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metamorphosis
The Continuity of Change

15th International DOCOMOMO Conference

Conference proceedings

Editors
Ana Tostões
Nataša Koselj
Title:
Metamorphosis. The Continuity of Change

Publishers:
Docomomo International
Docomomo Slovenia
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Docomomo
Editors:
Ana Tostões and the 80th birthday of Prof. Stane Bernik,
Nataša Koselj
who made the first Slovenian connection
Design:
Nataša Koselj
with Docomomo International in 1990.
Cover photos:
Cankarjev Dom by Edvard Ravnikar.
Photo: © Damjan Gale
Fish Sculpture in Tivoli Park by Vladimira Bratuž.
Photo: © Nataša Koselj
Interior double-page cover photo:
Cankarjev Dom by Edvard Ravnikar.
Photo: © Miran Kambič

Printing:
Mat-Format d.o.o.

Copies:
600

Ljubljana, 2018

ISBN: 978-989-99645-3-2

Indexed by Scopus.

How to cite this book (CMS):

Tostões, Ana, and Koselj, Nataša, eds. Metamorphosis. The Continuity of Change.
Lisboa: Docomomo International; Ljubljana: Docomomo Slovenia, 2018.

© All the rights reserved.

© of the edition, Docomomo International and Docomomo Slovenia,
© of the images, their authors and
© of the texts, their authors.
These proceedings may not be reproduced,
in the whole or in part, in any form without
a written permission from the Publishers.

Proceedings of the 15th International Docomomo Conference (15IDC),

28-31 August 2018, Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU

Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani

COBISS.SI-ID=296080128
ISBN 978-989-99645-3-2 (Docomomo International)
 15IDC Executive and Scientific COMMITTEES 15IDC Proceedings book PREFACE

01 METAMORPHOSIS AS VITAL TRANSFORMATION

The Modern Movement and the continuity of change
Ana Tostões (Portugal)

Executive Committee

Ana Tostões (Chair of Docomomo International)

Hubert-Jan Henket (Honorary President of Docomomo International)
Louise Noelle (ISCs Representative)
Nataša Koselj (Chair of Docomomo Slovenia)
p.34
Zara Ferreira (Secretary- General of Docomomo International) 02 EDGE AND METAPHOR
The Authentic Modernism of Edvard Ravnikar
Nataša Koselj (Slovenia)

Scientific Committee

Ana Tostões (Docomomo International, Portugal)

Andrea Canziani (Italy)
Bárbara Coutinho (Portugal)
p.36
Claes Caldenby (Sweden)
Eui-Sung Yi (Korea)
Franz Graf (Switzerland)
Henrieta Moravčiková (Slovakia)
Horacio Torrent (Chile)
João Belo Rodeia (Portugal)
Judi Loach (UK)
Louise Noelle (Mexico)
Miles Glendinning (Scotland)
Nataša Koselj (Slovenia)
Ola Wedebrunn (Denmark)
Ruth Verde Zein (Brazil)
Uta Pottgiesser (Germany)
Yoshiyuki Yamana (Japan)
Zara Ferreira (Docomomo International, Portugal)

4 15IDC Metamorphosis Preface 5

 15IDC KEYNOTE Lectures

01 Architecture as a Language with Emotional Impact. Aldo van Eyck and Pancho Guedes 05 Plečnik and Prague
Ana Tostões (Portugal) Vladimír Šlapeta (Czech Republic)

p.48 p.75
02 The In-Between Realm; Some memories of Aldo van Eyck and other Team 10 members in the 60’s 06 Architecture and Society. White Architects and Swedish Post-war Architecture
Hubert-Jan Henket (The Netherlands) Claes Caldenby (Sweden)

p.55 p.76
03 Aldo Van Eyck and the Postwar Amsterdam Playgrounds. An Urban Metamorphosis 07 In Times of Creative Destruction, the Struggle Towards a Non-Oppressive Environment
Liane Lefaivre (Canada, Austria) Alexander Tzonis (Greece, France)

p.62 p.85
04 Jože Plečnik – Architectura Perennis 08 Identity through Change
Damjan Prelovšek (Slovenia) Špela Videčnik (Slovenia)

p.69 p.90

6 15IDC Metamorphosis Keynote Lectures 15IDC Metamorphosis Keynote Lectures 7

 Session 01_City Growth, Change, Transformation: Session 02_Tactical Urbanism
Modern Project and the Inclusion of Difference Session Chair: Eui-Sung Yi (South Korea, USA)
Session Chair: Horacio Torrent (Chile)

p.95 p.121
01 Recreating the Public Through Transformation 01 Metamorphoses of Cultural Memory and the Opportunity to Safeguard
Fatina Abreek-Zubiedat, Ronnen Ben-Arie (Israel) the Modern Movement Heritage in Bulgaria
Ljubinka Stoilova (Bulgaria)

p.97
02 The life of Kosovo Modernism
p.123
Flaka Xërxa Beqiri, Vlora Navakazi (Kosovo) 02 Carbonia Project: The Reinvention of the Urban Landscape
Antonello Sanna, Paolo Sanjust (Italy)

p.102
03 The Brazilian Amazonia and its Modernities
p.133
Hugo Segawa, Marcos Cereto, Marianna Cardoso (Brazil) 03 Modern Heritage and the Challenges of Urban Conservation:
Between Singular Buildings and the Metamorphosis of Urban Fabric
Horacio Torrent (Chile)

p.109
04 The Plaza as the Locus of Continuous Modernity
Maximiano Atria (Chile)
p.140
04 Dirty Realism Reloaded: How can the Reality of a Contemporary City,
Developed Out a (Post-War) Modernism Resist Speculative Appropriation Nowadays?
Elena Markus (Germany)

p.116

p.149

8 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 9

 Session 03_European Housing Strategies Session 04_Housing in Translation
Session Chair: Miles Glendinning (Scotland) Session Chair: Ana Tostões (Potugal)

p.154 p.186
01 Modern Neighbourhoods in Ljubljana – The Splendour and Misery of Their Existence and Development 01 (Un-)Sustainability of the Concrete Mega-Blocks in New Belgrade:
Kaja Lipnik Vehovar (Slovenia) Potentials of Prefabricated Modern Structures for Transformation
Anica Dragutinović (Serbia, Belgium), Uta Pottgiesser (Germany, Belgium), Els De Vos (Belgium)

