Silvia Groaz | Yale University (original) (raw)
Papers by Silvia Groaz
Keywords: Cultures et diversite ; Mythes mediterraneens: approches anthropologiques ; Section AR ... more Keywords: Cultures et diversite ; Mythes mediterraneens: approches anthropologiques ; Section AR Reference EPFL-STUDENT-180933 Record created on 2012-08-21, modified on 2017-05-12
In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité ... more In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, Switzerland’s cultural position is emblematic. Whilst in international debates this technique is often characterized by theoretical and ideological accents converging in the definition of New Brutalism and International Brutalist Style, in Switzerland, exposed concrete takes on a particular meaning, emancipated from the desire to investigate its intrinsic theoretical and artistic concepts, and devoid of any search for decorative textures. Instead, it is the engineering tradition that confers to concrete a technical and scientific vision which admits a certain degree of imperfection in its implementation, even if confined within the limits of material economy or construction site logic. Exposed concrete, informed by the principles of the engineering tradition, is marked in the Swiss culture of the 1950s by a ‘rational’ character and becomes the pretext to assert the refusal of any formal or intellectual designations other than that of the most radical construction.
Matières, 2018
Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism. Ethic or Aesthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant d... more Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism. Ethic or Aesthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant dans le processus de redéfinition de l’un des concepts les plus célèbres et les plus ambigus de l’architecture de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle : le « New Brutalism ». Les critiques et polémiques qu’a soulevées cette expression, forgée en 1953 par Peter et Alison Smithson, semblent pourtant témoigner de la capacité exceptionnelle du New Brutalism à alimenter un débat intense qui, aujourd’hui encore, n’a rien perdu de son actualité. Le corpus inédit de lettres échangées de 1962 à 1966 entre l’auteur Reyner Banham, les propriétaires de la maison d’édition de Stuttgart Karl Krämer Verlag, Karl Krämer père et fils, et l’éditeur Jürgen Joedicke, constitue l’une des rares sources disponibles à ce jour qui permette de retracer la genèse du livre de Banham, The New Brutalism, et révèle que, dans sa forme comme dans ses contenus, cet ouvrage est le fruit d’une étroite collaboration entre l’auteur et son éditeur.
Annals of Vascular Surgery, 2021
OBJECTIVE Recently, there has been an abundance of encouraging data regarding the creation of per... more OBJECTIVE Recently, there has been an abundance of encouraging data regarding the creation of percutaneous arteriovenous fistulas. Despite promising data regarding their clinical maturation, a paucity of data exists which provides direct comparison between percutaneously-created AVFs (pAVF) and open surgically-created AVFs (sAVF). This study has two primary objectives: First, to compare clinical outcomes of pAVFs to sAVFs, with emphasis on clinical maturation and frequency of post-operative interventions to facilitate maturation. Second, to contribute towards the evidence-based incorporation of the pAVF procedure into the hemodialysis access algorithm. METHODS A single-center retrospective review was performed on all consecutive patients undergoing surgically-created brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (BC-AVF, sAVF group) from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 and Ellipsys-created percutaneous arteriovenous fistula (pAVF group) from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Comparative analysis between groups was performed. RESULTS A total of 24 patients underwent Ellipsys-created pAVF with mean age of 56.7 ± 22.6 years (12 males [50%], 12 females [50%]) and 62 patients underwent surgically-created BC-AVF with mean age of 62.5 ± 13.2 years (32 males [52%], 30 females [48%]). Both the pAVF and sAVF groups had comparable mean operating times (60 ± 40 vs. 56 ± 25 min, p = 0.67) and frequency of procedural technical success (23 [96%] vs. 62 [100%], p = 0.28), respectively. The pAVF group had a lower clinical maturation rate (12 [52%] vs. 54 [87%], p = 0.003) and a higher primary failure rate (9 [39%] vs. 6 [10%], p = 0.003) when compared to the sAVF group. The pAVF group had an increased overall rate of undergoing a post-operative intervention (18 [78%] vs. 13 [21%], p < 0.001), as well as an increased number of total post-operative interventions (1.1 ± 0.9 vs. 0.3 ± 0.6 interventions, p < 0.001) compared to the sAVF group. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) of the juxta anastomotic segment was the most prevalent post-operative intervention performed in the pAVF group and occurred at a significantly increased frequency when compared to the sAVF group rate (13 [57%] vs. 5 [8%], p < 0.001). CONCLUSION In our single-center retrospective review, patients undergoing Ellipsys-created pAVF in the first year following introduction of percutaneous endovascular had inferior rates of clinical maturation and underwent more post-operative interventions when compared to historical patients undergoing surgically-created BC-AVF. Outcome discrepancies compared to previously reported Ellipsys data demonstrate a need for further studies examining the practical translatability of the pAVF.
