PROSTOR POSEBNI OTISAK/ 130-141 Znanstveni Prilozi Gizem Denizguneri

28 [2020]1[59] A SCHOLARLYJOURNALOFARCHITECTUREANDURBANPLANNING ZNANSTVENI ÈASOPISZAARHITEKTURUIURBANIZAM 1-6 [2020] 1-200 28 [2020]1[59] CODEN PORREV UDK | 10.31522 https://doi.org/ ISSN 1330-0652 ARCHITECTURE FACULTY OF OF ZAGREB, UNIVERSITY FAKULTET ARHITEKTONSKI U ZAGREBU, SVEUÈILIŠTE UDC /p 71/72 PROSTOR POSEBNI OTISAK/ 130-141 Znanstveni prilozi Gizem DenizGuneri

Scientific Papers

SEPARAT Towards aCriticalUtopianism Peter CookBeyondArchigram: UDC 72.01P.Cook”19/20” https://doi.org/10.31522/p.28.1(59).8 Scientific SubjectReview

OFFPRINT UDC 72.01P.Cook”19/20” https://doi.org/10.31522/p.28.1(59).8 Pregledni znanstvenièlanak Prema kritiènomutopizmu Peter CookizvanArchigrama: 130

Fig. 1 Swiss Cottage Tower by Peter Cook Sl. 1. Švicarski „Cottage Tower” Petera Cooka Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi 28[2020] 1[59] PROSTOR 131

Gizem Deniz Guneri

Middle East Technical University Tehničko sveučilište Bliskog istoka Department of Architecture Odsjek za arhitekturu Turkey - 06800 Cankaya, Ankara, Dumlupinar Bulvari 1 Turska - 06800 Cankaya, Ankara, Dumlupinar Bulvari 1 [email protected] [email protected]

Scientific Subject Review Pregledni znanstveni članak https://doi.org/10.31522/p.28.1(59).8 https://doi.org/10.31522/p.28.1(59).8 UDC 72.01 P.Cook ”19/20” UDK 72.01 P.Cook ”19/20” Technical Sciences / Architecture and Urban Planning Tehničke znanosti / Arhitektura i urbanizam 2.01.04. - History and Theory of Architecture 2.01.04. - Povijest i teorija arhitekture and Preservation of the Built Heritage i zaštita graditeljskog naslijeđa Article Received / Accepted: 1. 5. 2020. / 23. 6. 2020. Članak primljen / prihvaćen: 1. 5. 2020. / 23. 6. 2020.

Peter Cook Beyond Archigram: Towards a Critical Utopianism Peter Cook izvan Archigrama: Prema kritičnom utopizmu

Archigram Archigram architectural utopianism utopizam u arhitekturi Cook, Peter Cook, Peter utopia utopija

This text visits and manifests the critical utopianism embedded in the praxis of Rad se bavi prikazom kritičkom utopizma ugrađenog u rad Petera Cooka, u Peter Cook, within which resides a promising mode of architectural thinking kojemu se manifestira način arhitektonskog razmišljanja koji se više temelji na based on reflexive inquiries rather than absolute and closed utopias. It aims to refleksivnim istraživanjima nego apsolutnim i zatvorenim utopijama. U radu se revert questions that link utopia and spatial determinism towards questions nastoji preusmjeriti pitanja koja povezuju utopiju i prostorni determinizam na that revolve around utopian methodologies that become trainings of architec- pitanja koja se bave utopijskim metodologijama koje postaju poligoni za vjež- tural imagination. banje arhitektonske imaginacije. 132 PROSTOR 1[59] 28[2020] 130-141 G. D. Guneri Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi

