remnants of Lenin
GOULASH DEMOCRACY AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF NEW CAPITAL 2008 B. Arch Thesis Daniel Toole Professor Hajo Neis University of Oregon
CONTENTS 4 Thesis Outline 5 Theory 6 Timeline 8 Context 10 Program 11 Site 12 Diagrams 14 Urban Maps 16 Zoning 18 Site Photographs 24 Precedent Research 34 Bibliography 3
THESIS OUTLINE How can architecture be affected by politics? The act of drawing a line on a surface in itself is a political act and implies a certain system that eventually will be projected onto the environment. Different political systems have assembled structures that declare their power in a number of ways throughout history. The Egyptians and their pyramids, the parliaments of western Europe, the white house in Washington D.C. all carry within their walls a latent symbol of political and social inclination. Within history, totalitarianism and despotism has been reflected at a number of governmental scales from the aforementioned ancient Egyptians, to Hitler’s visions for Berlin, to the pre-revolution wall of Paris constructed by the Ferme Generale to the designs of Ledoux. The last great western regime to fall was soviet communism around 1989. The transition brought about by this change was felt globally, perhaps most intensely in countries controlled by the soviet government within the Eastern bloc. Riddled with semi-communist, semi-democratic, and everything in between governments, these countries did not develop in the free-market manner that many of their western neighbors did, and thus, when faced with an entirely new era of capitalism, have responded in many unique manners to their new freedoms. Being brought up half Hungarian and half American, I never realized the great extent and uniqueness of the contexts taking place socially and geographically for Eastern Europeans for the majority of the last century. It was not until I became interested in geography and eventually nationalism and other social conflicts, that I realized that these concepts could inform an interesting framework of work and research for an architect. 4
After visiting Europe, investigating the social and the political through the lens of architecture, and travelling to places with significance for me, I have decided to invest time in a project within a context very dear to me. Budapest, Hungary will be my locale for this terminal studio. I will focus on the relationship of architecture to social and political context as well as that of the physical.
THEORY
two categories outlined above simultaneously.
Since the development of civilization, politics and government have created spaces. Classic Greek democracy created the model of the amphitheater and agora. As cities and nations grew, representation demanded reconfiguration into the Roman forum. Monarchy and despotism shaped the likes of the great pyramids and the palaces of Versailles. Modern-era technological and social progress has brought about new political-spatial phenomena that build upon civilizations’ past, while continuing the relationship of power and form. The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution sparked a new intellectual climate in the world that began to question and criticize the state of politics, public life, and the city. This condition inspired many important projects and theories that generally fit into two categories outlined by Tafuri:
By fundamentally understanding these movements and the ones that have occurred since then, it is easy to relate the development of styles and theory to the evolution of technical production or the capitalist market.2 Along with this paralell, many of the early avantgarde movements drew their aesthetic inspiration from the Industrial Revolution’s technology, especially Futurism and Constructivism. Art and architecture changes in many ways due to society’s values and those of its patrons. I seek here to focus on the political impact on building design and form. This is a basic introduction to the project and its nature.
1. Intellectual work as essentially work pure and simple and therefore not revolutionary, The autonomy of this type of work is recognized as explicitly relative, only the political or economic patron being able to give a sense to the efforts of the intellectual disciplines. 2. An intellectual work that claims a position of pure ideology, thus wanting to substitute the political organization, or to honor or criticize it from within, Its objective however is always to get out of productive work and stand before it as its critical conscience. Tafuri breaks uses these two categories to examine the classic avant-garde movements of Surrealism, Constructivism, Futurism, and Dada. These “revolutionary” intellectual movements create an interesting heritage for work being done by an architect or artist seeking to change or critique society through their work. Being inspired by the product and theory of these movements, I would like to critically build upon their heritage by working in the
The heritage of these movements has resulted in the “neo-avantgarde” primarily formalism, and in my opinion has lost a great deal of impact in its lack of ability to clearly relate to social and political phenomena of present times (beyond iconography). As form is the ultimate aim of much intellectual discussion today, the innate want for architects to leave their mark on society continues to grow more and more into the production of signature pieces. In order to understand these phenomena better, or perhaps execute this need, architecture must be critical of its power and that which shapes it. Architectural form always refers to a political idea of space in its aim to organize ways of living and the city.3 It must be in a conscious manner and thus, we must understand how politics can affect ideology, theory, and production. Politics affects architecture. 1 Tafuri, Manfredo. Architecture and Utopia, Cambridge : MIT Press, 1976. 2 Tafuri, Manfredo. Architecture and Utopia. 3 Aureli, Pier Vittorio. Brussels A Manifesto: Towards the Capital of Europe, Rotterdam : NAi Publishers, 2007.
