El paseo imposible por la ciudad inabarcable. Una relectura de las ecologías urbanas de Reyner Banham

The city of Los Angeles, CA, is, for sure, the first city to authentically emerge as a result of the widespread popularisation of automobile use, and it should, therefore, come as no surprise that the analytical and synthetic understanding of its profound nature is associated with this means of transportation and the infrastructures that make it possible. This is how the critic and historian Peter Reyner Banham understood it, when he proposed that only from behind the wheel of a vehicle could it be possible to reveal the true idiosyncrasies of this unusual city that the most orthodox European critics rejected, who were unable to extract a synthesis that could explain it. What was happening was that the city appeared as the pioneer of a new urban form which, relying on the widespread use of the car and the single-family dwelling, which is typical of the suburban garden city, proposed an absolute decentralisation as an alternative to the compact industrial city. In 1971, Banham published a now canonical text -Los Angeles, The Architecture of Four Ecologies- which aimed at revealing a clear and synthetic image of the city. This article highlights the main points of Reyner Banham's proposal, looking to expand its theoretical approach -which handles the structural and morphological scales- to a third scale: that of the sensory perception of the physical experience of space, based on some academic works of reference, but also on literary references by writers linked to the city in an attempt to transfer the poetic and sensitive vision to the field of urban studies. This vision makes it possible to show a change of paradigm regarding the relationship that the inhabitant of a contemporary city like Los Angeles -and, by extension, so many others- establishes with the scenario of collective life, represented by public space.

Ética e Arquitetura: a responsabilidade de uma novíssima crítica em Portugal

O argumento do presente texto defende que o “Novo Brutalismo”, sendo indiscutivelmente um debate arquitetónico de origem britânica, era movido por um princípio universal: a adesão intelectual aos problemas do seu tempo. A luta contra o academicismo e o historicismo, a aceitação da realidade e das diferentes formas de cada cultura construir o seu habitat, e a crescente importância atribuída aos utilizadores da arquitetura, constituem pontos essenciais para a revisão dos modelos arquitetónicos levada a cabo no pós-guerra. Estes princípios despertam o interesse de uma nova geração de arquitetos portugueses cada vez mais crítica e atenta ao debate internacional, que os assimila por coincidência de interesses, mais do que por conexão ou influência direta. A metodologia adotada passa por recuperar alguns argumentos dos textos de 1955 e de 1966 do crítico Reyner Banham, o principal ideólogo do Novo Brutalismo, com particular incidência nas propostas dos arquitetos Alison e Peter Smithson e o seu papel no grupo Team 10. Após se introduzirem as origens e o contexto do debate, esboça-se o panorama da situação portuguesa nesses anos, com especial incidência na difusão da “novíssima” geração de arquitetos (sensivelmente, os nascidos entre finais de 1920 e inícios de 1930) por iniciativa da revista Arquitectura. Finalmente, apresentam-se os argumentos de dois representantes dessa geração —Nuno Portas e Pedro Vieira de Almeida— cuja relação com o brutalismo não reside em questões estéticas, de forma ou de tratamento das superfícies, mas sim em questões éticas, ou seja, de compromisso com a “utilidade social da arquitetura”. Num primeiro momento, expõe-se um debate em torno à habitação coletiva centrado em métodos e posições críticas, que se complementa num segundo momento com uma breve abordagem a uma obra de arquitetura na qual ambos têm responsabilidade. The argument of the present text argues that the "New Brutalism", being arguably an architectural debate of British origin, was driven by a universal principle: the intellectual adherence to the problems of its time. The struggle against academicism and historicism, the acceptance of reality and the different ways each culture builds its habitat, and the growing importance given to the users of architecture, are essential points for the post-war revision of architectural models. These principles have awakened the interest of a new generation of Portuguese architects that is increasingly critical and attentive to the international debate, assimilating them through coincidence of interests, rather than through direct connection or influence. The methodology adopted involves recovering some arguments from the 1955 and 1966 texts of the critic Reyner Banham, the main ideologue of New Brutalism, with particular focus on the proposals of the architects Alison and Peter Smithson and their role in the Team 10 group. After introducing the origins and context of the debate, the panorama of the Portuguese situation in those years is outlined, with special focus on the diffusion of the "brand new" generation of architects (roughly those born between the late 1920s and early 1930s) through the initiative of the magazine Arquitectura. Finally, we present the arguments of two representatives of this generation -Nuno Portas and Pedro Vieira de Almeida- whose relationship with brutalism does not lie in aesthetic questions, of form or surface treatment, but in ethical questions, i.e., their commitment to the "social utility of architecture. In a first moment, a debate around collective housing centered on methods and critical positions is exposed, which is complemented in a second moment with a brief approach to a work of architecture in which both have responsibility.

Introduction

This chapter provides a background of the complete portrait of the city of Buffalo, which moves beyond its relatively small city limits to tell the full story that the Erie Canal, hydroelectric power, international trade, and suburbanization play in the vicissitudes of Buffalo's history. It focuses on both Erie and Niagara counties from the eighteenth century to the present. It also describes Buffalo's periphery to provide useful insights into the full scope of how the grand City of Light, powered by Niagara's heaving currents and celebrated at the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, had its own undercurrents and afterlives. The chapter mentions Reyner Banham, who brought a fresh set of foreign eyes to Buffalo's uncanny importance. It explores how Buffalo is indebted to Banham for cultivating a global interest and local reinvestment in its urban fabric.

Vilanova Artigas: a poética traduzida

Abordamos aqui a obra do influente e controvertido arquiteto Vilanova Artigas, ativo em São Paulo entre as décadas de 1940 e 1970, como obra de arte autônoma, pois esta mostra um uso figurativo de estruturas trilíticas de concreto armado, o qual operava uma fusão da linearidade dos membros com a criação volumétrica no mesmo material. Seus projetos mostravam, por um lado, uma disposição volumétrica e estrutural serial ao longo de um eixo e, por outro, a alternância no percurso do observador entre massa cerrada e espaço, entre luzes intensas e sombras profundas, entre peso e resistência, contrastes estes que a tradição atribui ao sublime arquitetônico, à visão do drama humano do trabalho que, afinal, ergue as estruturas além da medida razoável da utilidade. Exceder esta medida põe a obra em conflito com o marxismo do militante Artigas, mas também a põe no terreno da arquitetura moderna enquanto “estilo da modernidade”, em conflito, segundo Reyner Banham (1970, p.327), com o desenvolvimento ininterrupto da técnica com a qual pretendia legitimar-se.

The South Bank Exhibition, Londres 1951: un análisis desde The Architectural Review

La exposición Festival of Britain de Londres de 1951 ocupa un destacado lugar en la historia de la arquitectura inglesa de la postguerra por ser el punto de arranque de la recuperación urbana del South Bank de Londres. Tuvo un gran apoyo y protagonismo en The Architectural Review, que publicó varios artículos y un número monográfico con el fin de mostrar como el master plan de la exposición se ajustaba a los ideales del Visual Planning y del Townscape que la revista venía difundiendo desde hacía unos años. Pero también fue criticada por un grupo de jóvenes arquitectos liderados por Reyner Banham que como reacción propondrían una arquitectura alternativa que fue denominada como el New Brutalism.