tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post3458494601949399885..comments2024-03-27T06:20:06.991+00:00Comments on fantastic journal: fables of the reconstructionCharles Hollandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08749776401395551607noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-77584665504934151872010-10-23T10:24:05.091+00:002010-10-23T10:24:05.091+00:00Yes, this is Beatriz Colomina's point too. Tha...Yes, this is Beatriz Colomina's point too. That architecture is mediated building, or that architecture is constructed through its mediation.<br /><br />Thanks, thought I'd got away with that little bit of purple prose!Charles Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08749776401395551607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-62794445702953681562010-10-21T11:39:41.979+00:002010-10-21T11:39:41.979+00:00One of my PhD arguments is that history is to the ...One of my PhD arguments is that history is to the past what architecture is to building: the former being representations/reconstructions of the latter. The two aren't interchangeable terms in either case.<br /><br />loving "thixotropic space"!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-54311645099161070282010-10-21T03:07:39.889+00:002010-10-21T03:07:39.889+00:00I was also fortunate to see the old Palast when it...I was also fortunate to see the old Palast when it was still standing. You could buy paper model postcards of it in the design shops in Prenzlauer-- I sensed a nostalgia for what was not yet lost. On my next visit to Berlin it was almost fully pulled down. Unter den Linden was echoing the jackhammers, the rusty skeleton was shrouded in promotions for the new/old schloß that was replacing it. There was actually a rather excellent outdoor exhibition of historic photographs of the spot; here and there was some graffiti decrying the recreation of one history by erasing another. <br />I still wonder where all those bright, pink-bronze mirrors that glazed the Palast have gone to now. For myself, to find one in some vacant Brandenburg field would be a prize greater than pulling a caryatid from the bottom of a river.<br /><br />Really enjoying the journal, Charles.<br /><br />BauzeitgeistMM Joneshttp://bauzeitgeist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-78839503090117753652010-10-19T09:19:18.884+00:002010-10-19T09:19:18.884+00:00There's a great detective story to be written ...There's a great detective story to be written (by someone more dedicated and focused than me), in trying to unravel what happened to the original Barcelona Pavilion. I've always found it a mystery that such an icon of Modernism was demolished and thrown away so unceremoniously, even if it was intended to be a temporary building. Angry Catalan's comments make me wonder if there was a political angle not only in its reconstruction but also its demolition - a wilful act of forgetting.Kosmogradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08320899872288614980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-65560377658496219102010-10-18T21:43:35.205+00:002010-10-18T21:43:35.205+00:00Lang, yes you are right of course. I'm getting...Lang, yes you are right of course. I'm getting my DDR buildings mixed up. The Staatsrat complete with its bit of Schloß is still there. Good question though as to where it will end up after reconstruction.Charles Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08749776401395551607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-3077183375413388372010-10-18T18:02:51.015+00:002010-10-18T18:02:51.015+00:00By the way, has there been a decent article yet co...By the way, has there been a decent article yet comparing David Chipperfield's work at the Neues Museum and what Hans Dollgast's did in Munich 50 years ago the Alte Pinakothek.Lang Rabbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05480523735113854989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-67598903103038655042010-10-18T17:56:04.401+00:002010-10-18T17:56:04.401+00:00The Stadtschloß actually survived the war partly i...The Stadtschloß actually survived the war partly intact and was demolished by the DDR authorities.<br /><br />The preserved balcony of the Stadtschloß - from which Liebknecht declared the first socialist republic - wasn't incorporated into the Palast der Republik. It is still standing as part of the former Staatsrat (DDR Council of State( building on the south side of the square to which it was moved - which IIRC predated the Palast by at least a decade. So the questions are whether they move it back again after 40+years, and if so what to fill the gap in the Staatsrat facade with! <br /><br />What is even odder is the temporary "Humboldt-Box®" pavilion now going up to promote the Humboldtforum that will eventually occupy the rebuilt Schloß. The box is not a pastiche bleeding chunk of the Schloß, but a "contemporary" design - it looks like a rip-off of Koolhaas's Casa da Música!Lang Rabbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05480523735113854989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-61229531014201814192010-10-18T12:20:08.829+00:002010-10-18T12:20:08.829+00:00thanks for very useful comments.....