5
1000 AD 1389 AD
Turks begin violent occupation of Hungary that lasts until a peace agreement is signed in 1699.
1900 AD
1873 AD
Hungary restored to a nation-state and Parliament erected on the Buda side of the Danube.
1848 AD
Hungary revolts against Habsburg monarchy for freedom from AustroHungarian Empire.
PRESENT HUNGARY
HUNGARY BEFORE TRIANON
1920 AD 896 AD
Magyars come to Carpathian Basin lead by King Arpad from the Ural Mountains. The land is formerly of the Romanruled Dacia region. 6
1526 AD
Hungarian nation accepts Habsburg rule to escape Turkish domination
Paris Trianon Treaty reduces Hungary by 2/3 of its territory leaving 1/3 of the population as minorities in foreign countries leaving a lasting impact on the mentality of the Hungarian people e
1950 AD
2000 AD
?
1999 AD
Hungary joins NATO
1956 AD
Hungarian Revolution against Soviet domination results in crushing retaliation leaving many dead and the whole nation devastated.
2007 AD
Hungary announces plans for new centralized government district in Budapest and releases international tender won by Japanese/Hungarian team
1989 AD 1945 AD
Hungarian nation is forced to become part of the Soviet Union
Hungary, along with all of Eastern Europe is released from Soviet Rule and communism. Postcommunist democracy begins to form and former Prime Minister Imre Nagy is formally reburied.
2004 AD
Hungary admitted to the European Union 7
CONTEXT The last great regime to fall was Soviet communism in 1989. The transition brought about by this change was felt globally, perhaps most intensely in countries formerly known as the Eastern bloc. Riddled with semi-communist, semi-socialist semi-democratic, and everything in between governments, these countries did not develop in the free-market manner that many of their western neighbors did, and thus, when faced with an entirely new era of capitalism, have responded in many unique manners to their new freedoms. To bring this thesis to a manageable and interesting scale, my site will be set in a tentative new federal government development in the heart of Budapest, Hungary. The current political and national status of Budapest offers forth a unique social environment where the topics of nationalism, place, culture, society, and power are fresh and contemporary- ripe for radical vision. “Goulash communism” was the term devised by other Eastern bloc countries to describe the unique flavor of Hungarian socialism. After studying and spending time with Hungarians in Hungary today, it, like many other nations is experiencing a new democracy driven by a free-market capitalist economy and neo-liberal tendencies. By tracing the nation’s history, it is renowned for having been dominated throughout nearly its entire existence by other powers with the devastating blow of the Paris Trianon that severed two-thirds of the country’s population and territories in 1912. Suffering through the World Wars along with the rest of the world, it is a relatively “young” democracy not even twenty years old yet. Political trends have taken an interesting direction not dissimilar to 8
many western countries in the development of a bipartisan left vs. right dominated structure. Considered to still be relatively transparent, it is not without being in the midst of things that one can understand the transitioning and molting of the country and its capital city in the shadow of the rest of the world, connected now by the EU, NATO, and other economic and political structures besides that of its own. Fundamentally, nationalism united a liberated Hungary after ’89 with the ceremonial reburial of former prime-minister Imre Nagy who allowed the infamous 1956 revolution that sought to withdraw Hungary from the Warsaw Pact and to be free of the Soviets, marked an important first step toward freedom. Democracy granted free expression and the liberalization of the parliament and the forming of multiple political parties, currently majority lead by Fidesz (conservative and nationalist) and MSZP (Hungarian Socialist party). These two parties have a special way of gaining political support by arguing the other to be non-nationalist and thus emulated a western-model bipartisanship. The direct relation from a geographic standpoint is that the MSZP is accused of placing all importance on Budapest while the conservatives believe in the nation as a whole and thus the bipartisan politics are grafted onto the lines of the map. This is the current situation that this project will evolve in the midst of. This political tension is also felt in the people through their age, much like the former Soviet Union and other places where generations are only now experiencing a government different from their parents’. Young people are hopeful and positivist while the older and financially established are skeptic by nature of their history. Hungarians are by nature very nationalist and have an extremely rich