Introduction sustainable environments, capable of evolving in an era of expanded risks, scales, com- Uvod plexities, and asperities. On parallel lines, utopian studies are shifting towards paradigms which favor open defini- tions of utopia(nism). Within these, descriptive tendencies, which create thick separations between the utopian and the non-utopian, are set aside for rather analytical ones, through which utopian aspects and methodologies embedded within cultural pheno mena may be unraveled. Thuswise, utopianism’s formal, functional and thematic vari- ables multiply. These mostly build upon the trajectory Ernst Bloch follows, claiming that utopia does not necessarily “require the imaginative con- struction of whole other worlds.”5 It may well be present as a pointed impulse embedded in different spheres of daily life. It may be “fragmentary, fleeting, elusive.”6 Within this framework, utopianism is not an inanimate concept, but rather, a dialectical and dynamic one, and it evolves parallel to the realities it is fed by, critical to, and influential on, within various thematic domains and in multitudes of forms and methodologies. The discussion of utopianism here in this text is built upon this trajectory, within which a de- U topia, as a means of reorganizing the re- finitive distinction between what is utopia(n) lationships between problems and models, is and what is not is deliberately refrained from returning to favor within the contemporary so as to accentuate the significance of meth- debates and practices of architecture.1 There odological varieties of a reflexive and critical are a growing number of discussions revolv- mode of utopianism, examples of which have ing around the place a revised version of uto- been existent yet pigeonholed throughout the pianism might potentially hold within the history of architecture. discipline as a means to revolutionize post- This survey, here, intends to open a novel critical tendencies. These mostly recall uto- discussion ground over which specifically pianism primarily for its constitutive poten- such utopianisms of critical inquiry within tial, as one of the very few survivors of holis- 2 which utopia was exploited as a method, as a tic thinking. device to think with, but not as a goal, might Central to these discussions is the conceptu- be anatomized. To this end, parallel to an ex- alization of utopian vision as a positive in- pansion on this critical form of utopianism, forming model rather than an absolute, re- Peter Cook, a significantly momentous and strictive and unobtainable one. Within these, exemplary figure whose utopian tendencies utopia implies - if we are to put it in Ruth have spanned several decades up until the Levitas’ words - a “desire” for wholeness3, present, finding various forms throughout his but not absolute totalities. Urban theorists and practitioners seeking the 1 This text is constituted based on the findings of the author’s PhD dissertation entitled A New Conceptual Fra- ‘relevance of utopia’ today are doing so with mework for Architectural Utopia(nism)s completed under an eye to the dangers and risks of its direct the supervision of Prof. Dr. Suha Ozkan in the Department translation into real-life practices. The aim in of Architecture at Middle East Technical University in 2014, funded by The Scientific and Technological Research this approach is to examine the utopian tradi- Council of Turkey. tion in order to drag out ‘useful ideas, en- 2 Coleman, 2005 lightening images, challenging visions, and 3 Levitas, 1990 perspectives’, and therefore, use it as a ‘navi- gational compass’ to respond to the wide- 4 Geus, 1999 ranging issues of contemporary urban set- 5 Bloch, 1995: 5 tings4 - a tool (but not a goal) appropriate for 6 Levitas, 2013: 4 practitioners, whose objectives have shifted 7 Utopias within which the imagined space is thought to steer social change. Given this definition, it would not from the goal of creating a perfect world to- be fallacious to claim that architectural utopias, once gi- wards the challenge of designing viable and ven specific architectural forms, for better or worse, might Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… G. D. Guneri 130-141 28[2020] 1[59] PROSTOR 133

