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Journal Article

The Institutions Must Be Designed Before the Buildings

Author(s): Schindler, Susanne

Publication Date: 2020-11

Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000466063

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ETH Library LCR FC Susanne Schindler the Buildings Designed Before Must be The Institutions e arealwaysrunninglatetoupgrade needed infrastructure,becauseit’s not

the nuclearfamilywasaninventionof1940s.Moreandmore,wewantto was inthepastcentury. Infact,thedichotomyneverreallyexisted. The ideaof ing economies.Ourconceptionofpublicandprivatecannotbethesameasit Housing can’t beaboutprivatepropertyanymore. We needtounderstandshar What wouldyousayare Mexico’s mosturgent housingissues? history andtheresources. parties. Urbanismshouldbeaboutunderstandingwhatexists:theplace, don’t havetodowiththewillofagovernmentofficialorimage ofpolitical a newunderstandingofthosetime-lapsesandpromotedifferent prioritiesthat thing thatcamebefore. And now, Ithinkthatthe21stcenturyshouldadvance Baroque buildings,andtheModerncityof20thcenturydestroyedevery was builtontopoftheindigenoustemples. The Neoclassicalcitydestroyedthe layer city, builtondestroyingwhathaspreviouslybeendone. The Colonialcity always startingfromscratch.Ithinkthatisthehistoryofthiscity. It’s amulti- And wearestillthere;it’s notgoingtochangewiththisadministration. We are media impact,thenyou’realwaysgoingtodosuperficialprojectsgainvotes. visible enough.Ifyou’reapoliticianwhoislookingforprojectswithveryfast open andcovered. as partofourfloodcontrolstrategy, andalsoaddedseveralpublicspaces,both water formorethanhalfoftheyear. We proposedtore-structurethedamwall, I think,worldwide,mixed-usehousingandan W ew understandingofownership.

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The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings In Conversation: Fernanda Canales and Loreta Castro Reguera 110 Jacqueline Hall. in colonia The interiorcourtyardofatypical SanRafael,MexicoCity. Photoby who designed thebuildings there, includingJames Stewart renewal areas inthe Bronx, best-known for thearchitects sure of success. emphasized “implementation” orproduction, asthemea- support neededto move theprojects forward, aswell as munity” involvement, inaneffort to generate thepolitical the street edge.Inparallel, they calledfor stronger “com- generally housingbuiltatsmallerscaleoninfilllots upto designers often advanced anew urbandesignparadigm to combatthedeepsegregation of cities,officials and States. As partof the“War on Poverty” andefforts a contentious momentintheurbanhistory of theUnited a seriesof urbandesignproposals from thelate 1960s, nomic orracial inequality, atwhichitwillinvariably fail? to solve issuesthatare beyond its reach, like socio-eco- what isthepointof “good”designifitaims,inandof itself, benefits onlyafew attheexpense of most?Conversely, political aspects. Whatisthe pointof “good” design ifit and morphology asintrinsicallyconnected to financialand we needto always seeformal considerations like type take onparadigm was arather different one:namely, that my take onparadigm, Iwas asked? Iresponded that my are assumedto generate “good”form. What,exactly, was cal andtypological frameworks for urbangrowth that Although unstated, Iknew whatwas implied: morphologi- urban design,oneneededto have asuccinct“paradigm.” view thatfollowed, Iwas told thatto succeedinteaching in theUnited States. Igave apresentation, andintheinter- tion intheurbandesignprogram ataschool of architecture Not solongago,Iwas interviewed for atenure-track posi- I. TheSearch for aParadigm Part of my talk focused onTwin Parks, two urban To make my case,Ihadfocused my presentation on vecindad

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extraordinary power to bothshape immediate spatialexpe - materials, permitted usesandapartmenttypologies, have ments of urbandesign,suchasblock dimensions,façade arguing quite theopposite: namely thatthespatialele- calling into questiontherelevance of design.Infact, Iwas It was asifinsimply uttering theword “policy,” Iwas committee members asachallengeto thediscipline itself. under “policy” andsometimes even “finance.” stitutes “design”to includewhatisusuallysummarized power. Thismeansexpanding thedefinition of whatcon- uncomfortable, andcontested aspects of money and to intangible aspects of urbanlife, includingthemessy, understand theirdesign, atangible proposition, inrelation their work to have anintended impact,they needto I triedto draw from thesestories isthatifdesigners want ultimately realized asfor-profit operations.1 Thelesson projects, originallyconceived asnonprofit ventures, were and theprojects’ implementation. Inmostcases,these which was fundamentally basedincommunity governance, been fundamentally altered between theoriginalidea, financial terms onwhichtheseprojects were realized had ment was due, inpart,dueto thefact thepolitical and impetus to develop theseprojects. Thislackof improve- socio-economic conditionswhichhadbeentheoriginal housing, onceimplemented, didlittle to improve the urban-design paradigm. However, the“better” designed advanced whatwould becomeknown asthe“contextual” Polshek andRichard Meier, whowiththeirwork had It was clearthatmy job talk was understood by some Architecture, July2018. article “Model Conflicts,” e-flux For more onthis trajectory, seemy 1

111 September 17, 1965. annotated by Jonathan Barnett, candidate John Lindsay to theAIA, release of anaddress by mayoral urban designandplanning.“ Press “Remarks to ninequestionson LCR LCR

way Mexicoadaptstoclimatechangeandeconomicinequality? Do youthinkthatistrue?Ifso,couldcollectivepoliticalconsciousnessinfluencethe standing ofalternativemodelsownership,cooperationandthecommonsinMexico. in awaythatcountryliketheUSdoesnot.Perhaps, there isamore widespread under Mexico hasastrong historyoflandredistribution andpowerinindigenouscommunities In someways,issuesofclimatechange,inequality and segregation are global.But fabric, bothformalandinformal,withscarceresources. the 60s.It’s vecindades housing fromallovertheworld.I’mnottalkingabouthippiecommunallivingof creates anewunderstandingaboutownershipandprivacy. There areexamplesofshared We arequestioninghowmuchwewanttoshareandprivacyneed,which live alone.Butatthesametime,weacknowledgeusefulnessofsharingeconomies. How todesignandbuildhousinginfrastru Our experience easier to do these sorts of projects. In those communities, people are very conscious an intervention in Tijuana, were all located within informal settlements. Somehow, it’s with havingtheroomofone’s own,withinacollectiveinfrastructure. about understandinghow, historically, peoplehavelivedtogetherandapart.Ithastodo with the parks, inMexico, la Quebradora in Mexico City, conventillos ctural publicspacesinthelarger urban inSpainandthe Represo in Nogales, and cubiculos inCuba.It’s

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The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings In Conversation: Fernanda Canales and Loreta Castro Reguera 112 Twin Parks Northeast Housing, Richard Meier. FC

people canmanageandorganize ontheirown.It’s notaboutromanticizingvernacular model “marginal.” We needtochangethelaws,namesandprocesses. builtinformally, theycannotbeconsideredirregular. You cannotcallthepredominant That ownershipisnotrecognizedlegally. Yet, ifthelargest percentageofhousesthereare They arenotsquattingoncommunal,freeproperties. They paidfortheirownership. the ownersdidn’t havetopaysomebodyfortheirlandandtheconstructionofhouse. being built.Justbecausehousesaredoneinformally, thatis,illegally, doesn’t meanthat limited perspective. and the possibilities that it provides, instead of fighting to twist things based on our own life. Thus, wemayneedtobecome more sensitive about howthecity is actually being built time, they are used to a sense of communal, shared purpose and a high quality of public easier there, because people are conscious of their own individual needs, but, at the same there if we understand the possibilities of how good architecture can make a difference. It’s and very low quality of life, spatial and otherwise, in the informal city. We can truly help want. It’s a shift in mindset, because what we are really dealing with is the lack of services need a client and a commission: someone to tell us just exactly how many bedrooms they our need for everything to happen in a certain way. We were trained as professionals that And this is a part of our job as architects: to move out of our comfort zones of legality and As a result, they are better at understanding ideas that can benefit the whole community. obviously, no one is coming to pave the streets and install lights if they don’t demand it. place. These communities are used to having to ask for the things they need, because, about the lack of services and the need for better space. They understand the needs of the What In theseinformalcommunities,wehaveexamplesofwhatpeopleneedand we callinformality, inMexico,represents morethan60to70percentofthehouses

113 ful tool to be embraced by designers to advance notonly conscious,” is notadirty word. Rather, itcanbeapower- “Policy,” orits implied adjectival constructionof “socially involve the community and make implementation possible. have to redefine whatneedsto be designedifthey are to politics butalsoto finance,andthatoccasionallythey also that designers mustinvariably connect form notonly to tioned before. Thestory isrelevant today becauseitshows ter-known projects designedby Polshek andMeiermen- little-known planning process was thebasisfor thebet- five recent graduates of theseschools of architecture. The Twin Parks Study, conducted between 1965and1967, by and implementation? ground?2 Inshort, how to connectdesignto community within theacademy with aspiringto someimpact onthe serve sofew? How to bridgethefreedom of research nonprofit, public-benefit status of universities whenthey the enrollment of minority students? How to justifythe ago, theperiodIspoke aboutinmy talk. How to increase to thoseheld atprecisely theseschools over fifty years I say “still”becausethesedebates are remarkably similar question theeditors of thisissueare framing as“Onus.” and address theimplication of designininequality, the of architecture are grappling withhow to conceptualize plines, between theacademy andthereal world. Schools of “breaking down silos”between departments anddisci- today, whenmuchpublic dialogueisgiven over to thetask to acknowledge theentangled nature of theirwork, even seems to befor thosewhoconsider themselves designers As you mightguess,Iwas notoffered thejob. the larger, nonspatialissuesthatare atstake inaproposal. rience andcommunicate to various stakeholders many of signofsuccessinourcultureremainsthepossibility ofbuilding andowningyour LCR All thisof thenisaprelude to avery brief story of the I tell thisepisodebecauseitreveals how itstill difficult

of valuesthatneedtobeexploredandalsomakehumanliferich,evenricher. property andwesternculture. Today, weneedtounderstandthatthereareothertypes from avaluesystemwelearnedinthelastcentury, basedaroundtheideaofprivate and alltheirambitions,everything,intothatsingleevent. And thatisOK, butitcomes house. Itmeansthatyoumadeitinlife. Therefore, peopleputalltheirdreams of thedifficulties,risksandbenefitssharing. places forco-living,co-working,co-whatever. There are actuallydeeperunderstandings gies, butthehistoricalexamplesareevenricherthanwhatwehavetodaywithnew plished. We associateallofthosesharingpracticeswiththeinternetandnewtechnolo architecture; it’s aboutacknowledgingthepotential inwhattheyhavealreadyaccom A

