buildings and projects

7/29/2019 Buildings and Projects

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Lucien KrollBuildings and Projects

Introduction by Wolfgang Pehnt


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1. Eugene-Emmanuel Viol let-le-Duc. The firstbuilding. Histoire de l'habitation humaine. Pars,n.d. (1875).

: Lucien Kroll. Fr eine Entmilitarisierung des Bauens.In: Freibeuter 12. Berl in, 1982, pp. 78f ., Claude Lvi-Strauss. From address at the presentation o the Erasmus Prize, Rotterdam 1973. - Aldo,"an Eyck. In: Alison Smithson, ed., Team10 Primer.London, 1968. Quoted in: Arnulf Lchinger. Struk-nlralismus in Architektur und Stiidtebau. Stuttgart,19 1.p. 14,36.

Return of the SiouxWolfgang PehntLucien Kroll, the Belgian architect, is responsible for a body ofwork that reaches back ovperiod of several decades. But up to the present, visitors who see buildings of bis team forfirst time will feel the shock of a totally unexpected encounter. Bis largest project up to nthe students' quarter at Woluw-Saint Lambert near Brussels, has proved to l?e a majorarchitectural attraction. Nevertheless, it always offers an amazing experience in its seeminchaotic overall effect, in its absence of an ordering principIe, in its supposed arbitrariness,in its bizarre appearance. It stands opposed to the whole rationalist tradition of building.Lucien Kroll is indeed diametrically opposed to all those who always know how their ownwell the arcbitecture of others has to be. If Kroll belongs to a particular tradition, it is notthat of writers such asFilarete of the 15th or Abb Laugier of the 18th century, who saw thtemple inherent in the straw hut. If he is allied at all, it is probably more to the "dreamers'characters," as Viollet-le-Duc called them - those who do not teach the birds what kind onests to build, but who would help them make their nests according to their own nature.Kroll's place is among those who are less interested in the pyramids than in the tents at thbases, less in the cathedral than in the surrounding maze of houses. The order he advocatnot that of the preconceived form, which regulates all details at the outset, but that whichresults from specific cTcumstances and conditions. and produces a variety of solutions. Hwould never sing the praises of the straight line, like Le Corbusier; neither could he, unlikCorbusier, ever upbraid natural winding tracks as "donkey paths."For over three decades Kroll has been dedicated to the support of the organic against theorthogonal- the civilians against the militarists. the skillful craftsman against the engineerspeaks of the return of the Sioux to the cities of F W Taylor. of the revolt of the Celts agaithe Romans. It concerns him little that, in view of some plucky raids on the trivial workadworld, there is a tendency to be reminded of the Celts in the ..Asterix" comics, rather thanintricate ornamentation of Celtic codices. Dreamers do not become extinct, even ifthe grdreamer-cultures (Celts, Indians, Aztecs, Hindus) have long since been superseded bymechanistic civilization.lEvidence that such ancient bonds still exist. and need only to be rediscovered, was givenremarkable verification by Kroll during his assignment for Perseigne, a housing project insmall town of Alen


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AiCria1view of vernacular housing settlement inambia. From: Bernard Rudofsky. Architecturethout Architects. New York, 1965.

poverty of these improvised, over-populated and endangered settlements, shared with theinhabitants of native vernacular housing). Such insight comes from not interfering with the socalled "unwitting." That itis the task of the specialist to apply himself to the reflection of thiswisdom, became one of the fundamental premises for Kroll's CEuvre.Because our society isbased upon division of labor and is thus fragmentary, agreement onwhat isintended, and necessary, has to be reached beforehand, and must complement theprocess of design, at least for someone like Lucien Kroll, who wishes to design for, and with,those who are to be affected. This knowledge is not a matter of course, and can't be gainedonce, for ever. In the pluralistic conditions of life in our age, it also cannot be carried over framone commission to another. The requirements of the tenants in an endlessly long apartmenthouse in a welfare project cannot be compared to those of villagers inthe Loire. Even themethods by which requirements are ascertained must vary. For the student accommodation aWoluw-Saint Lambert, a group of students participated in hour-long discussions with thearchitects. In Alen


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.'. Louis G. Le Roy. Stacked rubble wall .

.!. SITE. Cutler Ridge ShowTOom. Miami, 1979.5. Lucien Kroll . Academy ofExpression. Utreeht,~(r9

: Louis G. Le Roy. Natuur uitschakelen - NatuurillSchakelen. Deventer, 1973. Ger.: Natur ausschaltenSatur einschalten. Stuttgart, 1978.'Lucien Kroll. Composants. Faut-i/ industria/~'er /' architecture? Brussels, n.d. Ger.: CAD-Architektur.Vielfalt durch Partizipation. Karlsruhe, 1985.3 Lucien Kroll. Fr cinc Entmilitarisierung ... (loc. eit.)p.83.

