A Journey with the Architects of the World (JOVIS Verlag)

A Journey with the Architects of the World

Vassilis Sgoutas

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Table of Contents

Foreword by Rahul Mehrotra 9 About This Book

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Part One—Speeches and Articles

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Architecture and Aesthetics Architecture and Heritage Architecture and Urbanism Architecture and Accessibility Architecture and Sustainability Architecture and Exclusion Peace and War Education, Research, Technology The Profession The Future

15 81 97 167 191 229 283 293 317 341

Part Two—A Random Diary

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Index of Names 420 About the Author 428 Imprint 431

Foreword

Today, the discourse on architecture is polarised between two extremes. The first is a celebration of individual practices—usually in the form of monographs that are intrinsically self-centric and indulgent.

The second is a set of conversations that are theoretical in nature and construct underpinnings that try to make sense of the world around us. Largely a discourse that takes place between academics in a rarefied environment and a discussion that is often incomprehensible to the public at large. This schism occurs in the world of specialisation largely because the profession perhaps does not have enough practitioners reflecting mindfully about the world of practice and their lived experiences. Thus the question for the profession is how do we re-situate theory as a reflection on the reality around us and bridge this schism that otherwise exists between the academic and the designer, as well as society more broadly?

This book—A Journey with the Architects of the World—by Vassilis Sgoutas makes one optimistic about the possibility of building these bridges. In these writings we hear an architect who sees the simultaneous validity of so many related fields of study and concerns. This is an architect who has built at all scales and levels of complexity. He has engaged with the design of institutional buildings, hospitals, housing and an array of assignments that have straddled a wide spectrum of clients and constituencies. So here we have the voice of someone grounded and immersed completely in the culture of building and practice. Furthermore, Sgoutas’s interests clearly span an entire spec

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About This Book

The scope of architecture is infinitely diverse not only because of the great variety of buildings architects design during their careers but also because of the great number of parameters architects have to take on board before they even put pencil to paper. These parameters represent a yardstick against which our work is measured, because meaningful architecture can never be produced in a void. This book highlights, through speeches, articles and interviews, some of the more significant considerations that have run parallel with my own steps in architecture.

Included in the first part of the book is a representative selection from my papers and other writings, spanning some twenty years.

Although no speech or article deals exclusively with one topic, it was, nonetheless, deemed pertinent to group speeches and articles in basic thematic entities and, within each entity, in chronological order.

Overlaps and repetitions, which have inevitably occurred in a succession of writings on similar topics have been deleted. It is for the same reason that only excerpts of some of the papers have been included.

The second part of this book, the Random Diary, is different in the sense that the focus is not on what was said or written, but rather on personal experiences and thoughts that have emanated from events related to architects and to architecture. Can, what one designs, writes or says, ever be disassociated from one’s life and one’s personal experiences? The Diary has been presented in a chronologically “random” way. With time, the events described become mixed in one’s memory, constituting a collection of cameos that have become a single package.

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Memory is our wealth. Having on record these texts and events has helped me rediscover some of the important issues throughout these years. And how our priorities have changed. And how they differ across the globe. Whatever has been written or said during these past years opens but a small window into the challenges encountered. In reading between the lines one will be able to gauge, through knowledge of results achieved, what has been the legacy of our actions, or inaction. And where we architects, as individuals and as a profession, have had a positive influence on the advancement of causes or have failed to live up to a consistent follow-up. So it is a little more than mere history. For me, at any rate, it is also an awakening call.

Although this book is a personal book, it is also a mirror of the parallel roads of many of my colleagues. Through its pages glimpses can also be caught of the more recent history of the UIA, a unique professional organisation that brings together the architects of the world, in pursuit of common ideals and targets. Readers are invited to glean through and arrive at what is of essence to each one of them.

Hopefully there will always be something to uncover, something of relevance to our architectural work. If this is so, then the book will have served a purpose.

It was in SĂŁo Paolo that Miguel Pereira, now sadly no longer among us, sparked the idea of my writing a book. On its way, Louise Noelle gave precious advice. Many thanks to her and to Elga Kavadias who expertly reviewed form and layout.

This publication would not be complete without bringing to memory the fellow architects, and other personalities and friends, who have crossed my way during these years. Without them this book would never have been. It is with great fondness that I remember them all.

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Part One Speeches and Articles

Architecture and Aesthetics

01 The Use of Marble—from Ancient Greece to Contemporary Architecture

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02 Architecture and the Child

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03 Humanity, Quality and Ability

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04 Art and Architecture

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05 Educational Architecture without Exclusions

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06 Developing Opportunities for the Developing World

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07 Colour and Architecture

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08 Indisputable Colour

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09 The Corobrik SAIA Awards of Merit 2008

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10 Mural Art—the Ephemeral Landmark

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02 Architecture and the Child Symposium organised by the Greek Association of Aesthetics THE CHILD AND AESTHETIC EDUCATION

Athens / 25–27 April 1996 Original: Greek

After the many interesting views that we have heard in this symposium about the aesthetic education of children, I will contribute some of my own thoughts on architecture and how it relates to the overall process of bringing the child closer to an appreciation of aesthetic values and, gradually, closer to an appreciation of architecture itself.

Education will be seen as becoming more meaningful through visual “tools” and three-dimensional means. Slides will be projected to highlight the innate ability of children to experience architecture.

How, then, can we reach out to children and make them more receptive to aesthetic values? From where do we start? There exist many theories propounding that there is almost nothing that we can do and that everything has been predetermined by heredity. A mother once asked Alfred Adler how to bring up her five-day-old child.

Adler retorted “Sadly, madam, you are asking the question too late.

Your child has already acquired its habits.” There is another, similar approach—the metaphysical. William Wordsworth, in his “Ode to Immortality”, maintains that as a child grows older, moving away from the day of its birth, so does it progressively lose the light of eternity and, consequent upon that, the gift of inspiration.

These are negative approaches. I prefer to remember Buckminster Fuller, whom I had met a short while before his death. He had boundless faith in the ability of a child to imagine things and to be inventive. He showed us a drawing, made by a pre-school age child.

On it were drawn, together, both sun and moon. Buckminster Fuller told us that the child’s teacher had reprimanded it, saying that on the drawing should be shown either the sun or the moon. And yet, Fuller concluded, “How right is always the perception of children

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about the space they live in. Of course the sun and the moon coexist in the sky.”

A few words on aesthetics. They may help us better understand the world of children and make us see more clearly the relationship between children and aesthetics and also between children and architecture. And let us not forget that body, movement and space take on completely different meanings when looked at with children in mind, and even more so when seen through the eyes of a child.

From the writings of Volos intellectual Dimitris Saratsis, we learn that our brain transforms into conscious knowledge what our sensory organs receive as sensations. Aristotle had observed that the impressions we have from material things through our senses remain with us even after the cause, which was at the origin of their creation, has disappeared. Many others have since addressed this subject in a similar way. What is certain is that the way a form is remembered will differ from person to person and that all the above observations testify to the uniqueness of the aesthetic criteria of each individual person and that aesthetic perception, especially of children, can never be put into straightjackets.

We live in an environment made for adults. What space is there in it for children to grow up, to play and, most importantly, to dream?

We live in cities that refuse to think about children. A city that refuses to think about children is a city that refuses to think about its future.

It is important to consider not only how a city looks after its children but also how children perceive the city. Do we really know how a child sees the city? Do we know which of the things children see around them are “recorded” within their inner selves?

For children, a city is at the same time a place of discovery and a place of education.