At the end of the Second World War, an intense ideological confrontation took place in England, w... more At the end of the Second World War, an intense ideological confrontation took place in England, where the principles of reconstruction were established around the ‘low rise’ and ‘high rise’ dichotomy. The debate was influenced by a politicized generational divide, pitting the legacy of Howard’s Garden City model, supported by those who called themselves ‘Marxists’, against Le Corbusier’s Unite at Marseille, defended by a younger generation of architects who took a ‘non-Marxist’ position. The various political tendencies were translated into stylistic rules that addressed types, city configuration, and even materials, according to a rich constellation of new labels: the New Humanism derived from Soviet Social Realism, the William Morris Revival and People’s Detailing, the New Picturesque advocated as a democratic model by Nikolaus Pevsner, and the New Empiricism reworked by Eric de Mare on the Cooperative Housing Schemes of the Swedish welfare state. It is in this context that the Ne...
Keywords: brutalism ; beton brut ; Architectural history ; postwar Reference EPFL-TALK-234260 Rec... more Keywords: brutalism ; beton brut ; Architectural history ; postwar Reference EPFL-TALK-234260 Record created on 2018-01-15, modified on 2018-01-15
The concept of New Brutalism has been the victim of a series of misunderstandings, myths and apor... more The concept of New Brutalism has been the victim of a series of misunderstandings, myths and aporias. The initial intentions, devoid of any principle or dogma, have passed from hand to hand. The original definitionâif only one can be identifiedâhas been manipulated, diluted and finally fragmented, revealing the necessity of a thorough reconstruction of its trajectory, by sifting through architectural works, theoretical instances, debates and comments scattered, for the most part, in the pages of major international journals over a span of more than thirty years. The aim of this thesis has been to reconstruct the origins and development of the definition of New Brutalism and to reflect on its evolution, with the intention to understand the reasons and methods that have led it to take on an extraordinary dimension, becoming for a moment at least, an important topic in the architectural debate. The extension of the definition of New Brutalism was, if not entirely international, of a considerable vastness, ranging from Europe to the United States, from Japan to South America. Yet New Brutalism cannot be considered a synthesis but rather an attempt to pose profound questions about the course of architecture and the fate of the Modern Movement. Grasping the meaning of this concept in its various declinations and attempts at definition through the historical method required retracing its movement, through the scrutiny of major international journals and essays and the consultation of archival documents. The advent in the debates of the definition of New Brutalism reveals the appearance of an aspiration for an architecture that became an expression of the criticism of the young generations of the 1950s against sentimentalist and vernacular degeneration, at a time of profound crisis in the concept of the Modern Movement. The 1950s, which began with the turmoil of the Unité construction site in Marseille, witnessed the abolishment of cladding and the affirmation of a bare, essential, âbasicâ architecture. The debates on New Brutalism were not limited to the dimension of a single building, but addressed a new way of understanding the urban dimension, the role of the architect, and an ambivalent collaboration between critics and architects. At the heart of this renewal was the debate on Brutalism, fomented by the works of architects but above all by the aspirations of critics. This research examines the trajectories of the idea of New Brutalism, its origins and etymological roots, with a focus on the theoretical implications at stake through a reading of how it has been conceptualized and exploited by various protagonists and critics since the early 1950s. The central core of the dissertation has been to chronicle shifts in critical perception, following the contributions Brutalism made to national debates. By questioning and challenging the current categorization of post-war architecture, this research gets to the core of the post-war critical debate, unfolding, through its many actors, its philological incongruities as well as its heroic visions
