nove paradigme v arhitekturi devetdesetih

Allegro con brio

Danes se zdi, da ni pravi čas za bilance ali za generalne klasifikacije; z muko si poskušamo ustvariti nekakšne provizorične opazovalnice, oporne točke, ki v razpršeni kulturi moderne dobe postavljajo neke pogojno objektivne kriterije za orientacijo v condition postmoderne sodobnega sveta. Vendar je potrebno zbrati pogum za preprosto in jasno misel o času in položaju, v katerem smo, ter za prepoznavno stališče.

Zadnjih 25 let, od konca 60. naprej, je za arhitekturno razpravo značilno hlastanje po vedno novih teorijah, ki naj bi kompleksnost realnosti zajele v poenostavljene obrazce. Te doktrine se vedno predstavljajo kot univerzalne in odrešujoče. Postmoderna, ki je njihov skupni imenovalec, naj bi končno počistila z moderno arhitekturo in z njeno skozi etiko utemeljeno estetiko ter formo. Še več; ker so bile kvalitete moderne arhitekture, kot so konstrukcijska in oblikovna iskrenost, neomajna zavzetost za izboljševanje človekovega okolja ter prizadevanje za kompleksno in sistemsko reševanje problemov gradnje in rasti mesta, razumljive le kultiviranemu človeku in težko dostopne splošnemu okusu množice, je bila moderna arhitektura zavrnjena v celoti, z obtožbo, da ni imela posluha za človeka, zgodovino in za umestitev v okolje. Vendar sta prav humanizem moderne in njena senzibilnost pri kontekstualni postavitvi ustvarila dela, ki so neskončno nad banalnim imitiranjem in citiranjem postmoderne arhitekture. Zapuščina moderne za iztek stoletja je poleg etične zrelosti tudi lekcija o preciznosti in strogosti. Mies pravi: “Zavračamo vsako estetsko špekulacijo, vse doktrine in vse formalizme. Naša naloga je ustvariti obliko iz bistva problema s sredstvi našega časa. Uresničiti moramo notranji red naše biti.”

Nemirna osemdeseta niso mnogo prispevala k razjasnitvi pozicij. Koncept kritičnega regionalizma, kot ga je Frampton zastavil leta 1984 v Kritični zgodovini moderne arhitekture, se zdi spričo svoje odprtosti najdragocenejša zapuščina desetletja, ki ga je zaznamoval postmodernizem. Pledira za nekaj na videz protislovnega, namreč za možnost povezave lokalnih tradicij gradnje z uporabo sodobnih sredstev, tehnik in tehnologij, skratka, za možnost povezave med univerzalnim in lokalnim. Primer Utzonove cerkve v Bagasvaerdu na Danskem je primer kontinuitete z modernim racionalizmom, ki je nadgrajena z zelo prefinjenim regionalnim izrazom. Tudi iz današnje časovne perspektive postaja vse bolj očitno, da je prav tisti del arhitekture osemdesetih, ki ga odlikuje racionalizem izraza, brez kolaža in ironije, v večji meri obdržal svojo veljavo za devetdeseta.

Kaj lahko temu ob bok postavi naše desetletje? Večplastne realnosti ni več potrebno prekrivati z nasilnimi poenostavitvami, saj nam nove tehnologije omogočajo preciznost in učinkovitost ob upoštevanju okolja nove kompleksnosti. Tako se na eni strani vzpostavlja kontinuiteta z moderno arhitekturo, predvsem s šestdesetimi leti. S tem se uveljavlja arhitekturna senzibilnost, ki je nova, ki pa v svoj temelj ne postavlja več razlike v primerjavi z moderno, ampak se distancira od treh desetletij, ko je bila arhitektura podrejena vprašanjem forme. Na drugi strani gre za nadaljevanje in kritično poglabljanje tem, ki so reakcija na brezbrižnost, nespoštovanje in aroganco tehnokratskega dela izteka povojne moderne, spet iz šestdesetih.

To so seveda predvsem vprašanja kulturne, geografske, ekološke, pa tudi tektonske in geološke utemeljenosti ter povezanosti s krajem. Tretja paradigma devetdesetih pa je tematizacija novega vzorca socialnega, ekonomskega, tehnološkega in kulturnega okolja ter njegovih vrednot.