In Milan, a group of architects has initiated a programme where architects walk in the city with children of all ages and help them discover it. In Geneva, Michel Philippon has become known for his “Games of the City”. Children become familiar with the city through playing. With cubes, placards and improvised structures they build their own world, they create their own architecture. One day they will create the cities of tomorrow, cities that will surely be more friendly to the child.

It is necessary that children be allowed to dream tomorrow’s world without prejudices, without constraints. Children need to be encourArchitecture and Aesthetics

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07 Colour and Architecture THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ATHENS

Athens / 24 January 2005 Excerpts / Original: Greek

The hall in which we are here today is the work of Anastasios Orlandos. I think it is fitting if I start with an observation he made.

Orlandos had said that “In antiquity, colour played a vital role in highlighting the form and the proportions of buildings. It is for this reason that it was widely used. Colour articulated architecture and projected it into the sky and the light of the sun.”

My presentation will be mainly through pictures. You will, however, allow me a brief introduction.

Nature does not present us with objects in monochrome.1 Colour is all around us, in both the natural and the built environment.

It is often taken for granted, disregarding the pivotal part it plays as an intermediary between man and the environment. Objects or clothes are, in many instances, viewed more in terms of colour than material.

Having already reached the third millennium, I think that it is time to move on from the restrictive theories of basic colours and colour harmonies. References to texts by Goethe and Schopenhauer, also to later observations on colour such as by Wittgenstein, have only historic value. I personally believe that we have advanced since then.

I do not, however, think that greater freedom in the use of the unlimited range of possible colour combinations gives right to aesthetic unaccountability. Choice of colour is not a free for all where each one of us may have an equally legitimate view, which can, under no circumstances, be challenged. Colour is not only a matter of personal taste. The well-known saying “in matters of taste and colour, there can be no arguing”2 is misleading. On the other hand, the notion that there could be perennial rules of harmony cannot possibly be accepted. Generation after generation, innovative approaches have

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changed our conception of colour, but, as with music, the successful colour combinations of each period will always stand out and retain their aesthetic value through time. There will, moreover, always be links connecting one period with another. In this way, just like we refer to the historical continuum, we could also refer to a chromatic continuum through the ages.

Understanding the significance of colour in present-day architecture cannot be done in isolation. It requires a deep understanding of the architecture itself and the extent to which past stylistic bonds no longer limit freedom of expression. We are discovering that the use of colour has become freer too. We are also discovering that colour can be a source of joy. The pleasure that a building gives us is not something tangible. It is an emotional experience that touches our senses, our feelings, our soul, an emotional experience in which colour has its share.

Many people have tried, and continue to try, to explain our inner relationship with colour. Among the aims of the recently founded, on the initiative of the American Institute of Architects, Academy of Neurophysiology for Architecture, is the analysis of our reactions to colour, for example why we react positively to one colour and negatively to another.

Colour, together with light, shade and, of course, form, represent for us architects the quintessence of the pleasure that architecture can give. They are our “doors of perception”.3.

We shall now see together on the screen, colour, and colour on buildings, starting from traditional architecture in Greece, Africa, Italy, Mexico and India, and moving on to signature buildings in a number of countries. I will make a stop for what is deemed as a non-colour— white. White has always fascinated me. It is, after all, the starting point of all colour schemes. I will show you white in photography, white on clothes, white on two of my own buildings and also the striking effect of white against the dark blue sea in César Portela’s stunning Vigo cemetery.

It is fascinating to study the way colour was used in classical Greek architecture. Although I am not well read on the subject, I will highlight three characteristics that seem important to me.

• Colour is always applied colour which is matched with the inherent colours of the materials on which it is laid.

• Colour plays second fiddle to form. This is crucial.

Architecture and Aesthetics

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11 Tourism and Heritage—Function, Form and Future INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TOURISM, HERITAGE AND ENVIRONMENT

Cairo / 18 February 1992

When considering the siting of tourist facilities, one is often confronted with one of the classic dilemmas of urban planning—building on virgin land or integration within the existing urban fabric. The latter can also entail the reuse of existing buildings, which would inevitably lead to a rapprochement between tourism and architectural heritage. Bringing together tourism and architectural heritage is important not only in the physical sense but also by virtue of the message it conveys.

The correct reuse of existing buildings is an urgent challenge for us architects. It is urgent because if we fail to give the needed guidelines now, we run a serious risk of eventually either having on our hands an insoluble problem in the form of unused or underused buildings, or having no problem at all because the buildings we would have wanted saved might by then have been demolished. We cannot allow the buildings and the urban entities that constitute our cultural heritage to be demolished or to decay. We equally cannot allow them to follow market economy laws or risking their becoming ghettos of the financially underprivileged.

New uses for traditional buildings clearly is the answer in many cases. Tourism can be the instrument for this, it can provide the means. This has, of course, already been done in very many cases. It should and could become official policy to a much greater extent than has been so far.

The reuse of existing buildings to serve the growing needs of tourism can cover the whole spectrum of architecture, from listed buildings to simple houses. What is important is the realisation that the architecturally sensitive reuse of existing buildings preserves the

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urban fabric and, in this way, safeguards the continuity of architecture.

As architects, we can prove that there is no conflict between tourism development and the preservation of our architectural heritage.

Ecology is a parameter that is increasingly affecting the planning of tourist facilities. It is clear that the world-wide expansion of tourism has many ecological implications. Once an ecologically damaging facility has been built, intervention does too little and usually comes too late. Just like in medicine, prevention is the operative word. The preservation of the environment and its ecosystems can be greatly aided by the judicious siting of tourist facilities, by the lessening of hard surfaces in external areas, and also through the reuse of older building stock in order to reduce the total volume built.

It has been said, a little pointedly no doubt, that intervention and reuse for tourism of listed buildings is sometimes the result of the loathsome talent of marrying new money with old buildings. This holds particularly true if one were to assess interior decorating, furniture and appliances. Luxury establishments want to boast a Richard Sapper Tizio lamp or a Michael Graves kettle. And from there on start the imitations. Design loses its authenticity and becomes part of a fashion system. Buildings could end up looking like a shopping list.

What can, however, rescue us from the tyranny of design gurus is our own newfound confidence in matters of taste and form. And our consequent refusal to be aesthetically bullied.

The final aesthetic result depends only partially on buildings and urban planning. Townscapes and landscapes are formed as much by other elements such as signs and advertisements, traffic and, as will be the case with the Barcelona Olympics, ships turned into hotels.

This last example, floating hotels, could become the new tourism reality of harbours and seaside resorts. Just like today with signs, the large bulks of ships may have to be faced one day as components of the overall urban identity. Which is, after all, the sum total of all the forms that constitute it.

Forms, as Rupert Sheldrake said, stay outside the rules of mathematics and the equations of thermodynamics. They cannot be explained in terms of matter or energy. They are intangible. They live on in our memory even after the “physical� forms have ceased to exist. “If a bunch of flowers is thrown into a fire, the flowers will become ashes. Matter will not have been lost because the ashes remain. Form, on the other hand, will continue to exist only as memoArchitecture and Heritage

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15 The Athens Charter INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON THE NEW ATHENS CHARTER

Athens / 29 May 1998 Excerpts / Original: Greek

The Athens Charter is perhaps the single most debated text on architecture and town planning. It has been fervently supported but equally fervently criticised. What is certain is that it has been the spark for countless debates and disputes. For many years it was more than a reference document. It was the starting point for revising legislation on urban planning and zoning, the yardstick against which these new revisions were to be measured.

