Archives of New Traditional Architecture: A Preview of Issue 1

ANTA

Archives of New Traditional Architecture

PAGE 10 New buildings and towns in Spain, Estonia, Finland, the United States, and elsewhere

PAGE 106 Perspectives on critical contemporary issues and aspects of the current architectural debate

spring 2021 Issue No. 1

PAGE 182 Writing, reflections, and architectural works by visionary architects and thinkers of the past

Mohamad Hamouié, new urban design and buildings in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon

Essays

Michael Dennis............................................................................108

Classicism and the City

Léon Krier .................................................................................128

Democracies, Architecture, Urbanism, Ecology and the Common Good: 1945- 2021

Robert Adam .............................................................................136

The Chimera of Authenticity

Historical Perspectives

Ingrid Rowland ............................................................................146

Rowland 146

Octavia and Vitruvius

Octavia Vitruvius

Carroll William Westfall...................................................................158

The École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and at Home

Richard Economakis .......................................................................172

Robert Robinson Taylor: Legacy of a Pioneering American Architect and Educator

Voices from the Past

Dimitris Pikionis (1887-1968) .............................................................184

The Rape of Gaea (1954)

Potamianos Residence .......................................................................188

Garis Residence .............................................................................190

Teodoro de Anasagasti (1880-1938) ......................................................192

Vernacular Architecture (1929)

Gustavo Giovannoni (1873-1947) ........................................................200

On Architectural Education (1908-1929)

Introduction by Steven Semes

Critique

Jean-François Lejeune .....................................................................210

The House at Michaelerplatz: Adolf Loos, 1909-1911

Acting Locally

From the Editors ...........................................................................220

Saint Joseph County Public Library, Robert A.M. Stern Architects with Arkos Design

Recent Books of Note...........................................................226

Archives of New Traditional Architecture is prepared by the staff and research associates of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture and published twice yearly. ISBN: 978-0-578-89890-2

University of Notre Dame

School of Architecture

114 Walsh Family Hall of Architecture

Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 architecture.nd.edu

Introduction to ANTA

It has been thirty or so years since computers began to radically alter the way in which we relate to each other and to the world. During these years, humanity has experienced the exhilaration of seemingly boundless access to information and the free expression of ideas; unprecedented levels of automation; the apparent shrinking of physical distances; and the vertiginous speed of communication. Yet, at the same time, the forces propelling humanity toward an imagined better future are undermining the very social and cultural bonds that have gotten us to this point: the civic role of government; the stability of institutions; the credibility of the media; the unity of knowledge; the pursuit of shared habits of thought and action. We are living through a strange kind of life that constantly fluctuates between the vague promise of things to come and deep regret for all that is being left behind.

The teaching and practice of architecture have also been deeply affected by electronic media. For all the advances in the rapid generation, storing, coordinating, and communicating of architectural information, we have suffered many losses, one of which is particularly devastating: the decline of a substantive discourse among academics and professionals, learning from the merit of each other’s ideas and designs. Until a short time ago, the ongoing positive effect of such a discourse was an evolving architectural culture, one with some degree of tolerance and respect for the balance between modernity and tradition that has characterized the process of building since the dawn of civilization.

Regrettably, discussion on the nature of contemporary architecture and its place in shaping our worldwide habitat beyond the single building project has been lacking. And this, despite the fierce urban and environmental challenges currently confronting humanity. The national and international professional architectural press of a few decades ago included at least two dozen journals in ten or more languages. It generated a robust store of shared knowledge and understanding. It provided a generational link between younger and older architects, and in the process clarified the set of issues that all architects would need to focus on next. It fostered healthy discussion and debate. This press has been replaced with a chaotic array of single-opinion and single-purpose blogs. Cultural accommodation has been displaced by cultural confrontation or, worse, apartness. At the same time, the common teaching of architecture has devolved to

2021: Intellectual and social distancing dominate our lives. Marcella Winograd for Domino Park.

promoting a version of design based mostly on technology, excluding history, theory, ethical formation, or service to society. The citizen architect is being slowly displaced by the merchant architect. Meanwhile, and worrisomely, cities around the world are looking more and more similar, their order diminished, their landscape and the whole of nature around them in retreat.

Well-framed, serious journals that have a focus on an aesthetic position as well as a broad intellectual outlook and a tolerant temperament have been shockingly absent from the architectural scene for decades. We are convinced that at this point and all around the world, academic and professional architects of good will would prefer to join in deeper study and appreciation of projects and places than be divided by simpler understandings, half-truths, and empty slogans. It is time to respond to this yearning and to provide a platform that enables schools of architecture to begin rethinking their pedagogy and practicing architects to concentrate on idea-based projects and practices. One key purpose of launching a new journal at this time is to counterbalance the current view of architecture as the computer-harvested, rootless, and endless shower of superficial images constantly raining upon every corner of the world. And to replace it with an old-fashioned, thoughtful, focused discussion that restores faith in architecture as the definition, exploration, and expression of ideas—however controversial or contrarian these may be.

I am proud and pleased to present you with the first issue of a new biannual journal on architecture, urbanism, and ecological design. This journal is called ANTA: Archives of New Traditional Architecture. It is so named for two reasons: to remind us of the importance of the archive of original drawings that we collect at our school to enable deep and consequential study of recent architecture, and to refer to an architectural term that describes the sturdy pilasters on either side of a doorway or entrance to a Greek temple. The latter reference reflects our wish to see this journal mark a passage, a cultural transition that values received culture. ANTA will be edited by a board of six faculty members of the School of Architecture; each issue will be produced by two board members. The journal will cover a number of repeating topics, current and historical essays, projects, criticism, documentation, book reviews, and more. It is not exclusively for the publication or promotion of the work of Notre Dame faculty and students. Occasionally, invited guest editors will produce issues dedicated to a single topic. We hope that ANTA will become a window into how we and our contemporaries address key issues of the architecture of our place and time.

