Realizing Henri Lefebvre: Ideas of Social Space in Lucien Kroll’S La Mémé, Brussels 1969-1972 and Bernard Tschumi’S Parc De La Villette, Paris 1982-1987
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REALIZING HENRI LEFEBVRE: IDEAS OF SOCIAL SPACE IN LUCIEN KROLL’S LA MÉMÉ, BRUSSELS 1969-1972 AND BERNARD TSCHUMI’S PARC DE LA VILLETTE, PARIS 1982-1987 by Kush Upendra Patel A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Architecture) in the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee: Professor Linda N. Groat, Chair Associate Professor Scott D. Campbell Associate Professor Fernando Luiz Lara, University of Texas at Austin Associate Professor Claire A. Zimmerman © Kush Upendra Patel 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to express my sincere gratitude for the guidance of my chair, Linda N. Groat. This research and my overall experience in the doctoral program are immeasurably better because of her support. I am also indebted to my dissertation committee members: Scott Campbell for his optimism and engaging questions; Claire Zimmerman for assisting me in contextualizing the project and in improving my writing; and Fernando Luiz Lara for his patience and timely critique. I would not have completed this dissertation without travel grants and research funding from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the Rackham Graduate School. I would not have understood the broader stakes of my doctoral project without training in public scholarship with Rackham’s Arts of Citizenship program. I owe special thanks to Matthew Countryman, Laura N. Schram, and Mark Kamimura-Jimenez for their mentorship throughout this time. I am also deeply grateful for the pedagogical and personal support of Denise Galarza Sepúlveda at the College of LSA’s Center for Engaged Academic Learning (CEAL). I want to thank my friends at the Taubman College and peers from other departments and programs across the University who helped with the completion of this project through writing groups and precious feedback on draft chapters. More recently, my work has benefitted from Imagining America’s Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) Fellows Program. I want to thank my friends at PAGE for upholding the importance of self-care in collaborative and engaged scholarly pursuits. Finally, I am forever grateful to all of my parents—Mum and Dad, Foi and Fooa, Dadi and Dada—for their encouragement, love, and guidance at each step of the way. My Dadi and Dada have passed away, but their spirit endures. Together, they inspire me and keep me grounded. Thank you for everything. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ ii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................v CHAPTER I – Introduction .............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER II – Henri Lefebvre and Social Theory of Space (1968-1974) .....................................6 CHAPTER III – Questions of Space and Social Life in Postwar Design Theories (1962-82) ......34 CHAPTER IV – Logical Argumentation and Case Study Strategies: Two-Phase Combined Research Design .......................................................................................................................62 CHAPTER V – An Inquiry into the Definitions of Space: Discussing the Theoretical Works of Lucien Kroll and Bernard Tschumi ........................................................................................90 CHAPTER VI – Seeking Participation, Seeking Change: Lucien Kroll and the Politics of La Mémé, Brussels .....................................................................................................................119 CHAPTER VII – Between City and Park: Bernard Tschumi and the Program of Parc de la Villette, Paris .........................................................................................................................147 CHAPTER VIII – Conclusions ....................................................................................................177 FIGURES – La Mémé .................................................................................................................186 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................190 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................262 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Chronology of Works by Lefebvre, Kroll, and Tschumi (1957-1983) ............................3 Figure 2. Interpreting Lefebvre’s Conceptual Triad ......................................................................76 Figure 3. Terrace Dining (UCL Archive) ....................................................................................186 Figure 4. Terrace Study and Discussion (UCL Archive) .............................................................186 Figure 5. Garbage Collection I .....................................................................................................186 Figure 6. Empty Terrace ..............................................................................................................186 Figure 7. Garbage Collection II ...................................................................................................186 Figure 8. Terrace facing East .......................................................................................................187 Figure 9. Terrace facing West ......................................................................................................187 Figure 10. “Fascist” Side Typical Room .....................................................................................187 Figure 11. Typical Room (Today) ...............................................................................................187 Figure 12. Shared Kitchen and Dining Space ..............................................................................188 Figure 13. Shared Kitchen and Dining Space (Today) ................................................................188 Figure 14. “Normal” Side (Today) ..............................................................................................188 Figure 15. “Normal” Side (Today) ..............................................................................................188 Figure 16. Uncomfortable Adjustments (“Normal Side”) ...........................................................189 iv LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A: Cue Sheet / Parc de la Villette (English and French). ............................................190 Appendix B: Cue Sheet / La Maison Medicale, or “La Mémé” ..................................................196 Appendix C: Participant Background Information (Parc de la Villette and La Mémé) ..............202 Appendix D: La Mémé Residents’ Perspectives .........................................................................203 Appendix E: Parc de la Villette Users Perspectives ....................................................................207 Appendix F: La Mémé Mapping Responses ................................................................................214 Appendix G: Parc de la Villette Mapping Responses ..................................................................238 Appendix H: Parc de la Villette Activity and Movement Patterns ..............................................254 v CHAPTER I Introduction This dissertation came out of my interest in two radical traditions that permeated discourse on architecture as a social product between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s. On the one hand, I was drawn toward works that focused on questions of participatory democracy and co- production of meaning with “non-experts” in architectural and planning practice.1 On the other hand, I was intrigued by propositions that provoked architectural debate and functioned as strategic counterpoints to the political status quo.2 It soon became apparent that a heterogeneous set of architects from both developments impacted the field during this time, and that the anti- authoritarian “events” of May 1968 in France constituted an important moment when questions of space through participatory activism coincided with those in avant-garde experimentation. I elected to structure my study of these developments around writings of Henri Lefebvre, a common denominator in theories of space. I first encountered Lefebvre’s writings in his preface to Philippe Boudon’s pioneering study of Le Corbusier’s Pessac Housing (1969, 1972 tr.).3 A comparative study on the participatory works of Lucien Kroll and the program-oriented strategies of Bernard Tschumi offered an opportunity to test how architects interested in new spatial paradigms and new attitudes to the city shared or did not share objectives with their 1 The earliest points of reference for me were: Giancarlo de Carlo, “Architecture’s Public” (1969) in Peter Blundell Jones, Doina Petrescu, and Jeremy Till, Architecture and Participation (New York: Spon Press, 2005), 3–22; C. Richard Hatch, The Scope of Social Architecture, Columns. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984); Paul Davidoff, “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning” (1965) in Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout, The City Reader, xviii, 608 (London ; New York: Routledge, 2000), 423–33. 2 See: Geogre Baird, “1968 and its Aftermath: The Loss