p.156
02 Portuguese State-subsidi­zed
­­ Multifamily Housing Projects.
p.188
Emergent Modernity During the Mid 20th Century 02 The Multiple Lives of the “Unité d‘Habitation” (1945-1967-2017).
Gisela Lameira, Luciana Rocha (Portugal) Repetition of Their Iconic Value and Differences in the Construction Systems,
From their Development to their Case Histories
Franz Graf (Switzerland)

p.164
03 Up-to-Date Interventions and Changing Identity:
The Imanta Housing Estate in Riga
p.197
Sandra Treija, Ug‘is Bratuškins, Alisa Korol‚ova (Latvia) 03 What is the Legacy of the Architectures of Change?
Richard Klein (France)

p.174
04 The Effects of Security-Based Contemporary Urban Development
p.203
on European Modern Mass Housing Landscapes 04 The Afterlives of Social Housing: The Adaptive Reuse of Three Moderist Estates
Melinda Benkő (Hungary) Cecilia Chu (Hong Kong)

p.181 p.208

10 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 11

 Session 05_Habitat - Regional between Global and Local Session 06_Doubts on Authenticity
Session Chair: Zara Ferreira (Portugal) Session Chair: Henrieta Moravčíková (Slovak Republic)

p.209 p.241
01 Modernism and Agrarian Utopia 01 Metamorphosis and Ambiguities: Some Remarks on Modern Heritage Preservation
Maria Helena Maia (Portugal) Ana Carolina Pellegrini, Ruth Verde Zein (Brazil)

p.211 p.243
02 Challenging Modern Movement Heritage Conservation in Africa 02 Metamorphosis as Ordinary Process of Change. Identity, Authenticity and Surviving Materials
Ola Uduku (Ghana), Ilze Wolff (South Africa) in the Case Study of Giuseppe Terragni‘s Novocomum
Carolina Di Biase, Alessia Facchi, Anna Greppi, Camilla Casonato (Italy)

p.218
03 Hotel Resorts in The Canary Islands: Creating a Vernacular City
p.248
on the Insular Landscape. Heritage Distortion, Aesthetical Fiction of Atlanticity or Tourist Attraction? 03 Modern Heritage or Not:
David Martín López (Spain) A Legacy of Post-War Restorations and Modern Movement
Miia Perkkiö (Finland)

p.225
04 The Formative Years of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis:
p.254
A Transcultural Genealogy of Critical Regionalism 04 Preserving by Using. MUDE Museum as a Case Study
Stylanos Giamarelos (Greece, UK) Bárbara Coutinho (Portugal)

p.232 p.260

12 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 13

 Session 07_Authenticity and Reuse Session 08_Visions for Living
Session Chair: Louise Noelle Gras (Mexico) Session Chair: Eui-Sung Yi (South Korea, USA)

p.266 p.288
01 Patterns of Conversion in Obsolete Cinema Theatres 01 From Icon to the Ordinary and Back?
Joana Gouveia Alves (Portugal) Questions for the Forthcoming Restoration of Adolf Rading‘s Turmhaus in Wroclaw‘s
WUWA Estate of 1929
Jadwiga Urbanik, Grażyna Hryncewicz-Lamber (Poland)

p.268
02 The Legacies of the Agricultural Production Cooperatives (LPGs) From the Former German
Democratic Republic. Surviving as Monuments Without a Function?
p.290
Vittoria Capresi (Italy, Germany) 02 Midcentury Modern Domestic Architecture:
A Continuum of Liveability
Kevin A. Yoder, Amanda Gibney Weko (USA)

p.274
03 Continuity Through Change: the Renovation of the Maison des Sciences de l‘Homme Building
in Paris
p.297
Vanessa Fernandez, Catherine Blain (France) 03 Kaneji Domoto: Versioning Japanese-American Modernism
Lynnette Widder (USA)

p.275
04 Mutatis Mutandis:
p.304
North American Architects in Caracas in the Twentieth Century 04 Telluric Landscape: Lina Bo Bardi and Suburbia
Hannia Gómez (Venezuela) Cláudia Costa Cabral (Brazil)

p.282 p.310

14 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15

 Session 09_Shifting Identities - Et in Arcadia Ego Session 10_Reinventing Public Institutions
Session Chair: Nataša Koselj (Slovenia) Session Chair: Claes Caldenby (Sweden)

p.316 p.343
01 The Cathedral of Freedom: 01 Livio Vacchini’s Saleggi School in Locarno.
Shifting Political Identities of an Unbuilt Architectural Project Strategies for the Conservation of 1970s Interiors
Miloš Kosec (Slovenia, UK) Roberta Grignolo (Switzerland)

p.318 p.345
02 Conservation of 20th-century Architecture in Portugal. 02 Renovation of Modern Secondary School Buildings:
The Lesson of Álvaro Siza Two Case Studies in Portugal
Teresa Cunha Ferreira (Portugal) Ana Fernandes, Maria Bacharel, Patrícia Lourenco
̨ , Alexandra Alegre (Portugal)

p.324 p.352
03 Tangible Metamorphoses, Intangible Changes. 03 Vancouver Experiment: Reinventing a Modern University Campus
The War Memorial Dedicated to the Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps Susan Ross (Canada)
in the Monumental Cemetery in Milan
Giulia Favaretto (Italy)

p.359
p.331 04 Modern Healthcare Buildings in Portugal.
From Anamnesis to Institutional and Public Awarness
04 Identity and Change in the Reuse of Masieri Memorial by Carlo Scarpa in Venice Daniela Arnaut (Portugal)
Sara Di Resta, Roberta Bartolone (Italy)

p.366
p.337

16 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 17

 Session 11_Downtown Reloaded Session 12_Updating Materials and Technology
Session Chair: Ruth Verde Zein (Brazil) Session Chair: Uta Pottgiesser (Germany, Belgium)

p.373 p.394
01 The SESC Project. 01 White, Everything White? Josef Frank’s Villa Beer (1930) in Vienna, and its Materiality
Going Modern as a Contemporary Urban Strategy Ivo Hammer (Germany), Robert Linke (Austria)
Carlos Eduardo Comas, Marta Peixoto (Brazil)

p.396
p.375 02 Restoring Jean Prouvé.
02 Radical Cocktail: Miami‘s Bacardi Imports Campus The “Buvette” at Évian-les-Bains (1955-57) and Other Technical Objects
Allan Shulman (USA) Giulia Marino (Switzerland)

p.380 p.403
03 The Insertion of Modern Buildings in The Historical Center of Recife, Brazil: 1946-1979 03 Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
Fernando Diniz Moreira, Patrícia Ataíde Solon De Oliveira (Brazil) Teak Window Wall Conservation Project
Kyle Normandin, Sara Lardinois (USA)