This Congress could well mark the beginning of a new life for the Athens Charter. It could move a step ahead and make the Athens Charter cease to be only a part of town planning history. It could stand to be an exception to the, sadly, very common rule where the final documents and conclusions of congresses either rest in archives or, at best, are resurrected from time to time for review and criticism, but without targets.

There is something else to be gained from a revival of the Charter.

It will highlight the significance of Athens for us architects.

Nobody could have imagined, in 1933, that Athens would host the fourth and most significant of the CIAM congresses. Its topic was “The Functional City”. As you all no doubt know, this Congress was planned to be held in Moscow. But after the first prize for the much publicised Palace of the Soviets international architectural competition was awarded to the “neoacademic” design of Boris Iofan, reaction to the decision was swift. The venue of the Congress was changed, and so the Patris II set sail from Marseille to Athens with many of the more important and influential architects of the time on board. It is well known that the proceedings of this Congress remained unpublished until 1943 when, Le Corbusier, acting alone, published them as “The Athens Charter”, in which was propounded

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that the city be divided into four zones—dwelling, work, transportation and recreation.

For town planning, the determining CIAM Congress was the first one at La Sarraz in 1928. There, in stark contrast to the text prepared

by Le Corbusier and Sigfried Giedion, the views that prevailed were those of other architects, among them many Swiss and Dutch. So started the endeavours to include town planning principles into architectural thinking. This was the first seed for the Athens Charter five years later. In a sense it was also the first seed of our presence here today.

After World War II, the Athens Charter had a great impact on urban planning, despite the fact that zoning, wherever implemented, proved to be generally bad rather than good, with the exception of the zoning of heavy and polluting industry. The Athens Charter also had a farreaching effect on theoretical town-planning discourses. It formed the basis for the discussions, in Lima and Cuzco, that led to the formulation of the Charter of Machu Picchu, which stipulated the necessity of public debate on policies and actions of governments to improve the quality of human settlements throughout the world.

There have been many commemorative events and other functions related to the Athens Charter. The UIA, ever since its founding in 1948, has always been very close to the CIAM congresses right up to 1959, the year of the 11th and last Congress which took place at Otterlo. Worth remembering also is the particularly important symposium in the La Tourette monastery in 1976.

In 1983, the Greek Architectural Association (SADAS), the Greek Section of the UIA and the Technical Chamber of Greece organised a three-day series of international meetings on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the CIAM Congress. Nikos Dessylas was, at the time, President of the Technical Chamber of Greece. Suzanna Antonakaki, Yannis Polyzos and Apostolis Geronikos contributed in more ways than one. I looked again at the material that emanated from this event. It covers a wide spectrum of topics and is well documented.

It is significant that it was able to give substance to a gathering that could easily have been little more than commemorative. In a sense this was not surprising because among the participants were Cornelis van Eesteren, Wim van Bodegraven, Yannis Despotopoulos and Alfred Roth, who had all been leading figures of the 1933 Congress.

Alfred Roth is still alive today and we all hope that he will be able Architecture and Urbanism

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pleasure to rich and poor alike. He cared about the ordinary man and was concerned about his exclusion from the architecture of the rich.

Success No. 3 – Strive to ensure that housing be deemed a human right

This is, of course, politically difficult to entrench, especially in countries where laws exist in order to be implemented, hence the cost of implementation is a real and not a theoretical problem. But the acquisition of acceptable shelter by more and more people, through social housing, self-help housing, or in whatever other way can lead to almost the same result.

The importance of security of tenure, i.e. of ownership, cannot be overstressed. One of its side benefits is that citizens would care more for their cities, resulting in greater citizen participation. The need for security of tenure raises the debate on who owns and who should own land. For how much longer will the ownership of land continue to be a means for perpetuating the inequalities in cities?

Success No. 4 – Encourage the development of intermediate cities

Intermediate cities, which are in fact the “great silent majority” of cities, can be the key to a more logical growth. They can help lessen the catastrophic gigantism of the large metropoles. It has been established that intermediate cities should be defined by their function and not by their size.

Success No. 5 – Work for the humanisation of space

We say a definitive “no” to the globalisation of culture. Our cities need the presence of our several cultures. We will otherwise witness an increasing lack of identity and humanity in our cities. And we are all fully conscious of what this lack of identity and humanity entails. It entails a further diminishing of the quality of our lives.

Eduardo Merigo once said that “without realising it, human beings, who had initially built cities essentially as meeting places, have ended by creating monsters which made it impossible to meet. Not only have city-dwellers stopped feeling that they belong to a group, but they have actually reached the stage of regarding other city dwellers as a possible source of aggression, ranging from the simple traffic incident to downright delinquency.”

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Livable communities and community identity must become top priorities. The free spaces of cities must be open to common use, and be human and friendly. Cities can be happy places. Is this unattainable? In December this year Lyon will host Urban Atelier No. 29. Its topic is “Thinking about the Happy City”.

Success No. 6 – Use judiciously the intermediate space within cities

Whether one calls this intermediate space brownfield sites or derelict land, the answer can only be one. Judicious use of this space will liven up cities, will brighten the cityscape. It will also save greenfield sites and thus help preserve the dividing line between the built and the natural environment. How important this is.

Success No. 7 – Tackle the inaccessible city

We know that our cities are inaccessible. Let us do something about it, for the benefit of all, disabled and able-bodied alike. Independent living means access for all, means unhampered movement in public space—squares, pavements, etc.

Success No. 8 – Preserve cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is an evolving notion. We need to always find the balance between preservation and new urban requirements. We have to make way for the future without unnecessarily destroying the past.

Success No. 9 – An increased role for architects

Architecture, in its wider sense, includes not only buildings but all types of spatial development, for example urban spaces, be they large or small. Yet architects are probably designing no more than two per cent of the buildings of the world. It cannot be that we are not needed. I think that, from now on, we must focus much more on social housing and on architecture that answers the real needs of the needy. And the needs of cities away from their limelight areas. We can also prove that quality is compatible with social architecture.

Success No. 10 – Take the lead in collaborative endeavours to upgrade cities

Architecture is a collaborative art. In the interdisciplinary teams that plan projects related to the development and the upgrading of Architecture and Urbanism

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21 Land as a Factor for Social and Environmental Change SOCIAL STANDARDS OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN ARCHITECTURE, TOWN-PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Edited by the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences Moscow / 2011 Excerpts

Throughout the ages, men and nations have fought for land. This remains true to this day. Man’s insatiable quest for land has been manifested through wars of conquest, internecine conflicts, as well as intra-society and intra-family feuds. The objective was always the same—owning or controlling as much land as possible. Ownership of land means power, wealth and status. The landless masses invariably become pawns in the hands of rulers, landlords, and political and social manipulators.

Security of tenure thus becomes a critical factor. In a utopian city everyone would be able to own his own little piece of land. But is there enough land? Clearly not. Thus, unauthorised dwellings and unauthorised built-up areas are eating up land at a disastrous rate.

Officially urbanised land is usually not available to the poor, so they illegally occupy the empty spaces inside cities and in the undeveloped and under-developed areas outside cities. During this process, they invariably fall victim to organised mafias who are in a position to provide essential services, such as water, and also protection.

Unless the real problems of the poor are addressed, there can be no hope of equitable solutions for our cities. The poor tend to “break out” of the city limits. They also take over the empty spaces inside cities. Can one blame them? The more we learn about the real needs of the poor, but also of the immigrants, the more ready will we be to focus on tangible objectives of what is essential for architecture and for

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our cities. “Architects must learn to accord the poor the same respect that they accord their rich corporate clients.”1 All too often, when we reflect on the identity of a city we think only of its historic centre, its listed buildings, its CBD and its parks.