architectural practice, is visited as an explan- haunts real architectural practices, mirroring atory case. the status quo and without having any specific form: it is a formless style. In this, like in Utopianism as Critique Harvey’s conception, the reflexive and dialectical deployment of utopianism is central, Utopizam kao kritika rather than what very utopia is. Even though a significant number of theorists Even though his conception is very illuminat- have expanded on the promises of a critical ing, within it there still persists a very strict exploitation of utopianism for radicalizing and negative portraiture of utopia, as in Har- various cultural practices, two significant fig- vey’s mutually exclusive distinction between ures come to the fore with their specific con- utopias of spatial form and utopias of pro- cern for space (production): David Harvey cess - something which radically prevents and Reinhold Martin. reading historical practices for the varieties of their methodological undertakings of uto- Harvey, in his seminal text Spaces of Hope, pianism. Once historical moments, approach- (falsely) distinguishing between utopias of es, or conceptions of utopia are labeled as 7 8 spatial form , and utopias of social process , totalities, and thus, accepted to be homoge- propounds an alternative path of utopianism neous, they are exempt from inquisition. In - “dialectical utopianism” - which is defined such treatments - which are certainly not lim- to be spatiotemporal and relies on reasoned, ited to Harvey’s and Martin’s -, very often if 9 critical and reflexive inquiry. not always, the matter is reduced to “lessons In dialectical utopianism, responses both to to be learned from the separate histories”13 the materialist problems of authority and clo- of exclusively categorized utopias. When this sure - problems of form -, and to problems is done, however, a great opportunity for un- relating to “some perfected emancipatory covering various coexistent mediums, means process”10 are to be balanced. This entails and methodologies of utopianisms embed- both an analysis of the actual conditions ded in these practices slips away. of the present and a forage for agents and Herewith, in this text, in response, the inten- means of its transformation over time, and tion is to introduce an alternative means of certainly has solemn implications regarding excavating utopianisms, focusing on meth- what a critical take of utopianism might en- odological significances rather than binary 11 - tail. On parallel lines, Reinhold Martin also separations - unbound by any definitive, dis- reflects on utopianism as a form of criticality, tinctive or time-specific formulations. This is but not as an inanimate concept. The empha- posited as a means through which architec- sis on animadversion, however, is more out- ture might learn from promising critical spoken in his proposition. He endorses - as a modes of utopianism embedded in past prac- means to rethink post-critical architecture 12 tices to respond to recent calls to feed its rooted in “post-utopian pragmatism” - a re- long-lost critical artery. vised and alternative form of architectural practice based on critical utopian thinking, Peter Cook’s notable praxis, based on critical what he calls utopian realism. His take on uto- inquiry that pushes architecture forward, pianism, in this, is, certainly, not one which is imagining the otherwise, and impressions of associated with the constitution of perfect which have found a wide plethora of bodies whole new worlds. It is rather one within through concepts and languages, rather than which utopia itself always stays as the coun- figures, is dwelt upon here to illustrate this ter, a non-place, which diffuses into everyday intended analytical conception of utopia- realities and acts as a parallel and compara- nism. In so doing, neither he nor his works or ble ideal through which the existing might be his discipline is distinguished as utopian. diagnosed for its ills. It is like a specter that This is rather an effort to manifest the promising utopian methodologies Cook exploited in constituting an architecture that is both never fully escape being utopias of spatial form - in Har- vey’s definition -, substantially. Here, within the scope of critical and operable, and propagate the sig- this text, however, a discussion which revolves primarily nificance of such methodologies for today’s around architectural utopias themselves is deliberately practices, endeavoring to respond to the ever refrained from so as to propound a means through which varieties of the methodological exploitations of utopiani- expanding scales and complexities of envi- sm, which are majorly unbound by the forms or contents of ronmental problems. utopias - if ever constituted -, might be exhibited. 8 Utopias within which temporal processes which never come to spatial closure are defined as the drivers of change. Criticality for (Cook, in) Archigram 9 Harvey, 2000 10 Harvey, 2000: 196 Kritičnost prema (Cooku, u) 11 Levitas, 2003 Archigramu 12 Martin, 2005: 3 13 Levitas, 2003: 137 Peter Cook is primarily known as a member of 14 14 Archigram was a group constituted of radical British the Archigram group. Associations between architects. Together with Peter Cook, the group members his practice and utopianism, alas, are very 134 PROSTOR 1[59] 28[2020] 130-141 G. D. Guneri Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi

