carrilho da Graça, one of the main Portuguese contemporary architects, in order to discuss the riverside projects that he has been developing for the future of Lisbon. João Luís Carrilho da Graça was born in 1952, Portalegre, and studied architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Art (1977). He was assistant lecturer at the Lisbon School of Fine Art (1977-1992), full professor at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (2001-2010) and the University of Évora (2005-2013). He coordinated the departments of Architecture in both institutions until 2010, and was responsible for the creation of the PhD in Architecture at the latter institution, which he also directed (2011-2013). He was professor at the University of Navarra (2005, 2007, 2010, 2014) and at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning of Cornell University, New York (2015). Since 2014, he has been full professor at the School of Architecture, University of Lisbon. He is the principle of the architectural office João Luís Carrilho da Graça Arquitectos with an extensive work built. He was nominated and selected for the Mies van der Rohe European Prize in Architecture (1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) and received several awards, such as the AICA (1992), the Secil (1994), the FAD (1999), the Valmor (1998), the Pessoa (2008), the Order of Merit of the Portuguese Republic (1999), the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Republic (2010) and the Medal of the Académie d’Architecture of France (2012). In 2013, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the School of Architecture of the University of Lisbon and in 2015 the Royal Institute of British Architects International Fellowship.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, João Luís Carrilho da Graça, Lisbon Cruise Ship Terminal, Urban space.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 84-86
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.UK2Y3ECV

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José Augusto França interviewed by Ana Tostões

Abstract
On April 2016, Ana Tostões interviewed Professor José-Augusto França, the Portuguese modern art researcher of reference on the contemporary era, in order to discuss the key modern structure that made the shift towards a Modern Lisbon. José-Augusto França (b. 1922, Tomar) is historian, sociologist and critic of art. He has a graduation in Historical and Philosophical Sciences (1944, Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon), a PhD in History (1962, Paris-Sorbonne University, Une Ville des Lumères: la Lisbonne de Pombal), a diploma on Sociology of the Art (1963, L'Art et la Société Portugaise au XXè siècle) and a PhD in Letters (1969, Paris-Sorbonne University, Le Romantisme au Portugal). He is professor emeritus of the Nova University of Lisbon, where he created the first Art History masters of the country (1976). He was Director of the Portuguese Cultural Center of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Paris (1983), President of the National Academy of Fine Arts (1985) and member of the UNESCO Comité du Patrimoine Mondial. He is a reference author in the field of visual and cultural arts in Portugal, being the first one identifying and presenting modern architecture in Portugal in his Arte em Portugal no Século XX (1974). Among his works stand out studies on art in Portugal in the 19th and 20th centuries, as several volumes of essays on historical, sociological and aesthetic reflection on contemporary art issues. He has received the Medal of Honor of the City of Lisbon (1992), the Grand Officer (1991) and the Grand Cross (2006) of the Infante D. Henrique Order and the Grand Cross of the Order of Public Instruction (1992).

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, José Augusto França, Instituto Superior Técnico.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 83
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.W6X7YXWV

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Gonçalo Byrne interviewed by Ana Tostões

Abstract
On July 2016, Ana Tostões interviewed the architect Gonçalo Byrne who has been deeply reflecting, writing and interviewing in the city through projects of reference, in order to broadly understand the evolution of the city, with an emphasis on the modernity of the 1758 Baixa Pombalina Plan, and its contemporary and future potential, grounded in its roots. Gonçalo Byrne was born in 1941, Alcobaça, studied architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Art (1968) and is Doctor Honoris Causa (2005) from the Technical University of Lisbon and the University of Alghero. He has been professor in several universities such as the University of Navarra, the University of Alghero, the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, the Università IUAV di Venezia, the Harvard University, the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Coimbra. He is the principal of Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos, in Lisbon, with an extensive work both in terms of scale, program and context, including urban planning and building design, urban renewal and project management such as the renewal of the Bank of Portugal headquarters (with João Pedro Falcão de Campos), the renewal of the Thalia Theatre in Lisbon (with Barbas Lopes Arquitectos), the renewal of the Machado de Castro National Museum in Coimbra, the renewal of the Trancoso Castel and the renewal of the Santa Maria Abbey surroundings in Alcobaça. He has received the AICA Award (1988), the Valmor Award (2000), the Gold Medal from the France’s Académie d’architecture Française (2000) and the Piranesi Prix de Rome (2014).

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, Gonçalo Byrne, Lisbon Baixa Pombalina, Urban growth.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 78-82
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.3NSVA8UX

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Manuel Salgado interviewed by Ana Tostões