II. Machiavelli andtheMediciinBronx for democracy. now, justasitwas fifty years ago,namely, theconditions “good” design,butwhatismostfundamentally atstake tutions mustbedesignedbefore thebuildings.3 to flourish atall learn to dealwith institutionspolitically iftheirartis necessary result of democracy isthatarchitects must the patrons are institutions,andanunfortunate but dined withtheMedicis,andthatispoint.Today, by Machiavelli. Inhisday, of course, we would allhave sation withouttheimpression thatwe are allblinded We hopethatyou have survived thatinferno of conver University Press, 2017. Universities, New York: Fordham about Race inAmerica’sCities and Ivory Towers were Black:AStory efforts. Sharon Sutton, Whenthe proactive studentrecruitment Others quicklywaned, including community designcenters show. stuck, asdesign-buildprograms or institutional andcurricularreform beyond. Some of theefforts at and theworlds often immediately imbalance between theacademy community to address the support, aswell asthebusiness in public funding,philanthropic efforts andinitiatives to bring minority studentrecruitment institutes andactioncommittees, the late 1960slaunchedresearch of architecture andplanning in her timeatColumbia, how schools constructed, inakindof memoirof Sharon Sutton hasbeautifullyre- 2

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w e have learnedthattheinsti ing to urbandesign,1966-67.”) Mayoral CampaignMaterials relat- Box 2,Folder: “Lindsay, John V, (Yale, Barnett Papers, Group 1733, Richard,” September 29, 1965. Jacquelin, Jonathan,Myles, Letter to “Aldo” from “Giovanni,

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The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings In Conversation: Fernanda Canales and Loreta Castro Reguera 114 cal issues of land-use regulation. Bycalling ondesigners these boards to better understand the often overly techni- staff positions would hopefully allow citizens servingon boards. Appointingprofessional planners inpermanent by buildingonthecity’s existing system of 59 community planning decisionsto facilitate accessfor local residents these servicepoints would alsoalter thestructure of the delivery of municipal servicesacross the city. However, localized servicepoints was bothto improve andequalize of setting up“Little City Halls.” Thegoalof thesenew, Pasanella and“Jacque” Robertson, thus,pitched theidea “designing theinstitutionsbefore thebuildings.”6“Gio” do so,heargued, architects would have to engagein architects’ “shocking impotence” inshaping policy. To a letter to colleagues atthetime,hewanted to remedy ing oppositionto top-down planning. As Robertson putitin would never getto buildanything inlightof citizens’ grow by frustration: asensethatthenewly minted architects campaign was driven lessby political inspiration andmore five young architects, getting involved intheLindsay and taught invarious schools of architecture.5 For these worked for well-known New York architectural practices University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, they had while Richard Weinstein hadstudiedarchitecture atthe Myles Weintraub hadall,like Lindsay, graduated from Yale Barnett, Giovanni Pasanella, Jacquelin Robertson, and five architects hadsignificantsocialprivilege.Jonathan time of “urban crisis.”4Like theprospective mayor, all a city more inclusive of its diverse constituents duringa public services,decentralize decisionmakingandcreate Congressman, was runningonaplatform to expand campaign of John Lindsay. Lindsay, aRepublican U.S. five architects intheirearlythirtiesjoined themayoral The Twin Parks Study first beganinearly1965,when - would becomedeanatUCLA. Richard Weinstein (1932–2018) the University of Pennsylvania. College of New York andlater at an academicdiscipline atCity spearheading urbandesignas since 1964.He isbestknown for editor atArchitectural Record in 1962andhadworked asan Barnett (born1937), graduated different partnerships. Jonathan to private andpublic practice in for Barnes,andhewould goon a 1962graduate. He alsoworked Myles Weintraub (born 1937), is masterplan for Battery Park City. design, asexemplified by the for its take ontraditional urban Partners. Thefirmisbestknown partner of Cooper, Robertson & Barnes, thenbecameafounding 1961 graduate, alsoworked for Robertson (born1933), isa and institutionalwork. Jacquelin Architecture, known for academic The firmistoday calledPKSB and established hisown practice. he started teaching atColumbia Larabee Barnesuntil1964,when at Yale in1958, worked for Edward ceived hisMaster of Architecture Giovanni Pasanella (1931–2011) re- University Press, 2014. Dream, Baltimore: John Hopkins New York, andtheAmerican Summer intheCity: John Lindsay, tions, seeJoseph P. Viteritti, ed., dimensions of histwo administra - Lindsay’s campaign andvarious For areadable accountof 5 4 urban design,1966-67.”) Campaign Materials relating to Folder: “Lindsay, John V., Mayoral Yale University Library. Box 2, (Manuscripts andArchives, the Kaplan Fund,March 24, 1966. Letter by thefive architects to 6

115 reshape thecity’s planning process. Thefirst paragraph, in whichthey hadlaidouttheirreasons for wanting to year.10 Theletter was meantto thankhimfor ameeting Pasanella andRobertson hadbeenteaching for over a at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, where pointed headof thejust-created Divisionof Architecture written to Aldo Giurgola. Giurgola was thenewly ap- ic planning processes abundantlyclearina1965letter That endwas implementation. seen notasagoalinandof itself butasameansto anend. a changedplanning process, community involvement was those for whomitisdrawn.”9 Intheproposed test runfor agreement of thosewhoare to implement itandalsoof that willbecarriedout.To becarriedout,aplan needsthe tation. As they wrote: “A successful community plan isone community couldonlybemeasured inoneway: implemen - the successof aplan developed inconjunctionwiththe and perhapsmore significantly, thegroup was clearthat sions atevery stage intheplanning process.”8 Similarly, in its reference to Renaissance Italy process the plan itself for improvement: “Thecommittee would notbemaking residents contributed localknowledge andsuggestions citizens. Architects would retain planning authority, while hierarchical distinctionbemadebetween experts and to citizen pressure, thegroup’s proposal entailed aclear being calledfor ingovernmental programs, responding the goal,butnew meanswere neededto getthere. articulating anew urbandesignparadigm; builtform was than jumpingto individual objects, Robertson was, thus, to focus first onthelegalandregulatory framework, rather The group hadmadethisunderstanding of democrat- At amomentinwhichcommunity participationwas

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p lanning isahighlytechnical andcomplex e inmakingsignificantdeci

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— sum - - plan. Instead, Davidoff argued for anew process which ever, hewas adamantlyopposedto theideaof any single processes.12 Incontrast to thefive young architects, how debate which,to him,constituted thecore of democratic proposal for aparticularsite asacatalyst for thepublic for planners. Davidoff believed inthepower of aspecific Paul Davidoff, too, argued for new professional roles, albeit the proposals advanced by advocacy planners atthetime. by “testing adeveloped architectural-planning idea.”11 vanced onlythrough specificprojects, for specificplaces tects insisted thatplanning andpolicy reform couldbead- enable themto beclients. However, thefive young archi- be redesigned inorder to give people thetools thatwould of art,itwas theinstitutionsof democracy thatneededto just families like theMedici which democracy was thepatron, andthusallpeople art, butasartinneedof patrons. Therefore, inaperiod Barnett andhis colleagues depicted architecture asan by asenseof socialresponsibility, butby adesire to build. marized thekey motivation. Thisinitiative was driven not In many ways, thisapproach was notsodifferent from Ibid. ing to urbandesign,1966-67.”) Mayoral Campaign Materials relat- Box 2,Folder: “Lindsay, John V, (Yale, Barnett Papers, Group 1733, Richard,” September 29, 1965. Jacquelin, Jonathan,Myles, Letter to “Aldo” from “Giovanni, Ibid. Ibid. 11 10 9 8

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w ere to bethebeneficiaries of Minnesota Press. the sametitlewith University p. 139, forthcoming asabook with New York, PhD Dissertation, 2012, Space andPolitics inLindsay’s Study. SeeDesigning theUrban: by theplanners intheTwin Parks single-client approach embraced contrasting withtheconciliatory, versarial role,” which she seesas for planners’ to take onan“ad- the five. Sheemphasizes theneed Davidoff’s positionfrom that of Mogilevich clearlydistinguishes Urban historian Mariana 12

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The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings 116 Cameron Rowland, Encumbrance 25% directlytothemonarch. Estate provides75%ofitsrevenuetothe Treasury and accumulation ofvaluefortheCrownEstate. The Crown encumbrance seekstolimittheproperty’s continued elements arepartofthebuilding. As reparation,this on 12CarltonHouse Terrace aslongthemahogany diminishes itsvalue. The encumbrancewillremain in realpropertythatdoesnotprohibititsexchangebut House Terrace. An encumbranceisarightorinterest an encumbranceonthefuturetransactionof12Carlton these mahoganyelements. This interestwillconstitute debts, EncumbranceInc.willretainasecurityinterestin repaid bytheICA. As securityfortheseoutstanding 16th, 2020for£1000each. These loanswillnotbe of Contemporary Arts toEncumbranceInc.onJanuary mahogany elementsweremortgagedbytheInstitute any doorsandonemahoganyhandrail. These five Contemporary Arts. The buildingincludesfourmahog Estate, manager of landownedbythe Crown since1760. at Carlton House Terrace are still owned by the Crown ties to generate revenue for the Crown. All addresses site of Carlton House as a series of elite rental proper House Terrace between 1827 and 1832 on the former each to create Buckingham Palace. He built Carlton parents, Buckingham House, combining elements from tled his residence, Carlton House, and the house of his for thosewhocurrentlyownit. of thetriangulartradethatcontinuestogeneratevalue other Britishcolonies.Itisoneofthefewcommodities by slavesinJamaica,Barbados,andHondurasamong and Regencystyles. The timberswerefelledandmilled tural applicationsandfurniture,characterizingGeorgian 18th century. Itwasused forawidevarietyofarchitec revenue for Parliament and income for the monarch. taxation of interest paid to plantation lenders, provided plantation products imported to Britain, as well as the erationally under the debt of the master. The taxation of for the debts of their masters, while laboring intergen - debt.” Slaves simultaneously functioned as collateral 1800, almosteverylarge plantation debt wasamortgage gages] became commoner and commoner until, by mutually constitutive. Richard Pares writes that “[mort on, and the houses they were forced to maintain were who were enslaved, the land they were forced to labor gages exemplify the ways in which the value of people exceeded that of chattel and real estate. Plantation mort- Terrace, stairwell,groundfloortofirst Mortgage; mahoganyhandrail:12CarltonHouse Cameron Rowland, 12 CarltonHouse Terrace isleasedtotheInstituteof After taking the throne in 1820, George IV disman Mahogany becameavaluableBritishimportinthe The property relation of the enslaved included and , 2020 Encumbrance, 2020 - - - - -

