Introducing Modern Gallery Housing in Maputo: Design Experimentations, 1950-1968

Abstract
Modern architecture has recently been the subject of a more systematic analysis in the formerly Portuguese African territory. These studies aim at understanding the specific circumstances from which Modern Portuguese architecture first arose. Following the international debate on housing during the 20th century, Mozambique has been the arena of a new and experimental approach to collective housing in accordance with the guidelines set out by Le Corbusier. A singular social, economic and cultural territory, it adopted a tropical variant of the gallery typology, briefly introduced in this paper by means of select case studies built in Maputo between 1950 and 1968.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture, Modern housing, Mozambican modern architecture.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 46-55
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.X5CBAIW3

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Polana High School. A Modern Building Recovering Case Study in Mozambique

Abstract
The Polana High School in Maputo, designed by José João Tinoco and José Forjaz around 1970, is a plain functional building both as regards to the spatial organization of its composing pavilions and as to its construction that is mostly made of exposed reinforced concrete structures and elements. After decades of heavy duty use and an almost absolute lack of maintenance, it recently went through some urgent repair operations. In this sense, it exemplifies what could be today effective conditions regarding economic possibilities and cultural problems to recover Modern heritage in Africa.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture, Polana High School, José João Tinoco, José Forjaz, Modern schools, Mozambican modern architecture.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 40-45
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.TAK7I27H

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A Resisting Modern Monument: Huambo Veterinary Academic Hospital

Abstract
The Huambo (former Nova Lisboa) Veterinary Academic Hospital, designed by Vasco Vieira da Costa in 1970, was never completed. With the independence of Angola in 1975, a civil war started and lasted 27 years, with its main battlefield in the country’s central region, where the opposition party was settled. The building has served as a military headquarters since the 80’s, becoming extremely damaged in the last three decades. Peace was restored in 2002 but 30 soldiers are still nowadays living in the ruins to defend the building from vandalism. The University is planning the renovation of the Veterinary Academic Hospital, although unawareness about the building’s heritage significance may result in the irreversible loss of an Angolan Modern monument.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture, Huambo Veterinary Academic Hospital, Vasco Vieira da Costa, Angolan modern architecture, Rehabilitation of modern architecture.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 34-39
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.7SGHV2ZU

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Transcontinental Modernism: How to Find the Shortcut

Abstract
More than ever, it is urgent to expand the new emerging consciousness focused on the need to include other territories in our efforts to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the “Modern Diaspora.” Recently, the development of concepts such as ‘hybrid’ or the ‘otherness’ has been promoting a nuanced historical analysis on architecture and politics in the 20th century beyond a Eurocentric vision. The recognition that a widespread awareness of the Modern Movement architecture has always been serving colonization involves rethinking the basic principle of Modern welfare society and practiced architecture as a mission: how Modern principles have been exchanged, resulting from a Eurocentric culture with the cultures of East and Africa.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture, Modern diaspora, Colonialism, Udo Kultermann, Luso-african architecture, Pancho Guedes.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 30-33
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.ICZ4CDJ5

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Early Modern African Architecture. The House of Wonders Revisited

Abstract
This essay explores the various strands of the advent of Modernity in African architecture. It starts from the assumption that the history of Modernity in African architecture is a complex and rich subject that merits increased scientific attention.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture, Modern palaces, Beit-el-Ajaib, House of Wonders, Zanzibar modern architecture.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 20-29
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.FKXY01XV

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The Intertwinement of Modernism and Colonialism: a Theoretical Perspective

Abstract
Post–colonial theory, following the lead of Edward Said’s Orientalism, holds that the discourse that justified colonialism was not marginal to European culture, but that it formed a core ingredient of European thinking about Modernity and Modernism. This thought–provoking argument has not yet been thoroughly processed in architectural history and theory. This article explores these issues by introducing some of Said’s thoughts and by discussing how they might be relevant for an interpretation of Modernism in architecture. It looks at primitivism in architecture as encountered in the work of Loos, Le Corbusier and Rudofsky, arguing that its colonialist bias is undeniable. The conclusion stresses how much Said’s analyses still give rise to difficult questions about our ideas and attitudes.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture, Colonialism, Orientalism, Edward Said.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 10-19
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.1KTV3PAE

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From Sentiment to Science — docomomo comes of Age

Abstract
The following keynote lecture was presented at the 12th International docomomo Conference that took place in Espoo, Finland, in August 2012. The author, an active member of docomomo since its creation, used this opportunity to do what is traditional when someone ‘comes of age’, that is, use it as a milestone to look back at where docomomo came from, and forward to what it might become.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Docomomo, Rehabilitation of modern architecture.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 4-9
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.ARQJ9CCL

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Ten Years After, the Continent of Hope and Modern Heritage

Abstract
Since the 1990s architectural historians discovered Modern architecture in Africa as part of a cultural production related to colonialism. With the introduction of postcolonial theory in the historiography of architecture, an exclusively ideological critical sense has been developed preventing disciplinary autonomy or practice of architecture and finally condemning any objective look. Recently, the development of concepts such as hybrid or the otherness has been promoting a nuanced historical analysis about architecture and politics in the 20th century in Africa. The recognition that a widespread awareness of Modern Movement architecture has always been serving colonization involves rethinking the basic principle of Modern welfare society and practiced architecture as a mission: how Modern principles have been exchanged, resulting from a Eurocentric culture with the cultures from the East and Africa. In addition, it must be said that the case of Sub–Saharan Lusophone Africa is now beginning to be studied in depth putting together peripheral universes.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Tropical architecture, Design with climate, African modern architecture.

Issue 48
Year 2013
Pages 2-3
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/48.A.ZDBBU7BS

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From Industrial Site to University Campus. Sümerbank Kayseri Textile Factory

Abstract
Even though Turkish Modernization in the 20th century was explained as a political revolution, it dealt much more with the transformation of space and social identity. As a result, the Turkish State built several industrial sites in Anatolian cities to strengthen their urban and social development.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Sümerbank Kayseri Textile Factory, Modern industrial complexes, Turkish modern architecture, Rehabilitation of modern architecture.

Issue 49
Year 2013
Pages 86-89
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/49.A.WB2AK1ZG

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Modern Industrial Heritage in Romania: Extending the Boundaries to Protect the Recent Past

Abstract
The term “Modern industrial heritage” is usually associated, in the Romanian context, directly with the 1920s-30s built legacy. This period is in fact commonly perceived as representative of the Romanian Modern Movement, in synchrony with the western Avant-garde. However, industrial traces even with modern influences were left on the national territory mostly by the 1945-89 Communist “forced industrialization.” The manifestation of the Communist industrial architecture was analyzed through the case study of Hunedoara Steelworks. It was also possible to investigate its destiny in the present context, dominated by a general resentment directed towards “political labeled” built environment. This analysis highlighted the vulnerability of the Romanian industrial heritage in the present context.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Romanian modern architecture, Modern industrial complexes, Rehabilitation of modern architecture.

Issue 49
Year 2013
Pages 82-85
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/49.A.VUI6Y7M6

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