Keywords: brutalism ; architectural history ; postwar ; Beton brut Reference EPFL-TALK-234259 Rec... more Keywords: brutalism ; architectural history ; postwar ; Beton brut Reference EPFL-TALK-234259 Record created on 2018-01-15, modified on 2018-01-15
Keywords: New Brutalism ; Criticism ; Postwar Architectural History Reference EPFL-CONF-226563 Re... more Keywords: New Brutalism ; Criticism ; Postwar Architectural History Reference EPFL-CONF-226563 Record created on 2017-03-16, modified on 2017-03-16
Le projet s'inscrit dans la continuite d'une recherche theorique au sujet du systeme de c... more Le projet s'inscrit dans la continuite d'une recherche theorique au sujet du systeme de consommation et de son implosion, telle que Baudrillard l'avait decrite: il utilise la meme logique du systematique et l'alimente a tel point que le paradigme se change. L'ile abandonnee de Hoffman Island dans la Lower Bay a New York donne le pretexte pour analyser les noyaux critiques du mall. Le choix strategique de l'implantation permet une approche experimentale et a la fois liberee du contexte: un laboratoire architectural et social. Le programme est compose par elements heterogenes qui se formalisent dans un seul volume hybride qui permet de reveler les contrastes entre le domaine de la consommation et sa consequence, les dechets. Le projet propose une structure qui abrite une activite commerciale et un centre de recyclage des dechets produits par le centre meme. L'objectif est de montrer le processus de la consommation de facon metabolique et de donner vie a un autre produit a partir des dechets. Tout ce qui est produit par le shopping mall est reintroduit dans le bâtiment, soit sous forme d'energie, soit sous forme de produit. La plupart des dechets est composee de carton d'emballage et de papier qui deviennent la matiere premiere pour concretiser l'implosion. L'espace commercial se substitue peu a peu pour laisser place a l'archivage des livres produits avec ses dechets dans un processus dynamique et chronologique. Dans cette logique, plus le centre commercial consomme, plus il est attractif, plus il a du succes, plus il va produire de dechets et plus il est consume. Le projet propose invite a reflechir sur l'instabilite et les contrastes en touchant les points faibles du centre commercial, en bouleversant le monde bruyant, attractif et pop du shopping mall, et en l'entrainant au moyen de ses propres cendres dans le monde du silence, du discret. Le mall apparait comme un vestige, une ruine pop du XXIe siecle qui vise a interpeller, a reveler, a faire prendre conscience.
Tracés, Nov 1, 2020
Novembre 2020 Salvatore Aprea, le béton, un principe universel Le béton apparent dans la culture ... more Novembre 2020 Salvatore Aprea, le béton, un principe universel Le béton apparent dans la culture suisse Guillaume Habert : « Diviser par deux l'impact du béton » 3503 3503 Revue suisse romande des techniques et cultures du bâti
Archi, 2022
Dai progettisti per i progettisti! Spazio interdisciplinare, interculturale, specialistico, indip... more Dai progettisti per i progettisti! Spazio interdisciplinare, interculturale, specialistico, indipendente e critico. Con TEC21, TRACÉS, Archi e la piattaforma comune www.espazium.ch creiamo uno spazio di riflessione sulla cultura della costruzione.
In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité ... more In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, Switzerland’s cultural position is emblematic. Whilst in international debates this technique is often characterized by theoretical and ideological accents converging in the definition of New Brutalism and International Brutalist Style, in Switzerland, exposed concrete takes on a particular meaning, emancipated from the desire to investigate its intrinsic theoretical and artistic concepts, and devoid of any search for decorative textures. Instead, it is the engineering tradition that confers to concrete a technical and scientific vision which admits a certain degree of imperfection in its implementation, even if confined within the limits of material economy or construction site logic. Exposed concrete, informed by the principles of the engineering tradition, is marked in the Swiss culture of the 1950s by a ‘rational’ character and becomes the pretext to assert the refusal of any formal or intellectual designations other than that of the most radical construction.