Document as Form 4/8 117 or exhibited. accompany itwherever andwhenever thework isreproduced, represented art institutions. acy of racial capitalism, withspecialattention to how itmanifests within contractual relations. Theseprojects callattention to andactivate theleg original to the museum’sbuilding.Rowland’s work often takes theform of in London againstfour mahogany doors andonemahogany handrail, all The work isamortgagetaken outby theInstitute of Contemporary Arts Rowland’s solo exhibition attheInstitute of Contemporary Arts inLondon. Encumbrance, 2020 isanartwork produced ontheoccasionof Cameron The captionisanessentialandintrinsicpartof thework thatmust Cameron Rowland, Encumbrance , 2020 -

DocumentEssay Title as Form 4/8 Essay Title 118 of UrbanEnvironment. stitutional redesign goingonatthenewly founded Institute be aminisculeyet significantcontributor to someof thein- possible Kaplan grant. TheTwin Parks Study turnedoutto University, asthey neededaninstitutionto administer a sign, andpublic space.They alsoreached outto Columbia foundation withafocus onhistoric preservation, urbande- out to theJ.M.Kaplan Fund,asmall,yet influentialfamily needed to findfinancialsupportelsewhere.14 They reached funds to contribute to theTwin Parks Study. The five the proposal to “redesign theinstitutions,”ithadnopublic the Little City Halls.ButwhiletheCity may have approved early 1966,theCity gave ago-aheadfor apilotstudyfor paid off. Lindsay was elected inNovember of 1965,and,in vestment inwritingwhite papers oninstitutionalredesign, for thechanceto build.”13 struggle to be politically astute, itisasmallpriceto pay letter to Giurgola succinctly:“Thepointisthatifwe must the institutionsbefore thebuildings.”They closedtheir changing political processes, asthey putit:“designing took ontheMachiavellian work of understanding and or purely self-serving, however. Thefive young architects these issues;they wanted to build.Thiswas notcynical Barnett andhis colleagues were likely lessconcernedwith empowerment, asthey played outinurbandevelopment. motivated by questionsof socialjusticeanddemocratic plans, prepared by different stakeholders. Davidoff was would encourage theemergence of multiple competing The group’s “struggleto bepolitically astute,” its in- funding. Creating centers for urbanresearch was part so incoordination withgovernmental andphilanthropic relate design,research andactioninthefield, and they did schools of architecture, testing new models of how to universities reorganized the structure and curricula of their to theirsocialresponsibility. In1965,several EastCoast frantically searched for new ways to define andlive up philanthropic organizations andschools of architecture In themid-1960s, governmental institutionsaswell as Philanthropy, Community III. InstitutionalRe-design: University, of state, nation,andworld.15 whole city, andbeyond thatto thelarger communities for ourneighborhoods,for thelarger community of the attain itagain.Perhaps we canrevitalize ourconcern community in thiscity. We haditonce,perhapswe can Our challengeisto revive thespiritandsenseof Books, 1974. New York: Architectural Record Methods for Improving Cities, Design asPublic Policy: Practical 84–115, inJonathanBarnett, Community Participation,” pages “Neighborhood Planning and Detailed inChapter 4, ing to urbandesign,1966-67.”) Mayoral CampaignMaterials relat- Box 2,Folder: “Lindsay, John V, (Yale, Barnett Papers, Group 1733, Richard,” September 29, 1965. Jacquelin, Jonathan,Myles, Letter to “Aldo” from “Giovanni, 14 13 Urban Parks Vest Pocket Housing, p.8. Development Administration, Twin New York City Housing and 15

119 Environment, 1967. quiums for seniorexecutives, organized by Columbia University’s Institute of Urban “Influencing theFuture of New York City.“ Pamphlet advertising aseriesof collo -

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings 120 Twin Parks Apartments, SOM.

121 of architecture. operate attheuniversity level butonly withintheschool start-up funding,Abrams’s Institute was now no longerto the foundation haddecided otherwise.Dueto alackof a coordinated andcomprehensive manner. Bylate 1966, cation, employment, healthandotherrelevant matters in to establish auniversity-wide institute to address edu Abrams hadcounted onfundingfrom theFord Foundation research and take action.” Urban Environment was positionedbothto conduct Heights.19 Like thePratt Center, Abrams’ Institute for low-income, minority areas of HarlemandMorningside growing backlash againstits expansion into thenearby en inpartby theuniversity’s urgent needto address the of thereorganization of its School of Architecture, driv and inequality. 18 Columbia was recruiting Abrams aspart and highlyinfluentialresearcher andwriter onhousing It was thebrainchild of CharlesAbrams, anesteemed of an“Institute for UrbanEnvironment” inMay of 1965. neighborhoods.17 Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, oneof thecity’s poorest Center aimed to work withcommunity organizations from Located withintheuniversity’s School of Architecture, the to establish thePratt Center for Community Improvement. Rockefeller Brothers Fund hadprovided theseedmoney ential intheseefforts. In1963, for example, Ford andthe nizations, above alltheFord Foundation, were hugely influ- tions combinedthesetwo approaches. Philanthropic orga- knowledge of planning processes. Often, theseorganiza - Other organizations focused on“research” to advance design andplanning servicesto underserved communities. das, sometending toward “urbanextension” orproviding of thisagenda. 16 Theseurbancenters haddiffering agen- Columbia University hadfirst announcedthecreation 20 InconceivingtheInstitute, - -

2000 York: Columbia University Press, Thought ofCharles Abrams , New the Democratic Ideal: The Life and Scott A.Henderson, Housing and overview of Abrams’s career, see discrimination inhousing.For an as asolution to fightingracial al for low-income homeownership, an influentialandnuancedpropos- Problem: AStudy for Philadelphia, he published The Negro Housing paperback in1966.Thatsameyear Urbanizing World was released in Man’s Struggle for Shelter inan many publications, his1964book international development. Ofhis key advisoronbothnationaland gathered furtherinfluenceasa years. Inthepost-war years, he and urbanrenewal intheinterwar basis of boththepublic housing thinkers inestablishing thelegal Abrams hadbeenoneof thelead accessed February 14,2018. net/our-mission/our-history, n.p. Also:http://www.prattcenter. Planning Papers, January 1967, University Action Program,” Pratt for Community Improvement: A “ThePrattShiffman, Center George M.Raymond andRonald No. 3(2011): p.219–238. Journal ofPlanning History Vol. 10, Harvard University 1959−1964,” Institute of Technology and Urban Studies of Massachusetts Meyerson andtheJointCenter for Intellectually Respectable: Martin Birch, “MakingUrbanResearch of architecture, see EugénieL. behind urbanresearch atschools of theemergence andrationale Studies For aconcise history MIT’s JointCenter for Urban Many were directly inspired by 18 17 16

January 23, 2017. about/history-school, accessed http://old.arch.columbia.edu/ website, “History of theSchool,” can alsobefound ontheGSAPP not theSouthCampusexpansion, around MorningsideHeights, but history, mentioningthestruggle 1965. /Apartialsynopsis of this Architect School,” NYT, May 28, enrollment. “Columbia Revises neering principles” andto expand design withcity planning andengi- the integration of architectural “following the current trend toward being atrendsetter, butrather as reorganization notinterms of its article characterizes Columbia’s Technology andPlanning. ANYT new divisions,Architecture, It would bereorganized into three to June30, 1969.) 98, Folder: Architecture–General, Provost Records, 1.953–2006, Box of Files,Office Series I.Office the University Central Files,UA#0083 dated April25,1969. (Columbia of theSchool of Architecture,” school of architecture.” “Rules as the“research armof the The Institute was later described 19 20

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings 122 to thesouth, thispart of the central Bronx was developed to theeast,Fordham Road to thenorthand Tremont Street by theGrand Concourse to thewest, SouthernBoulevard Bronx” was selected asthe studysite.24 Delimited roughly confirmed theirsupport,the “Twin Parks area of the on third-party funding. was limited inimpactfrom thestart by its total reliance inequality withaconcernfor changeontheground, butit Environment thustriedto connectthestudyof race and and community organizations.23 TheInstitute for Urban Harlem, fundedby industry, and involved Columbia faculty mentation.”22 Its projects were generally sited innearby hopefully produce relevant proposals worthy of imple- ular problem into amore constructive highlight,but will edge from avariety of fields willnotonlybringthepartic- talk. As abrochure advertised, “thetotal bodyof knowl- Approach to UrbanProblems”). Butthegoalwas notjust to technology-driven designmethods(“TheSystems ciological questions(“TheNegro inCity andSuburbs”) with “well-known experts.”21 Topics reached from so- “executives” whowere to bebrought into conversation York City,” aseriesof colloquia thattargeted business the Institute hosted “InfluencingtheFuture of New Abrams’s own activities.Inthefall of 1967, for example, institutions” towards thegoalof “implementation” and the five young architects’ emphasis on“designingthe matic decision.There was aclosenessinspirit between Parks Study. ButhostingtheStudy was notapurely prag- $30,000 grant from theJ.M.Kaplan Fundfor theTwin establishment, to administer thecomparatively small, agreed inmid-1966, shortly after theInstitute’s official external funding.Thus,itisnotsurprisingthatAbrams By June1966,onceboththe Kaplan FundandColumbia The Institute had to cover alloperating costs through Walker Julia an Airport Open Intends to No One pocket housingandrehabilitation study,” and itwas investment.25 Thestudysoonbecameknown asa“vest forward, leadingto resident turnover, vacancy anddis- tion andkeeping residents inplace new approach to renewal for urbanrenewal in1963, thatwhilechampioning a selected, inpart,becauseitincludedanarea designated eth-century withthearrival of masstransit. Itwas with five-story apartmentbuildingsinthe earlytwenti- 12/1966–8/1967.) Folder 1.1.2917, CharlesAbrams, 1895-1971, UA#0001, Box 36. 1984: SeriesI:Central Files, University, Central Files,1890- requires further study. (Columbia 1968. Whatcameof thisproject and Schimenti,dated March 15, involved Max Bond andWechsler proaches to housing.Theproject turnkey andvest pocket ap- Program, to demonstrate both Urban Action andExperimentation Harlem, aspartof theInstitute’s in ademonstration project in and AmericanStandard investing a joint venture between Celotec For example, there isevidence of Ibid. 12/1966–8/1967.) Folder 1.1.2917, CharlesAbrams, 1895-1971, UA#0001, Box 36. 1984: SeriesI:Central Files, University, Central Files,1890- York City,” Fall 1967. (Columbia “Influencing theFuture of New announcing theevent series for UrbanEnvironment, brochure Columbia University, Institute 23 22 21