It was an opportune coincidence that Krall's path should cross that of the Dutch ecologist alandscape-gardener Louis Le Roy.The rubble-gardens laid out byLe Roy at Woluw-SaintLambert, which very quickly found the disapproval of officialdom, have presuppositionssimilar to Krall's architecture. Le Roy also sees incompletion not as a flaw, but as a conditioof evolving life. He also works with found materials, even the most deficient and undignifieHe utilizes the debris and wreckage of the building site for horticultural differentiation, andthis encourages a manifold variety. Le Roy's gardens renounce pedantry, systematization, aall activities bywhich man violates nature while seeking the quickest possible praductivity.Divergency, complexity, and opulence result, according to Le Roy,from calmness. That whhas to be accomplished quickly ismonotonous, that which is given time to grow, multifarious.1Let that which germinates graw, and keep human interference to the essentials. This maximfrom Le Roy complements Kroll's admonition: "You should not manufacture a city, you mlet it build itself." 2 Even where Kroll has had to complete large works within short deadlinehe has at least tried to effect something that reality hinders, namely the suggestion of longyears ofgermination. Through their informality and spontaneity, the School Street in Alencor tbe student viJlage at Woluw-Saint Lambert create the impression of having come intobeing over many decades, whereas tbey were built within a few years. Decomposition anddisruption belong to tbe course of life, and so tbey bave become integral to bis aestbeticprincipIes. In tbe rebuilt Academy of Expression at Utrecht, breaches in the walls gape widand teJlthe tale of past encraachments. The wounds bave not merely been retained, they aexhibited. Kroll's motive is distinguished from tbe romanticizing of the ruin of some of hiscontemporaries.The scars and untouched brick record an actual occurrence, not a fantasizeone; they document real transformation and empbasize the general transient nature ofarchitecture.When Kroll exalts germination or dilapidation, it is in the hope of pointing the wayforrenovation and extension. Such an attitude cannot be termed Utopian. Undoubtedly, thesociety for which Kroll builds is not the society in which we live. However, the one is dormain the other as one of its possibilities. "We accept the present conditions as a given quantity,reality, but not Utopia, that would be too easy," writes Kroll.3 The concept of time at workhere has to do literally with evolution. It is the notion of an organic time, the single phaseswhich result through the evolvement of the original confluence. It isthe antithesis of thedemolishers' time; they no longer know what existed yesterday. For Kroll, the new has itsplace in and next to the old, not in place of the old. ~Within this transient structure, the difficult issue in participatory building, which could becalled "the problem of the second generation," isresolved. It would seem to be evident thawhen residents have a voice, the first generation bas an advantage. The medical students atWoluw-Saint Lambert, the house-buyers at Cergy-Pontaise, or the residents of tbe renovatenements at Alenc;on cauld. within certain limits. determine how their homes were to lookThey were aJlowed a say during building or renovatian. Whoever comes after them has toaccept what exsts; they have to Iivewith the decisions of the first generation. This disadvantage is, however. only theoreticaJ. The ald towns and vllages, which seem to us today to bemuch more homely than modern living quarters, were also erected by many generations. Tinhabit a place also means to become involved with whatever isalready there, to come to gwitb it, accept or contradict it. KroJl's opinion is that itis always better to have to live with tdecisions of a previous tenant than with those of an architect.Nevertheless, even Kroll has to make decisions of an architect. The outward appearance ofbuildings is willingly marked by the different nascent conditions. But in spite of the wide scbetween such buildings as that of the stacked brick in the school at Braine-l ' Alleud and theperpendicular houses of prefabricated concrete slabs at Emerainville, there is definitely acommon signature. Works of the Kroll office are as easily recognizable as those of otheroutstanding architects. It cannot be denied that there is a KroJl style. Whether it arose forDominican nuns or medical students, his architecture has a series of recurring characteristicfeeling for detail, multiplicity offorms and materials (to th~ exclusion of elegance andsplendor), warmtb, intimacy, an aesthetic ofindigence, from which it can be concluded thacommissions fram ecclesiastical orders have played an important rale for the whole production. Franciscan bumility does not exclude certain decorative details, for example the irregfaceting of tiles or shingles on fac;ades- a symbol of individual resistance to ordained mIesregulations.


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6. Lucien Kroll . Roof oythe dining hal l. Diversity oforms and mate~oluw-Saint Lambert,1970-71.7. Lucien Kroll. Metro Station Alma. Woluw-SaintLambert, 1982.

1Nikolaas John Habraken. De Dragers en de Mensen.Amsterdam. 1961. d. Tngo Bohning. "Autonome Ar-chireknll'lInd parriziparorisches Bauen". Basel, 1981.

