This document discusses the concepts of the "flat" and the "knurled" in the context of city reconstruction following disasters. It explores these concepts through the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze and examples of city rebuilding after earthquakes. Reconstruction can either flatten a city by imposing a new geometric order, or knurl a city by allowing organic regrowth, as seen in examples of Lisbon and London following earthquakes. Political forces often influenced reconstruction to flatten cities for control, rather than allow natural knurling.
1. THE FLAT AND THE
KNURLED SPACE IN
THE RECONSTRUCTION
OF CITIES
Maria BOSTENARU DAN
2. Overview
Introduction
The philosophical base
The settlement
The reconstruction of towns for reason of
different concepts
The reconstruction after an earthquake
Reconstruction after the old model
Conclusions
4. The philosophical base
Work from 1980
Maritime model
The town is the knurled place by excellence
Agriculture: invention of the town
Grafitti – escapes control
5. The settlement
Three Little Pigs – story
The straw house is that of the nomad, the
timber one of the semi-nomad and the stone
one of the sedentary
Sustainability becomes a value
6. The reconstruction of towns for reason
of different concepts
Alexandru Sandu
Urban organism – urban force – the knurling
forces to act
Urban activity – human mobile
Every activity has a parcours until it finds its
own place
Knurling supposes a flat place to knurl
7. The reconstruction of towns for reason
of different concepts
Functionalism
Another order of the town as the traditional
Le Corbusier
Plan Voisin – Paris
Criticism by French politicians
8. The reconstruction of towns for reason
of different concepts
Socialist architecture
? Postmodern
Bucharest
Ceauşescu – Victoria Socialismului Boulevard
Great scale demolitions after the 1977 Vrancea
earthquake
10. The reconstruction of towns for reason
of different concepts
Ceauşescu demolitions
The remaining places are still flat, no knurling
has succeeded (see Izvor Park – vegetation
did not grow)
Bucharest 2000 competition tried to produce a
knurling – different one of the Bucharest
garden city type
12. Landscape proposal for Izvor Park, Bucharest
The reconstruction of towns for reason of
different concepts
13. Landscape proposal for Izvor Park, Bucharest
The reconstruction of towns for reason of
different concepts
14. The reconstruction of towns for reason
of different concepts
Knurling in Bucharest in the interwar time
North-South boulevard
Due to gardens, minimal interventions were
necessary
Athens Charter but not functionalism
The block of flats was introduced
Fight for space
Vulnerability to earthquakes
17. The reconstruction after an earthquake
The earthquake is a force flattening a knurled
town
It is a force of nature escaping control
Numerous towns flattened by earthquakes and
reconstructed
Deliberate urban plans for reconstruction known
in more recent history
Earthquakes destroy the sedentary space, but,
although it proves that it was constructed in a
dangerous zone, it is built again in that zone or
close to it
Local seismic culture
18. The reconstruction after an earthquake
Baixa in Lisbon
1755 earthquake
Baroque
The earthquake destroyed the medieval tissue
(Alfama)
Marques de Pombal
19. Aerial view of the Baixa district in Lisbon
The reconstruction after an earthquake
20. View from Alfama district, Lisbon
The reconstruction after an earthquake
21. The reconstruction after an earthquake
Ljubljana, Slovenia
1895 earthquake
Afterwards spread of the Art Nouveau Style
Slovenia belonged to the Austro-Hungarian
Empire
Viennaise urban planers invited (Camillo Sitte,
Max Fabiani), but the choice felt for Slovene, for
political reasons
Jože Plečnik, the national Slovene architect,
elaborated a plan of Ljubljana in 1929
22. Triple Bridge in Ljubljana with emblematic Art Nouveau building
The reconstruction after an earthquake
23. Building by Joze Plecnik with Art Nouveau features
The reconstruction after an earthquake
24. The reconstruction after an earthquake
Bucharest 1977
The earthquake used as a pretext
Link: today people are suspicious to move in
frame of retrofit measures as they fear loosing
property
25. Reconstruction after the old model
London 1666
Unclarities in the property regime
If the designed plan would have been applied,
London would have rivaled with Paris as
Baroque city
After WWII – centres reconstructed on the old
model and to respond to housing needs
satellite towns were created
26. Conclusions
Occidental society – sedentary society since
hundreds of years
Flattening tendencies appear in the town
Preoccupation of Gilles Deleuze, French
philosopher
Bottom-up (ex. graffiti) and top-down flattening
(political)
Political forces influenced also the
reconstruction after catastrophes
27. Conclusions
The new knurling imposed by political power
makes cities differ of those organically grown
(fractals, Cosmin Chirvasie
http://myriammahiques.blogspot.com/2010/02/intro
) namely through geometric rules
At the end of the 20th
century it is put into
discussion to reconstruct functionalist cities in
traditional way
28. Acknowledgements
The support of the Marie Curie Reintegration
Grant, contract number MERG-CT-2007-
200636, run time 2007-2010, from the European
Commission for performing this research is
gratefully acknowledged.
The support of the COST action TU0801
“Semantic enrichment of 3D city models for
sustainable urban development” for attending
the conference and presenting this work in Faro,
Portugal, is gratefully acknowledged as well.