culture to support this attitude. The reawakening of interest in folk traditions, specifically dancing, singing, embroidery and other handcrafts during the second half of the twentieth century has made heritage extremely important to all ages (and tourism and trade). The city of Budapest is a rich and powerful built history of the nation and its influences. Straddling the Danube with the old city of Buda to the west and the newer developments of Pest to the east, it lies at the transition of the Western world to the Eastern. Suffering domination by the Habsburg Empire, the Turks, and surviving the Austro-Hungarian Empire, German and Russian military destruction, the city is a complex system of icons, memorials, and public space. It now has begun to show the symbols of new capital with massive shopping complexes like the Westend City Center, which lays beside the project’s site. It is the largest shopping center in eastern Europe, privately developed complete with an adjacent Hilton hotel and franchise movie theater. One of the finest McDonalds in the world rests directly in fron of the site offering another icon of the current market. The new influx of capital from tourism, Hungarian companies (such as Graphisoft, a major architectural software company), private development (which was not allowed for most of the last century), and western commercialization has already began to create a new layer of identity in the city. This project will address these capitalism-driven changes and their effect on the city’s form and culture.
9
PROGRAM Of the twelve ministries to constitute the first phase of development for the master plan, I have chosen the Ministry of Local and Regional Development for its connective power to the rest of the country and its ministerial duties’ legible connection to the public. Responsible for natural disaster control, national sports leagues, housing, and municipal government, to name only the primary areas, this ministry has great potential to investigate a complex architectural situation and program. To act in the latter of Tafuri’s two descriptions of the nature of revolutionary work, I want to both criticize and honor the government through this project by mixing social functions with the common and often banal office architecture of federal power and bureaucracy. Following are a few preliminary components of the program that will be sifted and modified as the design period progresses. • MINISTRY OFFICES: As the rudimentary type of government space, the office and its array, hierarchy, and adjacencies are an absolute necessary for most new government facilities. Besides obvious layers and hierarchy for the ministerial staff, departmental, and state secretariats, these spaces will examine the role of the official to the people and to the city in general. Technology and theory will play equal parts in the execution of this as the largest portion of the program. • PUBLIC OUTDOOR SPACE: This element represents the detail of the city meeting the building. Inversely, the building meeting the city requires a strong level of critical thought and design in order to 10
communicate a political attitude strongly. The provision for public gathering, protest (common in Hungary!), and general recreation will be a major issue granted the severity of the climate here and the site’s green spaces. • COMMUNITY CENTER AND TANZ HAZ (Dance House): Relating to the municipal-national issues in current Hungarian politics and larger nation-states as a whole, the community center will provide a social connection for issues such as the preservation of folk culture, minority and national awareness, European Union visitors services/education, etc. The amount of housing near the site begs for a social center and what better place to put a federally funded community center than in a new federal government building?
SITE In the Spring of last year (2007), the MSZP majority government announced a national competition to be held for a new government district behind the Western Railway Station (Nyugati Palyaudvar) to accommodate and centralize government facilities in a massive new mixed-us development project that would be funded by roughly 600 euros of private/public investment. Currently, the 12 ministries are scattered all over the city in less-than perfect conditions that require a lot of travel for diplomats and are expensive to maintain. Granted the underdeveloped and lackluster condition of the site adjacent and over the rails behind the station, as well as its proximity to the Parliament, it was picked as the new site for a Whitehallstyle centralization of government offices. As a result of a lack of enthusiasm from many people due to the cost and its easy-target status during a war, the project began to slow down after a team was selected for the masterplan. Though looking to complete the first phase of government buildings by 2009, a heavy chastising by the conservative forces in power the project is now most likely being put on hold and more than likely cancelled. In November of 2007 it was also realized that the whole project would be in violation of a NATO stipulation that government officials and MP’s offices cannot be near major train stations. This site was chosen among other reasons for its connection to the railways and its close proximity to Parliament. This tension and conflict of the master plan concept creates a perfect realm for investigating politics ability to affect architecture and the city.