“V arhitekturi je bistvo ideja,” trdi Campo Baeza, ”ideja kot sinteza elementov, ki sestavljajo arhitekturo; konteksta, funkcije, konstrukcije in kompozicije. Medtem ko forme izginjajo, ideje ostanejo, saj so neuničljive. Brez ideje so forme prazne. Misliti ali ne misliti, to je vprašanje”. Če je ideja tisto, kar odlikuje dobro arhitekturo, potem imajo visokoleteče teorije in doktrine le omejen pomen, dobra arhitektura jih pač prav z svojo inherentno arhitekturno in umetniško kvaliteto in svobodo lahko preživi, interpretira, nadgradi ali osmeši.

Vedno znova postavljati v krizo lastna ustaljena izhodišča, ki so postala že samoumevna - to je vzgib za kristalizacijo stališč in tudi za osebnostno rast. Slovenska arhitektura in z njo ab sta v procesu takšne kristalizacije, ko so oscilacije nenormalno velike. Vendar pristajanje na norme in dogme, pa kakor koli so privlačne ali pa, po drugi strani, kakor koli so videti neizogibne, nosi v sebi negibnost in mrtvilo. Tako kot je opus arhitekta, ko se ne sprašuje več o dvomih in bistvu, presegel ustvarjalni zenit in se nagiba k akademski avtoreferencialnosti, je tudi arhitekturna kultura s pristajanjem na status quo obsojena na erozijo in zatohlost.

Številko uvaja Achleitnerjev tekst o omejeni uporabnosti koncepta regionalnosti v arhitekturi, saj se lahko vzpostavi vedno le za nazaj, ko mu uspe najti nov odgovor na nove probleme določene regije, v kolikor pa je predpisan vnaprej v obliki splošno veljavne doktrine, ali kar je še huje, v zakonski obliki, pa pomeni omejitev in degeneracijo.

Teorijo poleg nadaljevanja predstavljanja geomantije avtorjev Saša Ostana in Jamesa Harlingtona zastopajo še prispevki A. Campusa Baeze o svetlobi v arhitekturi in Gabrieleja Capellatta o sodobni italijanski arhitekturi, ter kritika našega odnosa in ravnanja s Plečnikovo Ljubljano izpod peresa Jörga Stabenowa.

V prejšnjem ab-ju smo predstavili nekaj del najmlajše generacije, ki se počasi oblikuje skozi tihi preporod ljubljanske šole za arhitekturo. Da je ta generacija uspešna tudi v mednarodnem merilu, je mogoče soditi po delih njihovih vrstnikov in prijateljev iz Berlagejevega inštituta, ki jih objavljamo tokrat v redakciji Vedrana Mimice.

Z realizacijami, intervjuji in komentarji se predstavljata dva mlada, pa vendar različna arhitekturna para, ki povezujeta regije in tudi paradigme v arhitekturi; Sonja Gasparin in Benny Meier z uglašenim opusom realizacij, ki nastajajo iz povezave kritičnega regionalizma z novo arhitekturno poetiko devetdesetih, Helena in Hrvoje Njirić pa z brezkompromisno ostrino absolutne modernosti, s katero poosebljata ideale medijske generacije zaključka tisočletja.

Zgodovino predstavljata dva skoka v preteklost; analiza Bitenčevega sakralnega opusa s kritičnim razmislekom o sodobni sakralni arhitekturi pri nas ter predstavitev delov morda za vedno izgubljenega balkanskega opusa Jožeta Plečnika.

New Paradigms in the Architecture of the Nineties

Allegro con Brio

Nowadays it seems that this is not the right time for revisions or general classifications. We are trying, not without pain, to create some kind of provisional observational stands or guiding parameters which impose, in the dispersed culture of the modern era, conditionally objective criteria for orienting the "postmodern condition" in the modern world. However, we have to gather some courage for a simple and clear understanding of the time and the situation in which we find ourselves, and for a recognisable perspective.

In the past 25 years, since the 60's, architectural discussion has been marked by the embracement of new theories which were supposed to order the complexity of reality into simplified patterns. These doctrines are always presented as universal and liberating. Postmodernism, their common denominator, was supposed to finally wipe away the ethically-grounded ideas about aesthetics and form from modern architecture. Moreover, since the quality of the modern architecture, as, for instance, in the sincerity of construction and form, in the uncompromising enthusiasm for the improvement of human residential environments, and in the striving for a complex and complete solving of building and urban growth problems, was understandable only to a cultivated mind and was not easily accessible to the general taste, modern architecture was rejected as a whole, on the grounds that it did not demonstrate any understanding of man, history, location and space. And yet, it was the humanism of the Modernism and its sensibility for the contextual positioning which created works, which far exceeded the banal imitations of postmodern architecture. The legacy of Modernism at the end of the century is, besides ethic maturity, a lesson in preciseness and severity. According to Mies: "We deny any aesthetic speculation, any doctrines and any formalisms. Our task is to create a form from the core of the problem with the means of our time. We have to realise the inner order of our being."