Matiéres, 2018
Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism, ethic or asthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant da... more Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism, ethic or asthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant dans le processus de redéfinition de l’un des concepts les plus célèbres et les plus ambigus de l’architecture de la seconde moitié du XX e siècle : le « New Brutalism ». Les critiques et polémiques qu’a soulevées cette expression, forgée en 1953 par Peter et Alison Smithson , semblent pourtant témoigner de la capacité exceptionnelle du New Brutalism à alimenter un débat intense qui, aujourd’hui encore, n’a rien perdu de son actualité.
Le corpus inédit de lettres échangées de 1962 à 1966 entre l’auteur Reyner Banham, les propriétaires de la maison d’édition de Stuttgart Karl Krämer Verlag, Karl Krämer père et fils, et l’éditeur Jürgen Joedicke, constitue l’une des rares sources disponibles à ce jour qui permette de retracer la genèse du livre de Banham, The New Brutalism, et révèle que, dans sa forme comme dans ses contenus, cet ouvrage est le fruit d’une étroite collaboration entre l’auteur et son éditeur.
The formation process of New Brutalism takes root at the beginning of the Fifties in Britain, whe... more The formation process of New Brutalism takes root at the beginning of the Fifties in Britain, when a cultural frame of a complex net of correlations and historiographic formula fed most of all by critics, attempted to find a specific regional evolution of Modern Movement. Critics’ concern toward an English declension of Modern Movement tends to diverge from the International Style, as identified in the functionalist drift crystallised by authors such as Johnson and Hitchcock.
The debates develop precisely around the questioning of the very meaning of these two historiographical categories- Modern Movement and International Style- considered synonyms by some critics, antinomies by others. The essence of the debate, in the firsts years after the end of the war, evolves around the concept of style, perceived as a crystallized international set of rules, and movement intended as a research, a category nurtured by processual drives.
This questioning sets the premise to the invention of a set of new architectural labels, unfolding a chain of re-appropriation and re-discoveries highlighting unpredictable affinities.
Keywords: Cultures et diversite ; Mythes mediterraneens: approches anthropologiques ; Section AR ... more Keywords: Cultures et diversite ; Mythes mediterraneens: approches anthropologiques ; Section AR Reference EPFL-STUDENT-180933 Record created on 2012-08-21, modified on 2017-05-12
In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité ... more In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, Switzerland’s cultural position is emblematic. Whilst in international debates this technique is often characterized by theoretical and ideological accents converging in the definition of New Brutalism and International Brutalist Style, in Switzerland, exposed concrete takes on a particular meaning, emancipated from the desire to investigate its intrinsic theoretical and artistic concepts, and devoid of any search for decorative textures. Instead, it is the engineering tradition that confers to concrete a technical and scientific vision which admits a certain degree of imperfection in its implementation, even if confined within the limits of material economy or construction site logic. Exposed concrete, informed by the principles of the engineering tradition, is marked in the Swiss culture of the 1950s by a ‘rational’ character and becomes the pretext to assert the refusal of any formal or intellectual designations other than that of the most radical construction.
Matières, 2018
Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism. Ethic or Aesthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant d... more Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism. Ethic or Aesthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant dans le processus de redéfinition de l’un des concepts les plus célèbres et les plus ambigus de l’architecture de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle : le « New Brutalism ». Les critiques et polémiques qu’a soulevées cette expression, forgée en 1953 par Peter et Alison Smithson, semblent pourtant témoigner de la capacité exceptionnelle du New Brutalism à alimenter un débat intense qui, aujourd’hui encore, n’a rien perdu de son actualité. Le corpus inédit de lettres échangées de 1962 à 1966 entre l’auteur Reyner Banham, les propriétaires de la maison d’édition de Stuttgart Karl Krämer Verlag, Karl Krämer père et fils, et l’éditeur Jürgen Joedicke, constitue l’une des rares sources disponibles à ce jour qui permette de retracer la genèse du livre de Banham, The New Brutalism, et révèle que, dans sa forme comme dans ses contenus, cet ouvrage est le fruit d’une étroite collaboration entre l’auteur et son éditeur.