p.387
04 Before the Bilbao Effects:
p.410
A Case Study of Hans Hollein‘s Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach 04 The Yamanashi Communication Center as Modern Living Heritage from
Eva Branscome (UK) the Communication of Information to the Communication of Conservation:
A Case Study of the Adaptable Re-use of Metabolist Architecture
Kenji Watanabe (Japan)

p.392
p.418

18 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 19

 Session 13_Energy Efficiency and Environmental Impact Session 14_The Impact of Mobility
Session Chair: Franz Graf (Switzerland) Session Chair: Andrea Canziani (Italy)

p.426 p.456
01 Energy Conservation vs. Heritage Conservation: 01 Architecture in the Service of Socialist Automobile Culture
Evaluating Thermal Rehabilitation Scenarios by the Case Study of Terrassenhaussiedlung Graz Petr Vorlík (Czech Republic)
Alexander Eberl (Austria)

p.458
p.428 02 The Beautiful Everyday Journey
02 Concepts for Assessing Strategically the Historic Places of the Mid-20th Century Roberta Marcaccio (UK)
in Scotland for Climate Change Impacts
Carsten Hermann (Scotland)

p.466
p.435 03 The Adaptive Reuse Potential of Obsolete Inner-City Car Parking Structures for Urban Farming
and Local Food Supply: 3 UK Cases
03 New Ways in Retrofitting Postwar Dutch Walk-up Apartment Buildings: Monika Szopinska-Mularz (Poland), Steffen Lehmann (Germany, Australia)
Carbon Neutrality, Cultural Value and User Preferences
Leo Oorschot (The Netherlands)

p.473
p.442 04 Being Real
Catherine Croft (UK)
04 Tales From a Modernist Gallery: Incorporating Dwelling Experience in the 1956 Porto Public
Housing Programme
Paulo Providência (Portugal)

p.481

p.449

20 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 21

 Session 15_Modernity and Political Upheaval Session 16_Educating for Preservation and Reuse
Session Chair: Yoshiyuki Yamana (Japan) Session Chair: Wessel de Jonge (The Netherlands)

p.488 p.516
01 Permanent Recreation – The Former Spa Sanatoriums Transformation Into Permanent 01 How Modern Was Plečnik and What Can We Learn From Him Today?
Shelter of Internally Displaced Persons in The Republic of Georgia His Famous Buildings in Vienna Then and Now
Martin Zaiček (Slovakia), Andrea Kalinova (Slovakia), Nano Zazanashvili (Georgia) Wolfgang H. Salcher (Austria)

p.490 p.518
02 John Harris and Dubai. 02 Dissolving “Urban Time Bubbles”:
Political Insights, Urban Planning and Architectural Landmarks Integrating Modern Military Heritage Within the Contemporary City
Tiziano Aglieri Rinella (Italy, Dubai), Ruben Garcia Rubio (Spain, Dubai) Iris Kashman, Oren Ben Avraham (Israel)

p.497 p.525
03 The Place of Modernism – Architecture, Politics and Society in Johannesburg 03 Learning to Reuse Modernity: The Educational Challenge
Brendan Hart (South Africa) Gonc
˛alo Canto Moniz (Portugal), Andrea Canziani (Italy), Carolina Quiroga (Argentina)

p.504 p.532
04 New Approaches to Expanding Niemeyer’s CTA Design 04 Contributions of Academic Workshops to the Discussion on the Reuse of Modernist Buildings
Marcos José Carrilho (Brazil) Michael Melenhorst (Germany), Francisco Teixeira Bastos (Portugal)

p.511 p.540

22 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 23

 Session 17_Identity and Nation-Building Session 18_About Team 10_Continuity and Change
Session Chair: Bárbara Coutinho (Portugal) Session Chair: Hubert-Jan Henket (The Netherlands)

p.548 p.578
01 Concrete Garden City: Trans(planting) a Nation, 1950s-present 01 Re-thinking the Architecture of an Appropriate Habitat:
Eunice Seng (Singapore, Hong Kong) The Example of Shushtar-Nou, Iran (1975-85)
Mohamad Sedighi (Iran, The Netherlands)

p.550
02 The Clash of Nationalisms:
p.579
Making of Bulgarian Post-Socialist Identity on the Modern Heritage Battlefield 02 Myth and Metamorphosis: Aldo van Eyck‘s Orphanage (1960) in Amsterdam Restored
Aneta Vasileva (Bulgaria) Wessel de Jonge (The Netherlands)

p.558 p.587
03 Modernist Architecture in Gdynia as a Factor of Social Unity and Integration 03 The Economist Plaza. How to Restore a Modernist Icon to Create
Marek Ste
˛pa (Poland) Sustainable Contemporary Workspace and Preserve Public Amenity?
Deborah Saunt (UK)

p.564
04 Modernist Survival During Early Socialism in Hungary Nordic Influence
p.594
on Hungarian Architecture in the Post-War Period 04 In the Path of the “In-Between”:
Dániel Laczó (Hungary) From Buber to van Eyck and from Amsterdam to S�o Paulo
Anat Falbel (Brazil)

p.571
p.601

24 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentations 25

 15IDC Poster Presentation Introduction
Nataša Koselj (Slovenia)

p.602 05 Keeping Modernism Alive:

01 Urban Transformations and the Shifting in Production Modes, Al-Naameh Flourmill - Nablus City Harry Seidler’s Renovations to his 1953 T. Meller House (Australia)
Shaden Awad, Manal al-Bishawi (Palestine) Mariana Martin (Australia)

p.603 p.615
02 Modern Residential Architecture in Aleppo City. Transformations and Potentials for the Reconstruction of Old-Aleppo 06 Concrete Industrial Architecture in Italy 1950-1980:
Christine Kousa (Syria, Belgium), Uta Pottgiesser (Germany, Belgium), Els De Vos (Belgium) Documentation of a Changing Modern Heritage
Maria Vittoria Santi, Anna Frangipane (Italy)

p.606
03 Identity and Conservation of Modern Architecture in Thailand.
p.618
Case Study: “Sala Phra Kiew” Student Union Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 07 Guatemala Civic Center, Modern Heritage in Danger
Suphawadee Ratanamart, Noppawan Ratanamart (Thailand) Sonia M. Fuentes (Guatemala)