Angry Catala...thanks for very useful comments.....<br /><br />Angry Catalan, thank you for the insights into the politics behind the reconstruction of Mies' pavilion particularly. I didn't think the reconstructed pavilion differed greatly although I understood there were some detail adjustments. <br /><br />MM, I was in Berlin before the Palast der Republik was demolished and when a screen print of the Stadtschloss was put up on scaffolding to encourage the re-building. The most interesting part of the Palast was the preserved balcony (which presumably has been stored prior to wholesale reconstruction?) which preserved an important element of history whilst moving on....Charles Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08749776401395551607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-50060726172682829012010-10-16T03:33:58.078+00:002010-10-16T03:33:58.078+00:00Great essay, I find the last part about the Euston...Great essay, I find the last part about the Euston Arch especially interesting. <br />A third example might be the Palast der Republik, the former East German parliament in Berlin. This has a parallel story to Christ the Savior, but in this case the communist-era building was totally razed by 2008 to make way for the reconstruction of the Prussian-era Stadtschloß (which was lost during the war).<br />The Palst der Republik housed public venues and concert halls. The new schloss will not be a government building, but will be used as a museum. <br />Its interesting how a choice was made to re-introduce the seat of a historic imperial power, and erasing the manifestation of another era-- one nostalgia winning over another.MM Joneshttp://bauzeitgeist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-71408188627883492992010-10-14T23:41:53.850+00:002010-10-14T23:41:53.850+00:00Also, supposedly the rebuilt Pavillion is formally...Also, supposedly the rebuilt Pavillion is formally quite different from the original one - a lot has been written about this.<br /><br />As for reconstruction using actuall remains... there's Corbu (Ronchamp), there's Miralles (Utrecht, Sta. Caterina) and there's Scarpa (everything he did). These three examples I look up to. That's how I think we should look at history.angry catalannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-32718972154700199532010-10-14T23:33:52.391+00:002010-10-14T23:33:52.391+00:00The reconstruction of the Barcelona pavillion was ...The reconstruction of the Barcelona pavillion was very political. Oriol Bohigas (whose idea it was to reconstruct the pavillion) says that, as a student under Francoism, he found a picture of the Barcelona Pavillion and thought it was some building in Barcelona, Venezuela. Until the mid-60s, Modernism didn't exist, and indeed modernists in all fields of culture had to flee the country or were killed, especially if they were pro-Catalan. I don't think Bonet Castellana or Josep-Lluís Sert just fancied a trip to America now did they.<br /><br />Oriol Bohigas is kind of a left-wing "noucentista". "Noucentisme" is a Catalan cultural movement from the 20s. It's a rationalistic movement based on the idea of "civilisating" and "city-fying" society through the creation of Catalan cultural institutions. 1920's Noucentistes were bourgeoise and a bit fascistic in their will to educate the masses - indeed some of them went pro-Spain and pro-Franco later on, though some others didn't and went into exile, notably Josep Carner. The point is that Bohigas understood it meant dignifying the city though a public legacy which should become inextricably linked to the identity of the city and its people, and that's what's behind "the Barcelona model" and the reconstruction of the Barcelona Pavillion - or, as Bohigas' motto goes, "our goal is to reconquer the city centre and monumentalise the periphery".<br /><br />I hope this sheds some light on the subject. Maybe it's off topic. I don't know, but back in 1983 rebuilding the Barcelona pavillion was not nostalgic but inaugurating a period where a socialistic Modernism was to turn Barcelona into a livable city. It kind of failed because it wasn't very socialistic in the end, but it also kind of succeeded. But it was definitely NOT something that happened on the scale of the history of the architecture, or on the scale of the building itself and nothing more. It was about the city.angry catalannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-74137745430644797762010-10-14T22:39:14.847+00:002010-10-14T22:39:14.847+00:00Ha! That's a much better discussion of the sub...Ha! That's a much better discussion of the subject of my next column in BD, which is up on the site in about half an hour. In my defence, I had a tighter wordcount... <br /><br />(also, quickly re: Euston - I'm sure my position here is also 'over-rehearsed', but it surely fits more in the Christ the Saviour than Barcelona section, what with the kneejerk assumption that what was built there in the 60s is worthless. The redevelopment plans for Waterloo are similarly alarming, but it's sad that (eg) Gavin Stamp supports the former case of destruction of a perfectly decent station and not the second.)owen hatherleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943115307136493045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-23897173676976408092010-10-14T20:59:59.068+00:002010-10-14T20:59:59.068+00:00Great post, and one that brought to mind the ritua...Great post, and one that brought to mind the ritualistic reconstruction of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ise_Grand_Shrine#Rebuilding_the_Shrine" rel="nofollow">Ise Shrine</a> (due next in 2013 - how I'd love to be there for it).Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795208825742635713.post-78703990376732212422010-10-14T15:50:51.997+00:002010-10-14T15:50:51.997+00:00...which leads onto Hans Dollgast's reconstruc......which leads onto Hans Dollgast's reconstruction of the Alte Pinakothek.Jack Burnett-Stuarthttp://http;//barwork.denoreply@blogger.com