The extent to which Kroll's pencil can be guided bysymbolism is demonstrated by the Almametro station, which isnext to his older buildings at Woluw-Saint Lambert. The platformsextend beyond the mouth of the tunnel to allow the integration of daylight. Because thisproject has only short-term users, Kroll had to conduct "the dialogue" with himself. Tree-likesupports carry a roof of triangles and trapezoids. Outside, transparent awnings like glass wingrecall the Art Nouveau pavilions of the Paris metro. Kroll conceived this architecturallandscape as a representation of the society he envisages. The supports are individual s ofvaried stature who have come together in irregular groups for the mutual work of carrying.The engineers and stress analysts foisted on the architect a hierarchical system of rafters andpanels, instead of a roof of analogous elements, which Kroll considers a betrayal of hisplanning philosophy.Conversely, for installation systems of housing projects, Kroll prefers a grid structure to a treestructure. A grid joins elements of equal rank. A system of principal trunks and secondarybranches, in comparison, makes distinctions; it channels circulation and imposes seweragesystem urbanism on the inhabitants. Such conditions not only affect symbolism, but also toucon the practical factors. A preconceived, hierarchical structural and circulation system woulddetermine the positioning of the buildings, and make freely negotiated balance betweenspace and volume impossible. Symbolism and practicality go together, one is the result of theother.An architect attentive to the words and wishes of people, who concedes to builders a right toparticipate, while also cultivating a personal vocabulary, Kroll recognizes no unsolvablecontradiction even in these circumstances. He believes in architecture as the ultimate personastatement of the architect while being at the same time the ultimate personal architecture ofthe user. Architecture should not result from participatory processes alone, however, and thesum of the parts should show that it ismodifiable and changeable. All the fissures andfractures, the apparently artless and the obviously chaotic, the complexity of the whole and tnotable simplicity of the separate parts, the makeshift effect, the crumbling plastering andirregular masomy afford challenges to participate and continue the work, to intervene. Theclosed form is evaded before it can take shape. Perfectionism isnot permitted because it coulterminate the most active processes too soon. When Kroll advocates pluralism and complexitit isthese vital concerns that predominate, and not aesthetics or perceptual psychology, whichare decisive for Robert Venturi.One of the greatest hopes during the years when Kroll was beginning to go his own way wasthe industrialization of building technology. Although it had already become clear that masstenernents had contributed to alienation, there was hope that industrialized building, if onlymanaged properly, would assure the individuality of dornestic architecture. Some who wereadvocating participatory building procedures believed they could counteract contradictionsbetween the prevailing practice in domestic architecture and the self-determination of thepeople affected. The party-cry was: separation of the mega-structure frorn the infill; the firstshould be planned for perrnanence, the other for short-terrn developrnent. In this way, thepreplanned, the calculated, and permanent would be reconciled with the unscheduled,spontaneous, and lively.An eloquent advocate for the differentiated and differentiating industrialization was NicolaasJohn Habraken, who published his De Dragers en de Mensen in 1961and who was cofounderthe Dutch Foundation for Architectural Research (S.A.R.). He cornpared the supportingframe and the infillwith the principIe of the bookcase, which accommodates the mostdisparate contents within its separate shelves. The primary structure would be the concern ofindustry, the infill could be left to the builders, or, in the case of an appropriate range ofindustrialized parts, to the dexterity of the individual resident. Habraken considered a properunderstood industrialization of building techniques to be a rneans of firmly re-establishingarchitecture in society.lLucien Kroll did not accept the ideology of the mega-structure, which very quickly proved itsinadequacies. Nor did he accept the separation of public objectivity and private subjectivity fhis practical work. However, that part of the teachings in which Habraken speaks of thenecessity of a personal dwelling territory, in which he states that it ispart ofhurnan existenceleave traces and form one's own world, and where he describes buildings as an interaction ofmany participants, rnust have been very congenial to Kroll. He almost achieved the divorce oa permanent supporting construction and a flexible interior in the houses for the students atWoluw-Saint Lambert. However, already in the initial building, the Maison Mdicale


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8. Yona Friedman, Eekhard Se ulze-Fielitz. Brekenstadt. 1958. Primary support meture, and secondarycompleted strueture.9. Lueien Kroll . Seheme of the supports for the\1aison Mdicale ("Mm"). Woluw-Saint Lambert.10. Lucien ICroll. Student accommodation and MetroStation Alma. Woluw-Saint Lambert, 1970-82.TI. Work by students on the Institut d'Architecture dela Cambre (Brigitte Helft , Michel Verliefden). Squareand metro exit in front of Sto Catherine's. Bmssels,1977.

I Lucien ICroll. Unsere Freunde, die Rationalisten. In:Bauwelt 16.10.1981 vol. 72/39. pp. 1730f.11