—

such asprioritizingr

— Publishing). After 1990 Architecture inBerlin Contemporary: State coming book, Julia Walker'sforth has beenadaptedfrom for Perspecta This article,created December 11,1963, p.50. approve Renewal in5Areas,” NYT, 1963,15, p.1,23;“Planners 5 Neighborhoods,” NYT, August Board Callsfor Rehabilitation Of p. 26; Alexander Burnham,“City n.a., notitle,NYT, August 16, 1963, urban design,1966-67.”) Campaign Materials relating to Folder: “Lindsay, John V, Mayoral Papers, Group 1733, Box 2, June 16,1966.(Yale, Barnett Architecture, signature unclear, Columbia University School of Letter to theKaplan Fundfrom

had notmo 25 24

(Bloomsbury Officially 53, ehabilita ved

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123 the BrandenburgGate,itsradiant government districtnorthwestof Reichstag building,anchoredanew ects, NormanFoster’srenovated The mostfamousoftheseproj and ChristiandePortzamparc. sies byRemKoolhaas,HansHollein Neues Museum,andsleekembas Museum andDavidChipperfield’s like DanielLibeskind’sJewish high-profile culturalprojects Jean Nouvel’sGaleriesLafayette, Frank Gehry’sDZBankbuildingand vate-sector commissions,suchas broader ambitionsinflashypri architecture announcedGermany’s At sitesaroundthecity,new for theLondon in thearchitects,”asawriter widely knownas“thecitythatlet the millennium,Berlinhadbecome porary architecture.Bytheturnof with eye-catchingworksofcontem arraying thenewlyreunifiedcity both publicandprivate,focusedon post-Wall Berlin,whosemakers, cal meaning.Thiswasthecasewith lic andtheexpressionofpoliti intended fortheuseofpub of monumentalcapitalprojects cially whentheybecomethescene particular objectlessons,espe impact. Cities,therefore,offer project’s humanandenvironmental and tothemagnitudeofagiven inextricably tomattersofscale, An architecturalethicsrelates take thelead for two urbanrenewal areas, rather thanonly However, itwas unusualthat a singleassociationwas to non-profits preferential terms inaccessing financing. 221d3, a1961federal mortgage subsidyprogram, gave since the1950s, includingontheUpperWest Side.Section tutions hadtaken onkey roles inurbanrenewal projects and new housingwas notentirely novel. Religious insti- idea of clergy organizing to promote neighborhoodrenewal created the“Twin Parks Association.” At thattime,the In March of 1967, fourteen of thesereligious organizations as inthecaseof Catholic parishes from theArchdiocese. technical andfinancialsupportataregional level, such area. Additionally, they couldgenerally countonpolitical, organizations whichhadexisted withsomeduration inthis change. Religious institutionswere alsosomeof thefew their congregations inaperiodof rapid demographic or Jewish, clergy were motivated by theneedto preserve entirely surprising;whetherCatholic, Methodist,Baptist emerged astheplanners’ key interlocutors. This isnot At Twin Parks, itwas clergy of diverse denominations who tatives of localorganizations andplanning consultants.27 document weekly meetingsbetween residents, represen- in othervest pocket housingstudyareas, where records cess atTwin Parks islost,butitwas likely similarto that construction orinrehabilitated structures. sponsored moderate-income housing,eitherasnew of public, low-income housingand800units of non-profit in allcases:to work withlocalresidents to site 800units hoods.26 Buttheconsultants were to follow asimilartask identified asthecores of future Model Citiesneighbor- contrast to Twin Parks, inthecity’s so-calledworst slums, the Lindsay administration atthistime.Four were sited, in only oneof at leastfive beingpursued underthatnameby Documentation of thecommunity engagementpro- Times describedit. ------1

2000, 28. Times, January15, Architects,” City ThatLetinthe Rachael Jolley,“The 1 The Rocco 14:66,April2018, 100–109. Rebirth for AmericanCities,”San article “1966CanBe TheYear of more onthefive studies,seemy into law inNovember 1966.For Model Citieswas officially signed part of theModel Citiesprogram. but itwas never conceived as vest pocket housingstudyareas, Parks constituted thefifthof these Model CitiesNeighborhoods; Twin kernels of thefuture, muchlarger These studyareas were to be and Mott Haven intheBronx. Bedford-Stuyvesant inBrooklyn Park inHarlemEastNew York and at thenortheastcornerof Central the city: Milbank-Frawley Circle in theso-calledworst areas of tration identifiedfour studysites of existing buildings.Theadminis- sites coupled withtherenovation of small-scalehousingoninfill focus was onthenew construction program. As its nameimplied, the pocket housingandrehabilitation” This took theform of a“vest to theModel Citiesprogram. what hecalleda“headstart” Johnson’s programs, launched philosophical alignmentwith and eagerto demonstrate his the forthcoming federal money Mayor Lindsay, inanticipationof Parks Study was approved, the USCongress, andtheTwin bill was makingits way through By mid-1966, astheModel Cities and War onPoverty initiatives. part of hislarger Great Society conceived asasmall,butsymbolic a “demonstration citiesprogram,” initiative to tackle theseproblems, B. Johnson announcedanew In January 1966,President Lyndon constructed in2004. A viewofOMA’sDutchEmbassyinBerlin, 26

p. 54–55. Architectural Forum (June1973), Zicarelli, “TheTale of Twin Parks,” and MylesWeintraub andMarco Architectural Record Books, 1974; for Improving Cities , New York: Public Policy: Practical Methods Jonathan Barnett, UrbanDesign as Community Participation,” of 4, “Neighborhood Planning and maries are provided by Chapter Twin Parks process. Thebestsum records inpublic archives onthe various public consultations nor are neithermeetingminutes of the On theTwin Parks process, there New York University Press, 2003. York Became aGhetto, New York: in Walter Thabit,How East New pocket housingstudyisprovided consultation process inavest The mostdetailed accountof the 27 -

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings No One Intends to Open an Airport 124 novel buildings,seemsfarremoved symbolic meaninginimpressiveand architects laboringtomanifest was constructed,withrenowned Berlin’s gleamingnewcityscape The theatricalmilieuinwhich the day,bothnationalandglobal. address themostpressingissuesof now largelyappearpowerlessto years butbynomeansdismantled) that hasbeenchallengedinrecent the starchitectsystem(a after reunification,theheroicsof twenty-first century.Threedecades the acceleratingchallengesof architecture alonecouldaddress vasive ifrarelyvoiceddoubtthat also revealedanincreasinglyper process ofBerlin’s“rebuilding” within thereunified its users and toshapethesociallifeof elusive historicalsensibilities traumatized city,tomaterialize architecture’s power widespread faithincontemporary struction. Throughout,atacitbut the euphoriaofwide-scalecon boundless possibility,fueledby appeared tomanyasarealmof creative energy,reunifiedBerlin Flush withinvestmentcapitaland both ethicalandaestheticrealms. commitments tocontemporaneityin beacon thatdeclareditspatrons’ cupola servingasahighlyvisible At thesametime,however, for the Bronx. that likely influenced their linear, but incremental vision and investment that was unlikely to happen, something ed rail lines; this would have required a level of planning had proposed a multi-use megastructure above the elevat - Architecture and Urban Renewal.28 For Park Avenue, they earlier at the Museum of Modern Art’s ing the proposal for Harlem they had exhibited a year for the Bronx, the five young architects were thus revis- realized incrementally, piece by piece. With their proposal for singular megastructures, their proposal was to be much in vogue at this time, but rather than advocating not calling it so, the architects proposed two linear cities, Bronx Zoo beyond Southern Boulevard. In effect, while expansive flat terrain to the east off near-vertically toward Webster Avenue so: the escarpment in the west tects recognized the topography as the opportunity to do and the rehabilitation of existing properties. The archi- could be achieved through small-scale, infill interventions that overall coherence and legibility at the urban scale the study to city officials with a proposal that showed planning process? In April 1967, the team presented architects had argued was necessary to advance a new veloped architectural-planning idea,” which the five young capacity to asserttheirinterests. there are already existing organizations whohave the pendently actingindividualsbutoften amatter of whether “community participation” israrely amatter of inde- organizational task andfinancialrisk, reminding usthat the dearthof other institutions able to take onthiskindof of the“Twin Parks Association” thusalsoattests to sponsoring individualbuildingprojects. Theemergence

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And what came out of this process, in terms of “a de- fueled thebuildingboom

— Haupstadt

to heala . - -

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— sometimes

the rebuilding aresoundingfailure. many begantodeclareBerlin’s short-lived; bythemid-2000s, architecture. millennium wouldposeforpublic related to ethical preeminenceofquestions architects, underestimatedthe designers, bothpoliticiansand and accessibility.Butperhapsits to conveyopenness,transparency, was government-sponsored,aimed tecture, especiallythatwhich Berlin’s post-reunificationarchi and itsresultingrefugeecrisis. the humancostofongoingconflict lem ofglobalpublichealth;and emergency; thenewlycomplexprob rapid accelerationoftheclimate insecurity andcyberterrorism;the wide; theconstantthreatofcyber alism andauthoritarianismworld accumulated inthecitycenter, widespread senseofdisappointment The architecturaltargetsofthis scale inextricably tomattersofglobal nal problems,ofcourse,relate the EuropeanUnion.Theseinter and theincreasingfragilityof resurgence offar-rightextremism, between eastandwest,thealarming persistent economicdisparities capital city’smountingdebt,the conditions today,includingthe from Germany’sactualmaterial sea of trees in the The New City: In theend,euphoriawas