But this is only a very small part of most cities. I think that we find it convenient not to look at the other side of our cities, not to look at the untenable inhuman living conditions of the disadvantaged areas.

After all, has not every one of our megacities in fact become one city divided into two cities?

Land is the prime capital of our cities. One cannot start considering the issue of urban planning, be it city edge planning, satellite town planning or inner city planning, without addressing the issue of land.

Land is at the core of the problems—who owns land, who has the right to own land, who administers land.

The overall surface area of a city consists of built-up areas and unbuilt areas. The unbuilt areas are as important, if not more, than the buildings themselves, so there is no doubt that, from an environment and climate point of view, we need more free land. There can also be no doubt that we need as much free land as possible for social interaction. The spaces between buildings and how we handle them are the crux of a convivial city. No planning of mass housing can be said to have been successful if it has failed to give the inhabitants a sense of belonging to a community. The availability of free land is a sine qua non for implementing environment-friendly planning such as green areas and “ventilation corridors” positioned to make use of prevailing winds.

The status quo on land obviously varies from country to country, so there can be no uniform solutions. What is, however, common to all countries is the need for governments and local administrations to be in control of the land issue and to be able to enforce the land policies best suited to their specific objectives of development. Otherwise we will continue to be seeing land used as a means of enrichment and not as a common good. Lack of regulations on land ownership and land use can only result in chaotic situations to the detriment of everything that we hold as being most important—good planning, good architecture in parallel with protection of the environment, and planning for sustainability.

The land administration system must be a tool for more meaningful urban and regional planning. It must also be flexible enough Architecture and Urbanism

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24 The Importance of European Standardisation EUR’ ABLE FIRST EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY

Maastricht / 3 August 1993

The economic harmonisation of Europe has been in the forefront of media coverage for a great number of years. More and more, however, the public’s attention is being drawn to another of Europe’s major targets—social harmonisation. For us, this has to be an immediate target because social harmonisation means integration of the disabled into society, it means independent living and barrier-free environment, in short it means equal opportunities for everybody.

Essential for achieving real equality for all is legislation, and more particularly the standardisation of legislation relating to the disabled.

Without it, it would be like building on sand, ruminating on the problem and trying, with detached and uncoordinated measures, to improve the life of the disabled. Standardisation is the answer because it initiates a process that after a while would become automatic and so be inseparably ingrained not only into our way of living but also into our thinking and our morality. This may sound a little utopian but the fact remains that ideally we should need no rules. This new morality would be a constituent of our being. But until that moment comes we need the next best thing, we need a substitute. That substitute is legislation and standardisation.

The enormous social issue of the disabled cannot be tackled with improvisation or with good intentions alone. It cannot be resolved independently either by the state or by private enterprise. It requires the concerted efforts of all the components of society. It requires a deep knowledge of the problem, short- and long-term targets, methodology for their implementation, finances and, above all, a sense of commitment which can only spring from love for all mankind, that is philanthropy in the true sense of the word, as juxtaposed to charity.

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Our aim cannot be other than to give to the disabled access to the same opportunities as are enjoyed by able-bodied people. It is important to stress that we are referring to equal opportunities and not to preferential treatment. How best to achieve this? The transfer of the line of battle from demanding equal opportunities to claiming civil rights and human rights could well be the major strategic decision that needs to be taken. What civil rights legislation has done for minorities and children, it forgot to do for people with disabilities.

The importance of standardisation lies in the fact that it is the vehicle for ensuring equality within the society of a specific country and, of course, within a group of countries like the EC or Europe. It is difficult to say how far standards should go, especially considering that as the range of application of a set of standards widens, so does it become less easy to find common ground on which to cement.

Accepted practice differs greatly from country to country. Rigorous standardisation could easily be self-defeatist and make us prisoners of our own systems. What we are looking for is the delicate line of where to stop the mandatory for the optional, and so leave room for imaginative initiatives without compromising the need for a solid minimum base. Some things cannot be done overnight. It has to be a gradual phase-in. Uniform maximum standards are consequently not the answer but rather a continual upgrading of standards, a stepped or gradual standardisation. It may be an oxymoron, but standardisation cannot and should not be standardised.

Certain countries have greater awareness of the cause of the disabled and are, consequently, more receptive to new and more advanced legislation. These countries should provide the guidelines and act as pacesetters for others to follow whenever they are ready.

Standardisation has many fields of application. I will limit myself to the built environment, which is, after all, omnipresent in our daily lives.

We live in it, we move through it, we use it, in short we need it. We are here to ensure that the built environment becomes meaningful for all human beings. Most documents and regulations pertaining to standards for the built environment refer almost exclusively to sizes and dimensions. This is a good starting point but it is not enough. Usually missing are references to quantity, frequency and quality.

The quantitative element is necessary because it is not, for example, enough to specify complete dimensioned details of a toilet without stating how many would be required per number of people, per Architecture and Accessibility

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27 The Moment of Truth for the Disabled in Greece “ILI & KTIRIO� MAGAZINE

Edited by Intracord Ltd / Lena Koskosidou Athens / September 2003 Excerpts / Original: Greek

It is commonly accepted that the way we deal with disability, and the disabled, is a measure of the sensitivity, humanity and overall philosophy of the societies in which we live in, and of each one of us personally. In our everyday life, we are aware of political, cultural, economic, social and moral barriers and obstacles that prevent some of us from having the same rights and the same opportunities as other citizens. Moreover, disabled people face special barriers and obstacles that restrict their autonomy of movement and their right to independent living.

The role of architects Architecture and urban planning can become useful tools against social exclusion. Our vision of a society without barriers is inconceivable without a barrier-free built environment. Architects and urban planners can find ways to maximise the impact of disabled-friendly design. Changes to building codes are a necessary pre-requisite for meaningful results.

It is well known today that the problems concerning the disabled require the integrated efforts of various professionals. Architects can lead from the front in actions towards a friendlier environment, as long as they possess appropriate knowledge, which is not always the case. The contribution of specialised consultants on planning for the disabled is as necessary as consulting a specialist on fire protection.

This is already applicable in some countries.

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aiming at the exchange of international experience on the subject.

Architects can have a determining influence through their work and efforts, no matter what remit they have been given by the State or their clients.

What is disability?

Accessibility and independent living are not applicable only to disabled persons with kinetic handicaps. They affect many other categories of the disabled such as the blind, the deaf, even children or old people. Creating ramps for wheelchairs solves only part of the problem. The wheelchair, which has been widely used as a symbol for the disabled, has misled us to underestimate other forms of disability.

We must, thus, always keep in mind that planning for the disabled is much more complex.

Bureau for the Disabled & design directives Since 1986, a Bureau for Planning for the Disabled has been established in the Ministry of Public Works. Argyro Leventi is in charge.

The main objective of this Bureau is to provide advice on any construction matter concerning the disabled—from buildings to the design of public open spaces. It has contributed towards a revision of the building regulations and has also prepared the edition of a design directive entitled “Designing for All”. This manual conforms to all the relevant international and European legislation norms as adapted to Greek conditions.

Greek legislation Legislation on planning for the disabled in Greece did not cover the subject sufficiently. In 2000, a new law has substantially modified and completed the old building regulations. While legislation is unquestionably necessary, architects should design for “all”, not because of laws and regulations, but out of conviction that it is the correct thing to do.

A major concern is the discrepancy between legislation and its implementation. Legislation without implementation is meaningless.

How well are regulations enforced at present? Has anybody ever checked the gradients of ramps to ascertain that they are suitable for a person on a wheelchair to ascend without help? Who verifies whether toilet fittings and hardware have been correctly chosen and installed?