often made solely in reference to his practice might well work with advanced techniques within the group. Certainly, Archigram’s great and contemporary production methods at influence on many emergent discourses and hand and yet still embed a criticism on and practices (from and beyond its time) via its challenge with the existing system. His use of critical hypothetical projects built upon its textual material throughout his Archigram member’s criticisms over the course of mod- period, beyond sole descriptive and provoca- ernism is doubtless. The group came to the tive purposes, as a means to acuminate a dis- forefront with a compendious stance against tinction between built form and architectural the strict ordonnance of conventional archi- possibility certainly has references to this tecture within which architecture referred to very attitude.19 fixed form.15 They, in resistance, propagated It was the Plug-in City scheme, as developed an imaginary praxis of architecture, the out- by Peter Cook, which, for the first time, exten- puts of which have never been built. sively capsulized the group’s pursuits be- The group’s newsletter was the means tween the years 1962 and 1964. The project through which a genuine conception of archi- evolved through a critical dialogue with two tecture - architecture not as mere architec- relatively less formative themes of modern- ture, but also as cultural practice - was dis- ism - namely, the ‘megastructure’ and the seminated and remained notably influential ‘building-in-becoming’. The intention was to over time. Within it, not only the members’ experiment with architectural means of gen- arguments on architectural style, daily life, erating and sustaining urban vitality.20 Ini- technology, society or the discipline, but also tially experimenting with expendable build- their dominantly ironic representational lan- ings, the scheme went on to investigate pos- guage - a way out of the linguistic trap of sibilities for urban environments programmed Modern Architecture - was remarkable and and structured for change. It was a plan for a distinctive. modular city - “a romantic extension of pre- fabrication into something else”21 which pre- In any effort to explicate the architectural con- cisely presented itself at a threshold between ceptions and perceptions of Cook, it would amnesic utopianism and nostalgia. certainly be fallacious to intend a probe peeled off from this tradition which relied on ventur- The first exhibition and collective work of the ous inquiries into the means, the language group, The Living City (1963) also revolved and the products of architecture. It is, howev- around the same theme. In this, the group, er, also important to highlight that Cook’s meticulously, refrained from a suggestive praxis is never limited to that. His utopian en- plan for a new city - a blueprint. They rather deavors cannot be discussed merely through revealed architecture’s modest part within a mere Archigram - Utopia duo.16 Instead, urban production. The emphasis was on the within a utopia themed reading of his praxis, city not as mere accumulation of form but Archigram might be a notable chapter, but not rather as a cultural artefact. The critical a summary of the versatile methodologies of stance of the group was quite outspoken in architectural utopianism he came to utilize. this: “We must perpetuate this vitality or the city will die at the hands of the hard planners Peter Cook’s practice has always been cen- 22 tered on critical queries through which am- and architect-aesthetes.” biguous and unexpected architectural possi- This was an inquiry into what architecture bilities were excavated. He was the most vol- could be(come) if not static form - something uble member of the Archigram group.17 His absolute -, and what the architect could be if illustrations - rather than writings - were loudly annunciated paper manifestations of included Warren Chalk, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, such possibilities in forms of hypothetical Ron Herron and Michael Webb. The name Archigram not environments.18 only referred to these influential figures but also their critical publication, the newsletter, which was published In these, he accentuated radical proposi- between the years 1961 and 1970. tions, not only of architecture but also of liv- 15 Pickering, 2006 ing, different from those of the then immedi- 16 Even the utopianism of Archigram cannot be discus- ate past. His lasting dialogic strictures of the sed as a single entity, as the group was never univocal. antecedent and the prevailing modes of ar- 17 Cook, 1999 chitectural and cultural practice of the urban 18 Webb, 1999 were particularly notable. In them, Cook 19 Gannon, 2008 steered clear of a direct attack on the status- 20 Cook, 1999 21 https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/cities-of- quo, to alter it completely and for all, but not dreams from an effort to improve already existing or 22 Cook, 1999: 20 emerging conducts through critical dialogue. 23 Sadler, 2005 His architectural ouvre very rarely conformed 24 Coleman, 2013: 135 with the existing means of practice. This re- 25 Certainly, this owed very much to the Pop-art aesthet- lied on the fact that he believed architecture ics that widely dominated the period subsuming endeav- Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… G. D. Guneri 130-141 28[2020] 1[59] PROSTOR 135