11
BU
EU
HU
EUROPEAN UNION
12
COUNTIES
4 3 15 2
13
12
1
5
6
16
14 7 8
10
17
9
11
19 20
18
21 22 23
DISTRICTS
SITE
13
14
SITE RELATIONSHIP TO PARLIAMENT
LANDMARKS GREEN SPACE PROJECT SITE MAJOR PATHS
15
MINISTRY SITE MASTER PLAN GREEN SPACE HOUSING MIXED USE
MAJOR PATHS INSTITUTIONAL CITY PROPERTY
16
PROPERTY
MINISTRY SITE
17
site at the turn of the century 18
site at present from southwest 19
nyugati train station and tram stop from across street 20
southeast view from Szent Istvan Kurut 21
view from side street to the southeast 22
view from Podmanyczky southeast 23
PRECEDENT THEORY RESEARCH “…reduce the artistic experience to a pure object (obvious metaphor for object-merchandise); involve the public, unified in an avowed interclass and therefore anti-bourgeois ideology: these are the tasks that all together were assumed by the avant-garde of the twentieth century.”4 In preparation for examining a unique condition of post-communism, I would like to briefly cover a small group of projects built and nonbuilt that offer powerful architectural responses to recent socio-political phenomena throughout Europe in the last century. FUTURISM AND THE CITTA NUOVA The violent and exciting world of Marinetti and the Futurists demanded a new vision for the people of Italy in every cultural aspect. Calling for uprising and a celebration of the new technology and energy brought about by the Industrial Revolution and the world war; painting, music, cinema, politics, and the city were to be revolutionized. Marinetti’s alignment with Mussolini and the Fascist Party prior to its march on Rome brought a politicization to Futurism’s revolutionary manifestos and works. “Architecture cannot be subjected to any law of historical continuity. It must be new just as our state of mind is new.”5 4 Tafuri, Manfredo. Architecture and Utopia, Cambridge : MIT Press, 1976. 5 Sant’Elia. “Manifesto of Futurist Architecture”. 1914. 6 Sant’Elia. “Manifesto of Futurist Architecture”.
24
In 1914, Antonio Sant’Elia brought this vision to the level of the city and its image. The Citta Nuova celebrated Futurism through actual urban space, rendered in forms inspired by industrial buildings hewn from technologically fresh materials of concrete, steel, and glass. The large volumes dominate in scale compared to anything of human proportion and are rendered with speeding trains, highways, and airplanes cutting sharp lines across the page. This embodies the rush, violence, and power of futurism by placing it on an environmental level. The lack of any plans or two-dimensional drawings shows that this was more than likely an image from the outright not a buildable project. Predicting many things with the visionary city renderings, it is interesting to examine where the power of them lies. Like many other buildings seeking to be revolutionary and compelling, the buildings use a dominating bold geometry and are generally monumental. The fifth point of Sant’Elia’s Manifesto of Futurist Architecture claims that inspiration must be found in the new mechanical world we have created and that it must be of the utmost complexity. This is up to the viewer to determine if it is the buildings or their engagement with infrastructure and technology that is revolutionary or not. There are no human beings pictured in the renderings. They are replaced by the speeding cars, trains, and flying machines that bring dynamism to the rather static machine-like forms. This fetishization of technology is best exemplified in the eight point of the Manifesto: “the fundamental characteristics of Futurist architecture will be its impermanence and transience. THINGS WILL ENDURE LESS THAN US. EVERY GENERATION MUST BUILD ITS OWN CITY. This constant renewal of the architectonic environment will contribute to the victory of the Futurism against traditionalist cowardice.”6
Sant’Elia’s Citta Nuova 25
CONSTRUCTIVISM: REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL CONDENSERS “The Soviet state, which has put the principle of planning and control at the cornerstone of all its activity, should also utilize architecture as a powerful means for organizing the psychology of the masses.”7 The Bolshevik Revoultion of 1917 brought a new brief to the architects of Russia. The revolution needed a restructuring of society and thus its archtiecture. Fueled by a mix of liberal creativity and the force of a new socialist society, architects and artists began Constructivism. Besides its formal invention, the main social priority was the introduction of cooperative and collective ways of living that would free women for useful work and make better use of scarce resources, as well as fostering the new political consciousness. The Constructivist theorist Gan first identified the key ideas of Constructivism with Marxism, who drew attention to how the old capitalists buildings were hindering social regionalization and therefore how “correct” buildings could help it.8
7 Cook, Catherine. “Professional Diversity and its Origins”, in The Avant-Garde: Russian Architecture in the Twenties, London ; Academy Editions, 1991. 8 Cook, Catherine. “Professional Diversity and its Origins”. 9 Ginzburg, M. “Konstruktivizm kak metod laboratomoi i pedagogicheskoi raboty’, SA, 1927, no. 6, pp 160166. 10 Kopp, Anatole. Constructivist Architecture in the USSR, London ; St. Martins’ Press, 1985.