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planners must be given the benefit of the doubt. The future will judge us on its own, very probably different, criteria. No one can, with any certainty, predict what these will be.

The following three major interventions illustrate my point: • Haussmann, in creating the Paris we treasure and consider architectural heritage, slashed through and destroyed most of the mediaeval city. How would we have reacted today?

• The creation of Manhattan, in the early nineteenth century, was probably one of the biggest ecological catastrophes of its time.

A beautiful wooded island with undulating hills, whose natural contours were raised flat in favour of the gridiron plan we all know, a process that started with the 1811 Commissioner’s Plan. With our present standards, would we have condoned this?

• In my hometown Athens, what would the reaction of the public, and the various environmental societies, be today to the building of the first temples on the Acropolis—an imposing rocky outcrop that would undoubtedly have been listed as natural heritage?

Let society have more trust in architects and planners. Going against the mainstream thinking of a period in time, can be beneficial in the long term. Take Beijing for example. Who can foresee the final impact of the present building boom which has necessarily entailed extensive demolition? It might well one day be viewed in the same way as the Paris of Haussmann.

Over and above everything else, we must never forget that peace among the peoples of the world is the bedrock for the natural and built environment that we aspire to, but also for the sustainable development that our planet deserves.

References 1 2

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Pound, Esra: Canto XXV from Selected Poems 1908-1959. London 1975.

Hollmen, Saija / Reuter, Jenni / Sandman, Helena.

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30 Sustainable Architecture in Harmony with Present Realities ASC CONVENTION ON “HARMONY ARCHITECTURE IN A HARMONY SOCIETY”

Xian / 13–14 October 2007

In 1979 James Lovelock evolved a very significant theory known as the “Gaia Principle”. It states: “The earth is a single living organism with all its biological, chemical and hydrological processes acting in concert.” The immediate conclusion is that when you tamper with one of these processes, you affect others, or, to be more accurate, you sometimes don’t even know how many you are affecting. This is what we are witnessing today on our planet. This is the destructive sequence of events that architects have to help redress within the sphere of their professional activities and to the maximum of their capabilities.

Critical is the relationship between the construction of buildings and the destruction of the environment. Many facts and figures can be put forward to underline the obvious—that buildings are major culprits in the depletion of our natural resources. For buildings to have a less crippling effect on the environment, we need a new philosophical approach. Up to now “building has been seen as a way of dominating nature”.1 We know that this has had, and is having, terrifying consequences. What we need is an architecturally gentler, more humane way of building aimed at living side by side with nature. And to always remember that the planet is fragile.

Nobody doubts that sustainability concerns are fundamentally changing the practice of architecture. Nobody also doubts that architects are at present doing too little and not fast enough. Clients, on the other hand, be they government or private no matter, are still not convinced that green buildings can make economic sense and are not prepared to take into account life-cycle assessments.

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32 Adaptation of “Green Standards” / Motivation and Encouragement of Their Usage RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION SCIENCES (RAACS)

Orel / 24–27 May 2011 Excerpts

The topic “green architecture” usually relates mainly to theory and not enough to action. Not enough is said or done about the implementation of the principles discussed and the regulations enacted. The key words in relation to green standards must be “in practice” and “usage”, which means putting theory into practice.

Let us put things into perspective right from the start. Whatever we say or propose or do in connection with the environment and green architecture has to be seen in the light of the two opposing forces that confront us in each and every step. On the one hand we have the laws of nature, and on the other we have gregarious capital.

In the globalised world we live in, both the problems and the opportunities transcend natural and political borders. Hence, green development can no longer be viewed as an issue confined to a specific region or country. The same applies to capital, which is increasingly international, thus all the more deaf to any environmental argumentation. So the tasks ahead are not easy, but they are tasks that need to be addressed with clarity of purpose.

First, a look at the world context. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, much has changed. Bickerings over whether or not the Kyoto Protocol should be extended are coming into perspective, and we are likely to see policy statements more flexible than the hitherto outright rejection of the Protocol by Japan, Russia and Canada and, at the other end of the scale, the pressure by China, India, and others for its retention. There are increasing calls for more dynamic measures than were decided in Cancun last December. What is certain is that world scien-

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tific opinion, but also world public opinion, are converging more and more on renewable energy sources, and very particularly on wind. We recently have an astonishing statistic coming from Spain, where wind energy now accounts for twenty-one per cent of all electricity production, leaving nuclear power second at nineteen per cent. In Portugal also, wind and solar already represent forty-five per cent of all energy sources. Encouraging news come from the US as well where Iowa is now twenty per cent wind.1 Yet, the undoubted fact remains that renewable energy sources cannot solve the world’s energy problems, in the immediate years to come at any rate. Nuclear power, whether we like it or not, is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Nuclear plants will necessarily have to become better, safer and progressively fewer, but to say no to nuclear plants would be madness without an environmentally friendly alternative. As Nathan Myhrvold said, in reference to Fukushima, “there is no logical reason that this particular incident has to change the way we as a society feel about nuclear power, any more than it should change the way we feel about living near the seashore”.

For architects, the more specific area of concern is buildings and, more particularly, focusing on what the notion “green buildings” entails. This is very clearly analysed in the 2011 GBI Research report “Green Buildings Market to 2015—Incentives for Green Initiatives and Minimum Level of Standards to Boost Growth Opportunities”.

Let us examine how things are developing in Europe and in Greece.

The 2002/91 EU Directive on buildings lays down requirements as regards the methodology for calculating the integrated energy performance of new buildings and the application of minimum requirements on the performance of large existing buildings that are subject to major renovation. It also specifies the energy certification of buildings.

The 2006/32 EU Directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services requires that “every country member achieve an overall national indicative energy savings target of 9% for the ninth year of application, to be reached by way of energy services and other energy efficiency”.

The 2009/28 EU Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources stipulates that each Member State shall ensure that the share of energy from renewable sources be at least twenty per cent by the year 2020.

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40 Human Rights and Architecture XXIII PANAMERICAN CONGRESS OF ARCHITECTS

Tegucigalpa-Copan / 16 November 2008 Excerpts

The topic of rights—human, civil and green—can be summarised, a little cynically perhaps, by referring to Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”.

In this play, Colonel Pickering asks Alfred Doolittle whether he has any morals. “Can’t afford them, governor, and neither could you if you were as poor as me,” replies Doolittle. Morals are costly to maintain. So are rights, especially the universal human rights that become enshrined in United Nations declarations.

I do not think that our profession can accept that we sit on the sidelines and watch developments. We have to be part of this. We have to get involved as collective bodies and also as individual architects. The question of basic housing is at least as important for our profession as the high-profile buildings. Unless we accept becoming a profession absent from the vast majority of the building and environmental needs of the world.

Can the protection of the environment and issues related to sustainability and climate change also be considered a human right?

This is a more difficult question to answer, given that UN declarations, covenants, etc. only touch on this topic indirectly.

Yet we know that rights to acceptable living conditions cannot become reality without a clean or, at any rate, a cleaner environment that will sustain itself through subsequent generations. Standards of living and the environment go hand in hand. So one can legitimately assert that the protection of the environment has to be deemed a human right. This has already been accepted in some countries in the form of “green rights”.

An important conclusion that could emanate from this Congress is that the architects of the world will fight for the recognition of environmental protection as a human right. And that they steadfastly believe

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that the knowledge and expertise of their profession are indispensable key constituents of any programme for a better built environment.

