Preparing CIAM X 1954-1955
Introduction
The dissatisfaction with CIAM IX, CIAM as an institution and the ‘functional
city’ as a tool for planning the modern city that they had inherited from
their CIAM forefathers, prompted national CIAM groups and international meetings
of the ‘like-minded’ to meet between the congresses with the purpose
of defining a new direction for CIAM. At the forefront of these initiatives
were the younger Dutch and British CIAM members, Georges Candilis, with the
participation of Italian CIAM members Ignazio Gardella and Franco Albini, and
Swiss member Rolf Gutmann who all made important contributions in formulating
a new working method for CIAM planning. The members of the older generation
were equally disappointed with CIAM IX. Giedion had hoped that the congress
would produce a Charter of Habitat since CIAM had published only a summary of
CIAM VIII entitled The Heart of the City (1952), but had published nothing dealing
with principles since 1944 with Can Our Cities Survive?
The first interim meeting was a ‘study weekend’ organized by the
young Dutch architect Sandy van Ginkel under the direction of Jaap Bakema and
held at Doorn, The Netherlands, 29-31 January 1954. Independently of CIAM, they
met to decide on the subject and method of work for the next congress. Taking
up a suggestion made by Ernesto Rogers at the Sigtuna meeting, they proposed
that the central topic of discussion be a new working method for the implementation
of ‘habitat’.
These loosely associated, third generation modern architects who met at Doorn
were also bound by their desire to produce towns in which ‘vital human
associations’ were expressed and to develop methods that would enable
them to implement these associations. In spite of the differences of opinion
as to how this was to be achieved, they arrived at enough of a consensus to
produce a summary of their discussions in a document entitled ‘Statement
on Habitat’, which they conceived of as a necessary preliminary step toward
the creation of a Charter of Habitat. Their ‘Statement on Habitat’
began by historically locating The Athens Charter as embodying a method that
functioned adequately for counteracting the chaos in the nineteenth-century
city, but was found wanting as a method for the twentieth century. In its place
they proposed new criteria for planning in which the totality of a community
and its particular character and environment should be taken into account. They
represented this concept with the ‘Scale of Association’ diagram
that was directly borrowed from the sociologically-based notions of Scottish
town planner Patrick Geddes, and his ‘Valley Section’ diagram. The
‘Scale of Association’ diagram was to replace the CIAM grid as a
tool to study and compare settlements located in different regions and countries.
Although the ‘Statement on Habitat’ was written seven months before
these members would be recognized as Team 10, and aided by the more polemical
title of ‘Doorn Manifesto’ subsequently given by Alison Smithson,
it may be considered to be the foundational document of the group.
The younger members continued to meet between 1954 and 1956 to outline the new
direction and working method for CIAM X. These collaborations were formalized
by the executive body of CIAM, the CIAM Council, at a meeting in Paris, in June
1954, with the formation of a new group of ‘youngers’ the CIAM X
Committee, where its members, Jaap Bakema, Georges Candilis, Peter Smithson
and Rolf Gutmann, were given the task of preparing the intellectual and spiritual
pro-gramme for CIAM X. The CIAM X Committee was subsequently expanded at a meeting
in London with CIAM Council member Jacqueline Tyrwhitt to include some of the
other younger members who had attended the meeting at Doorn.
Discussions about the elaborate rules of presentation of the ASCORAL grid were
resolved with an outline for a new, much more succinct presentation with only
four panels for each project.
There were differences of opinion among the members of the CIAM X Committee
about the conceptual framework of CIAM X, which they somewhat resolved in a
draft of a document that was accepted at a meeting of the CIAM X Committee with
the CIAM X Advisory Group, (represented by Le Corbusier and Giedion) in Le Corbusier’s
office, on 14 September 1954. The term ‘Equipe X’ and ‘Team
X’ appeared for the first time in documents authored by CIAM Alger and
Candilis in preparation for the Paris meeting, for their role in preparing for
the CIAM X congress. An intense internal debate ensued among the Team 10 members,
especially between the Dutch and English, as they attempted to consolidate their
new conception of urbanism for the next congress. The Dutch felt they were overruled
by the English, who stuck to their pragmatic interpretation of the Geddes ‘Valley
Section’ diagram and the idea of scales of association. Van Eyck and Bakema
wanted to focus on the more idealistic issues of ‘the greater reality
of the doorstep’, ‘growth and change’ and ‘the aesthetics
of number’. Once this debate was settled they were then faced with the
task of convincing the CIAM Council of their new approach which was reluctantly
approved at a meeting with the CIAM Council in Paris in July 1955.