26
The much-celebrated formal aspect of Constructivism was a result of the impact of Suprematist art, the theories of El Lissizitsky, and the Constructivists own conceptual framework for production best outlined by the architect Moisei Ginzburg. He used the machine as the model for spatial organization and the production of new building types from afore-mentioned social-briefs that would become “social condensers”: 1. Beginning by generating the basic spatial diagram of the buildings, which was the social condenser through analysis of the flows and needs of social processes inside it, the environmental requiermenad, and “revolutionary rethinking” of how the technical means available might be used. 2. The form crystallized as the social condenser is examined in terms of perception, so that the useful activity of the condenser is enhanced by the user’s clear perception of it. 3. Examination of the elements of architecture which are the objects of perception: surface, volume and the volumetric co-existence of bodies in space. This involved the primary formal principals of the Constructivist school and dealt with material changes, formal change by cutting through material, and the relationship of the form to the machine aesthetic. 4. Finally, a detailed examination of the particular industrial processes leaving their mark on individual components and organisms within the building would produce a logical building free from the handed-down models of the past.9
The most infamous example of the pure Constructivist approach to architecture is Tatlin’s Tower of 1917. The tower was to be more than three hundred meters high, higher than the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building. To be constructed of steel and glass, the building’s form was rationalized by political metaphor. Three volumes—a cube, a cylinder, and a pyramid—were to be suspended inside the general structure, each containing accommodation for one of the sections of the international. These volumes would rotate on the same cycle of the meetings of the bodies contained within them—once a year for the general assembly, once a month for the central committee, and once a week for the executive office. The large spiral that contained circulation within its members symbolized the continuous upward movement of the Revolution.10 This building became the symbol of Russia and was serially published internationally and continues to serve at a basic level as the first real example of Constructivism.
Tatlin’s Tower 27
Konstantin Melnikov was the most prolific proponent of this period, not really fitting into the predominant Constructivist or ASNOVA Rationalist camps. The most productive and innovative architect to build during this period, Melnikov utilized the discourse at the time to rationalize new designs for workers clubs around Moscow, the most infamous of which is the Rusakov Club. This building uses its auditoria (social condensers) to build the perceptual form whose interior could be transformed to fit 350, 450, 550, 775, 1000, or 1200 people. His buildings have a unique presence to them and again are capable of bearing an associative reading of politics in the city due to their alien formal nature and specifically socialist programs. Melnikov’s workers clubs along with Tatlin’s tower of 1917 (Monument to the Third International) personify this era before the stifling cultural overhaul of Socialist Realism. They are an extension of Bolsehvik Communism’s entire re-evaluation of culture and artistic production.
28
Konstantin Melnikov’s Rusakov Club, Moscow 1927 29
SOCIALIST REALISM In opposition to the Constructivists, Socialist Realism became the mandated style in all forms of culture by Stalin. “Socialist in form and national in content” was Stalin’s reaction to constructivism and the western evils of moderism. This statement, though vague, hearkened the revival of the monumental classicism practiced in Russia before the Revolution, but gave it an entirely new political power.11 These oddly detailed baroque, Italianate, and classical monstrosities are very recognizable and have a strong associative power to them given their layers of propaganda-style ornament appearing in the form of Lenin, Marx, Engels, Stalin, red stars, and other iconography. Some of the best examples of which are the seven sister towers in Moscow and the Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw. These huge towers, formally competing with the western capitalist skyscraper, were drenched in propaganda. The towers still serve today as monuments to Stalinism. The power of this architectural movement lies not in its inventiveness (as much of it resembles the work of August Perret ) but in its ability to retain its political association. Architecturally, the issue of scale lends a formal presence and power to the classical proportions and modern detailing of these buildings. Perhaps, it is too early to see, but many of these large buildings have had their Stalin’s sanded off and red stars removed in order to be useable today. Perhaps in a few generations, the power of these structures will lose its politics and more than likely, many will have been destroyed. This offers a strong lesson for architectures’ ability to convey political ideals/power through an association with orna11 Anders, Aman. Architecture and Ideology in Eastern Europe during the Stalin Era, Cambridge : MIT Press, 1987.