While it is clear to all of us that we can produce a more environment-friendly architecture, we must be wary of the fact that green technologies could be viewed, by the technologically more advanced countries, primarily as market opportunities, thus further widening the rift between developed and developing countries. If we truly place the need to save the environment above gain, then access to knowledge becomes a right. This is an ethical consideration. For our profession as well.

Finally, a few words on the terms “environmental justice” and “historical pollution”. These are relatively new notions which broadly state that the more developed countries that have been polluting the earth for the past 100 years, and in some cases for more than 150 years, have greater obligations with respect to climate change. In other words, that it is unfair, and also unrealistic, to expect countries such as China, Brazil, Mexico, etc. to live up to the same environmental standards as the more developed countries that have already reached the standard of living levels these less developed countries are striving to attain. All this thinking inevitably leads to design standards that will be different across the globe—more demanding in some countries and less in others. Hopefully this divergence will progressively diminish.

Human rights issues, irrespective of whether they refer to the better known “blue rights” related to freedoms etc. or the “red rights” related to housing, health and education or the “green rights” related to environmental topics, provide a much-needed immediate focus for our profession and, why not, for our lives. For, as Mahatma Gandhi said about himself, but this is true for all of us, “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now.

Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

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45 The Essence of Reconstruction INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON “THE RECONSTRUCTION OF WAR-TORN CITIES”

Beirut / 10–14 November 1997 Excerpts

Why do people, and architects for that matter, become involved in work related to bringing life back to war-torn cities and hope back to the homeless and the displaced? This is a fundamental question and we need to do some soul-searching. Is it for profit, is it out of conviction, out of duty or out of philanthropy for the less privileged of our fellow human beings? Acting solely for profit is clearly untenable.

But so is philanthropy. Charity, and the greatly misused Greek word philanthropy, belong to another era. As Cassius Clay once said, “good deeds, man, are only the rent we have to pay on earth for the house we want to have in paradise.”

I much prefer to believe that we do what we do because of the values we believe in and because these values are ingrained in us and have become part of our normal everyday thinking and actions.

As a profession we need to show that we are not responsible for the injustices in our cities and that we are striving to change what we can. We also need to convince that behind the actions of governments and society lies not a latent fear that the homeless and the refugees might endanger our safe little world by creating security or other problems at our doorstep.

Cities are living organisms and need high-quality architectural and town-planning input at all levels.

When referring to cities devastated by war, much of the limelight of the world’s press is shed on the destruction of monuments. Monuments, important and irreplaceable as they are, are only one of the constituents of a city.

It is, therefore, very pertinent that while the foreword to the programme of this Symposium highlights the need to preserve the

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cultural identity of war-torn cities, it also recognises that contemporary development has other parameters as well. Because, as Francis Fukuyama said, “those who insist on looking at the future with their minds bent only on sterile preservation principles eventually become nothing more than caterers of the museum of history.” So the adoption of a future-orientated approach will give wide scope for imaginative architectural and town-planning thinking, hopefully leading to socially meaningful interventions as well.

It is evident that the preservation of a few monuments and historic buildings can never atone for the creation of a city that has no architectural character, no pulse and no memory.

It has been said that the way a society handles the problems of the less affluent parts of its cities reflects its sensitivity and its commitment to social justice in every sphere and towards all people.

This would certainly be true for war-torn cities. Because war-torn cities are, for their larger parts, not empty. There are human beings living in them. Many of them are destitute, some are homeless.

Legislation apart, we must act as our conscience dictates, we must act respecting the dignity of our fellow human beings. We must, moreover, be consistent in our beliefs and approaches. We cannot, for example, disassociate housing for the poor and the homeless from our other architectural endeavours and only remember the homeless at congresses and conventions.

This brings me to ethics and professional conduct. A Code of Ethics cannot be limited to rules of conduct. It has to encompass wider ideals and topics such as are being addressed in this Symposium. Because much of what will be discussed here is not only architectural but also ethical. Displaced people have human rights, which is an ethical question. The UIA attaches great importance to establishing ethical standards at an international level and is at present developing a Code of Ethics in its final form.

We are convinced that the scope of our mission goes well beyond conventional architecture and the high-tech star architect-designed buildings that usually receive exposure in the press. That is why we have chosen as the main theme for the current triennial period “Architecture and the Eradication of Poverty”, i.e. that architecture can be a factor in the eradication of poverty and the consequent improvement of the built environment. This theme is, of course, very closely linked with the theme of the present Symposium. Let us also look at this Peace and War

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nents, such as façade panels or prefabricated walls with incorporated electricals, plumbing and drainage pipes. What is certain is that we need a more complete system of standards, similar, for example, to British Standards. Furthermore, as is already happening in some countries, these standards must be performance-based, meaning that the laboratory or workshop testing of materials does not suffice and that it must be supplemented by verification at the actual place of installation. Research institutes, such as the BRE in the UK, that have as their remit the problems and requirements of buildings, have greatly advanced more holistic approaches to research in building construction.

Research is the embodiment of man’s indomitable spirit and his quest for discovery, for opening new paths in unknown terrains. It is research that has been the spearhead of the progress of our present civilisation. In today’s world, research is expressed more by technology and less by the humanities and social sciences. This entails obvious dangers. The time is maybe ripe for a new enlightenment where the social parameter will weigh in as well.

There is one further parameter. The international dimension.

Greece, from being a donor country of labour is slowly becoming an importer of labour. With research we stand to witness a reverse trend.

Instead of being solely importers of technology we could also become exporters, more particularly to the developing and the less developed countries. We can become reference centres for these countries, especially in the technology fields where we are competitive. There would be much to gain for our country, for our universities, and for our research centres. We will, in this way, be able to expand our research infrastructure while at the same time support the rising industries of less privileged countries.

The transfer of technology from the more developed countries was often coupled with economic exploitation and sometimes by political strings. We believe that knowledge belongs to all. It is unthinkable that science and technology be used as economic weapons. Whatever we do in this field must be meaningful at the world scale, because the planet is a single entity. This is an ethical choice and we need to uphold it.

Reference 1

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Stamatopoulos and Associates, Aris Stamatopoulos et al.

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49 Architectural Education in the International Context INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION

Nanjing / 10–12 December 2003 Excerpts

World-wide, the situation in education is changing fast. During my trip from Athens to Nanjing, I came across, in airplane newspapers and magazines, three texts related to education. Which only goes to show that education is in the headlines and that it is evolving the whole time.

• In France, students have been striking, demanding the retention of five-year studies, thus opposing themselves to the adoption of three-year degrees. An indirect result of accepting three-year degrees would be the creation of a new professional underclass— the students that cannot afford to further their studies beyond the three years.

• A UK scheme whereby poorer students would be allowed to pay for their tuition fees after graduation, once they are earning a salary.

• A US research study on market momentum showing that education is, after housing, the hottest industry.

This only goes to show that architectural education, just like the practice of architecture, is undergoing fundamental changes. Consequently, we need to rethink the way we practise architecture and the way we are taught architecture. We need to continuously regenerate both our profession and our learning institutions. This is the way to move ahead.

Architectural education is the cornerstone of our efforts to buttress the profession. To this end, two very significant milestones have been the creation, together with UNESCO, of the Charter for Architectural Education in 1996 and the Validation Committee for Architectural Education in 2000. On validation, we know that we have Education, Research, Technology

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53 The Challenges Ahead Consiglio Nazionale degli Architetti, Federazione Architetti di Liguria, Ordine Architetti di Genova INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARCHITECTURE, FREE TRADING AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Genova / 12 July 2001 Excerpts

The task of making the practice of architecture more equitable is not easy. Thus, our action programmes for the future need to be pragmatic and take into account the present-day “facts of life”. What are these facts of life?