p.609 p.621
04 From Controversial Design to Heritage Icon: Seidler‘s Shell House 08 Brasilia‘s Banking Sector as Incomplete Work, 1957-
Cristina Garduno Freeman, Giorgio Marfella, Gareth Wilson (Australia) Helena Bender (Brazil, Switzerland)

p.612 p.624
26 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 27
09 Metamorphosis of the Hradecky Bridge 13 Preserving the Integrity of André Brothers’ Museums Despite
Lara Slivnik (Slovenia) the Evolution of Uses and Conditions of Conservation
Caroline Bauer (France)

p.627
10 Unintentional Continuity:
p.639
Development Parallels of Early Modern Urban Planning 14 Esma Pavilion by Roger Bastin and Jacques Dupuis.
(Cases: Bratislava, Slovak Republic and Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia) A Modern Heritage to Preserve in Belgium
Henrieta Moravčíková, Laura Pastoreková (Slovak Republic), Éva Lovra (Republic of Serbia) Chiara Fucelli, Michel Prégardien, Laurent Debailleux (Belgium)

p.630 p.642
11 Beyond the Growth Paradigm. 15 Modernist Architecture as a Means of Building the National Identity in the Polish People‘s Republic
The Future of Transportation‘s Vertical Segregation Ruins Slovak Radio Building Bratislava in the Years 1956-1980
Peter Szalay (Slovak Republic) Blazej Ciarkowski (Poland)

p.633 p.646
12 The Ferantov Vrt Project: 16 The Change in the Tangible and the Intangible Heritage of Eskis˛ehir Sugar Factory Residential Campus
Students‘ Contribution to the Process of Preserving Modern Heritage Figen Kıvılcım Çorakbas
˛, Ays
˛e Deniz Yes
˛iltepe (Turkey)
Sonja Ifko (Slovenia)

p.649
p.636

28 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 29

17 Mihelič’s Building in the Urbanistic Context of Miščević’s Block “Center” in Osijek, Republic of Croatia 21 Mapping Individually Designed Soviet Housing Between 1945-1990 in Riga, Latvia
Ines Ambruš, Denis Ambruš (Croatia) Lı-va Garka-je (Latvia)

p.652 p.664
18 Brutal and Fragile: 22 Modernism at Extreme Altitudes. Examples of Leisure-Pursuit Buildings Constructed
Case Study of New Belgrade‘s “Concrete Baroque” in the Second Republic of Poland (1918-1939)
Jelica Jovanović (Serbia) Maciej Motak (Poland)

p.655 p.667
19 The Ongoing History of Restaurant Savoy by Aino and Alvar Aalto 23 Corridor-Free School Buildings by Emil Navinšek
Jonas Malmberg (Finland) Mitja Zorc (Slovenia)

p.658 p.671
20 Metamorphosis of the Parliament in Prague: 24 Curicica Sanatorium: Modern Architecture for Health at Risk
Building the Czechoslovak National Identity Through Archtectural Ideas and Urban Context Ana M. G. Albano Amora, Renato da Gama Rosa Costa (Brazil)
Klára Brůhová (Czech Republic) Team: Leonardo Silvestre, Thaysa Malaquias, Michael Morouco.

p.661 p.674

30 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 31

25 Building a Modern House in Northern Lebanon: 2 Siblings, 2 Houses 29 A Pursue for the Destiny of the Arcade in the Twentieth Century:
Roula El Khoury Fayad (Lebanon) The Cases of Two Modernist Galleries in Brussels
Tine Poot, Els De Vos, Maarten Van Acker (Belgium)

p.677
26 Changes and Continuity - How to Trace Jul de Roover‘s Interior in His Transforming Modernist Oeuvre?
p.689
Selin Geerinckx, Els De Vos (Belgium) 30 From Vernacular to Modern – Dutch Natural Stone In and Out of the Context
Wido J. Quist (The Netherlands)

p.680
27 Architectural Concepts of Classical Antiquity
p.692
In the Project of the French Embassy of Le Corbusier 31 Sustaining the Social History and Community Spirit through Revitalising
Silvia Raquel Chiarelli (Brazil) the Oldest Modernist Social Housing “Mei Ho House” in Hong Kong
Wai Yu Anna Yau (Hong Kong)

p.683
28 The Appropriation of the Center of Cultural Coexistence in Campinas - “The Heart of the City”
p.695
Taiana Car Vidotto, Ana M. R. G. Monteiro, Fernando Shigueo Nakandakare (Brazil) 32 Architecture for the Community: School Building by Franc Novak in Murska Sobota
Meta Kutin (Slovenia)

p.686
p.698

32 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 15IDC Metamorphosis Poster Presentations 33

 THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF SUZANA AND DIMITRIS ANTONAKAKIS: Doumanis’s (1929-2013), François Loyer’s (b. 1941), and critical regionalism. To redress this, this paper returns to the
K Dimitris Fatouros’s (b. 1928) first histories of architecture in formative years of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis at the K
A TRANSCULTURAL GENEALOGY OF CRITICAL REGIONALISM modern Greece.2 Their inclusion in these histories situated National Technical University of Athens in the late 1950s. In
S01 their architectural concerns in the Greek context of the so doing, it recovers the transcultural genealogy that histori- S01
Stylianos Giamarelos (Greece, UK) 1960s. Like their peers, the two Antonakakis also had to ad- cally sustained their critical regionalism.
dress the question of tradition that was central in the cultural
S02 debates of the period. In addition, these histories consistently 2. PIKIONIS’S GRID UNDER THE PATHWAY S02
portrayed Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis as outward-look- Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ contact with Konstanti-
S03 ing practitioners, strongly influenced by the work of Mies van nidis was historically limited. His influence on the Anto- S03
ABSTRACT Tzonis and Lefaivre had constructed critical regionalism der Rohe and Le Corbusier.3 After the publication of “The nakakis’ architectural outlook emanated from his work, not
S04 In the early 1980s, Kenneth Frampton encompassed Alexan- around the work of Suzana (b. 1935) and Dimitris Anto- Grid and the Pathway” in 1981, however, the interpretation from the deeper ties of a personal biographical connection. S04
der Tzonis & Liane Lefaivre’s theorisations of critical region- nakakis (b. 1933). Tzonis and Lefaivre identified two major of their work became increasingly inward-looking.4 Owing to Suzana Antonakaki references Konstantinidis only four times
alism in his attempt to address the crisis of modern architec- design patterns in the work of the Greek architectural couple: the celebrated reception of Frampton’s, and Tzonis & Le- in the 107 articles she wrote for her monthly column on ar-
S05 ture. Tzonis & Lefaivre had originally constructed critical re- the “grid” (defined as “the discipline which is imposed on faivre’s writings, this inward-looking genealogy of critical re- chitecture in the popular daily newspaper, Ta Nea (1998- S05
gionalism around the architecture of Suzana & Dimitris An- every space element”) and the “pathway” (defined as “the lo- gionalism has not been seriously challenged since. However, 2009). By contrast, her substantial references to Le Corbusi-
S06 tonakakis. The two theorists traced a regional genealogy that cation of place elements in relation to a movement”).1 These it both distorts the actual formation of the Antonakakis’ ar- er, for example, are more than fifteen. Although they did S06
combined Aris Konstantinidis’s “rationalist grids” with Dim- two “major patterns” were in turn contextualised, albeit sche- chitectural outlook, and obstructs the transcultural aspects of study his built work, Konstantinidis’s influence in the forma-
itris Pikionis’s “topographically sensitive pathways” to inform matically, within the socio-political history of modern Greece.
S07 S07
the work of the Greek architectural couple. However, it was They corresponded to two different phases of Greek regional-
Figure 1. Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, apartment building on 118 Benaki Street, Athens, Greece, 1973-1974.
an outward-looking transcultural genealogy that historically ism, exemplified in the work of Aris Konstantinidis (1913-
© Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ private archive.
S08 sustained the two Antonakakis’ critical regionalism. Focusing 1993) and Dimitris Pikionis (1887-1968). In their various S08
on their architectural education at the National Technical projects, from the Archaeological Museum on Chios (in col-
S09 University of Athens in the late 1950s, this paper draws out laboration with Eleni Goussi-Dessyla, 1965) to a private S09
the elements that conditioned the Greek architects’ specific house at Spata (1974-1975), Suzana and Dimitris Anto-
understanding of the regional in relation to the modern. nakakis combined the rationalist “grids” of Konstantinidis
S10 S10
While their strong biographical connection with Pikionis with the topographical sensibility of Pikionis’s “pathways”.
sustained his influence on their work, Konstantinidis’s impact The historical embeddedness of these design patterns in the
S11 on their architectural outlook was limited. Apart from Pik- Greek regionalist movements rendered their architecture a S11
ionis’s teaching, the conducive factors to their architectural cultural intervention in a specific social context.
S12 formation lay in the theoretical lessons from Panayotis Their apartment building on 118 Benaki Street in Athens S12
Michelis, the drawing and painting classes of Nikos Hadjik- (1973-1974) exemplified Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’
yriakos-Ghika, as well as the teaching of the former disciple design principles at work (Fig. 1). In this project, the ‘path-
S13 of Mies van der Rohe, A. James Speyer. These cosmopolitan way’ that traverses the structural ‘grid’ curates the residents’ S13
mentors enabled the two Antonakakis to rethink the regional transition from the street to their apartment as a succession of
S14 in terms of the modern, in the way that rendered their work intermediate meeting points (with varying degrees of privacy S14
significant in the critical regionalist framework. The transcul- and publicity). In so doing, the project embodies a critique of
S15 tural genealogy proposed here is therefore aligned both with the “anonymous” Athenian apartment building typology, and S15
the programmatic aims and principles of critical regionalism, its commodified modes of production. The bespoke design of
and the two architects’ historical formation. each individual apartment, and the social bonds between the
S16 four families that resided in the apartment building, were also S16
1. INTRODUCTION crucial for the success of the project. It was only through the
S17 In the early 1980s, Kenneth Frampton (b. 1930) proposed connective glue of these social relations that the resistant “tra- S17
critical regionalism as a way out of the crisis of modern archi- ditional” ways of life could be retained in the transition from
tecture. In so doing, the British historian encompassed Alex- the rural to the urban environment.
S18 S18
ander Tzonis (b. 1937) and Liane Lefaivre’s earlier theorisa- Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ first steps in the architec-
tions. In their seminal essay “The Grid and the Pathway”, tural profession coincided with the appearance of Orestis
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232 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentation Stylianos Giamarelos The Formative Years of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis 233
 tion of the Antonakakis’ architectural outlook was not as im- see it defined as an art of precise proportions. As Dimitris
K portant as posited by Tzonis and Lefaivre. Three years before Antonakakis asserted when interviewed by Maria Dolka in K
the publication of “The Grid and the Pathway” in 1981, Kon- 2002, in their early work he and Suzana “used the geometri-
S01 stantinidis is not even mentioned as an indirect influence by cal proportions of the rectangle with the proportions of the S01
the architects. In the short memorandum booklet for his can- numbers to the square root of 3, 5 and of φ. This work with
didacy at the National Technical University of Athens in these proportions was a requirement of Pikionis’s courses”.10
S02 1978, Dimitris Antonakakis considers his lessons from Pik- S02
ionis and A. James Speyer (1913-1986) as the defining mo- 3. REGIONAL MODERNIST TEACHINGS
S03 ments of his formative years.5 Pikionis’s recourse to harmonic proportions connected his S03
The biographical connection was much stronger in the case of teaching with prevailing modernist design strands, as exem-