("Mm"), the supporting parts are, within given measurements, freely varied, causing aninevitable diversive partitioning of space. The supports are "walking," not "marching."Individuality has, therefore, already encroached on the prinlary structure, which, in accordance with the mega-construction theory, should remain neutral. In contrast, Kroll completelyaccepted the importance of scale and measure and of a c1ifferentiated grid asfavored by theS.A.R. Woluw-Saint Lambert became verification for the opinion that a more segmentedframe had a less violating effect. IDuring the years of the student revolts, Kroll must have appeared as the man of the hour. Hehad the patience to listen to the students, and the readiness to draw conclusions fram theirdiscussions. Only a few years later, the flanks in the architectural debate had organizedthemselves anew. In Brussels a confrontation arose wherein one contingent is Kroll's"anarchitecture." The other isrepresented bythe cirde of Maurice Culot's influential Archivd'Architeeture Moderne and in the planning precepts of the Eeole Nationale Suprieure de laCambre. The Archives were effective through exhibitions and publications, the Ecole (wheredecades before, in 1951,Kroll had received his diploma) through its research in the history othe city, bymeans ofguided tours and, above all, through the projects assigned to its teachersand students. In the 19independent districts ofthe greater Brussels area, the architects andstudents of the Cambre praposed intervention against the traffic and sanitation planning.Block edge housing scheme, squares, parks, and colonnades were to be implanted in the gapclearings, and wasteland of the devastated parts of Brussels; often a revitalization of an areawas instigated bythe furnishing of squares and streets. An architecture of reminiscencebecame apparent which chose the objects of its deliberations in a partial way.It was based onpre-industrial town planning of the 18th century or on the monumental pathos of the reign ofLeopold 11in the 19thcentury.This style of planning, which was commined to the international rationalism of the seventiesand did not disavow the influence of Leon Krier. had merit in reacting to urban desecrationwith positive alternative proposals. Kroll does not dispute this achievement, but he isfearfulacademic aestheticism, the remoteness ofthis high culture from the workaday world, and itsfixed ideas that conform suspiciously easily to the thoroughly rationalized construction of larbuilding concerns. The prablems of modern building operations that Kroll considers decisiveare neglected by these architecture schools. Not a word is heard of decision-making procedures, of the inner structure of the companies involved, about the artisans and the way theyrelate to the contractors and residents, of ecology, decentralization, pm1icipation of thoseaffected, and the democratization of domestic building and town planning.1Kroll's architecture aspires to its objective by the unrestrained powerit concedes to all thoseinvolved, not through one individual' s poetic blueprint. As irrational as Kroll's built work maappear, it isthe product of an attitude based on the conviction that architecture justifies itselfonly through the will of those for whom it is made, and that this will iscapable of rationalarticulation. In The Social Contraet, Rousseau distinguished between the corporate will, thevolont gnrale, and the private will, the volont de tous. Because society is divided into manfractions, there can be no reliance on the corporate will as a moral force; it has to be replacedby the private will, the sum of individual indinations, desires, and particular interests. It holdtherefore, not to counteract conflict in a large architectural undertaking, but to arbitratecontroversially. The conflict, whose rationallimits are determined by the architect, is reflectein the profundity of the building.It isnot the only impulse stemming from the tradition of enlightenment that motivates Kroll'work. The critical discussion of the so-called constrictive circumstances, which accompany alhis projects, also aims at a release from self-imposed limits, whether they are the rsult of theimmutability of an inflexible construction technology, or caused by the obstinacy of organizational structures. That Kroll refuses to accept blindly the conduits of subterranean mechanicasystems asbinding isonly one of his instructive attitudes, which could almost serve as ahallmark. It is not the city beneath the city, the suppressed subconscious of the dwelling placethat determines life in the daylight. Primarily, the decisions reached on earth ought tocondition the consequences under the ground.Lucien Kroll has persevered in his demands in decades of work. To be sure, he has almostalways sought, and received, those commissions in which it was possible to apply and develophis aesthetic of conflict, variety, and vitality. Residential blocks, welfare housing, and facilitiefor religious communities characterize his work - architecture with particular relationship tousers. His work isnever the pantheon of anonymous institutions in which the volont de tous


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12. Ricardo Bofill. St. Quentin-en-Yvelines near Pans,1975-82.

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13-17. Lucien Kroll. Computer produced representations of a group of houses, Les Rocages, St. -Germainsur-Vienne ("Paysage" program).

1Lucien Kroll . op. cit ., p . 1734.