The restless 80's did not contribute much to the clarification of opinions. The concept of critical regionalism, as described by Frampton in 1984 in his Critical History of Modern Architecture seem to be, in view of its openness, the most precious legacy of the decade, which was marked by Postmodernism. It strives for something apparently contradictory, namely the possibility of connecting the local traditions of construction with modern materials, techniques and technologies, in short - for the possibility of connecting the universal and the local. The example of Utzon's church in Bagasvaerd, Denmark, is an example of continuity with modern rationalism, upgraded with a very refined regional expression. From our current perspective, it is becoming more and more clear that it is that very same element of the architecture of the 80's, distinguished by the rationalism of its expression, without collage or irony, that largely preserved its value for the 90's.

What can be our decade's contribution to this? There is no more need to cover the multi-layered reality with violent simplification, since new technologies ensure preciseness and efficiency, taking into account the new environment complexity. Thus, on one hand, we see the continuity with modern architecture, especially from the 60's, being established. This gives way to the architectural sensibility which is new but does not put itself in opposition to Modernism, but takes a distance from three decades when architecture was subjected to the questions of form. On the other hand this is the continuation and critical extending of themes which are reactions to the carelessness, disrespect and arrogance of the technocratic element of post-war Modernism, again from the 60's. Of course, these are mostly questions of cultural, geographical, ecological, as well as tectonic and geological justifications and connections with the place. The third paradigm of the 90's is the definition of a new pattern of social, economic, technological and cultural environment and values.

"In architecture, the basic thing is the idea," said Campo Baeza. "The idea as a synthesis of elements which compose the architecture: the context, function, construction and composition. While the forms vanish, the ideas remain, since they cannot be destroyed. Forms are empty without ideas. To think or not to think - that is the question." If it is the idea which defines quality architecture, then the pretentious theories and doctrines have only a limited significance, since the architecture, with its inherent structural and artistic quality can outlive them, interpret them, upgrade them or ridicule them.

To continuously put one's own established opinions, which already became self-evident, in crisis is the impulse for the crystallisation of perspectives and also for one's personal growth. Slovene architecture, and the AB with it, is now in the process of such crystallisation, where the oscillations have been abnormally high. However, accepting the norms and dogmas, as attractive as they may be or, on the other hand, as inevitable as they may seem, bring motionlessness and stagnation. Just as the works of an architect when he no longer questions his doubts and his dilemmas, have passed their creative zenith and now lean towards academic self-referenciallity, so too does the architectural culture, by accepting the status quo, condemn itself to erosion and stuffiness.

The present issue opens with a text by Achleitner on the limited applicability of the concept of regionality in architecture, since regionality can always be established only for the past, when it succeeds in finding new answers to the new problems of a certain region. However, when it is prescribed in advance in the form of a generally valid doctrine or, even worse, in legal form, it is subjective and biased.

The theory besides in the continued presentation of geomancy by Saša Ostan and James Harlington, is also dealt with in articles by A. Campos Baeza on light in architecture, and by Gabriele Capellatto on modern Italian architecture, and by Jörg Stabenow in his critique of our attitude towards the Plečnik's Ljubljana.

In the previous AB we have presented some works of the youngest generation which have been slowly shaped through the quiet renaissance of the Ljubljana School of Architecture. That this generation is also successful on the international scene can be seen from articles by their colleagues and friends from the Berlage Institut.

Through their completed projects, interviews and commentaries two young, yet different architectural couples are presented which connect regions and paradigms in architecture: Sonja Gasparin and Benny Maier with a harmonised opus of completed projects which are created from the connection between critical regionalism and the new architectural poetics of the 90's; and Helena and Hrvoje Njirić who personify the ideals of the media generation at the end of the millennium with an uncompromising sharpness of "absolute modernism".

Historical background is presented by two jumps to the past: the critical analysis of Bitenc's sacral opus with critical comment of the modern sacral architecture in Slovenia, and the presentation of parts, perhaps lost forever, of Jože Plečnik's "Balkan opus".