Structuralism is a movement in architecture and urban planning that evolved around the middle of the 20th century. It was a reaction to Rationalism's (CIAM-Functionalism)Aldo van Eyck, "Statement Against Rationalism", written for CIAM VI in 1947. In: Aldo van Eyck - Writings, Amsterdam 2008. Statement against CIAM-formulations like: "Urban planning can never be determined by aesthetic considerations but exclusively by functional conclusions." This formulation came from architects of the Rationalist movement, written for the CIAM-declaration in 1928. perceived lifeless expression of urban planning that ignored the identity of the inhabitants and urban forms.
Structuralism in a general sense is a mode of thought of the 20th century, which originated in linguistics. Other disciplines like anthropology, psychology, economy, philosophy and also art took on structuralist ideas and developed them further. An important role in the development of structuralism was played by Russian Formalism and the Prague School. Roland Barthes, a key figure of structuralist thought, argued that there was no complete structuralist philosophy but only a structuralist method.
Dutch architects of structuralism did studies in a similar way as Claude Lévi-Strauss (anthropology) and were interested in the principle "langue et parole" by Ferdinand de Saussure (linguistics), especially for the theme participation.Francis Strauven, Aldo van Eyck - The Shape of Relativity, Amsterdam 1998 (1994). Biography of Aldo van Eyck and his "Configurative Discipline" of designing.
At the beginning of the general article Structuralism, the following explanations are noted:Structuralism is a theoretical paradigm emphasizing that elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure.
Alternatively, as summarized by philosopher Simon Blackburn: Structuralism is the belief that phenomena of human life are not intelligible except through their interrelations. These relations constitute a structure, and behind local variations in the surface phenomena there are constant laws of abstract culture.
Structuralism and Postmodernism In Europe, structuralism had a strong influence on the theoretical debate up to the end of the late 1960s. In its endeavor to offer an alternative to classical modern architecture, it was paralleled by New Brutalism. By 1975, structuralist philosophy lost its predominant position in the humanities due to important social and political changes. In architecture, its position was undermined by the increasing popularity of postmodern architecture promoted by authors such as Charles Jencks, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Structuralist ideas kept up to inform the work of important architects during and after the postmodern era, which is estimated to have ended by 1995.
The theoretical concepts of structuralism in architecture were developed mainly in Europe and Japan, with important contributions of the United States and Canada. Contributions in architectural magazines by Arnulf Lüchinger and his compilation of structuralist projects published in 1980 (Structuralism in Architecture and Urban Planning) introduced structuralism to a wider audience. Important assessments concerning structuralist theory in architecture have been made by Kenneth Frampton and .
In the 2010s, a new interest in structuralism in architecture can be detected, although it can be established that it is not paralleled by a revival of structuralism in the humanities. In 2011, a comprehensive scientific compilation of "structuralist activity" appeared in a publication called Structuralism Reloaded.Tomas Valena (ed.) with Tom Avermaete and Georg Vrachliotis, Structuralism Reloaded - Rule-Based Design in Architecture and Urbanism, Stuttgart-London 2011. 47 articles by Roland Barthes, Herman Hertzberger, Winy Maas et al. In this extensive book, articles by 47 international authors were published about philosophical, historical, artistic and other relevant aspects. The following parts of this article are based on the current state of the publication Structuralism Reloaded.
A few months after publishing this book, the RIBA Institute in London discussed the new candidates for the RIBA Gold Medal in 2012. An actual question was: "Should the Venturis be given this year's RIBA Gold Medal?" Surprisingly enough, the RIBA-committee did not award the Venturis with their postmodernist view, and instead, gave Herman Hertzberger the prize for his structuralist architecture and theoretical contributions. The times had changed and a shift in emphasis had occurred. The comment of the former RIBA president Jack Pringle was: "The Royal Gold Medal, Britain's most prestigious award, should go to an architect that has taken us forward, not backwards." Today, postmodern architecture can be compared, to some degree with the architectural movement, Traditionalismus, in Europe.
Various movements and directions
The anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss, remarked: "I do not believe that we can still speak of one structuralism. There were a lot of movements that claimed to be structuralist." This diversity can also be found in architecture. However, architectural structuralism has an autonomy that does not comply with all the principles of structuralism in human sciences. In architecture, the different directions have created different images. In this article two directions are discussed. Sometimes these occur in combination.