could not be ascertained. Not even the metro station at Woluw-Saint Lambert is anexception; it is an inseparable part of the students' quarter and takes part in its anarchicallifestyle.The Post-Modernist architects often refer to influences from preindustrial epochs, of thebaroque inclination for an architecture ofrepresentation, or the classicallove of order. At thesame time, however, they acquiesce to every demand of the completely industrialized buildinprocess. Buildings enclosing ornamental squares or facing street configurations such as thoseMontparnasse in Paris, inMarne-la-Valle, Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, or Montpellier, arepeddled as a kind of Versailles of the people. Yettheir components are precisely measuredaccording to mechanized processes. For Kroll, such reproducible structural engineering ismerely a disguising of the old, aggressive strategies of Modernism. The smaller, financiallyweaker firms could not deal with the size of projects required for such processes; such work iplanned at the outset for the large construction companies and their particular workingmethods.\Lucien Kroll comes from a Belgian family of engineers, so he is careful not to dismisstechnology out of hand. However, he allows himself to question intent and means. Hisapproach to technology isreminiscent of that of Count Kropotkin, who considered light,advanced technology to be the remedy for everything. For Kropotkin, at the turn of thecentury, it was the small, electrified industrial production from which the Russian socialreformers hoped to develop a decentralized, reciprocal, cooperative cornmunity. For Krollit is a diversified collection of components in connection with computer-aided designo Seenfrom this point of view Kroll's architecture, which would seem to owemuch to the do-ityourself of the handyman, has proved to be on the level of a significantly high technologicalstandard.Kroll seeks new building techniques, open-ended systems, which are not only on the drawingboard. They should also be realistically compatible with existing structures as well aswith othsystems. They should respond to needs flexibly, allow improvisation and spontaneity, andmake decentralization possible. It was only under these circumstances that he was preparedbecome involved in industrialized construction, which had, due to decades ofmisuse, beendiscredited. The merits of manual building, the readiness lO adapt, the capacity to learn fromexperience and moderate scale should not be lost, he believes, but merged with the efficiencthe technical, and economical competence of industry.Kroll wants to produce computer programs that do not perpetually repeat less complicatedsolutions, but which constantly allow for various needs. He approached data processing withscepticism and has remained sceptical, beca use he fears a continued'schematization anddesecration of architecture from it. He sees the possibility ofcontrol by a complicatedcalculating process replacing spontaneity, but he has nevertheless discerned some chances incomputerization. Without excessively increasing costs, a richer variety of parts could beproduced than bythe mechanical assembly-line manufacturing methods. If the "good" formModernism in its classical severity was expressive ofmechanical assembly-line production, thitis conceivable that in the era of the micro-chip, it could be expressive of the abundance ofvariably applicable components resulting from new design and production techniques.It is typical of Kroll that he ismainly interested in social consequences. He wishes thatinformation processing would lead to a democratization of knowledge and an organization owork that would enable smaller offices to hold their own in competition with the powerfulplayers in the construction business. With the pictorial methods of computer-aided design,Kroll wants to gain a better understanding ofusers. If the elderly lady, leaning against thewindowpane next to her cat, wishes to know ifthe new houses opposite are going to block heview of the village green, the computer can simulate her future panorama. Better building isonly conceivable when people have learned to wish better, more precisely, with moreinformation, and more fantasy.Patriarchs of Modernism, such as Le Corbusier (with whose laconic, but simultaneouslydiscerning diction Kroll's language is similar), anticipated an industrialized architecture in thdesigns, which they envisioned as being like the products ofHenry Ford or Andr Citroen:perfect, precise, and impeccable. However, an approach to the machine determined not by tpowerful directors, but bythe interests of the user would, Kroll believes, look different. Itwould be distinguished through the subtile inventiveness of the individual seeking his personaway.It would be the approach of the Sioux who have mastered the computer. It would be anarchitecture in accordance with the vision of Kroll and his studio.


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In a building threatened by decay,a groupfriars wanted to form a subfraternity whichwould combine respect for the old buildingwith modernity. They did not succeed. I halost touch with the abbey ....

Cheese dairy. The construction of little roowhich give the building a more handicrafteappearance, fits in better withthe wholecomplex than a big one, And moreover, th1ittleones were cheaper.


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Gihindamuyaga Monastery, RuandaButare, Ruanda/Central Africa.Guest house, refectory, kitchens, librar ychapel, workrooms. 1968.Client: Benedictines of theMaredsous Abbey.The Benedictines of the abbey at Mareddecided to found a monastery near Butathat, one day,they would be able to intewith African society and customs. Theyasked me to develop an architecture thawould bind them with this specific placepreserving modern objectivity. This entaa particular regard for the landscape withills, huts and houses, fields and vegetabgardens, whose animated lines were voiright angles. Would one have to destroyintegrate them? Ignore them or admit thinto the dialogue? Imitation was out of tquestion (a neighboring monastery hadhuts and this called to mind the ClubMditerrane) .The concept demanded the urbanizationthe immediate neighborhood (like manymonasteries from which towns have ariseand an internal organization correspondito the development of the community. (even played with the idea that one day th10caJitywould lie in ruins, be overgrownin some places be colonized bysquatters)example eventually had an influence onprovised undertakings in the area.

=D


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In valious stages we then built a guest house,refectory, kitchens, then the library, chapel,and workshops. As far as possible, weaccommodated ourselves to the lay of thererrain, and provided for contact to the out-side world through gardens, courtyards,terraces, and balconies, suggested by themild climate of Ruanda. Cooling is achieved

y directing air currents and protecting the\\indows from the sun, not by means of anyrechnical appliances, just like in the pioneerage.


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..:...haye been.

-C\yfrom the west o the site between the- ~SDitaland the Sehool o Publie Health.

-+1


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View of the center of Kapelleveld.


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The serrated masses, are intended to bringmnd eroded rocks, or ruins, which are benreclamed by vegetaton, or almost a naturalformaton that s permanently, but hardlynotceably, developng further.