Annals of Vascular Surgery, 2021
OBJECTIVE Recently, there has been an abundance of encouraging data regarding the creation of per... more OBJECTIVE Recently, there has been an abundance of encouraging data regarding the creation of percutaneous arteriovenous fistulas. Despite promising data regarding their clinical maturation, a paucity of data exists which provides direct comparison between percutaneously-created AVFs (pAVF) and open surgically-created AVFs (sAVF). This study has two primary objectives: First, to compare clinical outcomes of pAVFs to sAVFs, with emphasis on clinical maturation and frequency of post-operative interventions to facilitate maturation. Second, to contribute towards the evidence-based incorporation of the pAVF procedure into the hemodialysis access algorithm. METHODS A single-center retrospective review was performed on all consecutive patients undergoing surgically-created brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (BC-AVF, sAVF group) from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 and Ellipsys-created percutaneous arteriovenous fistula (pAVF group) from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Comparative analysis between groups was performed. RESULTS A total of 24 patients underwent Ellipsys-created pAVF with mean age of 56.7 ± 22.6 years (12 males [50%], 12 females [50%]) and 62 patients underwent surgically-created BC-AVF with mean age of 62.5 ± 13.2 years (32 males [52%], 30 females [48%]). Both the pAVF and sAVF groups had comparable mean operating times (60 ± 40 vs. 56 ± 25 min, p = 0.67) and frequency of procedural technical success (23 [96%] vs. 62 [100%], p = 0.28), respectively. The pAVF group had a lower clinical maturation rate (12 [52%] vs. 54 [87%], p = 0.003) and a higher primary failure rate (9 [39%] vs. 6 [10%], p = 0.003) when compared to the sAVF group. The pAVF group had an increased overall rate of undergoing a post-operative intervention (18 [78%] vs. 13 [21%], p < 0.001), as well as an increased number of total post-operative interventions (1.1 ± 0.9 vs. 0.3 ± 0.6 interventions, p < 0.001) compared to the sAVF group. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) of the juxta anastomotic segment was the most prevalent post-operative intervention performed in the pAVF group and occurred at a significantly increased frequency when compared to the sAVF group rate (13 [57%] vs. 5 [8%], p < 0.001). CONCLUSION In our single-center retrospective review, patients undergoing Ellipsys-created pAVF in the first year following introduction of percutaneous endovascular had inferior rates of clinical maturation and underwent more post-operative interventions when compared to historical patients undergoing surgically-created BC-AVF. Outcome discrepancies compared to previously reported Ellipsys data demonstrate a need for further studies examining the practical translatability of the pAVF.
At the end of the Second World War, an intense ideological confrontation took place in England, w... more At the end of the Second World War, an intense ideological confrontation took place in England, where the principles of reconstruction were established around the ‘low rise’ and ‘high rise’ dichotomy. The debate was influenced by a politicized generational divide, pitting the legacy of Howard’s Garden City model, supported by those who called themselves ‘Marxists’, against Le Corbusier’s Unite at Marseille, defended by a younger generation of architects who took a ‘non-Marxist’ position. The various political tendencies were translated into stylistic rules that addressed types, city configuration, and even materials, according to a rich constellation of new labels: the New Humanism derived from Soviet Social Realism, the William Morris Revival and People’s Detailing, the New Picturesque advocated as a democratic model by Nikolaus Pevsner, and the New Empiricism reworked by Eric de Mare on the Cooperative Housing Schemes of the Swedish welfare state. It is in this context that the Ne...
