fundamentals catalogueabsorbing madernity chronology: public projects (blac vs. private projects (ray) 0 19s 18500 140s 1980e 1968 197Oe 19805 1004 2000 20100 rem koolhaas fundamentals architecture not architects When Iwas asked in 1979, t9 be part of he frst prhtectra Biennale in 1980, thought was probably Sins. not know it recto, Paolo Portoghes find given hs theme The Presence ofthe Past could ot imagine having anything to contribute, it made me owous that each stuctue inte show was crowned by Spediment...What ft to many tke the recuperation of redonalarchtectral vals felt to me lke the end of fhitectue aa we hnew it The fact that the West could {laa the show imply dig—that it owned the key {oa universal arenitacture and the copyright to the only modal ofthe ety, fl paioulay embanassing inthe face ‘of theimminent emergence of a numberof other continents! perspectives and rales, Iti now tiny four years later, ce cuca than the impulse Paraghes! pave that year vas the election of Ronald Reagan, urtehitect of the fein of neo Iieraism vith which rbitecture has had to perform evr since. The inno economy has eroded the moral stat of architects, Ithos duoreed arctecta from the public and pushod ‘ham int the ami ofthe private secior—they do nat seve ou" anymore but a ifure “them.” Biennales hove ‘explored this “delamination” betweon pe and privat: Hosen enthusiastically n The Architect ax Sesmograph (1986), Fuksas ansioutly in Less Aestheves, More Ethics (2000), and Chisperild pleaded Comman Ground (2012). But Bienoles have not asked how we got here. Before accepting this commission | had wo condltons: months typically given toa doctor, he second was that | {ould sever all connections with conemporary frhiecture, 20 that | woul be tee to look at histris ‘© explore and iluminate architecture's curent impasse ‘Asa wou, the 2014 Voice Architecture Bienslo— Fundamentals -conset of three main components: absorbing modernity sixty-six counties—at the Gard the Arsene, and elzcumere in tho city—share a cingle theme: the history of ther maderzation om 1914 to 2014, Together they presenta porvat of a tering Century in vihch almost every country was destroyed, vided, Occupied, drained, and waumnatzed yet survived The role of aertectire in these naratives is substantia, but perhaps not as crucial as architects would hope loments of architecture an exhibition ofa now body ‘of knowledge in the Cental Paviion exploring the often ‘verlooked but universal familar cloments of architecture Used by any architect, anywhere, anytime: the flo, the door, the wal, the caing, te tol, et...y focusing ‘on the history of each etrment,achitecive i revealed as an amalgamation of very ancient and some current, ‘component, Ther interaction not well understood: by looking et them under a microscope, unsuspected (stores and qualities emerge monditalia ve have invited all othe sectors ofthe Bionnale—Cinema, Dance, Theater, and Musio—to participate ina scan of aly using the Arconai asa stage wih ll presentations dedicated to a single theme: the Curent state of aly as an emblematic condition fora ‘lob sation where meny counties are balancing Between chaos and a realzstiono thor ful potential Together these exhibitions and events perfm a “aust of architecture, asking: What do we have? How cid we get have? What can wed, and where do we go rom here? | am grateful tothe Biennale for supporting the departure {rom an established formul, otal to Harvard Unversity Graduste School of Design for ling create a new body of mowledge, grateful tothe Gieskes Subs Fonds fr '2 contribution which has macs the ifference between Concept and ely, grateful to my fends and ee for folowing ti work with content attention, grate omy [AMO team for easing on ambitious vison.Pacete foreword reedent paolo boatta “ fundamentals ‘rector rem koalhass 7 absorbing modernity 1914-2018 20-186 paniipatng countries cloments of architecture 187-345 ental pation smonditaia 346-525 Corder rsenale cinema, dance, theater, musi wwookand special Treepot events 526-571pacez2 ABSORBING MODERNITY 1914-201 absorbing modernity 1914-2014 In 1914, made sense, pahops, to tak