30
ment, style, and scale.
heroic worker on Socialist Realist housing in Warsaw 31
CRITICAL REGIONALISM “Thus we come to the crucial problem confronting nations just rising from underdevelopment. In order to get on to the road to modernization, is it necessary to jettison the old cultural past?”12 Taking its cues perhaps most from the Arts and Crafts movement begun my William Morris’s theories of returning to old methods of production and craftsmanship in response to mass-production and industrialization, regionalism is understood as a response to the modern influences of globalization and acculturation in the built world. Kenneth Frampton states that the ultimate aim of his christened schools of Critical Regionalism’s most salient cultural precept is “place” creation. He states that “Critical Regionalism is intended to denote the regional schools whose aim has been to represent and serve, in a critical sense, the limited constituencies in which they are grounded.”13 Such a regionalism depends, by definition, on a connection between the political consciousness of a society and the profession. Frampton distills this statement to the model of the enclave – “that is to say the bounded fragment against which the ceaseless inundation of a place-less, alienating consumerism will find itself momentarily checked.”14 This takes on a highly political stance in a globalized world with many cultures struggling to maintain their sense of identity in a growing mass market. This architectural theory and classification shares discourse with many political parties, typically leaning towards conservative or nationalistic tendencies, yet is interesting 12, 13, 14 Frampton, Kenneth. “Prospects for a Critical Regionalism”. Perspecta, Vol. 20. (1983), pp. 147162.
32
to observe in the buildings it seems to preclude and associate with. Despite the apparent aggressiveness of this theory, regionalism is often mistaken to constitute Critical Regionalism. Regionalism often means repetition of vernacular forms, use of local materials, and technical responses to local climate. Critical Regionalism is less-specific in its responsiveness offering multiple readings of its discourse and products.
Alvar Aalto’s Saynatsalo Town Hall, 1952 33
BIBLIOGRAPHY Anders, Aman. Architecture and Ideology in Eastern Europe during the Stalin Era, Cambridge : MIT Press, 1987. Aureli, Pier Vittorio. Brussels A Manifesto: Towards the Capital of Europe, Rotterdam : NAi Publishers, 2007. Beyond the Revolution: The Architecture of Eastern Europe. Architectural Design. 1996. Ed. Maggie Toy. Cook, Catherine. “Professional Diversity and its Origins”, in The Avant-Garde: Russian Architecture in the Twenties, London ; Academy Editions, 1991. Frampton, Kenneth. “Prospects for a Critical Regionalism”. Perspecta, Vol. 20. (1983), pp. 147-162. Kopp, Anatole. Constructivist Architecture in the USSR, London ; St. Martins’ Press, 1985. Leach, Neal. Architecture and Revolution, New York ; Routledge, 1989. Sant’Elia. “Manifesto of Futurist Architecture”. 1914. Tafuri, Manfredo. Architecture and Utopia, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1976. The Avant-Garde: Russian Architecture in the Twenties. Architectural Design. 1991. Ed. Catherine Cook. The Power of Architecture. Architectural Design. 1995. Ed. Maggie Toy.
34
Stalin removed from street in Budapest 1989 35
“Architecture achieves its political – and hence equally its gendered – status through semantic associations, which exist within a temporal framework and are inherently unstable. These semantic associations depend on an historical memory within the collective imagination. Once this memory fades the semantic association will be lost, and the building may be expropriated according to new ideological imperatives.” - Neil Leach “Architecture or Revolution”
This project is dedicated to my family in Hungary and America who inspired this, especially my parents whom I love and owe everything to. 36