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Metro Station Abna1979-82.The university of Louvain was able toarrange for the neighboring metro line to bediverted through the campus. We were commissioned to extend OUT buildings to includea metro station. We dug itout of the earthand covered it with a molded, colored concrete slab. The slab has flowing lines, and isintended to assimilate the gardens, houses,and paths. The station ought not to be anobject buried in the ground, not an incession,but a place of assembly, connection, continuity, also a place that belongs to the district. It ought to be self-evident that thedistrict's routes continue across the universitycampus. However, this plan, which had already been designed, was not built; a vastgap separates the two sectors, like apartheid.

No single element is mechanically repeated.Even the slab does not rest on severelyaligned columns with beams; the columns arearranged more with the slanting frame of thebuilding. Each conducts its own load to theground as is conveyed bythe system of archesand counter-arches. The social relationshipsofvarious "persons," who are irregularIy andorganically brought together and who canonly function in close cooperation, define anaturalistic view of town development:1. Qne repeated element.2. Three elements arranged geometrically.3. Two elements arranged in irregulargeometry.4. Three elements in a natural arrangement.5-8. The idea of a spontaneously createdforest induced us to mold the columns withthe bark of a tree from the Ardennes.

.~.~

7


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9+10. Plan of the roof, which is divided intorriangles. This is not a sculptured form to\\'hich material can be added or taken away at\\him, but rather the result of a partly spon-:aneous interplay of a series of factors: theforms, the stability, the colors, the modularoordination, the vicinity, the position, andso on.u. The station as it is integrated in the uni-\"ersitybuilding.

11

9

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1+2. Toward the west, the station is prrected from pouring rain byglass skirting anda hothouse raof.3. The ancient path has not changed, it leadsthrough its previous raute into the tunnel,which opens in preparation for daylight.-+. The raof of the station can accommodate afewmore buildings and trees.69


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Dominican Benefice and Rectory, RixensFroidmont, Rixensart, Brabant.Parish church, publjc library, lecture hallsguest rooms, 25 single rooms and six aparments.1975.Client: Dominican community and thechurch of Froidmont.

A new community of Dominicans formedFroidmont, in an old Belgian farm with aquadratic shape. They asked us to make a"settlement" out of it, which they wishedinhabit with others.It \Vaseasy to get them to talk; they arepreachers. They experience communicatiorather than the object. Also, the future mbers of the community made requests: nocloistered refuge separated from the landscape and neighbors, but an urban networwhich is heterogeneous, but also containincongenial elements. So Froidmont was restructured around the yard of the farm, athe private path that crossed it. A parishchurch. a public library, lecture halls, guerooms. 25 single rooms, and six apartmentwere arranged. They can remain indepen-dent. but share mecharucal distribution, aparticipate in the spirituallife.Instead of fencing off the surrounding lanensure privacy and quiet, the Dominicansbought it. They intend to build on it one dto extend their present project for unforesable activities. They believe they can thenmore integrated with the landscape. Theer buildings \Veretreated in a naive way; twere only preserved if economical, withoregard for their age, without pretense, wiconcern more for their use than their appance.


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The landscape of the estate was to be deter-:nined bythe Ministry of Works, but theseeople were inflexible. An old dream, to

plant trees in the public squares, has not yetame true (anather time ... ).


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',. ":-'"

Residential District Vignes BlanchesCergy-Poutoise, Ville Nouvelle, France.Competition, 1st prize.Apartments for 150 families.1977-79.Client: Socit Cooperative lesVignes Blanches.In competition with sixteen other architectswe managed to win a competition (the oueand only) for apartments for 150families in anewly developed area."No inhabitants, no plans .... "It was difficult to find potential inhabitantsand a building supervisor, but as soon aseveryone was assembled the discussions soonled to designs. To begin, there were considerations of "landscape" (before they had chosen a plot), then personal ideas (which werediscussed in the group).We created an ordinary complex intended tobe compatible with the residents. The overalleffect was more important than individualbuildings. Also, we had decided to push participation to Herculean limits. We rediscovered every kind of "urban animalism",which, due to over-acquiescent developers,had been lost for generations ....Fifty-eight meetings were held with more

than one hundred families, who, due to thehesitations and clumsiness of the promoters.kept falling out and having to be replacedwith new ones, who fu11yaccepted the initialplans, and supplied a precise, family orientedpoint of view, far from the welfare development culture. They requested a public squarwith a butcher's store (none could be tempted to come .... ), a comrnunity building,winding streets, various kinds of housing (nowelfare tenements), similarity to the irregulaoutline of the old neighboring vi11age,privateand public gardens, localities for senior citizens (the coffee-circle ladies), a gas station,quietness, and so on. AlI perfectly normalrequests, but much more convincing thanscientific pragrarnming.As soon as we felt the matter was mature, webegan with 43 apartments (a11different, ofcourse), depending on who cooperated. Thesale originality of the architecture consistedin our carrying diversity as far as possible inthe building volumes, materials, assembly,colors, and so on.AlI of the usual effort for traffic was scrupulously avoided; the street isa place similar tothe houses, not a dangerous strip of asphalt,bordered by sidewalks. It is a raute for everycitizen.