S04 Pikionis. Tzonis and Lefaivre were therefore right to stress the plified in the drawing classes of Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika S04
significance of his work, and especially his landscaping pro- (1906-1994). Involved in the organisation of the 4th Interna-
ject (1957-1958) around the Acropolis in Athens, for Suzana tional Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) in Greece
S05 and Dimitris Antonakakis. When their mentor guided his in 1933, Hadjikyriakos-Ghika was regarded as a living myth S05
students to a site visit in 1958, Suzana Antonakaki witnessed by the young students of the late 1950s. His classes started
S06 the poetic world that the architect can build. She understood from an analysis of the key elements in a drawing. He then S06
how this could be done through “selected viewpoints, crucial showed how those elements found their place in a specific
spots in the trajectory, […] visual radii, peripheries of circles, system of proportions (based on the diagonals of a rectangle
S07 S07
[…] proportions… the golden section”.6 As a student, Dimi- and their perpendiculars) and harmonic relations (especially
tris Antonakakis had also worked at the project. He therefore √5 and the golden section, among others). Hadjikyri-
S08 retained a living memory of the “topographically sensitive” akos-Ghika claimed he had extrapolated these relations from S08
ways in which his mentor organised “the pathway” that was works of art of diverse international origins. Their universal
S09 to become central in Tzonis and Lefaivre’s account. The space occurrence in turn validated their inner “truth”. To prove his S09
around the Acropolis was structured as “a succession of ‘criti- theory for themselves, Hadjikyriakos-Ghika asked his fourth-
cal’ points where extended views [we]re possible”. The overall year students to uncover the same underlying proportions in
S10 S10
design was based on “the particularities of each of the loca- Japanese art works. He also claimed that the artist’s sensibility
tions […] combined with [Pikionis’s] geometrical ordering could work towards these relations in an intuitive, uncon-
S11 preference” (Fig. 2). This ordering preference in turn rested scious way.11 The “unconscious” applications of the same S11
upon Constantinos Doxiadis’s theory of viewing segments.7 rules reinforced his argument about the universal validity of
S12 Following Doxiadis, Pikionis used circular segments for the these harmonic proportions. It also implied that the best ex- S12
overall organisation of his landscaping project. These circular amples of traditional architecture could be adhering to the
segments were “gridded up” in golden section divisions (3:5 same rules.
S13 and 8: 13). The points of their intersections were usually de- Hadjikyriakos-Ghika’s teaching presented the architects with S13
noted by the placement of an object deemed significant. a modernist lens that was complementary to their lessons
S14 Dimitris Antonakakis therefore concluded that “the entire from Panayotis Michelis’s (1903-1969). Michelis’s compre- S14
route is derived from a series of overlaid grids offering the hensive theoretical approach addressed the modern and the
S15 various possibilities and combinations eventually selected on regional in equal measure. Led by his conviction that archi- S15
the spot by Pikionis himself ”.8 In other words, Dimitris An- tects should also learn to write in academic standard, he initi-
tonakakis posited that Pikionis’s “pathway” was also under- ated the student lecture module in the early 1950s. For Dim-
S16 pinned by the “grid”. Even if “this type of grid on the ground itris Antonakakis, these student lectures highlighted the sig- S16
was a totally different class of grid being used at the time”, nificance of analysing architecture in typological terms.12 This
S17 both the grid and the pathway could be found in Pikionis. It was more evident in Suzana Antonakaki’s student lecture S17
was only because “Pikionis never talked about the grid” that project in 1959. To present the conclusions from her study of
Konstantinidis had to play a part in Tzonis and Lefaivre’s in- the architecture of Makrinitsa, she devised a typological ma-
S18 S18
terpretation of the Antonakakis’ work.9 One just had to trix (Fig. 3). Her analysis of houses extended from plan to Figure 2. Dimitris Antonakakis, Interpretative sketches of the geometric relations underpinning Dimitris Pikionis’s 1958 landscaping project around
scratch the “decorative” surface of Pikionis’s architecture to section, and from the interior to the courtyard. This multifac- the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 1989. © Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ private archive.
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234 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentation Stylianos Giamarelos The Formative Years of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis 235
 eted three-dimensional approach made her work stand out at misleading account of the Antonakakis’ main influences, the
K the time. It was distinctly architectural when compared with major intuition of Tzonis and Lefaivre was accurate. Through K
similar output by scholars of folk studies like Georgios Me- their work, the Antonakakis did attempt to associate Pikion-
S01 gas. Solely based on plan drawings, the crucial third spatial is’s poetic teaching with modernist tenets. S01
dimension was missing from his typological surveys of “the Speyer’s teaching further promoted the Antonakakis’ critical
Greek house”.13 In the final instance, Michelis’s teaching of- approach to the modern and the regional. Coming from a
S02 fered the two Antonakakis a way to understand traditional former student of Mies van der Rohe, Speyer’s appreciation of S02
architecture through a modern lens. Pikionis’s unconventional work was significant for the young
S03 Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis belonged to a young archi- architectural couple. It confirmed that Pikionis’s inspiring S03
tectural generation who aspired to update their role models’ teaching was not incompatible with a modernist outlook, as
S04 cultural contribution, in pursuit of a modern Greekness. implied by the prevailing criticism of his work at the time. It S04
Their aim was to combine their lessons from the native tradi- was affinities like these that enabled Suzana and Dimitris An-
tion with the tenets of international modernism for the post- tonakakis to relate Speyer’s open approach to modernism
S05 war Greek world. Michelis’s teaching equipped them with a with the lessons from their other mentors. Speyer was the S05
systematic way to look at the regional. In their individual only visiting professor in the School at the time (1957-1960).
S06 studies of Greek island settlements, Suzana and Dimitris An- For students like Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, his inter- S06
tonakakis combined Michelis’s lens with Hadjikyriakos-Ghi- national outlook felt like a breath of fresh air in a rather intro-
ka’s thesis on the “unconscious” prevalence of harmonic pro- verted school. Speyer offered his Greek students an effective
S07 S07
portions in works of art. way of organising their diverse, and occasionally divergent,
influences into a coherent body of thinking and a systematic
S08 4. CORBU AND MIES IN GREECE method of designing. Speyer’s undeniable admiration for the S08
Through their surveys of traditional settlements in their trav- work of Mies, coupled with his intention to move it further
S09 els across Greece, the young architects tried to define the pro- forward, was attuned with the Antonakakis’ own concerns to S09
portions of popular wisdom prevalent in vernacular architec- move modernism forward. They were not interested in a stat-
ture. In a recent interview, Kostis Gartzos, a close friend of ic replication of their lessons from the great “masters”.
S10 S10
Dimitris Antonakakis during their student years, posited that Supervised by Speyer, Suzana Antonakaki’s diploma project