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the ascendanceofnation

and dropping safety the

thatthenew

automobile repair shops, andparkinglots into afirst-rate the Bronx Zoo from anarea of gasoline fillingstations, of thesite authors hadnoproblem linkingvisionsfor particularparts compensates for thesparseness of thevisualmaterial. Its easily developed sites. Theexuberantly written text few are de-mappedto create larger and,therefore, more With rare exception, most existing streets remain, buta for infillsituationsto create acontinuousstreet front. The secondtype isamid-riseunit,sixstories high,utilized employed inatypical situationsandasanurbanmarker. drawings, two housingtypes. Thefirst isthehigh-riseslab, cate, without further describingorshowing inlarger-scale shown merely by slightly thicker lines. The proposals indi- existing buildingsare barely distinguishable, theformer of density andcohesion withintheselected areas. New and peers. Thedesigners’ intent isclear:to create asense proposal from its vest pocket housingandrehabilitation there is.Butthesefold-out plans are whatdistinguish the two photographs andtwo fold-out axonometric plans isall proposal. Aneight-page, black andwhite brochure with nity process, little documentation remains of theactual considerations orgoalsarticulated aspartof thecommu- Just like there islittle documentation of thedebates, March, 1967. was onview from January through Architecture andUrbanRenewal of ModernArt.The New City: displacement, for theMuseum goal of minimizingresident a proposal for Harlemwiththe the “Columbia team,” developed Parks, thefive architects had,as In parallel to thework atTwin - -

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t

o “transform aseven-block stretch facing 2014), 60. Transcript Verlag, Holm (Bielefeld: Grell, andAndrej Bernt, Britta eds. Matthias Change andActivism A CompendiumonUrban in TheBerlinReader: Hegemonic Interests,” Articulation of Action andthe Discourse: Symbolic Urban Development Hain, “Berlin’s into afailure.” project isturning diose development “The city’sgran only oneexample, described it,touse As SimoneHain 2 - ,

125 architectural “lostopportunity.” Filler, thecityamountedtoan sion. InthewordsofcriticMartin rise toitsownhistoricalocca Berlin’s perceivedinabilityto became symbolicforcriticsof ensemble atnearbyPotsdamerPlatz star-studded, albeitlackluster, herent governmentdistricttothe interests, fromtheoddlyinco Projects directedbyofficial trolled bygovernmentoversight. design hadbeenzealouslycon the publicandprivatesiteswhose and itsmostglaringexampleswere the Bronx (top) andHarlem,Giovanni Pasanella, nodate (c. 1969). Marketing sheet showing thelinear-city approach asprojected by theColumbia team for much governmentmoney,too described it,theproblemwas“too of thecity.Asonejournalist ual projectstoenlivenkeyareas dampening thepotentialofindivid architectural creativityand andmismanagementforstifling fanatics blamedgovernmentmeddling On theotherhand,free-market Germany’s architecturalidentity. and assertivevisionforreunified going farenoughtodefineaclear accused theBundesrepublikofnot ing. Somecommittedprogressives during thecapitalcity’srebuild with private-sectorcorporations lic-private partnerships”forged or withinoneofthemany“pub and whetheractingassoleclient whether local,stateorfederal, lay withthegovernmentitself, For many,therootofproblem - - - - - 3

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Castells hascharacterizedasthe shaping whatthesociologistManuel its masstransitinfrastructure, through theliminalzoneswithin rary cityaremadevividlymanifest all, theethicsofcontempo well tothecity’sairports.After dome oftheReichstagtoattendas do welltolookpastthedazzling contemporary architecture,wemight the ethicalcommitmentsofBerlin’s public. Therefore,inconsidering tified asarchitectureforthe subtends whatisordinarilyiden infrastructure thatsupportsand prompts ustolookinsteadthe projects, theconceptoffailure iconicity ofmonumentalsignature culture. Perhaps,bydeflatingthe spots ofcontemporaryarchitecture revealing viewsbeyondtheblind itself opensinterestingand big plansandheroicaspirations. ciously guidedbythegovernment’s rather thanhavingbeenauspi realized inspiteoftheseforces emblematic, seemedtohavebeen of whichFoster’sReichstagwas ples ofadventurousarchitecture, ure.” trap, atworstanoutrightfail produced whatisatbestatourist the top-downplanningmodelhas tion maskedasasymbol.Sofar, a desiretobuildtouristattrac top-down planning,andtoogreat Yet thenotionoffailure 4 Thecity’sluminousexam - - - - -

- (December 2004):56. Planning,” Reason36 Failure ofUrban Sexy Berlin:The Dave Copeland,“Poor, 2001): 28-31. Books 17(November1, New YorkReviewof Opportunity,” “Berlin: TheLost Martin Filler, 4 3 The

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings No One Intends to Open an Airport 126 Twins Parks Housing, Giovanni Pasanella. the newairportonaparcelofland By 1996,BBFhadresolvedtosite 1990s slowedasthedecadeworeon. city, themomentumofearly many otherprojectsthroughoutthe reunification. However,aswith airport concept”proposedduring ing threeandrealizingthe“single facility, supplantingtheexist to fundtheconstructionofanew Flughafen HoldingGmbH,orBBF) ship (knownasBerlinBrandenburg formed alimitedliabilitypartner states ofBerlinandBrandenburg, eral government,alongwiththe and WestBerlin.In1991,thefed which hadrespectivelyservedEast airfield, andSchönefeldTegel, Tempelhof, thecity’soriginal tained threefunctioningairports: After reunification,thecitymain historically uniqueinfrastructure. cance wasdueinparttothecity’s Hauptstadt be essentialtothesuccessof a newairportwasunderstoodto 1992, theeventualconstructionof Schultes andCharlotteFrankin ment district,asdesignedbyAxel the masterplanforgovern- tion thatformedacrucialnodeof Much likethecentralrailwaysta movement ofbodiesandcapital. “spaces offlows”thatregulatethe . Theairport’ssignifi •

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• - 5 - - - - - 2014): 137-152. Historians of Architectural of theSociety Delta,” in thePearlRiver Infrastructure of Transborder “Design Aesthetics ture, seeMaxHirsh, airport infrastruc ical scholarshipon ple ofrecentcrit 485-500. Foranexam (September 2005): Regional Research Journal ofUrbanand International Globalizing Cities,” Architecture in and Contemporary Capitalist Class “The Transnational see LeslieSklair, architecture culture, in contemporary the roleofmobility capitalist class”and the “transnational a discussionof 2005), 45-63.For London: Routledge, Sanyal (NewYorkand ed. Bishwapriya Planning Cultures Age,” in in theInformation Theory ofUrbanism Materials fora Space ofPlaces: “Space ofFlows, Manuel Castells, 5 Journal Comparative 73(March

29 , - - - html. cheitert-1104085. stadt-flughafen-ges ierung-von-haupt berlin-privatis aktuell/wirtschaft/ https://www.faz.net/ May 22,2003, Allgemeine Zeitung ert,” Flughafen gescheit von Hauptstadt- “Privatisierung 6 Frankfurter - - , - - but the legal proceedings slowed with no possibility of appeal, ally lost a protracted court battle would cause. The residents eventu pollution that the new airport government in objection to the noise Schönefeld filed suit against the idents of the neighborhoods around setbacks. In 2004, around 4,000 res thwarted by numerous delays and the early 2000s, the project was the federal government. Throughout shared by Berlin, Brandenburg and Brandenburg GmbH), with ownership itself as FBB (Flughafen Berlin owned and operated. airport would instead be publicly tack, deciding in 2003 that the new privatization, officials changed viewed as a conspicuous failure of be backtosquareone. annulled andtheprojectseemedto the constructioncontracthadbeen been biased.Bytheendof1999, the governmentreviewprocesshad successful lawsuitallegingthat cess, therivalfirmIVG,fileda competition inthebiddingpro first ofmanysetbacks,Hochtief’s and operatetheairport.In consortium toown,construct, investor, retainingtheHochtief farmed theprojectouttoaprivate infrastructure. Furthermore,ithad and toincorporatesomeofits adjacent totheexistingSchönefeld In the wake of what was widely 6 BBF rebranded -

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127 omy reeled from the 2008 global outlook. While the European econ in terms of the nation’s financial mism appeared warranted, at least popularity. This time, the opti the capital’s growing touristic siasm for this vital symbol of attempted to revive national enthu- in 2007-2008, as the government millennium. travel at the turn of the new vernacular of international air would speak the global the architecture of the new airport warmed with faux-walnut paneling, tileveled interiors tastefully marble floors and soaring, mul- glass-and-steel facades, polished successes. With its futuristic building the project considerably. idiosyncratic hexagonal terminal years earlier, Tegel’s famously government district and, some 40 vast new railway station in the previously completed both the gmp (Gerkan, Marg & Partners) had by Meinhard von Gerkan, whose firm terminal buildings were designed former mayor of West Berlin. The after the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning International Airport (BER), named Willy Brandt Berlin Brandenburg finally broken in 2006 on the future little forward motion, ground was decade and a half of planning with The design circulated widely a Bronx-based neighborhoodgroup andaMidtown-based society, including anacademicandaphilanthropic partner, sure to reconsider theirresponsibility toward abroader 18-21, 1982.) first NationalConference, Oct 1733, Box 3, Folder “UrbanDesign, Jonathan Barnett Papers, Group Newsletter, October 1967, p.1 (Yale, Department of City Planning, Pocket Housing, p.8. Administration, Twin Parks Vest Housing andDevelopment All quotes from New York City must bedesignedbefore thebuildings”two years earlier. inally aimedfor whenthey argued that“theinstitutions however, were notthosethefive architects may have orig- Association asthe project sponsor. Someof theoutcomes, city government andaprofessionalized Twin Parks inventions: thecreation of theUrbanDesignGroup within Not onlythis,itcreated thebasisfor furtherinstitutional cultural hub process had by thefive young architects to reform thecity’s planning individual designs.Itmeantthatthepilotproject launched that architects couldbecommissionedto move aheadwith applications for federal fundingcouldbelaunched,and approved theplan. Thismeantthatsites couldbeacquired, world beyond.29 one thatconnected theneighborhoodto thenationand they articulated awiderunderstanding of “community,” study ascentral to amuchbroader effort. Moststrikingly, residential area”

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30 29 both In June1967, theCity’s relevant land-useagencies

widely regarded as

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cr

thank eated theconditionsfor implementation.