Keywords: brutalism ; beton brut ; Architectural history ; postwar Reference EPFL-TALK-234260 Rec... more Keywords: brutalism ; beton brut ; Architectural history ; postwar Reference EPFL-TALK-234260 Record created on 2018-01-15, modified on 2018-01-15
The concept of New Brutalism has been the victim of a series of misunderstandings, myths and apor... more The concept of New Brutalism has been the victim of a series of misunderstandings, myths and aporias. The initial intentions, devoid of any principle or dogma, have passed from hand to hand. The original definitionâif only one can be identifiedâhas been manipulated, diluted and finally fragmented, revealing the necessity of a thorough reconstruction of its trajectory, by sifting through architectural works, theoretical instances, debates and comments scattered, for the most part, in the pages of major international journals over a span of more than thirty years. The aim of this thesis has been to reconstruct the origins and development of the definition of New Brutalism and to reflect on its evolution, with the intention to understand the reasons and methods that have led it to take on an extraordinary dimension, becoming for a moment at least, an important topic in the architectural debate. The extension of the definition of New Brutalism was, if not entirely international, of a considerable vastness, ranging from Europe to the United States, from Japan to South America. Yet New Brutalism cannot be considered a synthesis but rather an attempt to pose profound questions about the course of architecture and the fate of the Modern Movement. Grasping the meaning of this concept in its various declinations and attempts at definition through the historical method required retracing its movement, through the scrutiny of major international journals and essays and the consultation of archival documents. The advent in the debates of the definition of New Brutalism reveals the appearance of an aspiration for an architecture that became an expression of the criticism of the young generations of the 1950s against sentimentalist and vernacular degeneration, at a time of profound crisis in the concept of the Modern Movement. The 1950s, which began with the turmoil of the Unité construction site in Marseille, witnessed the abolishment of cladding and the affirmation of a bare, essential, âbasicâ architecture. The debates on New Brutalism were not limited to the dimension of a single building, but addressed a new way of understanding the urban dimension, the role of the architect, and an ambivalent collaboration between critics and architects. At the heart of this renewal was the debate on Brutalism, fomented by the works of architects but above all by the aspirations of critics. This research examines the trajectories of the idea of New Brutalism, its origins and etymological roots, with a focus on the theoretical implications at stake through a reading of how it has been conceptualized and exploited by various protagonists and critics since the early 1950s. The central core of the dissertation has been to chronicle shifts in critical perception, following the contributions Brutalism made to national debates. By questioning and challenging the current categorization of post-war architecture, this research gets to the core of the post-war critical debate, unfolding, through its many actors, its philological incongruities as well as its heroic visions
Keywords: brutalism ; architectural history ; postwar ; Beton brut Reference EPFL-TALK-234259 Rec... more Keywords: brutalism ; architectural history ; postwar ; Beton brut Reference EPFL-TALK-234259 Record created on 2018-01-15, modified on 2018-01-15
Keywords: New Brutalism ; Criticism ; Postwar Architectural History Reference EPFL-CONF-226563 Re... more Keywords: New Brutalism ; Criticism ; Postwar Architectural History Reference EPFL-CONF-226563 Record created on 2017-03-16, modified on 2017-03-16
Le projet s'inscrit dans la continuite d'une recherche theorique au sujet du systeme de c... more Le projet s'inscrit dans la continuite d'une recherche theorique au sujet du systeme de consommation et de son implosion, telle que Baudrillard l'avait decrite: il utilise la meme logique du systematique et l'alimente a tel point que le paradigme se change. L'ile abandonnee de Hoffman Island dans la Lower Bay a New York donne le pretexte pour analyser les noyaux critiques du mall. Le choix strategique de l'implantation permet une approche experimentale et a la fois liberee du contexte: un laboratoire architectural et social. Le programme est compose par elements heterogenes qui se formalisent dans un seul volume hybride qui permet de reveler les contrastes entre le domaine de la consommation et sa consequence, les dechets. Le projet propose une structure qui abrite une activite commerciale et un centre de recyclage des dechets produits par le centre meme. L'objectif est de montrer le processus de la consommation de facon metabolique et de donner vie a un autre produit a partir des dechets. Tout ce qui est produit par le shopping mall est reintroduit dans le bâtiment, soit sous forme d'energie, soit sous forme de produit. La plupart des dechets est composee de carton d'emballage et de papier qui deviennent la matiere premiere pour concretiser l'implosion. L'espace commercial se substitue peu a peu pour laisser place a l'archivage des livres produits avec ses dechets dans un processus dynamique et chronologique. Dans cette logique, plus le centre commercial consomme, plus il est attractif, plus il a du succes, plus il va produire de dechets et plus il est consume. Le projet propose invite a reflechir sur l'instabilite et les contrastes en touchant les points faibles du centre commercial, en bouleversant le monde bruyant, attractif et pop du shopping mall, et en l'entrainant au moyen de ses propres cendres dans le monde du silence, du discret. Le mall apparait comme un vestige, une ruine pop du XXIe siecle qui vise a interpeller, a reveler, a faire prendre conscience.
