Reviving the modernist utopia

Abstract

In the aftermath of WWII, many cities in Europe suffered from considerable housing shortages, leading to new housing developments, many of which were high-rise housing estates, built following the principles of the Modern Movement and CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne). The ideology is based on the concept of the 'Functional City', implemented through ideas such as function-based city zones, with minimum dwellings together with collective infrastructures; low-rise and high-rise buildings in extensive green areas; the ideal of 'air, light and nature' combined with high-density living and standardisation; open ground-floor plans and pedestrian areas separated from traffic routes. In the context of an urgent need for housing, the strong, uncompromising approach was accepted without hesitation. Politicians and planners built according to architectural notions, in which high-rise served as a potent symbol of a 'new architecture for new people' in a modern postwar age of multi-family living, communal facilities and social equality. Despite the lofty ambitions of the Modern Movement, many of these projects have undergone a critical shift in meaning, and are today associated with problematic living conditions, deprived areas, isolated locations, a low-income population, social isolation, pollution, crime etc. As a consequence, questions emerge about how to solve these problems, in many cases resulting in demolition, even of the most iconic projects, such as the Pruitt-Igoe in St, Louis, USA, or the Smithsons' Robin Hood Gardens in London. Despite the negative connotations of this architectural typology, some interesting refurbishment projects have been executed over the past decades, in which the pre-existing was not eliminated. This article illustrates three refurbishment projects in which the architects succeeded in adapting the original ideologies and aspirations of a different generation to those of today: Park Hill Estate in Sheffield, Kleiburg in Amsterdam, and Tour Bois-le-Prêtre in Paris. These projects will be analysed based on their origins and evolution, transformation, and re-interpretation of modernist ideas.