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Participation of residents cannot be accomplished by mute or incompetent architectswithout original ideas. The more openly, andt the same time more determinedly the arhitect behaves, the more multifarious the

result. It could be concluded that we were anagency for the ideas of the residents, andecame responsible for them through os-mosis. Who knows.

'9/


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Here are some of the plans thatthe residents laid before usoTheyare not able to read cross-sections. but they can draw them ifthey are their own. Also the siteplan. We used the site plan forinterpreting their plans.

o

J... .~.!, ,,-L.,~'l,x...


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91


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These similar, but neverthelessdivergent ideas, produced by dis-similar family structures, couldsupply valuable material for acontemporary town develop-ment that surpasses that of thecold mechanics of the apostles ofmodernismoMme T. took her model from afashion magazine: two skylights,a door with a Roman arch, win-dow with shutters. M. D. owns asmall suburban castle. Whichculture?


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Seen from a distance the group melts into tcopious and irregular structure of the suburban landscape.


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ZUP PerseigneAlem;on, Normandy.Renovation of the apartments in a ZUP(zone for urban priorities): conversion project for 100apartments on the Place RenDescartes and conversion project for 90apartments on the Rue Flaubert. 1978.Collaborators: Claude Chifflet for the schooland the sociologist Paul Wallez.

The welfare housing project, built in 1960,began to disintegrate both morally and physically.When it became known that furtherbuilding was planned, the inhabitants revolted, voted for the left, causing a new teamin the city council. The councilors consultedus on renovation of the exterior, and later theinner areas, together with the residents.Today,one more or less knows what one"should not have done", but not necessarilywhat one "should have done". Particularly,because some people still think it is possiblein our day and age to construct such artificialbuildings. But a ZUP (Zone for urbanpriorities) is only a scheme. Perhaps it wouldsuffice to put in what the residents need to fillthis scheme with Iife, in their way.What we wanted were more compactperipheral areas, parks, pedestrian thoroughfares through the district, personal initiative,work, colors, a new secondary school for 600pupils, a house for children, a yard for thehandicrafts, a communal hall, small gardens,and offices. Weparticularly wanted to getaway from the impression of a district forpoor people, who depend on the welfareservices for their domiciles. We planned acompact cityscape, full of surprises, whichlives from within, and shows it.

1-3. They know how to integI'ate theirsurroundings, but when they needed sociwelfare apartments, this is what they weroffered.4. Not an overall plan (a strategic plan). Jreconcile the wishes of the residents, thenvery unified mosaic will result from the instinctive needs and daily life of the inhabiants. We proceeded through the beatentracks that pedestrians had made throughregion. We planned the new school and erons within this organic system. Withoutknowing, we revived the ancient route froSt. Gilles, which the surveyors from the Zhad erased and which emerged "like a phin the fixing solution."


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~ ..


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Above all, the residents have to be askedduring the first meeting, what does not workout: "The automobiles drive too fast on theAvenue Kennedy."Our answer: "No more traffic lights. We shallplace humps in the asphalt so that speeding isdangerous, then automobiles will be drivenmore carefully.

Also, we plan to plant extensively. This wilIfence in the area." The municipal gardenerstook the problem in hand. There are neverany accidents. The residents in the vicinitysleep better behind the planted mounds ofearth, but we hid the storekeepers behind thehill on the main street, and they have neverforgiven uso


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By way of doing the community a favor, thestate discovered a budget item, which had tobe utilized immediately in the building of aschool. An outside area was rejected in favorof one nearer at hand for fear that a pedagog-ical enclave, similar to the industrial zones,would arise. 1was asked how 1wouldaccommodate the school: "Split it up intofour or fivesmall buildings, then the draftfrom the ZUP will no longer be noticeable."


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After some unsuccessful experiments withone hundred apartments on the Place RenDescartes, half of which had been aban-doned, and which were to serve asprototypes(the owners refused to cooperate), the cityauthOlities asked s to set up a real rnodelwith a house on the Rue Flaubert. We turnedthe first and second floors llto offices for the

"-".

Conversion of 90 apartrnents on the RueFlaubert with external elevators on guiderails, additions on the roofs, and stores andworkshops in the first floor. Only a stairwelland its nine apartrnents were realized.

welfare insurance, renovated and insulatedthe other apartments, and on the roof terrace(long recognized as a living space, but easilyignored) we placed two light pavilions, withelevators of course. Above all, the intentionwas to sell the apartrnent to future residents.The architecture is intentionally cornmon-place and popular.


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sociologist had asked all the residentsther they prefered to have an extra bal, tiles in the bathroom, or sound-proof

near the stairway, or whatever. We careplaced balconies where the families

ted them - a true interpretation of thents' decisions.

( C(XX)Q CUXXJ)


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The state ministry for welfare housing development, which owns the apartments onthe Place Descartes, was indignant at the ideathat residents should be asked how they envisaged the renovation - sudden breach withthe city authorities. For a different proprietor, the city charged us with a prototype:conversion of the apartments, external insulation, and adaptation of the first and secondfloors to offices.


