(Translation of the previous article)
The career of Hans Scharoun can be
understood as the bridge between of the German architecture of the 20s,
Expressionism, and the modern style. Developing the rationalism he becomes the
maximum exponent of Neues Bauen (New Construct) and in concrete Organisches
Bauen (Organic Architecture); influenced by the Gemeinschaft (Community)
with the promises of Harmony. The major manifestations of social preoccupation of
Hans Scharoun are the schools projected in the decades of 50s and 60s; the
schools are understood by the architect as places of learning the new values of
civility and democracy. The project of Scharoun is based on the educational
process centered on integrating the individual in the society without
suppressing his individuality.
The schools are the result of interest in
relating architecture and pedagogy which is manifested in Darmstädter
Gespräch of 1951 which was a one of many conferences which took place in a
irregular rhythm in the period 1950-1975 which consisted of different
intellectual disciplines. The title of 1951 conferences was Mensch und Raum
(Man and Space) in which participated both the German architects like Scharoun,
Otto Bartning, Rudolf Schwarz and International philosophers and sociologists
like Martin Heidegger, Alfred Weber and Jose Ortega y Gasset. For the event
Scharoun projected a school for the city of Dramstadt in which
fragmented the building on the terrain, organizing three areas with 3 different
typologies of classes with associated free spaces and spaces of “meeting spaces”
according to the age ranks. The response of Scharoun for the necessities of
each age group, the youngest needs a parental caring, the middle group an
imposed
discipline and the elders auto discipline.
Scharoun who always in the postwar period
had the democracy as his principal defining the school as “Like every building,
a school should impart a perception of a way of life – in the way that
democracy as a universal principle, is intended to realize a way of life.”, a
small city which has the mediator function between the individual and the
society as well as the family and the city while the school’s hall serves as a
small theatre, cinema or concert hall of the whole city, like it’s gym which is
available to all people in the evenings. This potential of common space, similar
to the public spaces of the city, converted these school buildings to a
relatively complex constructions which comprise various related parties perform
different types of random events or relations. These open spaces are spaces
which permits the reunion and private conversations. The irregular layout makes
possible not only an effect of special dynamism but also but also contains
corners and different scales and the it’s more a street than a a great hall or
a connecting corridor. Interaction and participation are the elements for a psychosocial
developing which is manifested in the urban metaphor of the school space of
Scharoun.
“A school building should not be a symbol
of political power or product of technical or artistic perfection. Like any
other building, a school must communicate the idea of a
comprehensive way of life to the universal principle of democracy”
Special thanks to Jihyun Kim and Kwang Pil
Koh for their cooperation and to Bartomeu Jane for commenting on the article.
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