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t o universal goalsthatpositionedthis 7 s to arange of institutionsunderpres After a After 18-21, 1982.) first NationalConference, Oct 1733, Box 3, Folder “UrbanDesign, Jonathan Barnett Papers, Group Newsletter, October 1967. (Yale, ject. Departmentof City Planning, a newsletter dedicated to thesub- This ishow the UDGadvertised in - -

31

soar-a-406321.html. make-this-city- can-a-new-airport- postcard-from-berlin- international/ www.spiegel.de/ 2006, https:// Spiegel City Soar?,” Airport Makethis Berlin: CanaNew “Postcard from 7 , March16, Der - A vacantterminalatBerlin’sBrandenburgAirport. entity in late September 1967. As stated inits articles of (TPA) incorporated asan official housing development to build.” on commissionsto designthenew housing motivated by theprospect of actuallybeingable to take entity. Pasanella choseto remain inprivate practice, likely Pasanella, whobecame theprincipalsof this newly formed es for thefive architects, withtheexception of Giovanni ship. Thecreation of theUDG hadimmediate consequenc- did notseemto beworth mentioninginthis new partner- nities through zoning andother tools. The“community” public sector, to deliver better designandmore public ame ways to incite theprivate sector, in“partnership” withthe implementation: theUDG’smissionwas to develop new Donald Elliott, defined its relevance through thefocus on in urbanplanning.”31 City Planning Commission Chairman, the UDGwas describedasestablishing “a new dimension tograph of a model for aTwin Parks buildingonits cover, (UDG). Inadepartmentnewsletter, whichfeatured apho- City Planning officially launchedtheUrbanDesignGroup the MoMA exhibition cameto aclose,theDepartmentof of 1967, justastheTwin Parks Study was wrapping up,and offs: oneatthecity level andoneatthelocallevel. InApril as its approval, led to two simultaneous institutionalspin- The process leading to theTwin Parks Study plan, aswell New InstitutionsandTheirAfterlives IV. Groups, Associations, Corporations: At thecommunity level, theTwin Parks Association government andprivate enterprise.30 the city, basedonacreative partnership between dream. We are now findingpractical ways to design Imaginative urbandesignisnolongeranidealistic

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“thechance -

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings No One Intends to Open an Airport 128 eurozone. the “safest investment spot” in the throughout the country, making it effect, not only in the capital but have a long-term positive economic that the new mega-airport would thus clear, the magazine concluded, tling and remarkable feat.” It was first half of 2011, a rather star- of less than 3.2 percent in the single German state recorded growth was unwise, but in truth not one project during a global recession that taking on such a massive suggested: “Some have suggested new airport, as part to its capital city’s grand nomic strength was due in no small resounding yes. The country’s eco magazine national corporate development The answer, according to the inter- looked rosy, while its contribu 2012, the airport’s future finally 2012, it became clear that major and scandals mounted. Beginning in proved unfounded, as costs, delays is an economic perspective, that tions to national security Germany Europe’s Safest Bet?” Journal Wall Street in Greece, Spain and Italy, the face of teetering economies proved relatively resilient; in financial crisis, Germany’s GDP

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Yet once again, the optimism seemed 236 mortgagesubsidyreplaced Section 221d3, emphasiz - a new seriesof programs. Most importantly, theSection 1968, theHousing andUrbanDevelopment Act introduced Federaldifficult. fundingwas beingredesigned. InAugust had madenew forms of development like Twin Parks more was consumingever-growing parts of thefederal budget, wars andoppositionagainstthewar inVietnam, which the urgency of urbanproblems coupled withtheculture process witha160-unitapartmentbuilding.34 TPA soughtto launchthiscommunity-based development est onmoney borrowed.”33 As announcedinthepress, the compensation may bepaidorservicesrendered andinter- corporation orotherassociation;provided, however that of bedistributed to, any individualorany private firm, inure to thebenefit of, norshall any of theassets there- earnings of the Association orany suchcorporation shall Its modeof operation was to beresolutely nonprofit: “No ernmental action,for whomnoadequate housingexists.”32 displaced from urbanrenewal areas orasaresult of gov persons of low andmoderate income,includingfamilies construction andrehabilitation of housinginthatarea for prove livingconditions…andto sponsorandpromote the by other entitiesto thenewly formed New York State development rights for allsites not already co-sponsored name of implementation, theTPA decidedto handoff its elected President Richard Nixon seemeduncertain. Inthe than expected. Moreover, thepolitical future undernewly that securingfederal funds proved to bemore difficult the Twin Parks Association. Bylate 1968, theTPA found non-profit sponsors. Thishadimmediate consequencesfor now givingfor-profit developers preferable conditionsover ing production incorporation, its purposeswere “to promote andim Site Selection 9 On track to open in March Implementation, however, was notsoeasy. By1968, assured. Site Selection wondered, “Is

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with gr , was a

—

from The eater quantity andefficiency—by 8

- - 1, 2011,868. Selection Safest Bet?,” “Is GermanyEurope’s Adam Jones-Kelley, 9A79AA9A29A2.html. 9B28-411D-A533- safest-bet/93BD887D- is-germany-europe- www.wsj.com/video/ 2012, https:// video, June5, Wall StreetJournal Safest Bet?,” Germany Europe’s Thorold Barker,“Is 9 8 , November Site The - , - projects. Thedesignwas widely recognized inthenation- and, yes, Giovanni Pasanella asarchitects for thebuilding Meier, James Stewart Polshek, Prentice, Chan,Ohlhausen UDC, together withtheTPA andtheUDG,selected Richard agreed ontheimportance of “good”design.36Indeed,the TPA consoled itself by pointingto thefact thatallinvolved had given upany semblance of community control. The in thisarrangement, by agreeing to work withtheUDC,it While theTPA would remain the“community sponsor” bonds thatwould surely move theprojects forward.35 was able to raise private capital for new housingby issuing unprecedented development rights. More importantly, it authority terest Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Thispublic-in- Ernst Sagebiel. Drawings ofTempelhofAirportbyarchitect for Affordable Housing,” of Credit’: Creating Capital Corporation’s ‘Imaginative Use “The UrbanDevelopment mechanism, seeEric Peterson, its originof theUDC’sfunding two: for arecent articleexplaining arship ontheUDC.To cite just There issubstantial recent schol- Bronx,” NYT, September 28, 1967. n.a., “Housing Project Planned in Meier’s Twin Parks Northeast. later becomepartof Richard This was thesite thatwould Ibid. AP154.S1.1967.PR01.SS1.001. Pasanella Papers, Subseries Center for Architecture, Giovanni Parks Study (1967), Canadian “Articles of Association,” inTwin 35 34 33 32

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itself an institutional innovation institutional an itself p. 54–55. Architectural Forum (June1973): Zicarelli, “TheTale of Twin Parks,” Myles Weintraub andMarco would beof outstanding ability.” met: thearchitects to beselected most important demandhadbeen knowledge thattheTPA’s lastand made aneasieronewiththe later write, “Thedecisionwas pastor andheadof theTPA would As MarioZicarelli, aCatholic Giroux, 2019. Age Urban AmericaintheSuburban Logue andtheStruggle to Renew Cohen, director, Edward Logue: Lizabeth and abook focused ontheUDC’s org/10.1177/0096144218796466 September 2018, https://doi. Journal of UrbanHistory, 36 , New York: Farrar, Straus and Saving America’sCities: Ed

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had

129 national press. “German efficiency” from the inter- the mismanagement of the airport. resigned, in part due to his role in year, Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit ing was postponed indefinitely, prompt year, the opening of the airport involvement inthevest pocket housing project, nodate (c. 1971). “UDC inTwin Parks.” Pamphlet explaining theUrbanDevelopment Corporation’s manager in 2012. construction official by an Imtech including the bribery of an airport ruption surfaced in the press, years. Meanwhile, charges of cor- airport’s progress in the coming technical flaws to hamper the one of numerous structural and to repair. This would be only many years and millions of euros nology company Imtech, would demand constructed by the European tech fire protection and alarm system, problems with the building’s moniously terminated. objected, his contract was uncere disastrous project. to attach Brandt’s name to such a that he regretted giving permission Brandt Foundation publicly stated hard blow, the director of the Willy way. well after construction was under necessitating a total redesign of its capacity when it opened, already be operating at the limit as it had been conceived, would study revealed that the airport, embarrassingly, an official 2013 Schadenfreude 11 When the architect von Gerkan 13 10 In a particularly -laden quips about Perhaps most 14 The following 12 Later that

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- -

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zu/14443604.html. alt-von-schmiergeld- er-gibt-erh maliger-ber-manag liner-flughafen-ehe korruption-am-ber piegel.de/berlin/ https://www.tagess August 23,2016, Der Tagesspiegel von Schmiergeldzu,” Manager gibtErhalt “Ehemaliger BER- Thorsten Metzner, Imtech contact.See rendezvous withthe a 2012gasstation euros inbribesat accepting 150,000 found guiltyof BER managerwas In August2016,the 10

, - - - - Lübbe-Verlag, 2013). (Munich: Bastei- deren Großbaustellen Brandenburg undan Flughafen Berlin Black BoxBER:Vom Meinhard vonGerkan, catastrophe.” See airport a“self-made declaring the with theproject, on hisexperience published abook Von Gerkanlater in 2021. the planewouldcease that productionof was announcedin2019 the airport,asit another problemfor eventually poseyet aircraft would the scenes, 2018), 115.Behind Palgrave Macmillan, Realities Between Ambitionand Projects inGermany: Large Infrastructure Fiedler, eds., in GeniaKosteand Brandenburg Airport,” Wendler, “Berlin Fiedler andAlexander passengers. SeeJobst capacity ofupto800 A380-Airbus, withits accommodate the from thedesireto redesign camepartly The impetusforthe

12 11 (London: -

bild.html. brandt--28103598. seinen-namen-willy- verliert-der-airport- lin-brandenburg/ berlin/flughafen-ber bild.de/regional/ 2013, https://www. Bild, January15, Brandt’?,” seinen Namen‘Willy “Verliert derAirport Wolfram Hoppenstedt, Interview with ciency-1.957296. ple-of-german-effi not-to-be-best-exam new-airport-proves- irishtimes.com/news/ https://www. January 12,2013, The IrishTimes German Efficiency,” Best Exampleof Proves NottoBe Scally, “NewAirport B3, andDerek September 4,2012, The NewYorkTimes German Efficiency,” Undermine Imageof “Airport Delays Nicola Clark, See, forexample, 14 13 Das , - , - -