Realizing that the younger members were taking over the responsibilities of
CIAM, the founding members began the process of documenting the history of CIAM
and producing documentation of the Sigtuna meeting and CIAM IX congress. The
CIAM Council and Team 10 and their advisers met at La Sarraz, Switzerland on
8-10 September 1955, with the purpose of preparing this documentation to be
titled ‘Le Statut du Logis’ and to finalize the working programme
for CIAM X. At this meeting a confusing mix of desires was brought to the surface,
with the older members seeking to summarize the last 25 years of CIAM history
and Team 10 members wanting to prepare a document that would lead CIAM into
the future.
The Smithsons continued their campaign to get CIAM’s four functions replaced
by the categories of ‘cities’, ‘towns’, ‘villages’
and ‘isolated houses’ as proposed on the ‘Scale of Association’
diagram. And the degree to which the notion of habitat had infiltrated the thinking
of the older generation was made evident by the title they agreed upon for the
congress: ‘The Habitat: Problem of Inter-relationships. CIAM’s First
Proposals, Statements and Resolutions’. The older members recognized the
role played by the younger members who were now being referred to as Team 10,
thanked them for the work they had done, and allowed them to continue with the
preparations for CIAM X under the supervision of CIAM Council member José
Lluís Sert.
Annie Pedret
Members present:
Doorn 1954
interim meeting
29-31 January 1954
organized by Bakema\Van Ginkel
present:
Jaap Bakema
Aldo van Eyck
Sandy van Ginkel
Hans Hovens Greve
Peter Smithson
John Voelcker
Paris 1954
CIAM Council, interim meeting
30 June 1954
organized by CIAM Council
present:
Sigfried Giedion
Walter Gropius
Le Corbusier
José Lluís Sert
Jacqueline Tyrwhitt
and
Jaap Bakema
Aldo van Eyck
Georges Candilis
Rolf Gutmann
Bill Howell
Peter Smithson
John Voelcker
CIAM X Committee (CIAX) appointed
London 1954
CIAM X Committee, interim meeting
28-29 August 1954
organized by CIAX
present:
Jaap Bakema
Georges Candilis
Sandy van Ginkel
Rolf Gutmann
Bill Howell
Gill Howell
Brian Richards
Alison Smithson
Peter Smithson
John Voelcker
Shadrach Woods
Paris 1954
CIAM X Committee, interim meeting
14 September 1954
Le Corbusier’s office, Paris, France
organized by CIAM Council
present:
Sigfried Giedion
Le Corbusier
and
Jaap Bakema
Georges Candilis
Aldo van Eyck
Sandy van Ginkel
Bill Howell
Gill Howell
Alison Smithson
Peter Smithson
first reference to Team X \ Team 10
Paris 1955
Team 10 interim meeting
14 April 1955
Candilis office, Paris, France
organized by Team 10
present:
Jaap Bakema
Georges Candilis
Aldo van Eyck
Alison Smithson
Peter Smithson
John Voelcker
Shadrach Woods
Paris 1955
CIRPAC\CIAM Council, CIRPAC meeting with CIAM Council
4 July 1955
organized by CIAM Council
present among other delegates:
Jaap Bakema
Georges Candilis
Bill Howell
La Sarraz 1955
CIRPAC ‘Le statut du logis’ ,CIAM Council meeting
8-10 September 1955
organized by CIAM Council
present among other delegates:
Jaap Bakema*
Max Bill
Giancarlo De Carlo
Cornelis van Eesteren
Paul Emery
Aldo van Eyck
Sigfried Giedion
Rolf Gutmann*
Bill Howell
Ernesto Rogers
Alfred Roth
Alison Smithson
Peter Smithson*
John Voelcker
André Wogenscky
Shadrach Woods
* appointed to CIAM Committee of reorganisation
first informal discussion of work