they read the Cycladic settlements with the eyes of Le Cor- at the National Technical University of Athens (1959) docu-
S11 busier.14 They surveyed the vernacular settlements to confirm ments his teaching method (Fig. 4). This was based on ex- S11
the Modulor. These settlements were built by anonymous ploring alternative solutions to the same brief. The method
S12 workers whose main concern was to fulfil their immediate thus implied that there were no single correct answers to in- S12
practical needs. Uncovering harmonic relations behind their herently multifarious architectural questions. Speyer encour-
manual work would mean that both Hadjikyriakos-Ghika aged his students to account for their design decisions with
S13 and Le Corbusier were right. The vernacular tradition of arguments, sketches and “working models […] for five or six S13
Greece would be demonstrably connected with the major alternative propositions” for the same brief. His method ena-
S14 tenets of modernist design. And this would in turn legitimise bled Suzana Antonakaki to achieve “a critical distance to- S14
the “unconscious” wisdom of the regional builder as a source wards [her] own work”. This in turn meant accepting “the
S15 for enriching modern architectural designs. ‘stochastic adaptations’ – that so often arise from real condi- S15
Through their studies of the traditional built environment, tions and specificities – with sobriety”. This “exercise” was
Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis pursued specific archetypes valuable for the architects’ subsequent work. Speyer’s method
S16 of dwelling in Greece. These archetypes were in turn expected stayed with the couple as a stable point of reference, disci- S16
to lead to a poetic architectural expression of their modern pline and control of their design and thinking. In the final
S17 times. It is no coincidence that many of Suzana Antonakaki’s instance, Speyer provided them with “this disciplined deci- S17
references to Le Corbusier are followed by, and associated sion that allowed [them] to control what [they] do”.16
with, similar ideas from Pikionis.15 For the Antonakakis, the It was owing to Speyer’s teaching that the Antonakakis used
S18 S18
Figure 3. Suzana Antonakaki, typological matrix of traditional architecture, Makrinitsa, Greece, 1959, student lecture project at the National Technical questions of the modern and the regional were intertwined. the grid as the main organising mechanism of their architec-
University of Athens supervised by Panayotis Michelis. © Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ private archive. Although “The Grid and the Pathway” offered a historically tural design. He helped them understand it not as a rigid
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236 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentation Stylianos Giamarelos The Formative Years of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis 237
 straitjacket, but as an open-ended design principle. As such, NOTES
K it could be constantly affirmed and occasionally subverted. 1 Alexander Tzonis & Liane Lefaivre, “The Grid and the Pathway: An Intro- K
duction to the Work of Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis, with Prolegomena
This enabled the Antonakakis to incorporate the “controlled
to a History of the Culture of Modern Greek Architecture”, Architecture in
S01 transgression of given rules” that originated from their lessons Greece 15, 1981, 164-178; 164. S01
from Pikionis, in their architectural designs.17 2 See Orestis Doumanis, “Εισαγωγή στην ελληνική μεταπολεμική
αρχιτεκτονική”, Αρχιτεκτονική 48, 1964, 1-11; François Loyer, L’ Architec-
S02 5. TRANSCULTURAL REGIONALISM ture de la Grèce Contemporaine. Unpublished thesis (PhD), Université de S02
Paris, 1966 ; Dimitris Fatouros, “Greek Art and Architecture 1945-1967: A
The diverse lessons from their student years conditioned Su-
Brief Survey”, Balkan Studies 8(2), 1967, 421-435.
S03 zana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ personal understanding of 3 See, for instance, Antonis Antoniadis, Σύγχρονη ελληνική αρχιτεκτονική,
S03
tradition. This approach was clearly removed from parochial Athens, Karangounis, 1979, 122-127.
S04 nostalgia and ossified historicisms.18 Understanding tradition 4 See, for example, Dimitris Philippidis, Νεοελληνική αρχιτεκτονική:
S04
in terms of the actual everyday life of modern Greeks was an Αρχιτεκτονική θεωρία και πράξη (1830-1980) σαν αντανάκλαση των
ιδεολογικών επιλογών της νεοελληνικής κουλτούρας, Athens, Melissa,
open question of the present as it moves towards an uncertain
S05 future. Tzonis and Lefaivre were right to note that the work
1984, 374-376. S05
5 Dimitris Antonakakis, Βιογραφικό Υπόμνημα, National Technical Uni-
of the Antonakakis moved away from escapist understand- versity of Athens School of Architecture, 1978, 7, and 66-67.
S06 ings of tradition.19 It was their insistence on the living and 6 Suzana Antonakaki, Κατώφλια: 100 + 7 Χωρογραφήματα, Athens, futura, S06
evolving aspect of tradition as an actual part of modern life 2010, 33.
7 See Kostas Tsiambaos, From Doxiadis’ Theory to Pikionis’ Work: Reflections of
that made the difference. Theirs was an all too modern way to
S07 Antiquity in Modern Architecture, London, Routledge, 2017. S07
understand the regional. 8 Dimitris Antonakakis, “Landscaping the Athens Acropolis”, Mega XI,
In the work of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, the modern Dimitris Pikionis, Architect 1887-1968: A Sentimental Topography, London,
S08 was used as a critical tool to study the regional. The two archi- Architectural Association, 1989, 90. S08
tects thus kept their clear distance from the conservative tradi- 9 Dimitris Antonakakis cited in Maria Dolka, “The Grid in Pefkakia Ele-
mentary School by Pikionis and the Grid in the Rethimno Faculty of Hu-
S09 tionalists of the period. Despite their admiration for the work S09
manities. Are They so Related as They Appear?”, Unpublished thesis (Inter-
of the modernist “masters”, however, they were also critical of national Baccalaureate extended essay in higher level visual arts), I. M. Pana-
the placeless architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbus- giotopoulos School, 2002, 5.
S10 S10
ier.20 In the Antonakakis’ work, the regional also became the 10 Antonakakis cited in Dolka, “The Grid in Pefkakia”, 2002, 2.
vehicle for a critical approach of the modern. In other words, 11 In class, he illustrated his theory through selected examples from modern
S11 the architects’ inquiry moved both ways. It constituted both a Western and Japanese art. Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, interviewed by S11
Stylianos Giamarelos, 27 May 2014.
critique of the regional through the modern, and a critique of 12 Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, interviewed by Stylianos Giamarelos,
S12 the modern through the regional. The questions of the modern 27 May 2014. S12
and the regional were intertwined. In the final instance, it was 13 Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, interviewed by Stylianos Giamarelos,
this specific regional aspect that enabled the Greek architects to 27 May 2014.
S13 address the prolonged impasse of modern architecture. For Su- 14 See Georgios Megas, The Greek House, its Evolution and its Relation to the S13
Houses of the other Balkan States, Athens, Ministry of Reconstruction, 1951.
zana and Dimitris Antonakakis, the study of tradition was 15 Kostis Gartzos, interviewed by Stylianos Giamarelos, 2 July 2014.
S14 meant to confirm the connection of the international (critical) 16 See Suzana Antonakaki, Κατώφλια, 2010, 149-150. S14
modernist orientation of their work with the Greek (regional) 17 Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, interviewed by Stylianos Giamarelos,
vernacular. It was this dual conciliatory relation of the local 23 June 2013.
S15 18 Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, “Acknowledgements”, Atelier 66: The S15
with the international that endowed their work with the qual-
Architecture of Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis, Athens, futura, 2007, 10-