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings No One Intends to Open an Airport 130 spectrally topreventtheirbelts Empty luggagecarouselsrotated prevent thetracksfromrusting. air movingthroughthetunnelsand railway stationinordertokeep a.m. totheairport’snew,vacant every weekdayatprecisely10:26 piloted passenger-lesstrainsonce terminal, DeutscheBahnconductors a distance.Intunnelbelowthe port appeareerilyoccupiedfrom energy costsandmakingtheair of severalmonths,skyrocketing in theterminalforastretch impossible toturnoffthelights in thecomputersystemmadeit clientele. Atonepoint,aglitch checking tapsforthenonexistent mopping floors,airinglinensand in anemptybuilding,regularly a smallstaffreportedtowork tures. Atanearbyairporthotel, with ghostlymotionsandges structure wasnonethelessfilled Brobdingnagian spaceofflows,the planes wastranspiringthroughthis fact thatnomovementofpeopleor Twin Parks Housing, James Stewart Polshek. still standsempty.” originally supposedtoopen,it more thansevenyearsafteritwas Europe, exceptforonebigproblem: other majormodernairportin airport” “looksexactlylikeevery reported thattheso-called“ghost no closertocompletion.TheBBC been spentbuttheairportseemed By 2018,yetmoremoneyhad 15 Despitethe - - eventually replaced,atacostof eventually burnedout;all750were mation forflightsatSchönefeld parasitically displayinginfor from atrophying.Expensivemonitors the boxread,“Buildinganair The sardonicsloganonthefrontof dénouement. By2016,adecadeafter became thefaceofitshumbling cation optimism,thenewairport image ofGermany’spost-reunifi internationally asthesignature port the mosttaxpayereurospossible. the objectiveofwhichwastowaste board gamecalled“ pair oflocalsdesignedandsolda coils ofbarbedwirewerelaid.A wall” 1961 notorious dissimulationinJune appropriation ofWalterUlbricht’s to openanairport,”ironic facetious phrase“Nooneintends sold postcardsblazonedwiththe Unter denLinden,souvenirshops lots andemptyterminals.Along dormant runways,desolateparking ing overawindsweptlandscapeof from anobservationplatform,gaz to surveytheconstructionsite pit spent atthenow-infamousmoney exactly howtheirtaxeswerebeing them Germancitizenskeentosee 500,000 euros.Tourists

— If theReichstagcirculated

— — arrived indouble-deckerbuses

— it’s notchild’splay!” “No oneintendstobuilda

only weeksbeforethefirst UnberechenB€R

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lay-byproduct/. er-tips/airport-de whats-on/insid www.exberliner.com/ 21, 2017,https:// Exberliner Delay Byproduct,” Ava Johnson,“Airport ghost-airport. happened-to-berlins- cle/20181030-what- com/worklife/arti https://www.bbc. November 5,2018, BBC Worklife, ‘Ghost’ Airport?,” to Berlin’sDeserted “Whatever Happened Emily Schultheis, 16 15 , November - - -

131 long-awaited Berlinairportfalls ture seemedendemic.“Germany’s failure ofcontemporaryarchitec rapid post- recovering fromthewhiplashof lence stillfeltforeigntoacity read asfarce.Theapparentindo of constructiononthesitenow rebuilding, yettheceaselessness that definedthecity’seuphoric nily echoedtheskylineofcranes airport constructionsiteuncan tal, decommissionedqualityofthe 31, 2020,atafinalcostof7.3 the airportwouldopenonOctober announced, withminimalpomp,that November ofthatyear,officials nearly fourtimestheoriginal billion euros Times satiricallyinMay2019. opening,” declaredthe short ofexpectations did notdisappear.” est urbandevelopmentprojects,it the completionofBerlin’slarg built environmentfadedawaywith the ‘spectacularization’of was partofalargertrend:“While last gaspofreunificationeuphoria As ClaireColombhasnoted,this embellished withtheairportlogo. selling avarietyofsouvenirs deck andagiftshopingenuously “InfoTower,” housinganobservation airport wasfroma105-foot-tall for thepublictoexperience ground wasbroken,theonlyway ferred to anewly formed CDC,theBelmont Arthur Avenue in themid-1970s; in1981, some of its portfolio was trans- not aneasy task.37 TheTPA itself dissolved, withouttrace, and thepressure to funditself through development fees is tween anoriginalmissionof advocating for localinterests accomplish today asit was fifty years ago.To balancebe- and maintain permanentnon-profit statusto isasdifficult ner inactualconstructionand management.To achieve the low-income housingtax credit (LIHTC) for financing rent fundingprograms, theprivate sector iscentral both without apartnership with theprivate sector. Given cur- neighborhoods, have notbeenable to pursue thesegoals is promoting theeconomicandsocialwellbeing of their housing. Thelocallybasedorganizations, whosemission (CDCs) have becomethemaindevelopers of low-income United States, suchCommunity Development Corporations opment” meanstoday. Sincethemid-1970s, across the development, foreshadowing what“community devel- new housing,thereby, becomeamere facilitator for-profit control over thedevelopment andmanagementof the models thatprioritized production. TheTPA’s lossof the non-profit basedapproach for housingto for-profit driven indicative of thisbroader shift from abelief ingradual, of stakeholders: private investors. been envisioned earlierwithanentirely different new set it was onanentirely different financialmodel thanhad same measure of successdefined by Robertson in1965), community’s physical plan hadbeenimplemented (the managed by for-profit entities federal subsidies,would bedeveloped, built,owned and yet thehousing,whilemadeaffordable by local,state and al andinternational architectural press atthetime.And The furtherfate of theTwin Parks Association isalso Wende change,andthe

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an astronomicalsum

— 17 Theskele

in thef

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such as Los Angeles orm of corporate investment through 18 - - - In - -

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not theTP Reinvention Post-1989 Politics ofUrban Marketing andthe New Berlin:Place in Stagingthe as Exhibition,” Tourism andtheCity Construction Site “Staging Urbanism: Claire Colomb, port-open/. lin-brandenburg-air com/2020/01/26/ber https://fortune. January 26,2020, Years Late,” over BudgetandEight Finally Open—Billions ‘Ghost’ AirportMight Perlberg, “Berlin’s the building.Steven simply tomaintain euros eachmonth spent millionsof the governmenthas Over thepastdecade, 20190520-story.html. berlin-empty-airport- world/la-fg-germany- www.latimes.com/ 20, 2019,https:// Angeles Times as Opening,” of Expectations—Such airport FallsShort Awaited Berlin “Germany’s Long- Erik Kirschbaum, 2012), 216. (Abingdon: Routledge, 17 19 18

— A. So,whilethe

and asapart Fortune , May The Los - - ,

- ry/a-41813465. port-a-potted-histo berlins-new-air www.dw.com/en/ 12, 2019,https:// Welle, December History,” Airport: APotted “Berlin’s New Arthur Sullivan, 20 of ways to connectresearch, designspeculationand Environment demonstrates how itisto difficult conceive must bedone? Thefate of Abrams’ Institute for Urban amidst themid-1960s senseof urgency thatsomething with thataim. largely consists of rezoning the city’s low-income areas role of urbandesignwithintheDepartment of City Planning direct andimprove it.” o wrest somemeasure of public benefit from the estate goesonand some methodneeds to be found to looking back at hiswork for theUDG: “The gameof real private sector. As Jonathan Barnett pointed out in1974, shows function remains constituted multiple timesover thedecades, but its central lic-sector lead in planning. TheUDGwas renamed andre eclipsed both non-profit development models andapub shift toward public-private partnerships, which has ues to operate onthecommunity-capital model. Local Development Corporation (BAALDC), whichcontin- And whataboutthoseacademicinstitutionsfounded The fate of theUrban Design Group, too, reflects the Deutsche

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t - Policy, p.16. Barnett, UrbanDesign asPublic The UrbanInstitute Press, 2009. Neighborhoods, Washington, DC: Policy Revolution: Networks and David J.Erickson, The Housing with theprivate sector, see ket rate housinginpartnership vehicle for producing below-mar- corporations intheUSasamain of community development tion andreasons for theendurance history of theemergence, evolu- For anexcellent, albeituncritical, 38 37 -

— the beginning.” of theend,ormerelyend ment trulymarked“thebeginning cynically whethertheannounce south ofthecity,hadoriginally on theTeltowPlateauunfolding The site,awide-opengreenplain liest daysofcivilianairtravel. airports, builtintheveryear Europe’s largestpre-WorldWarII of Kreuzberg,Tempelhofwasone Constructed atthesouthernedge ric andthehistoryofcity. embedded inboththeurbanfab dating to1923,itwasalsofirmly est airports,withinfrastructure future. AsoneofGermany’sold discussion oftheoldairfield’s opening, promptingacontentious premature anticipationofBER’s grounded atTempelhofAirportin international airport,planeswere 10 milesnorthwestofthenew south oftheBrandenburgGateand In 2008,aboutthreemilesdue remain unknownforyearstocome. human andeconomictollwilllikely by aglobalpandemicwhosefinal itself hasbeenthrownintoturmoil months, thefutureofairtravel over thecourseofonlyafew opening remainsinplace estimate. this writing,thedateofgrand

as theopening 38 Today, over forty years later, the 19 Journalistswondered quote to thissection 20 • Atthetimeof