Abstract
On August 2016, Ana Tostões interviewed the architect Manuel Salgado, councilor of the Municipality of Lisbon since 2007, in order to discuss the main policies undertaken and his ideas on urban planning in its connection to mobility infrastructures, public space and the continuous reconstruction of park and green areas, in Lisbon. Manuel Salgado was born in 1944, Lisbon, and studied architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Art (1968). From 1971 to 1982, he was the technical responsible for the architectural office CIPRO and in 1984 he became manager of the architectural office Risco. From 2002 to 2008, he was architecture professor, at Instituto Superior Técnico. He has participated in conferences worldwide and widely published, on urban planning, and has designed major urban projects and buildings in Portugal: the Belém Cultural Centre (with Vittorio Gregotti), the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, the Expo’98 public areas, the FC Porto Dragão Stadium, the Lisbon Luz Hospital, etc. His architectural and public space projects received several awards: the Valmor Award (1980, 1998), the International Award Architecture in Stone (1993), the AICA Award (1998); the Portuguese National Design Award (1999) and the Brick in Architecture Award (2003). Within the Municipality of Lisbon, he took the position of councilor of the Urbanism and Strategic Planning Department in 2007, which accumulates, from 2009 to 2013, with the Municipality Vice-Presidency. Currently, as councilor, heads the Department of Planning, Urbanism, Urban Rehabilitation, Public Space and Construction of the Municipality of Lisbon.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, Manuel Salgado, Mobility infrastructures, Public space.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 74-77
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.WDSH9H4L

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Housing and Contemporaneity: Recent Renovations in Lisbon’s Baixa Pombalina

Abstract
The Plan of 1758 for the reconstruction of Lisbon's Baixa Pombalina followed principles of unparalleled efficiency and regularity. The grid of rectangular urban blocks with pre-designed street façades had a lasting impact on urban identity. Today, the original features of the blocks of flats allow renovation strategies that address changes in domestic life and present-day comfort demands: making use of alcoves and the enfilade to address intimacy; turning kitchens into social areas; using multiple entrances for flat division; introducing lifts according to staircase design. Recent renovations show how the flats' original features contribute to unconventional flexible layouts adapted to contemporary living.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, Modern housing, Lisbon Baixa Pombalina, Adaptative architecture.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 66-73
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.FPR7AWLR

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Revisiting Chelas. In Search of the Promised Urbanness

Abstract
Chelas is situated in the east of Lisbon and corresponds to the third and final phase of a large-scale planning operation that began in the late 1950s, covering an area of roughly 737 hectares, equivalent to 1/10 of the city’s total area. The Master Plan for Chelas, approved in 1964, was marked by the revision of the principles of modern planning and represents a landmark in town planning in Portugal. The protracted nature of the plan’s implementation and the failure to complete all of its programs seriously compromised the success of the presented proposal. This article proposes a reading of the ideological context that influenced its conception and design, as well as of the factors that conditioned its urbanization process.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, Chelas Master Plan, Large-scale neighborhood.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 58-65
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.QO6VHVZQ

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Brutalism and Nature. The Gulbenkian Foundation Buildings (1959-1969)

Abstract
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation headquarters and museum complex (1959–1969) headed a fundamental role in building science in Portugal, as it contributed to the accomplishment of a Modern Movement design committed with a high level of construction quality, showing that there was more beyond Modern Movement formalism. Inaugurated in 1969, it was designed to create a pleasant environment, providing prospects from inside at various angles to the grove of trees and the surrounding land. As a mega-structure designed under a multi-disciplinary design and construction team it achieved a high level of technical excellence and comfort, whilst beautifully linking the building and garden. Located in central Lisbon, within a park with an area of 7.5 ha, occupying an area of 25.000 m2, it was designed by the architects Alberto Pessoa (1919–1985), Pedro Cid (1925–1983) and Ruy Jevis d’Athouguia (1917–2006) with the collaboration of the landscape designers Ribeiro Barreto (1924–2013) and Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (1922–). The construction gathered an international interdisciplinary team of specialists. The most up-to-date techniques were adopted, including reinforced and pre-stressed concrete in its construction. Some figures illustrate the volume of these buildings: 150,000 m3 of excavation, 45,000 m3 of concrete, 3,200 t of steel, 100 km of power cables, 50,000 m of air conditioning pipes and 3,500 kW of installed electrical capacity. The architectural design expresses the structure. The aim of having a dominant horizontal line that guaranteed the image of a low building hugging the land and the wish to emphasize the long slabs of concrete that constituted the visible image of the built complex called for a very creative structural concept. The impact that the complex has had and the way in which it has manifested the effectiveness of its qualities, such as formal sobriety and restraint, have confirmed the close relationship between the conception process and the construction site. With its garden it has created the very image of the prestige and innovation of the Foundation itself.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, Brutalism, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Alberto Pessoa, Pedro Cid, Ruy Jevis d’Athouguia, Ribeiro Barreto, Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, Modern monumentality.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 50-57
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.RBPU9PLO

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Ruy Jervis d’Athouguia. A Modern Architect in the Garden-City

Abstract
In the 1950s, when the social, aesthetic and technological assumptions of the Modern Movement seemed to be consolidated, there was hesitation in Portugal. Two possibilities were open to what could be viewed as post-war understanding of modernity. Some architects focused on the possible confrontation between the heritage of tradition and avant-garde proposals, in tune with the international movement. Others assimilated the universal appeal of the Modern Movement and aimed to operate within those contexts, facing the shortage of technological tools and of scarce theoretical production. Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia (1917–2006), an important Portuguese architect, belonged to the latter.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Lisbon modern architecture, Estado Novo, Modern urban planning, Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Estacas Neighborhood, Modern schools.

Issue 55
Year 2016
Pages 44-49
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/55.A.NKYD6IO5

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