ities appreciated by the critical regionalist discourse. For the 19; 17.
S16 Antonakakis, the question of the regional became a question of 19 See Dimitris Antonakakis, “Προβληματισμοί σχεδιασμού”, The Journal
S16
continuity. They pursued the ways in which the architectural of the Association of Greek Architects 21-22, 1989, 65-66, and 77; 65.
S17 lessons from the past and the bold visions for the future could 20 Tzonis and Lefaivre, “The Grid and the Pathway”, 1981, 178. S17
21 Dimitris Antonakakis, “Το μοντέρνο και ο τόπος”, Architecture in Greece
be appropriately reconciled and responsibly adjusted to the
30, 1996, 134.
needs of a changing world. Owing to the nuanced genealogy of
S18 S18
Figure 4. Suzana Antonakaki, School of Fine Arts Workshop, Skyros, Greece, 1959, diploma project at the National Technical University of Athens their architectural formation, their critical regionalism was
supervised by A. James Speyer, 1959. © Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis’ private archive. therefore primarily transcultural.
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238 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentation Stylianos Giamarelos The Formative Years of Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis 239
 BIOGRAPHY
K Dr. Stylianos Giamarelos is a Teaching Fellow in Architec- Session 06_DOUBTS ON AUTHENTICITY K
tural History and Theory at the Bartlett School of Architec-
Session Chair: Henrieta Moravčíková (Slovak Republic)
S01 ture UCL, an Associate Lecturer in Research-Led Design at S01
Oxford Brookes University, an Associate Lecturer in Archi-
tectural History and Theory at the Universities of Greenwich
S02 and East London, and a general editor of the EAHN’s Archi- S02
tectural Histories. He has co-authored and co-edited the books
S03 The Postmodern in Architecture (Athens: Nefeli 2018), Un- S03
charted Currents (Athens: Melani 2014), and ATHENS by Ever since the Nara Document of 1994, authenticity has subject to change. Each era, each region, each culture and
S04 SOUND (Athens: futura 2008). Among others, his work has been the central argument in the protection of heritage. And each individual have their own conceptions of history. There S04
been published in the Journal of Architectural Education, Foot- it is no different even in relation to the architectural legacy of is no authentic history, only an authentic desire for it. Built
print, FRAME, Metalocus, and San Rocco. modernity. Yet the idea behind the concept has changed over heritage is the location of authentic desires”, notes Seiden-
S05 time and across cultures, making it thus somewhat complex spinner.4 Hence we could say that the most authentic aspect, S05
and unclear. Most explicitly, this sense is expressed in Para- in the current context of the neoliberal order, is essentially the
S06 graph 11 of the Document, where it states that “it is not pos- socialist aim of the architecture of the postwar European so- S06
sible to base judgements of values and authenticity within cial state. And a specific standpoint towards architectural au-
fixed criteria. On the contrary, the respect due to all cultures thenticity is even found in the Nara Document, where para-
S07 S07
requires that heritage properties must be considered and graph 13 literally states that authenticity can be judged on the
judged within the cultural contexts to which they belong”.1 basis of a wide range of sources that reflect “form and design;
S08 Vice versa, we could equally assert that our method of treat- materials and substance; use and function; traditions and S08
ing historic built heritage is always an image of our immedi- techniques; location and setting; spirit and feeling; and other
S09 ate context. Heritage is always a reflection of the current pref- internal and external factors”.5 S09
erences of society, it is an “exponent of the era’s desires (Zeit- Under such a conception, authenticity on one hand allows for
wollen) in the field of art”, as noted as early as 1925 by Hans a targeted and locally specific approach to built landmarks, yet
S10 S10
Tietze.2 Similarly, what is authentic is not given a fixed value, also it creates a space for the deliberate modification of univer-
but changes under the influence of social discourse. As late as sal rules. Many critics of the Nara Document have, for this
S11 the 1980s, authenticity in the Western cultural sphere was reason, noted that it could lead to completely arbitrary treat- S11
defined most strongly by the physical substance of built her- ment of architectural heritage, without any need to provide
S12 itage. More recently, the sense of a spiritual essence is gaining arguments or assume responsibility in a local cultural context S12
much greater influence. “If we now acknowledge five differ- for what this document de facto legitimises.6 Experience with
ent authenticities – form, material, technology, function and similarly “arbitrary” treatment of heritage has been a constant
S13 place – in itself this implies a certain liberation from the phys- since the 1990s in the countries of the former Communist S13
ical basis of authenticity. Yet still it does not imply a major bloc.7 Ensuing from the argument of rectifying the wrongs
S14 shift from the exclusive binding of authenticity to original committed by Communist states, it has legitimated the liqui- S14
substance, which is relatively arbitrarily anchored in the so- dation of entire historic layers of architecture from the 1960s
S15 cial-cultural historical process and which is contradicted even and 1970s.8 Yet it is not simply a matter of post-communist S15
by the conception of authenticity in other sciences or in mod- countries or post-war Modernism alone. An unclear concep-
ern art”, notes cultural anthropologist Wolfgang Seidenspin- tion of the idea of authenticity has meant that on one side we
S16 ner.3 Heritage is founded in a social agreement. Hence au- find replications of historic structures, intended to serve as a S16
thenticity will take a different form when linked to a certain source of patriotism, and the obliteration of other structures
S17 social situation. For instance, if at the end of the 20th century, that have problematic ideological links. In Bratislava, the Slo- S17
the source of authenticity for the Brutalist architecture of the vak capitol, work has been underway since 2008 on restora-
social state was seen as the authenticity of its material render- tion of the city’s castle, to restore it to its lost Baroque form. In
S18 S18
ing, what is now much more significant is indeed the social this process, the Castle lost an entire layer of its Modernist
dimension of this architecture. “Authenticity and identity are remodelling from the 1960s. During the restoration of the
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240 15IDC Metamorphosis Paper Presentation Henrieta Moravčíková Doubts on Authenticity 241
ORGANISERS

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 is a non-profit organization dedicated to the documenta-
tion and conservation of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement
chaired by Ana Tostões, architect and full professor at Técnico - University of Lisbon,
where the headquarters are based. It was established 30 years ago at the School of Archi-
tecture at the Technical University in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, by Hubert-Jan Henket
and Wessel de Jonge, architects and professors.
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It aims to:
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public, the authorities, the professionals and the educational community.
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represents one of the 70 Working Parties of Docomomo

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Slovenia works in connection with the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture, where
in 2005 Nataša Koselj established, and has been teaching, the elective course Slovenian
Architecture of the 20th Century in the frame of the Docomomo endavours and goals.
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