not the master. Cook experimented with one after another - closely-packed - rein- these questions in his Plug-in City scheme. forced a series of ideas constituting what he Within it, his emergent belief in system-build- called “the Effect of Archigram.”26 ing’s central role, in response, for the future It would not be fallacious to state that a pre- of architecture was outspoken - a system cise intellection of his praxis might never be within which multitudes of fragmentary uto- possible through a sole chronological perus- pianisms could flourish. al but only through a thematic one. His prop- The scheme allowed the architect to be both ositions do not linearly evolve from the Plug- fully autonomous and also totally marginal- in City to the Kunsthaus Graz. Very often, ized. Physicalistic conceptions of architec- Cook claims to find thematic advancement ture were, thereby, replaced by an architec- more interesting, since what interests him ture without architecture.23 This was because intellectually is the recurrence of certain architecture, in the conventional sense, was themes. postulated as a degenerate utopia upon its 27 24 In his praxis , there have been certain evolv- “fatal constraint by the given.” ing themes which have found a significantly The group made use of almost caricaturistic rich variety of forms. These forms were even representations in manifesting an architec- contrasting from time to time as the formal ture otherwise.25 Within them, the message languages of the Plug-in city and the Monte outrode the form. The newsletter media pros- Carlo Competition entry. This was because pered to transmit the group’s radical concep- his radicalizing exercise was not solely within tualizations of architecture through a means the physical domain of architecture but was which read statementally rather than formal- more on conceptual reorientations. ly. Irony was central to this. It was the ironic The winning scheme proposed by the group tone which made certain propositions avail- for the Monte Carlo Entertainment Center able only to certain groups and which re- competition exhibited a profound maneuver quired one always to question what was proof the formal language of the group. The proposed for the real, the actual, the formal, and what was not. As such, the schemes pro- posal, outspokenly, built upon Cook’s earlier posed were neither utopias nor jokes. They design for the Mound - a grass-covered hill were both and neither. under which building functions took place. In it, the underground was designed as an open space which would allow endless reconfigu- Criticality for Cook rations of activities and services. It was a no- (Beyond Archigram) table probe into invisible architecture - “an 28 Kritičnost prema Cooku apparent nothing,” “just a piece of ground.” (izvan Archigrama) This very similarly resonated in the competition entry. In this, the center was proposed to The group’s, and certainly Cook’s, inquiries be totally underground, over which the beach over what an architecture without architec- functions could extend. Below ground were ture might mean further revolved around two not only vast spaces but also robots, services major concepts: indeterminacy and growth. and apparatus at the disposal of show pro- These inquiries, which eventually evolved ducers. The group’s purpose was clear: to into a tradition of thematic development, maintain this precious piece of landscape very much shaped Cook’s future career. The while also allowing for an integrated design accumulative effect of projects which came for devices, the building and also the landscape. This was “devices-with-architecture- ours to dispose accepted rigidities in cultural and moral with-landscape.”29 conceptions and an accompanying predominant search for new possibilities of representation. Archigram, in its inten- Cook’s further and profound involvement in tions to release the bonds between architectural form and landscape was very much inspired by this imagination - its challenge with accepted architectural rigidities -, might certainly not be understood without referen- scheme. What he started with the Mound “as ces to this then emergent Pop-art tradition. a separate vein of intellectual therapy”30 26 Cook, 1970: 133 evolved into a major preoccupation which 27 It is important to open a parenthesis here and note nourished his utopian constructs. that Cook has collaborated with several figures during his career. His presence in the Archigram group continued un- Sponge city (1975) might be referred to as til 1998. In 1976 he initiated his collaboration with Prof. one of his most remarkable projects along Christine Hawley, which lasted until 1998. At that time, he this line. This was a novel interpretation of started his partnership with Colin Founier, which ended in 31 2004, the year he started his ongoing collaboration with placing buildings under ‘lump’s. The es- Gavin Robotham in the CRAB studio. sence was identical: removing the outer skin 28 Cook, 1997 of the building and replacing it with some 29 Cook, 1993 sort of landscape. Here, Cook clothed the city 30 Spens, 2007: 14 he proposed with a landscape-like, porous 31 See his elaborations on the lump in: Cook, 1993 zone which consisted of a variety of skins. 136 PROSTOR 1[59] 28[2020] 130-141 G. D. Guneri Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi

This was a very significant quest into the to- 60 per cent was, at the outset, merely a ‘sniff’ getherness of architecture and landscape - of what was to come”36. It was never taken to as Michael Spens claimed, into building as be static. Rather, drawings were deployed as landscape.32 It radicalized not only the way kinetic and operative devices of critical dia- landscape was approached - as something logue between him and his ideas, and be- over which the city rules - to “a growing, en- tween his architecture, landscape and the folding aspect of urban expansion, an absor- city. What changed in these through time was bent city conurbation”33 but also the way cit- their methodologies of inquiry as well as ies and landscapes could coexist. It would their carefully crafted tones.37 His drawings not be fallacious to claim that this was one of which evolved through layers, a novel meth- the very early incarnations of what we dis- odology for the time, were a reflection of his cuss today as landscape (as) urbanism. keen interest in layering as a conceptual me- Coupling this vast inquiry into the coming- dium to radicalize architecture and urbanism. togetherness of landscape, architecture and Cook kept producing series of drawings while urbanism, was his interest in vegetation as advancing in this new technique. These, how- an architectural artefact. As a response to his ever, were, then, rarely sequential but rather effort to redefine building boundaries so as subject-matter specific. They experimented, to allow for the continuity of the outside to this time, not with the temporal aspects of the inside and vice versa, Cook very often metamorphosis but its vocabulary and sche- dwelled on the concept of metamorphosis.34 matic organizations. Cook’s drawing for the He very often made use of sequential illustra- Swiss Cottage Tower (2011), for instance, was tions as means to exercise this concept of worked on four distinct sheets to be butted