about “Chineso” architecture, "Swiss architecture, “dian” architecture. One hundred year ator, under theinluenes of wars, revolutions, verse polical regimes ferent stats of development, [rcitectural movements individual lens, friendships, Sd technological progress architectures that were ‘once specie andocal have become seemingly interchangeable and global Has national dentty been sacificed to modemity? In anwary 2013, we met, or he fst time the (Giptomatt) epcesentatives of more than sity national paviions to inte them to contuto tothe 2015 Intemational Architecture Eitan under single thome: Absorbing Modern: 1914-2014. We asked them to identify and focus on key moments and events in ther county's modemaation over the ast hunted oats... We dil not expecta collective nacativeo ‘rumphal modem; on the contrary, we meat the verb is Absorbing Modernity ta suggest the body blows that ‘boxer absorbs when he fights a bloody match. the tighteen month since that troduction all parteipating ‘counties prepared ther own proposal we have ted ‘Stimulate both the divest and precision ofeach nation’s response 1 ou bt. Ay sept aout he rlevance of nation-state hnred years evaporated ae the diverse porepectves tf the national contrbutors icy bull wig port ofa century, Together, they have produced a composite reading of» century, reveding massive destvcton, homilation ond embarassment fale an tiumah, poltical upheaval, econamie booms endbust, deaths fd ebirths, shocking reversals, moments of tert txpansion division and unico, technological “parades, periods of can, s layering of chavs, deleted thd esurectod pets, and ideological fantasies, Below the surface ofthe assumed “samensss* of the Universal Maciem, th inviual curators reves! rational quaties and iosynerases embedded {heir county’s modernties, Seanning the texts of these cantioutone-—"spectcaly Baits,” “dstinety Domican” “unmistakably Thal"—shows a continuing emphasis ona national character, combined, perhaps, tithe vagus anxiety about is potonal dsappestance. ‘The sitysix nations throw a findamentallyeilerent ight ‘nthe so-called “end of mederism" that Poroghesi and Jencks had akeady procisimed inthe 1860s. At most, the postmodemiam tha the fist Biennale introduced was 2 Confuse footnote ‘The sixty-six productions reveal that “moderity” has owed so many diferent “master narratives". hati has become, tinal, deologieely aout. Tey show tareitect in crucial postions as rebulders ofthe ‘osponsble agents ofthe new, or macers ofS Suspect pote! mise-on-scéne... Tho 1968 generation ‘Sppears proctaly absent ther supposed dominance an ‘apparent ftion. ‘Where ina n many counties the wil 10 modernize ‘was an exaliieolagical amon, ts now morphing into a mare ambiguous "modernity with ational feonurea” From "modernity fra” we went "to exch thei own modernity.” The most astonishing conclusion bt there eves nation that the history ofthe ast Century can be writen without naming @ single "major Srcitact. "We" ae mare nudes in national narratives that we do nat infusnce vs : country chronology albania 55,137,178 ‘argentina 25,42, 172 republic of armenia 36,106,114 ‘susralia 85, 178 ‘dust 6, 119,168. Kingdom of bai belgium 180, 181 bral 58, 70,162 ‘canada 78, 127, 155 ‘hile 128, 129, 134 people’ republic of china 46, 73,86 ‘sta rica 31,108 croatia «2, 94, 135 republic of cyprus 135, ‘czech republle 36, 111,157, denmark 39,170 dominican republ ypt 175 ‘estonia 34,56, 174 finland 26, 79, 163 france 47,85, 115 germany 45,124, 152 reat britain 67, 87, 130 fareece 88 140, 171 hungary 138,145,148, indonesia 28,146,175. Iran 112, 125, 178 ireland 50,95, 141 Faroe 67,89, 188 aly 50, 5,116 Ivory coast 8,131 japan 52,118,186 Kenya 151, 153, 164 Fepublic of korea 48, 91,117 35,41, 179, 40,74, 120, RSSSSSSSRERSRRT g g z Qegeegaaxnagaressas ‘country chronology republic of kosovo 96, 147,169 Ieuwait 80, 92142 latvia 143,156 ‘grand-duchy of lucembourg 81,100, former yugosiay republic of macedoni 107,132,144 malaysia 108,155 mexico 4, 72,75 ‘epubli of mozambique 60, 76 the netherland 103,105,108 ‘new zealand 38, 113,177 PACE 2 coxhibition 9% 98 100 102 104 106 108 0 12 14 6 