This article focuses on some traditional and alternative approaches regarding the different degrees of intervention in the city fabric. Their impact on the urban context is different. By presenting some evidence about such interventions, the article stresses the idea that there is still a lot of room for further exploration and experimentation. This exploration can be achieved only if architects and urban planners use creative and alternative thinking that goes beyond the anti-city approach of the modernists and the postmodern contextualism. Neither of these approaches explains the true complexity. The evolution of the context based on the concept of “becoming”, conceived by the philosopher G. Deleuse, opens a new direction of thinking that is a great potential to be experimented with in architecture and urban design. From this perspective the rhetoric about “erasing” or “conserving” a building or a context is too simplistic, and in both cases the risk is the isolation of the context from the rest of the city fabric and its social life. In addition, the article presents some evidence from the history of architecture, showing that in some cases political decisions about “erasure” at a large scale impacted not only the city where such a method was applied, but also other cities, introducing a new era in city development; such is the case of “percements” in the Hausmannian Paris. There exist also other cases of demolition at a large scale during the modern time, which were implemented in some degraded high-rise residential areas as a remedy for the high costs of maintenance and social segregation. The article tries to make us aware that we spend more time thinking about how cities are built, but not so much about the other half: how cities are destroyed. In this respect, the article focuses on two terms such as “urbicide” (Moorcock, 1963) and “Ceaoshima” (Ceaoshesku + Hiroshima), used to demonstrate the cases of violence against architecture and urban fabric. The “Ceaoshima” type of interventions applied in Albania during the communist regime marked the first demolitions at a great scale that “erased” important parts of the cities’ history. In this respect, the article presents evidence about the demolition of Tirana’s “Old Bazaar”, “Rruga e Barrikadave”, the former municipality, etc. Interestingly, despite the physical erasure people still remember and refer to these places with the old names and buildings. Finally, quite often we destroy cities even through building activities or simple neglect. This is a new form of “urbicide” in present Albania. Unfortunately “urbicide” quite often is part of the architect’s logic and “development” tools. In conclusion, the article encourages more experimentation and daring especially from the part of new architects with an alternative education. Assuming that the essence of the reality is transformation, the case of the “Pyramid” in Tirana could be a unique opportunity to experiment with the complex concepts of the context evolution which is based on the ontological concept of becoming. In this case being is understood as opposed to the fixed relation between forms. This is different from the traditional modernist “tabula rasa” and different from the postmodern contextualism. This direction of a new thinking is quite challenging, but, for sure, more acceptable than total “erasure”.
From “urbicide” to the context evolution
SOTIR DHAMO
2011
Abstract
This article focuses on some traditional and alternative approaches regarding the different degrees of intervention in the city fabric. Their impact on the urban context is different. By presenting some evidence about such interventions, the article stresses the idea that there is still a lot of room for further exploration and experimentation. This exploration can be achieved only if architects and urban planners use creative and alternative thinking that goes beyond the anti-city approach of the modernists and the postmodern contextualism. Neither of these approaches explains the true complexity. The evolution of the context based on the concept of “becoming”, conceived by the philosopher G. Deleuse, opens a new direction of thinking that is a great potential to be experimented with in architecture and urban design. From this perspective the rhetoric about “erasing” or “conserving” a building or a context is too simplistic, and in both cases the risk is the isolation of the context from the rest of the city fabric and its social life. In addition, the article presents some evidence from the history of architecture, showing that in some cases political decisions about “erasure” at a large scale impacted not only the city where such a method was applied, but also other cities, introducing a new era in city development; such is the case of “percements” in the Hausmannian Paris. There exist also other cases of demolition at a large scale during the modern time, which were implemented in some degraded high-rise residential areas as a remedy for the high costs of maintenance and social segregation. The article tries to make us aware that we spend more time thinking about how cities are built, but not so much about the other half: how cities are destroyed. In this respect, the article focuses on two terms such as “urbicide” (Moorcock, 1963) and “Ceaoshima” (Ceaoshesku + Hiroshima), used to demonstrate the cases of violence against architecture and urban fabric. The “Ceaoshima” type of interventions applied in Albania during the communist regime marked the first demolitions at a great scale that “erased” important parts of the cities’ history. In this respect, the article presents evidence about the demolition of Tirana’s “Old Bazaar”, “Rruga e Barrikadave”, the former municipality, etc. Interestingly, despite the physical erasure people still remember and refer to these places with the old names and buildings. Finally, quite often we destroy cities even through building activities or simple neglect. This is a new form of “urbicide” in present Albania. Unfortunately “urbicide” quite often is part of the architect’s logic and “development” tools. In conclusion, the article encourages more experimentation and daring especially from the part of new architects with an alternative education. Assuming that the essence of the reality is transformation, the case of the “Pyramid” in Tirana could be a unique opportunity to experiment with the complex concepts of the context evolution which is based on the ontological concept of becoming. In this case being is understood as opposed to the fixed relation between forms. This is different from the traditional modernist “tabula rasa” and different from the postmodern contextualism. This direction of a new thinking is quite challenging, but, for sure, more acceptable than total “erasure”.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