•

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while - - - - -

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The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings No One Intends to Open an Airport 132 Field. entry plazaandtheTempelhof adjacent circlesofaceremonial segments thatrespondedtothe case aseriesofcurved,slab-like of architecturalvolumes,inthis acterized byadisciplinedgrouping headquarters, theairportwaschar developed forHermannGöring’s “Luftwaffe modern”styleSagebiel Wilhelmstrasse. Consistentwiththe the MinistryofAviationalong off hissuccessfulcompletionof architect ErnstSagebiel,fresh structed fromadesignbythe sive terminalbuildingwascon Welthauptstadt Germania the internationalgatewayto airport, intendedtoserveas southern terminusbytheexpanded would havebeenanchoredatits dal north-southaxisforthecity Nazi hubris.AlbertSpeer’ssteroi Kreuzberg appealedsymbolicallyto for theLiberationWarsatop Gothic PrussianNationalMonument with KarlFriedrichSchinkel’sneo- power, whileitsdramaticalignment National Socialistswhentheytook city centermadeitusefultothe garrison. Itsproximitytothe parade groundsfortheBerlin served asmilitarydrillingand built) triumphalarch,visually Speer’s gargantuan(andnever- would beopenednorthwardthrough Between 1935and1936,amas 21 Fromtheplaza,asightline “design theinstitutions before thebuildings,” sometimes have to be“politically astute” andrecognize theneedto are inextricably intertwined. It tells usthatdesigners may Parks Study makes clearis thatform, politics and finance even intheinitiators’ views. Whatthestory of theTwin sake.41 Butitwas alsonever justaboutpolitical change, The Twin Parks Study was never aboutform for its own V. Two Questions financial andpolitical conditions. models considerdesigninits mutualentanglements with challenges willonlyhave achanceatsuccessifthese gap.”40 mate resilience, affordability, andthewideninginequality demographics, household composition,challengesof cli- new housingmodels urgently neededto address shifts in Institute: “Thefunds…willencourage thedevelopment of remarkably similarto thoseAbrams articulated for his Design. Theendowed positionhasgoals,ifnotmethods, the creation of theIDCFoundation Professor of Housing In September 2019, for example, Columbia announced economic questionsby drawing onphilanthropic support. answer to thedemandsthatschool address socio- to somehow setupa“research arm”whilealsotryingto Abrams’s Institute was notthelastof theschool’s attempt division are stillwithustoday, notonlyatColumbia. Yet, of policy heassignedto planning.39 Thelegaciesof this to architecture, distinctandseparate from thequestions reorganization inwhichPolshek moved urbandesign of Architecture, closedtheInstitute. Thiswas partof a Polshek, thenewly appointed deanof Columbia’s School six years after ithadstarted to operate, James Stewart action ontheground inauniversity setting. In1972, only Developing new housing models to address these . -

- - - ment in2008thatallfutureair routes intothecity. after theSovietUnionclosedland citizens blockadedinWestBerlin of tonsfoodandsuppliesto when Alliedplanesdroppedmillions in theBerlinAirliftof1948-49, interim owingtoitscentralrole positive politicalvalenceinthe To besure,Tempelhofhadaccrued is “themotherofallairports.” modern age;”indeed,forFoster,it the reallygreatbuildingsof describe it,in2015,as“oneof enthusiast andamateurpilot,to Norman Foster,alongtimeflight remained well-regardedenoughfor pedigree, Tempelhof’sarchitecture Despite itsunsavorypolitical tecture ofthetwentiethcentury. sicism andmodernisminthearchi the complexintertwiningofclas whose ongoinguseisevidenceof strangely intacttracesofNazism standing intothepresent the airportbuildinghasremained Like theMinistryofAviation, in itstechno-triumphalistmode. ern, typicalofNaziarchitecture interiors weresimplifiedandmod lined classicism,andtheterminal Sagebiel’s characteristicstream The facadesweretreatedwith the ThirdReich’sworldconquest. symbolic structurestestifyingto connecting theairporttoother Upon thegovernment’sannounce originally envisioned but aslow-income housing owned did not take place inthenon-profit way thesponsors had nated for development were acquired and developed. This largely realized. By 1974, mostsites that had been desig and inthe case of Twin Parks Study, indeed, the plan was is whatthe five young architects stipulated atthe time, implemented? “Implementation,” understood asbuilding, from community participation, whether ornot they were responsibility today. which shape how we often conceive of architects’ social Parks Study prompts meto questiontwo assumptions original intentions to institutionalafterlives, theTwin ultimate goal is justthat.However, withits trajectory from taking onroles beyond themakingof form, even iftheir

— First: dothekey criteria for evaluating plans result

both its name. dropped thename“Urban”from Princeton, incontrast to Columbia, was closedin1980. Concurrently, moved from Columbia in1973, Planning, to whichChester Rapkin for UrbanandEnvironmental Princeton’s Research Center and on-the-ground action. with planning, thesocialsciences themselves from aninvolvement architecture, too, cameto distance school’s name.Other schools of which headded“Planning” to the Polshek didsojustthemomentin bricks andmortar.” Ironically, on anything related directly to school couldfocus onpolicy not division sothattheplanning urban designto thearchitectural possible thatIsimply transferred ber any specificactionbutitis 2018, hewrote: “Idonotremem- author andPolshek inFebruary In anemailexchange between the - 23 - 39 - 22 -

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his formeremployer. to theinfluenceof frequently attributed his laterworkare that areapparentin modernist tendencies the early1930s.The joining theNSDAPin Mendelsohn before the officeofErich Sagebiel workedin In thelate1920s, Verlag, 2005),14. (Berlin: Lukas Werk (1892-1970) Sagebiel: Lebenund Elke Dittrich, 21 Ernst Cambridge, Mass:MITPress 2017. Manifesto for aPlural Urbanism, The Largest Art:AMeasured built form, seeBrent D. Ryan, emphasis onTwin Parks as A recent example of ascholar’s accessed January 19, 2020. news/idc-foundation-professor, https://www.arch.columbia.edu/ Design,” September 10, 2019, to Advance theStudy of Housing GSAPP Receives Historic Donation Columbia GSAAP, “Columbia 41 40

13, 2008,A1. New YorkTimes the NewChina,” Beijing, aLookat Changing Faceof Ouroussoff, “In Airport. See International building atBeijing Foster’s terminal as aprecedentfor identified Tempelhof Ouroussoff has ms/2l9RZJ9. Nicolai 2015, https://nyti. Magazine The NewYorkTimes Hated Buildings,” the World’sMost Architects Defend “Seven Leading Alexandra Lange, Press, 1984). Cambridge University Reich (Cambridge: Weimar andtheThird and Politicsin Technology, Culture Modernism: in Herf, actionary modernism” characterized as“re and controversially Jeffrey Herffamously tendencies iswhat This intertwiningof 23 22 , June5, Reactionary , July The - -

133 attracting bicyclists,picnickers park provedenormouslypopular, the city’sbelovedTiergarten, hectares, significantlylargerthan of 35millioneuros.Atover300 the federalgovernmentatacost purchasing remainingsharesfrom became thesoleownerofpark, the sametime,cityofBerlin lion eurostoitsconversion. a publicparkanddedicated60mil terminal wouldbetransformedinto meadowland tothesouthof cials announcedthatthesprawling parks. InAugust2009,cityoffi startups, sportsfacilitiesand museum, acommercialspacefor proposals includedaBerlinAirlift plans foritsreuse.Therangeof governments putforthambitious an airport,bothfederalandlocal site wouldnolongerfunctionas candlelight vigilbelow.Thoughthe 2008, ashundredsgatheredfora from therunwayonOctober30, final commercialflightdeparted initiative wasbootless,andthe historically significant.Yetthe location madeitbothpracticaland districts, Tempelhof’scentral cially thoseinthecity’swestern tioning. FormanyBerliners,espe to keepTempelhofopenandfunc ing signaturesforareferendum Berlin residentsprotested,gather the newmainairport,thousandsof traffic wouldbechanneledthrough ests inany onecommunity atany given time? Defining the money andpower. a reason to situate designasinextricably connected to to me,isapowerful paradigm for urban design and We needto ask, againandagain:onwhoseterms? That, along linesof race, class, genderandpolitical ideology. late whatisatstake andfor whominademocracy divided As designers, we needto better understand andarticu- is out stakeholders andboundaries owners orinvestors rather thanusenotionsintheplural o reform thecity’s localplanning process inorder with professional guidance to equipcitizens appointed to local community boards Study At thesame time, theoriginal impetus for the Twin Parks been sold and re-financed at enormous public expense. tions have expired in recent years; theprojects have by local, state andfederal funding.Affordability restric and managed by for-profit developers, madepossible Why dowe useamalleable, imprecise term inthesingular, nity,” and,thereby, whohastherightto speakfor whom? to ask, more precisely, asto whoconstitutes “thecommu- as anunquestionably positive goal,might we rather need “community” itself? Rather thaninvoking “community” Parks Study, mightwe needto challengethenotionof of timewhen doing so? and how mightwe take into consideration a new measure How might we reconsider what implementation means, urban life than building a certain numberof housingunits. had afar greater impacton addressing theinequities of Implementing this kindof institutional redesign may have Second: given thetrajectory and afterlives of theTwin

—

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is k

t ey to defining theconditions for democracy.

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t o describethemultiplicity of inter 24 At

- — -

has r — - - -

o

f whoisinand emained unrealized.

2709176418. 270230382310457639157 articles/SB1000142405 https://www.wsj.com/ August 25,2011, Street Journal Tempelhof,” “Repurposing A. J.Goldmann, —

citiz 24 ens, residents, The Wall ,

42 - - Airport, asseenin2016. An aerialviewofBerlin’sshutteredTempelhof New York: Verso 2019. and theReal Estate State, London/ Stein, Capital City: Gentrification of planners therein, seeSamuel the increasingly conflicted role organizations inNew York City and the lackof power incommunity 2008. For amore recent take on Cambridge, Mass:MITPress, Confronts Global Real Estate, York for Sale:Community Planning system, seePaul Angotti, New limited power of community board For acritiqueandhistory of the 42

The Institutions Must be Designed Before the Buildings No One Intends to Open an Airport 134 general attitude of skepticism. tion Wowereit’s prior to his resigna public library plan, the prospect of a major new its failures. As part of the new had been responsible for many of ing privatization in the capital land and arguing that increas private acquisition of this public with its supporters protesting the Tempelhofer Feld” fought back, A citizens’ initiative called “100% office buildings and 4,700 homes. new commercial areas, a zone of for the construction of several port’s land to private developers sell a portion of the former air- bronze eagle’shead. Luftwaffe pilotWilhelmLemke’s der Luftbrückebythesculptorand supervised sternlyfromthePlatz office spacewithintheterminal, called “ and amalestripclubrevue including theBerlinpoliceforce ger hallremainedempty,tenants, and autoshows.Thoughthepassen were usedtohosttradeexpositions meantime, theairport’shangars endangered birdspecies.Inthe significant habitatforrareand turbed greenspaceevenbecamea ing itseasternedge.Theundis work inthecommunitygardenslin and plantenthusiastseagerto In 2011, the city proposed to

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did La VieenRose little to assuage the

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a pet project of ,” rented - - -

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Tempelhof airport,asseenin2017. The emergencyshelterforrefugeesattheshuttered

135