As I write these lines, the world is suffering through a pandemic that is keeping us isolated and physically distanced. For the past couple of generations, architects have been operating apart from each other, neatly separated inside ideologically-distanced circles that we have been accustomed to drawing around ourselves. It is time to deny these self-imposed intellectual boundaries and to pursue the balance between criticism and design that has fueled architectural renewal since the beginning of time. All of this, without elevating novelty and change for its own sake to a principle, or at the expense of received experience and common sense.

We invite each person reading this introduction to join us in supporting dialogue through this journal; to recommend it to others; and to consider contributing your ideas and projects in order to improve the depth, diversity, and reach of our beloved discipline—and ultimately promote its relevance and influence in the world.

STEFANOS POLYZOIDES Professor and Dean The University of Notre Dame School of Architecture

Mohamad Hamouié

BEIRUT, LEBANON

Urban Regeneration in Al Balad

Jeddah Historic District, Saudi Arabia

In Arabic the word Jeddah means grandmother. The burial site of our collective grandmother, Eve, is located just east of the historic district of Al Balad. The coastal port city of Jeddah is located in the Makkah Province of Arabia, surrounded by the Hejaz Mountains to the east and the Red Sea to the west. Site excavations in the old city suggest that Jeddah was founded as a fishing hamlet in 522 BC by the Yemeni Quda’a tribe, who left central Yemen to settle in Makkah. Under the Caliphate of Othman in 644–56 AD, Jeddah gained recognition as the “Gateway to the Holy City,” and developed as an important hub for the Islamic world. During the seventh century,

the Persians settled in Jeddah, constructed the first city walls, and established the harbor as a prominent trading point.

The historical area of Al Balad, as we know it today, is a wonderful example of the architectural tradition in the Red Sea region. Its construction style and materials were once common to cities on both sides of the sea. These coastal settlements are characterized by their magnificent coral-stone tower houses decorated by large wooden roshan built by the elite merchant class, as well as masajid, ribats, suqs, and barhat that together compose vibrant traditional communities.

Opposite page: Al Dahab Square miniature rendering, showing plans and elevations.

This page: Watercolor rendering of Al Dahab Square showing the new interventions and the restored mosque in the foreground.

Over the past half-century Jeddah has undergone many immense alterations in its urban fabric, building character, and land use. Until the mid-twentieth century urban growth was limited within the fortification surrounding Al Balad. Unfortunately, the historic wall was demolished in 1947, resulting in a period of large-scale modern urban sprawl. Broad roads such as Al Dahab Street cut across the city, scarring and fragmenting the historic urban fabric. Many historic buildings on the waterfront have been demolished and replaced by high-rise commercial and office buildings, eliminating Al Balad’s historic connection with the seafront. The remaining historic district of Al Balad, which houses around 600 historic buildings, was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

In 2019 the Saudi Ministry of Culture launched an urban regeneration project with the aim of reviving the historic core of Al Balad. A consortium headed by Strategy& Saudi Arabia included both local and international consultants as well as urban planners, architects,

restoration specialists, engineers, traffic consultants, and landscape architects. The main challenge was to not only restore the old city, but to provide the greater metropolis of Jeddah with a much needed core.

Architect Mohamad Hamouié’s first task was to document the various building typologies, construction techniques, and building crafts of the area. After almost a year of study and documentation, Hamouié’s second task was to design the city’s central piazza, Al Dahab Square. This prominent square was divided and lost after the introduction of Al Dahab Street in the 1970s. Many historic buildings were demolished to pave the way for the large new road, destroying the urban fabric and allowing for high levels of vehicular traffic to cut through the city center. Subsequently, the square had evolved from being a pedestrian-friendly gathering place to a crossroad on a major vehicular transit route.

The proposal to regenerate the square involved restoring the existing Masjid Mimar,

Opposite page, top: Historical urban roofscape, Jeddah; Bottom: Jeddah Al Balad, urban morphology.

This page, top left: Architectural character of Jeddah’s historic buildings; Top right and margin: Roshan (mashrabiya) detail of Darnour-Wali.

a prominent historic mosque, as well as restitching the divided urban fabric through a series of newly designed public buildings, while also replacing the large road with only service vehicle access. The decision to design new traditional interventions in a place of high historic and heritage value was essential to reestablish the connection between the east and west parts of the city—a connection that had been damaged by modern interference. The new interventions also serve as a model for the continuity of the traditional building community within the region, proving that the local building community’s knowledge of local crafts may be utilized not only in restoration works, but also in the construction of new designs.

The historic Masjid Mimar that lies on the intersection between Qabel Souk and Al Dahab Street is a pivotal landmark on Al Dahab Square. Its towering minaret can be seen po-

sitioned along the main axis of Qabel Souk. Recent poorly executed restoration works and interventions on the mosque have downgraded its original functionality and appearance. The courtyard that functioned as a buffer between the souk and the prayer hall was removed, and the vaulted lower level had become humid due to a lack of sufficient ventilation. Along with the restoration of the mosque, an extension to the main building of the mosque was proposed, reconstructing the large internal courtyard, a prayer space overlooking the courtyard, and an additional ablution space. The vaulted lower level of the mosque will be accessible through the courtyard. The extension also provides an upgraded street frontage, a well-defined main entrance opening up to the public square, and integrates small shops opening up to the main souk route.

Four new buildings have been designed using the same local architectural character, con-

Opposite page, top: Al Dahab Square, new interventions; Bottom: Building typologies, construction and architectural elements.

This page, bottom: Stone arch construction; Margin: Typical traditional arches.