On the one hand, there is the Aesthetics of NumberAldo van Eyck, "Het Verhaal van een Andere Gedachte" (The Story of Another Idea), with the principle "Aesthetics of Number", in Forum 7/1959, Amsterdam-Hilversum. The editorial team for the magazine Forum 7/1959-3/1963 and July/1967 existed of Aldo van Eyck, Herman Hertzberger, Jacob Bakema et al. which was formulated by Aldo van Eyck in 1959. This concept can be compared to cellular tissue. The most influential prototype of this direction is the orphanage in Amsterdam by Aldo van Eyck, completed in 1960. The "Aesthetics of Number" can also be described as "Spatial Configurations in Architecture"Aldo van Eyck, "Steps towards a configurative discipline", in: Forum 3/1962, Amsterdam-Hilversum. or "Mat-Building" (Alison Smithson).
On the other hand, there is the Architecture of Lively Variety (Structure and Infill)N. John Habraken, Supports - An Alternative to Mass Housing, London 1972. User Participation. (Dutch edition De Dragers en de Mensen, Amsterdam 1961. German edition Die Träger und die Menschen, The Hague 2000; in combination with Two-Components-Approach - Structure and Coincidence). which was formulated for user participation in housing by John Habraken in 1961. Also, in the 1960s, many well-known utopian projects were based on the principle of "Structure and infill". An influential prototype of this direction is the Yamanashi Culture Chamber in Kofu by Kenzo Tange, completed in 1967. In relation to housing projects with participation Herman Hertzberger used the terms "Architecture as half-product" or "Open structures" and Alejandro Aravena the terms "Participatory design process", "Incremental housing" and "Half-houses".
Origins
Structuralism in architecture and urban planning had its origins in the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) after World War II. Between 1928 and 1959, the CIAM was an important platform for the discussion of architecture and urbanism. Various groups with often conflicting views were active in this organization; for example, members with a scientific approach to architecture without aesthetic premises (Rationalists), members who regarded architecture as an art form (Le Corbusier), members who were proponents of high- or low-rise building (Ernst May), members supporting a course of reform after World War II (Team 10), members of the old guard and so on. Individual members of the small splinter group Team 10 laid the foundations for Structuralism. The influence of this team was later interpreted by second generation protagonist Herman Hertzberger when he said: "I am a product of Team 10." As a group of avant-garde architects, Team 10 was active from 1953 to 1981, and two different movements emerged from it: the New Brutalism of the English members (Alison and Peter Smithson) and the Structuralism of the Dutch members (Aldo van Eyck and Jacob Bakema).Max Risselada and Dirk van den Heuvel (eds.), Team 10 - In Search of a Utopia of the Present, Rotterdam 2005. Essays by 23 authors. Interviews with Georges Candilis, Giancarlo De Carlo, Balkrishna Doshi, Ralph Erskine, Herman Hertzberger, Alison and Peter Smithson, Aldo van Eyck.
Outside Team 10, other ideas developed that furthered the Structuralist movement - influenced by the concepts of Louis Kahn in the United States, Kenzo Tange in Japan and John Habraken in the Netherlands (with his theory of user participation in housing). Herman Hertzberger, Lucien Kroll and Alejandro Aravena made important architectural contributions in the field of participation.
In 1960, the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange designed his well-known Tokyo Bay Plan. Reflecting later on the initial phase of that project, he said: "It was, I believe, around 1959 or at the beginning of the sixties that I began to think about what I was later to call Structuralism."Kenzo Tange, "Function, Structure and Symbol, 1966", in: Udo Kultermann, Kenzo Tange, Zurich 1970. Kenzo Tange in 1966: "In addition to 'functioning' we also need to give spaces structure. The process of 'structuring' is the basic theme of urban design." - Kenzo Tange in a lecture in 1981: "It was, I believe, around 1959 or in the beginning of the Sixties, that I started to think about what I was later to call structuralism," (published in Plan 2/1982, Amsterdam). Tange also wrote the article "Function, Structure and Symbol, 1966", in which he describes the transition from a functional to a structural approach in thinking. Tange considers the period from 1920 to 1960 under the heading of "Functionalism" and the time from 1960 onwards under the heading of "Structuralism".
Le Corbusier created several early projects and built prototypes in a Structuralist mode, some of them dating back to the 1920s. Although he was criticized by the members of Team 10 in the 1950s for certain aspects of his work (urban concept without a "sense of place" and the dark interior streets of the Unité), they nevertheless acknowledged him as a great model and creative personality in architecture and art.
Manifesto