• The words “consumer protection” seem to have become the new Bible. This is often interpreted as meaning “get the most with the least”, resulting in frequently ruthless competition on fee scales.

• That the world is in a flux and that we are, at the moment, in a position to influence our professional prospects. Because the future does not happen, we make it.

• That we have two worlds within which our profession operates, the real and the imaginary world. The imaginary world is the world of theory, of laws and regulations and of codes of ethics. The real world is the world of day-to-day architectural practice against big odds and in a sometimes vicious market economy, with little help from laws that are not always enforceable. It is a world of onesided ethical standards.

• That the forces of commerce are often stronger than the laws, especially in the developing countries. And, often again, it is not laws that change market practices but market practices that eventually shape new laws.

The truth is that architects work in a microcosm of world happenings—political, economic and social. That is why we have to be particularly vigilant the whole time. I, therefore, consider it a fortunate coincidence that we are meeting here in your wonderful city Genova,

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Genova la superba, one week before the G8 Summit. It would, of course, have been even better if our conference had coincided with a G33 Summit comprising developing countries as well.

As architects, we will need to evaluate the virtually unrestricted way in which globalisation expands despite grass-roots objections and despite the theoretical objections of intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky. And to try and rationalise it—for our profession at any rate.

I believe that it would be more pragmatic to take heed of Karl-Eric Knutsson’s statement, that “the real new issue is not so much that the world is becoming one, but that, it is, at least for a considerable time to come, becoming “many” which increasingly operate on a global scale and relate to each other in new and rapidly changing ways”.1 The practice of architecture is undergoing fundamental changes.

We must do our utmost to lead it in the direction that we think best for our profession and society and, also, fair to all countries—developed and less developed. Our tool for a more equitable universal status quo in the field of architectural practice is the Accord. Its approval in Beijing was an historic event. It is the first time that the profession of architecture has adopted a global standard. We now have an opportunity to take the lead in working towards inter-recognition of standards of professionalism and competence for architects, thus facilitating the portability of professional credentials. Of major significance for us is that international and national government bodies are becoming increasingly aware of the special nature of architectural services.

The UIA encourages governments and regulatory agencies to adopt its policies as the basis for reviewing and making appropriate revisions to their own national standards. Being living documents, they will, furthermore, be subject to ongoing review and modification as the weight of opinion and experience dictates. As Jim Scheeler wrote “we will now see how well the provisions of the Accord work in the real world of negotiating legally binding mutual recognition agreements”. These few words encapsulate the essence of the challenge ahead of us.

In Korea I was once asked: “Why do you think that we, and other countries, should review our systems? What would happen if we don’t?” The answer is, for me, quite simple. The systems will change anyway, because market forces are invariably stronger than existing laws and regulations. We don’t want the systems to change the way others want them to, we want them to change the way we want them The Profession

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55 The Challenge of the Third Millennium INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “ARCHITECTURE—URBANISM AT THE TURN OF THE III MILLENNIUM”

Belgrade / 13 November 1996

When I first read the theme of last summer’s UIA World Congress in Barcelona—“Present and futures—architecture in cities”—I paused for a moment thinking that there was something unusual in one of its words. The word future was in the plural—“futures” not “future”. I am now convinced that the use of the plural encapsulates the challenges that we are facing as we approach the Third Millennium. Because there could, theoretically, be many futures ahead of us. Only one of them, however, will happen.

If we want to influence the course of our destiny, we cannot limit ourselves to resolving problems. We also need to have a dream. As Peter Ellyard has said, we should create a “preferred future”, which means focusing on goals rather than problems. It is, therefore, very opportune that the present international conference here in Belgrade has raised the question of the development of architecture and urbanism in the Third Millennium. And that all of us, together, can evaluate the options, choose the future we prefer and then help implement it to whatever extent is feasible and within our means.

UN Summits and UIA World Congresses have, in many ways, highlighted the major issues facing architecture and the environment.

Architects have also given pointers as to the way forward.

Rio did not limit itself to the classic environmental agenda but injected the notion of “development” into the environmental debate.

This was, for us architects, a positive approach because it does not view buildings as a scapegoat but stresses the need for the “right” type of building. Chicago was very important as it brought home to all architects the fact that they would henceforth have to think and design with sustainability in mind. The sustainable dimension was to be added to all human settlement policies and related measures.

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Habitat II in Istanbul dealt with cities and so did the Barcelona Congress. Both searched for the “good” city. They endeavoured to establish a philosophical cornerstone for the future guidance of architects and town-planners. For this cornerstone to be valid, the Rio “development” parameter was not enough. The social parameter was also crucial. I believe that the Copenhagen Summit provided it, and in this way bridged the gap between Rio, Istanbul, and our own congresses. It is important that events not be isolated but that they form part of an uninterrupted sequence. The participation of architects in such a sequence of events is vital. It will, moreover, show that the term sustainability, and in particular urban sustainability, has other dimensions besides its ecological dimension.

Cities, and their architectures, are not inanimate objects. They are built by people and for people. Without people, cities and their urban spaces are totally meaningless. People interact, people act as magnets attracting more people. As an old Scandinavian proverb says, “people come where people are”.

The need for conviviality in architecture and urban space was for me one of the unwritten conclusions of Habitat II. Yet conviviality alone will never suffice to draw people to the public spaces of their cities and make them be at ease in them. People need to also feel secure and safe. Leads for safer cities did not emanate from the Habitat II Conference. It should have been one of its priorities. All is not grim, however. A step forward comes from UNESCO with its “Culture Against Exclusion” initiative in which culture is a key component for the regeneration of inner cities.

From an architectural point of view, many of our debates centre on preservation, i.e. on what to do with our heritage. In France, for example, over fifty per cent of the projects architects carry out are refurbishing jobs. There is too much déjà vu in our cities and not enough sparkle. Our involvement with heritage needs to be viewed from a more oblique angle—historical continuity rather than historical stagnation.

Continuity is the key word. Others were here before us, others will follow. The Brundtland Commission definition of sustainability— “meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”—should become one of the canons of our architectural ethics. Continuity does not only mean preservation. It also means giving future generations the same possibilities to build as we and our predecessors had. This The Future

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An era had ended, and with it part of the history of the UIA. Pierre Vago had been inextricably linked with its evolution since its founding in 1948.

Brasilia 2001 To be attending a Bureau meeting at Oscar Niemeyer’s and Lucio Costa’s Brasilia is no small experience. The site visits vindicated our expectations. Later that year I went to Astana, this time a capital city still in the making. We were received—Georgi Stoilov, Yuri Gnedovski, Akmourza Roustembekov and myself—by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev who detailed out some of his plans for the future. The creation, from zero, of capital cities is a fascinating subject worthy of more careful study. Think only of the planning decisions that made possible cities like Abuja, Pretoria, Canberra and others.

Athens 2011 The National Congress of the Association of Greek Architects was a most diverse and fulfilling event. Starting from its President Evangelos Lyroudias all the way to the students of our six architectural schools, there were over 2,300 registrations. No less than 158 delegates took the floor to deliver summaries of their papers. I was truly proud of being a Greek architect. In a moving ceremony, a oneminute silence was observed in memory of the Japan earthquake and tsunami victims, a stark reminder that we, and our architecture, can never bypass nature and the environment. The venue of this Congress, Zappeion Palace, was special for me. Twenty-eight years ago, our firm had won the competition for its total refurbishment to host the event celebrating Greece’s entry into the EEC. Alexandria 2002 The conference on Architecture and Heritage was held in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina where I had the opportunity to be shown around by its Honorary President Ismail Serageldin, a personality of world stature with significant contributions in matters related to the needs of developing countries. It is always with great satisfaction that I visit buildings that are the result of UIA competitions. All the more so when the completed project has more than vindicated the decision of the jury. An interesting “side-effect” of such competitions is that they 372

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quite often mark the beginning of outstanding international careers, as has been the case here with Kjetil Thorsen and Craig Dykers at the helm of Snøhetta.