Tracés, Nov 1, 2020
Novembre 2020 Salvatore Aprea, le béton, un principe universel Le béton apparent dans la culture ... more Novembre 2020 Salvatore Aprea, le béton, un principe universel Le béton apparent dans la culture suisse Guillaume Habert : « Diviser par deux l'impact du béton » 3503 3503 Revue suisse romande des techniques et cultures du bâti
Archi, 2022
Dai progettisti per i progettisti! Spazio interdisciplinare, interculturale, specialistico, indip... more Dai progettisti per i progettisti! Spazio interdisciplinare, interculturale, specialistico, indipendente e critico. Con TEC21, TRACÉS, Archi e la piattaforma comune www.espazium.ch creiamo uno spazio di riflessione sulla cultura della costruzione.
In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité ... more In the context of the affirmation of béton brut, discovered during the construction of the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, Switzerland’s cultural position is emblematic. Whilst in international debates this technique is often characterized by theoretical and ideological accents converging in the definition of New Brutalism and International Brutalist Style, in Switzerland, exposed concrete takes on a particular meaning, emancipated from the desire to investigate its intrinsic theoretical and artistic concepts, and devoid of any search for decorative textures. Instead, it is the engineering tradition that confers to concrete a technical and scientific vision which admits a certain degree of imperfection in its implementation, even if confined within the limits of material economy or construction site logic. Exposed concrete, informed by the principles of the engineering tradition, is marked in the Swiss culture of the 1950s by a ‘rational’ character and becomes the pretext to assert the refusal of any formal or intellectual designations other than that of the most radical construction.
Matiéres, 2018
Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism, ethic or asthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant da... more Publié en 1966, le livre The New Brutalism, ethic or asthetic ? marque un tournant déterminant dans le processus de redéfinition de l’un des concepts les plus célèbres et les plus ambigus de l’architecture de la seconde moitié du XX e siècle : le « New Brutalism ». Les critiques et polémiques qu’a soulevées cette expression, forgée en 1953 par Peter et Alison Smithson , semblent pourtant témoigner de la capacité exceptionnelle du New Brutalism à alimenter un débat intense qui, aujourd’hui encore, n’a rien perdu de son actualité.
Le corpus inédit de lettres échangées de 1962 à 1966 entre l’auteur Reyner Banham, les propriétaires de la maison d’édition de Stuttgart Karl Krämer Verlag, Karl Krämer père et fils, et l’éditeur Jürgen Joedicke, constitue l’une des rares sources disponibles à ce jour qui permette de retracer la genèse du livre de Banham, The New Brutalism, et révèle que, dans sa forme comme dans ses contenus, cet ouvrage est le fruit d’une étroite collaboration entre l’auteur et son éditeur.
The formation process of New Brutalism takes root at the beginning of the Fifties in Britain, whe... more The formation process of New Brutalism takes root at the beginning of the Fifties in Britain, when a cultural frame of a complex net of correlations and historiographic formula fed most of all by critics, attempted to find a specific regional evolution of Modern Movement. Critics’ concern toward an English declension of Modern Movement tends to diverge from the International Style, as identified in the functionalist drift crystallised by authors such as Johnson and Hitchcock.
The debates develop precisely around the questioning of the very meaning of these two historiographical categories- Modern Movement and International Style- considered synonyms by some critics, antinomies by others. The essence of the debate, in the firsts years after the end of the war, evolves around the concept of style, perceived as a crystallized international set of rules, and movement intended as a research, a category nurtured by processual drives.
This questioning sets the premise to the invention of a set of new architectural labels, unfolding a chain of re-appropriation and re-discoveries highlighting unpredictable affinities.
The EPFL Press is the English languageimprint of the Foundation of the Presses polytechniques et ... more The EPFL Press is the English languageimprint of the Foundation of the Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes (PPUR). The PPUR publishes mainly works of teaching and research of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), of universities and other institutions of higher education. Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes EPFL-Rolex Learning Center CM Station 10 CH