architectonic metamorphosis. On certain oc- together. On all four, he intended to portray casions, he worked with series of silhouettes, different and contrasting proceedings of the plans or sections - as in Urban Mark (1972) tower’s surface. In his design for the Tower of and Way Out West Berlin (1988) -, and on Droplets (2010), on the other hand, he inves- some others, he took a bit from the whole tigated, with a set of drawings, different and massaged it with the concept - as in Ar- forms of experimental organization. cadia Towers (1975 - 1978) and Veg-house of Drawing has always been “the motive force of Veg-village. In all, he allowed the drawing to architecture”38 for Cook, a means to establish take over. This allowed his own conception of links between statemental notions and their metamorphosis to also metamorphose. visual accompaniments. His take on the draw- Drawing, for him, had been a medium of criti- ing has been against its mere formal, supple- cal inquiry - rather than a mere means of for- mentary and supportive depictions. Through mal representation - through which a pro- his statementally charged drawings, Cook found change of one’s own regard for phe- made the grade in conceiving a language for nomena was rendered possible. It was the architectural representation that is dialogic instrument to exercise utopianisms to consti- and critical. In so doing, he distanced himself tute radical forms of architectural production equally from his motive and from the physi- but never formally closed utopias. calistic paradigms of architecture. He has Alongside his ongoing assay with metamor- been very diligent and precise in his linguistic phosis Cook frequently made use of ‘layer- tone. This is so as to calibrate to whom his ing.’ This was a revised strategy he com- plan specifically speaks and which precise menced using to merge the architecture and message it conveys. Physical determinism, in the landscape of the city into one. In his Layer his drawings, is replaced by an architectural City (1986) - a city “somewhere along the Oslo Fjord”35 - for instance, he utilized layer- 32 Spens, 2007 ing to transmit the imagery in his mind to 33 Spens, 2007: 15 three-dimensional form. It was another in- 34 According to Cook, metamorphosis is a tidal action quiry into a non-solid urban condition. In it, which, architecturally speaking, involves both a form of thinking and a physicality. Metamorphosis as a form of he experimented with possibilities for attain- thinking involves stepping outside mere architectural fra- ing urban porosity through a perusal of multi- mes of reference, and might well be read from, as Cook ple-layered landscapes among which intersti- himself refers, Bernard Tschumi’s conception of architec- tial spaces existed. In between and through ture in relation to use and events - notions out of the conventional lexicon of architecture. Physical metamorpho- these layers, the building and the landscape sis, on the other hand, refers to reversible or irreversible melted. This novel modus of layering, not change, as he himself exemplifies through his projects only as a domain of interest but also as a re- such as one of the early Archigram ones: Blow-out village vised strategy of thematically advancing - a mobile village which expands and contracts seasonally according to the needs of its community. In both concep- metamorphosis, may clearly be read from his tions it is depicted, by Cook, in its fullest sense as a signi- drawings from the 80s onwards. ficantly rich and fruitful notion which operates not only across physical and conceptual domains but also across For Cook, drawing has always been a disqui- scales that expand from the building to the urban such sitional instrument within which “more than as Arcadia City, Layer City, Way Out West-Berlin and Veg. Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… G. D. Guneri 130-141 28[2020] 1[59] PROSTOR 137