ne ‘ordie countvies—finland, norway and sweden 97,121,126. paraguay 55, 68, 69 pena 62,64, 139 poland 27,51, 52 Pomeaa 5 62" 16t Fomania 53,82, 161 russia 37,135,158, serbia 23, 98,163 republic of sioven south afiea 165, 108 Spain 102, 122 Switzerland 105, 160 thailand 5s, 167 turkey 77,118, 122 tkraine 35, 45, 150 ‘nited arab emirates 66,125, 149 united states of amoriea 87, 20, 185, Uruguay 63,65, 110, venice pavilion ‘one-to-one domino 46,148 "120 12 14 8 18 130 132 134 136 138 140 2 “a 146 148 150 182 154 156 188_ {feta sins Ons contributor: ‘lexander kira jpg toilets ‘grecnaway Iweald and downland open air willam e. jones Til corporation with the support of Tl eorporation vith the technical support of berkow leibinger ket thanks to tna helle neil macgrogor iil maggs i Als PACE 29 toilet No architectural treatise cites the tollet as the primordial element of architecture, but the tilt is today the fundamental zone of interaction between humans and architecture on the most intimate level. Once @ respectable communal activity in Roman cities, going to the tlle gradu- ally became privatized, enclosed within architecture. Inthe nineteenth century, enabled by flush technology, the Srap, and modern plumbing, the tlle united Ina single room withthe bath-~a union ofthe dity and the clean that had only Been safely achieved a handful of mes in his- tory. The domestication, privatization, and proliferation of the tollet isthe ‘reat unspoken driver behind much architecture and urban planning, tthe moment where the globalization ofthe Euro-American tllet and its Sttendant behavior ison the brink of complation, the model it depends ‘on—abundant water, sophisticated plumbing, large-scale sewage and purification systems is increasingly untonable and unaffordable. The follet is at once the most private and the most politcal element, subject to {government interference atleast since King Francois’ 1539 edict instruct- positions (ittollets with grated sides for squatting on) and resistance, philanthropy (il and Melinda Gates Foundation’s challenge to “reinvent the tole”) and habits that only seem to be intractable. The tlt room features @ range of crucial historical tol, fom 9 Roman char jot mode fund atthe bathe of Caracalla to th atest Japancee wahist with ‘warming, muse, Sghting, and deodovizing ordered in advance by smarishone, ta anew typology of tolet, the “Blue Diversion" developed as part ‘ofthe “Reinvent the Toet Chilenge,” ive by te Bil and Mind Gates Faundtion. On the wall: the groundresking ergonomic research of Alexander Ka from his 100,000-seling 1976 book The Bathroom, plus two fms on diver (gent tot experiences, Peter Greenaway’ 26 Bathrooms (1985) and Wiliam E-dones's Manefets 1962.PAGE 290 ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE TORET ¢2.211-224 Chariot lating at baths of Caracalla, Rome Si th in shapo—with its ercularcutaway—to earler communal tlts, gla chat latine ndvdvates and exalts the act of defecation, cursor to modem "thrones" FUNDAMENTALS Pace 291 2013 Twyford range: Triumph of minimalism ‘With the strapine “A place thats ll yours. For ie.” Twyfodleunches the lates whit except for he art-deco inspire “Circe,” with back seat) range, foe of the {decoration that routinely adorned the tallet owl @ century earier—aaf puritanical ‘esign can combat the neiable dt the ol wil confront. Elaborate molded shapes he the tons and dolphins of the Unitas have leo been araciestad in favor of minor ‘Variations on a single shape.alexander kira and the science of “evacuation”low-tech 1985 Before urbanization exploded around the tum ofthe millenium, pacing unprecedented pressure on tots and the sewage and water systems that serve them, Sanitation Without Water, a guide to afforable tlt forthe wore's 00%, a8 published, ful of cheap tale desigas, prescient Solutions for an endoring problem. (Seay boy phates ne 85 ek ‘Sind iy Oot ond ‘chase oe be chamber Whee Sir neta ah Soreened went ing eran Bs Ces Ered Pin wee ron mel as ntl a roma etna wh = ‘ones Upnca na ‘tetany fea ave opuie eye FUNDAMENTALS high-tech PAGE 295 asia rate Bou (Bird parse tata Dare por tetvateg Brawtont rte