SNSF-Research Project
Organising Modernism: The Case of Post-War CIAM
SNSF-Research Project
Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
Since 2012
The project considers that organisational aspects of the Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) crucially defined its agenda. Post-war CIAM, seen from this perspective, comprises an authoritative, powerful, benchmarking, broadly networked architectural association that endeavoured to do no less than establish modern architecture worldwide in the post-war era. The research seeks, on the one hand, to illustrate the mechanisms by which the institution of CIAM made an impact on architectural and academic discourse of the 1950s and 1960s, and on the other hand to scrutinise CIAM participants’ architectural and urban planning projects. The research thereby uses CIAM’s concrete practice to demonstrate both the impact and the limits of the types of normative knowledge CIAM proposed.
In contrast to previous research, which has addressed post-war CIAM primarily in the light of its chronological development or internally debated positions, the present project considers that the structure and organisation of CIAM were decisive for its institutional dimensions. It thus assesses CIAM as a body emblematic of the new relations and interests established in the post-war era between architecture, the economy, politics and society, and consequently considers CIAM within this broader framework, particularly with regard to similar institutions such as UNESCO or Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), with which CIAM competed for public attention on the international stage.
The proposal thus takes two separate paths in pursuit of a single explicit objective: Project A, “CIAM: An Architectural Institution”, examines the mechanisms by which post-war CIAM made an impact – or tried to do so – both as an institution in its own right and by institutionalising modernism. Project B, “CIAM Projects: Architecture and Urban Planning”, focuses on architectural and urban planning projects, evaluating them both as a concrete means by which CIAM sought to realise its objectives in the post-war period and as a crucial motor that drove internal debate within the CIAM movement.
This project has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
Since 2012
The project considers that organisational aspects of the Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) crucially defined its agenda. Post-war CIAM, seen from this perspective, comprises an authoritative, powerful, benchmarking, broadly networked architectural association that endeavoured to do no less than establish modern architecture worldwide in the post-war era. The research seeks, on the one hand, to illustrate the mechanisms by which the institution of CIAM made an impact on architectural and academic discourse of the 1950s and 1960s, and on the other hand to scrutinise CIAM participants’ architectural and urban planning projects. The research thereby uses CIAM’s concrete practice to demonstrate both the impact and the limits of the types of normative knowledge CIAM proposed.
In contrast to previous research, which has addressed post-war CIAM primarily in the light of its chronological development or internally debated positions, the present project considers that the structure and organisation of CIAM were decisive for its institutional dimensions. It thus assesses CIAM as a body emblematic of the new relations and interests established in the post-war era between architecture, the economy, politics and society, and consequently considers CIAM within this broader framework, particularly with regard to similar institutions such as UNESCO or Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), with which CIAM competed for public attention on the international stage.
The proposal thus takes two separate paths in pursuit of a single explicit objective: Project A, “CIAM: An Architectural Institution”, examines the mechanisms by which post-war CIAM made an impact – or tried to do so – both as an institution in its own right and by institutionalising modernism. Project B, “CIAM Projects: Architecture and Urban Planning”, focuses on architectural and urban planning projects, evaluating them both as a concrete means by which CIAM sought to realise its objectives in the post-war period and as a crucial motor that drove internal debate within the CIAM movement.
This project has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
Contact
Prof. Dr. Laurent Stalder