Beijing 2013 A number of the architects serving on international bodies have significant buildings to their name. It is rare, however, that one has the opportunity to see these buildings. Tight schedules during meetings, and distances that would need to be travelled, do not allow it. Which is a great pity. On the few occasions when such opportunities did arise, it was very satisfying to be able to correlate a colleague with his architectural creativity, with a real building. As when I saw, during this visit, Zhuang Weimin’s buildings in the Tsinghua University Science Park and, some years earlier, Yuri Gnedovski’s Moscow International House of Music as well as Jaime Lerner’s works in Curitiba and, more recently, Cui Kai’s in Beijing.

Mumbai 2000 This was the second of the six “Housing for the Poor” international conferences. Significantly, it was held in the city of the two million pavement dwellers. The success of this conference, held in conjunction with ARCASIA, owed much to the enthusiasm of Hisham Albakri.

Istanbul 2000 The signing of the UIA-TCA Contract took place at the Pera Palace Hotel, where we also stayed the night. Lurking in the background amid the art nouveau, neoclassical and oriental decorative elements of the halls were Agatha Christie and the Orient Express.1 The room I was given had Giscard d’Estaing written on it. I thought this was most inconsiderate of my Turkish hosts since the room next to mine was the Mata Hari room.

Vale 2002 Randy Vosbeck was the first American architect I met in my travels who was truly international. In that great melting pot of architects that is the UIA, he understood and was understood. Subsequently I had the opportunity to work together with many others, too­—as with Jim Scheeler with his meticulous concern for the concerns of others, Don Hackl who marked his presence with purposefulness and, more 373

at Legorreta’s Schwab Residential Center on the Stanford campus, but those twenty-four hours were enough to appreciate what quality design means. Currently living on the Hollywood hills, my son is lucky to be within a few miles of the many signature buildings that have made the wider LA area a hub of American and world architectural trends. On visits to him, I, too, have been fortunate to have seen in loco quite a number of them, such as by Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Richard Meier and, also, the Charles Eames house, which had won the AIA Twenty-five Year Award—a remarkable distinction for someone who was not a qualified architect.

Tokyo 2011 Embassy receptions have become one of the facts of life of UIA congresses. Given in honour of candidates for offices, they often result in a mad rush to find taxis to get to the often far-away embassy locations and still have time left to go to another reception. One could almost term it “embassy-hopping”. But I wonder. Is all this necessary?

Would it not be more meaningful if embassies donated to the UIA, in honour of the candidate concerned, whatever sum they were going to spend for the reception? Such sums could be used to cover the triennial subscriptions of the least affluent countries and so be conducive to a more all-inclusive UIA. If I were a candidate, I would feel very honoured if my embassy made such a donation in my name.

Washington 2001 Jury members of this year’s Du Pont Benedictus Award were Henry Cobb, Odile Decq and myself. I have since had one more occasion to meet Odile Decq. It was in Athens in 2012 when she gave a talk in her usual outreaching style. Vivid remains her description of the oft-sung Greek light as “raw light seen against the blue of the sky and swept by the strong meltemi wind”.

Lausanne 1964 My first collaboration with a foreign architect. He was H. Robert Von der Mühll. The project, funded by a Swiss society, was a small hospital on the island of Patmos.

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Part Two

A Random Diary

San Francisco 1985 It was in this western gateway to the United States that I had my initiation to procedures and languages at official UIA meetings.

Although the by-laws are quite clear as to where the two working languages—English and French—and where the two other official languages—Spanish and Russian—were to be obligatorily used, it has been evident to all that the use of the three, besides English, languages has over the years dwindled to an alarming degree, rendering, for example, congress etc. events and documents far from compliant to the statutory provisions. This is not good for the universality of the UIA. Budget constraints are the obvious root cause. In the case of French, there is another reason too. French and French-speaking delegates and participants now also speak good or acceptable English, in this way indirectly contributing to the slackening of procedures and the easing out of the French language. This is particularly sad because, francophonie issues apart, the Paris headquarters and French culture have been at the root of the creation and development of the UIA to its present-day standing. Hopefully the situation is not irreversible and we will, one day, be able to be “language-equitable” again.

Birzeit 2007 Invitations to participate in conferences and events one cannot always accept. Commitments too often overlap. As with the invitation I received from Shadi Ghadban to take part, at Birzeit University, in an international conference on Conservation and Management of Landscape in Conflict Areas. Pertinently, this topic was debated inside a conflict area—Palestine. Birzeit, like some other “almost” destinations, remains, however, on my “futures” list.

Beijing 1999 The evening after my election to the UIA Presidency I was asked to dinner by architect friends. Much as I would have liked to, I declined and went out instead with my two sons, Kostas and Dimitris. Just the three of us. Those were moments that I will always treasure. Although intimately connected with UIA affairs for a number of years, the magnitude of the challenges and responsibilities attached to the office started sinking in the following day during the Council Meeting where I officially took over. There was a brief ceremony after the conclusion of the Council Meeting. Ye Rutang, who was the ASC President during 391

About the Author

Vassilis Sgoutas was born in Athens in 1934. After early schooling at Athens College, the family settled in South Africa. Studies continued at Bishops and the University of Cape Town, where he was awarded the Helen Gardner Travel Prize.

Professional experience started as designer and planner with Doxiadis Associates in Iraq. Sgoutas established his own office in Athens in 1961 with significant projects in Greece, the Middle East and North Africa. He has won numerous competition awards: two of the Ministry of Public Works best building awards as well as the Ministry of the Environment creative housing award.

Works include public buildings and in particular auditoria, commercial buildings, pharmaceutical plants, hospitals, housing, rehabilitation/reuse of historic buildings and landscaping. Among them, office buildings for Ciba-Geigy and Novartis, industrial plants for Pfizer, Winthrop, Upjohn, Union Carbide and Boehringer Ingelheim, the Athens Management and Conference Centre, the Alexander Fleming Basic Biological Research Centre, the University of Crete Faculty of Medicine, the Oil Industry Medical Society Hospital in Tripoli Libya, the Michael Cacoyannis Cultural Centre, the EEC Presidency remodelling of Zappeion Palace, the Greek Pavilion at the Frankfurt 2001 Book Fair, the Carthage auditorium and site development project in Tunisia and, in collaboration, the Siemens offices, the Athens Concert Hall and the Thessaloniki Concert Hall.

President of the International Union of Architects between 1999– 2002 and earlier its Secretary General, Sgoutas held offices at the Greek Architects Association and the Technical Chamber of Greece, which he has represented on missions abroad.

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He has lectured and written on matters related to aesthetics, the environment, the disabled and poverty. Served on European committees for the disabled and experts committees for the drafting of European manuals for accessibility. In 2007, the UIA launched the triennial “Vassilis Sgoutas Prize” rewarding architects who have contributed to the betterment of living conditions in areas below the poverty level.

He is Honorary Fellow/Member of the Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Russia, South Africa and USA architects institutes. He holds the Insignia of the Superior Council of the Architects of Spain, is a foreign member of the State Russian Academy of Architecture, and was awarded the medal of the Magnesia Chapter of the Technical Chamber of Greece for his “lifelong service to architecture”.

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