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d one evening some store owners, seditily convinced the residents that we inded to erase the parking lots of a wholea, whereas we had proposed that they beted with trees. The al! too naive mayorwed himself to be persuaded, and negted to let the groups discuss among them- .es before a decision was reached.orried about his popularity, he stopped theriment and quickly instigated surfacing

th asphalt: cosmetic.


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e-Ia-Valle, France.0private apartments: 80 apartments withmmunal facilities and 30 individual houses.ient: the city ofMarne-Ia-Valle.

The new town of Marne-la-Valle entrustedus with a project for 110private apartmentson a wooded site near the railroad station ofEmerainville. There were to be 80 apartments with communal facilities and 30 separate houses, everything designed in cooperation with the future residents, in an industrialized system. The minister of housing hadencouraged us to test the possibilities of industrialization.Aiter analyzing the available systems, wedecided that we would use a particular product for the apartments, partly because itsrepresentatives were sincere and friendly,and their factory was situated in Reims onthe route to the site. Although this systempresented itself as "industrially manufactured," it was asinflexible and invariable asthe others. It had a too large (60 cm) andun adaptable framework, and only a few varieties ofwindows that were of dull materials,and always had to be installed in the samelocation. Therefore, we decided on woodpaneling for the upper areas, to ensure variety. This was a much used procedure in thepast, but rare today.Working with the engineers of the system, weutilized every possibiJity for variation: on thestreet, in small plazas, in groups, semidetached, detached, with flat or diversilyshaped roofs, with every possible facing available, to achieve an inimitable place (repetition is a crime).The 80apartments were completed. In spiteof much effort to achieve variety and expedite "aging" byplanting and a charming disorder, the complex still has the slightly vulgarcharacter of the very new, particularly because of the streets which were too severe,too straight, and too conspicuous. Qne oughtto visit it in a few years, when it has benefitedfrom the unusal domestic virtues ofthe inhabitants, which impel them to improve, addto, utilize, and plant their surroundings.

1


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houses are grouped around tbe publicare. Access has been made as indi-alized as possible: from the street,ugb the back, via a shared stairway, anernal stairway, or even by stairs on ahbor's faade.


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The residents begin to take possession oexterior spaces.In some places, the street isas narrow asregulations allow (see ill. p. 123 at the rigbelow).


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ta Processingconstruction system consists by definitiona limited number of different elements.is induced me to purchase equipment formputer Aided Design (CAD) and to use ithout having too much previous knowge. 1compelled the computer to be dise and complex in a way it tries in everyy to avoid, because it only likes repetition,had studied every element of the conction program intensively and fed it intocomputer, and had drawn the plans andademodels, which were necessary for thetor y and for the site planning. At this stageigh degree of sheer effort had still to bended. CAD stillrequired large applica

ns and was intended for the powerful; butsnot they who are best at creating a

thirty single houses were organized durtwenty meetings with the future residents,o were especially intent on collaborating,to the last detail. After many personal andiring designs, changed plans, and costulations ofthe companies, the contractort interest and became suspicious and dropeverything: plans, the residents, and fiy uso

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LandscapeComputer Aided Design program forcompatible computers. Own solution.

After a few years' experience, we decided todevelop software for architects. We calledthe system "Landscape," because it shouldconstruct a landscape, not demolish, such asrationalists do.This software has various objectives. To begin with, it should, like other programs, furnish the figures x, y and z in a completelytraditional way,for those architects who virtuously practice representation in "2.5 dimensions," and must only fulfill dull automation.AIso, we particularly wanted to produce asynthetic representation, with color and text,that would enable the end-user to imaginethe new project in its surroundings. Ultimate-

3

Iy,wewanted, with the help of precise andverifiable facts, to appeal to the associatesfrom town planning and architecture in astraightforward manner.Tobe able to design a landscape, the processing system initially has to make an inventory: outlines, trees, fields, sky,buildings,pedestrians; and then with the same means ithas to insert the project with all its variants.Then the new landscape can be presented'-tothe inhabitants and construction workers,and can be varied until agreement isreached.It ismost important that the complexity ofdifferences be encouraged and made possible, especially with industrial methods, whichalways prefer repetition with a Ulecosmetics. However, one day it will be possible todraw a felt hat and indicate its capacity - andAmiens Cathedral without being reminded ofViollet-Ie-Duc.

1


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)/9

1. This is a modern architect.2. Standardization of the 50s, the machinelikes doing this.3-5. The structure of the shelter on theMetrostation Alma was abandoned. Themachine has to be compelled.6,8 + 9. Hospital for Contagious DiseasesSiena, intended for a reutilization projectwith ULAUD, the Saint Lucas School andG. de Carlo. The machine does not likedoing this, it is too complex: the hospital hanot changed since the 18th century.7. Siena Cathedral, painted by a naive processor.10. A diagram of the front of the Palais deJustice at Bruges. Data processing can be oservice in the conservation of historicalmonuments.

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