interpretation of possibilism. His utopian ex- nizing and exhibiting around the world. He periments with and within architecture evolve continued to submit drawings to the Summer through his drawings and these allow concep- Exhibitions of the Royal Academy from the tual interpretations and thus give way to a mid-1960s onwards as he saw this “as an op- rich plethora of architectural incarnations. portunity to show architectural ideas to a The marks of his utopian experiments with public that wouldn’t otherwise see them.”42 and within architecture are substantially non- His capacity as an instructor also dilated the formal in all these incarnations. They are rath- extent of his influence. Through his precep- er conceptual, outputs of which speak to a torship and jury memberships in prime com- wide range of tectonic cultures. petitions, Cook encouraged radical raison- His deliberate aloofness from aggressive for- neurs that would testify new possibilities of/ mal postulations allow his drawings - his dia- in architecture. Zaha Hadid’s international logic trainings of imagination - to speak for recognition, to illustrate, was procured by his their embedded utopianism and to a specific diligent effort. It was Cook, as the jury chair- and appreciative audience - be it either a man of the Hong Kong Peak Competition group of radical architects/architectural stu- (1983), who insisted on Hadid’s unrealizable dents or the art-loving public - through ways scheme which he believed developed a new that are placid. emergent form of architecture.43 Hadid, in her This malleable quiddity of his representation- winning entry, extended the verticality of the al means hides behind a significantly ambi- site and, working with layers, stratified the tious will: Cook’s perpetual faculty to foster a building, like a mountain. Her intention was bold group of architects and urban practitio- to create a man-made hill of polished granite ners. As the doyen of the architectural draw- - a significantly unparalleled topology - that ing world,39 it would not be fallacious to claim was to be composed of spaces underground, easily identifiable horizontal layers and float- that Cook may have inspired a significantly 44 large number of architect generations through ing masses which housed the club facilities. his graphics. It was, however, not only this That, certainly, was her interpretation of lay- representational media he depended on to ering in relation to architecture, the city and encourage potent architects that would ex- the landscape. periment with the frontiers of architecture, In her following career, Hadid went on to ex- but also lobbying. periment with the themes she introduced with the Peak, and those bore traces of From the early days of his career, Cook got Cook’s conceptualizations of layers and land- involved in running spaces for art for which scape. Hadid’s experiment with landscape- he believed “architecture not only is art, but like viscous building forms and skins spoke must be art.”40 He came to direct several art of her perpetual preoccupation with land- institutions such as the Institute of Contem- scape. Landscape, however was not the only porary Arts and later Art Net, an independent domain of architectural inquiry through gallery in London, in the 1970s and 80s until which Cook inspired Hadid. His mark can also his relationship with such establishments be traced in her experimental architectural soured with his experience at the Art Acade- language - in her unusual modes of repre- my in Frankfurt. Those were the occasions sentation. Beyond doubt, Hadid’s language when “he introduced new ideas and people of representation played a very fundamental to audiences, and stimulated discussions role in her highly original and influential for- about the nature of art and contemporary 45 41 mal and conceptual repertoire. For Hadid, culture.” Cook never ceased curating, orga- the medium of representation was invariably charged and never external to her work. It Village as early examples, and Hidden City and Soak City was an inseparable component of her design as more recent elaborations. thinking, questioning and reasoning. This 35 Cook, 1993: 34 was exactly what Cook intended to encour- 36 Cook, 2013: 80 age in his audience, an intrepid inquiry into 37 What Cook, whilst a part of Archigram, commenced, new architectural (representational) aesthet- with the humorous Pop-artisan language, later on evolved into rather serious yet never absolutist architectural dra- ics that would pursue an evolving conception wing techniques. This paralleled his ever present endea- of modernism. vor to disconnect architectural form from architectural imagination. What had been central throughout Cook’s ca- 38 Cook, 2008 reer was his keen resistantce to the univocal 39 Cook, 2008: 201 understanding of modern movement in archi- 40 Cook, 1993: 126 tecture. In that, he continously challenged 41 The Royal Academy, n.d. with the direct attachment of a liberated soci- 42 Goodwin, 2016 ety - a broad and almost all-encompassing 43 Betsky, 1998 social and cultural program -, to a specific 44 Zaha Hadid Architects, n.d. architectural expression and a very specific 45 Schumacher, 2004 moment in architectural history. 138 PROSTOR 1[59] 28[2020] 130-141 G. D. Guneri Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi

His inquiry has been into various possible ex- and the failure of utopian practices. Those ploitations of modernity in and for architec- were the moments within which the far- ture. He, thus, succeeded in situating himself reaching excitement caused by ambitious at the threshold between the overly simplis- and gigantic plans swiftly collapsed under tic understandings of modernism and post- the backlash that unsuccessful attempts to modernism. Philosophically, he defended materialize utopias without a negotiation modernity. His search for possible formal and with spatiality and the geography of place aesthetic undertakings of this ever evolving yielded. Very many spaces of Modernism - modernity, however, never remained con- but certainly not all - failed in the hands of stant and never owed to any specific domain. urban practitioners, specifically en passant This enabled his practice to be read as one this threshold within which utopian ideals which has never been limited to any specific transformed to real world practices, the form of spatial utopias per se. His works, threshold Peter Cook rather successfully op- rather, widely rested on a methodological ex- erated from within. ploitation of utopianism as a means of architectural imagination and critical inquiry, Even though, for many, it might not be easy evolving parallel to his dialectical architec- to accept, this widely-known failure had com- tural dialogue with modernity, and disal- parably much less to do with the very con- lowed any undialectical architectural inter- cept, form or content of utopia but rather pretations. with the temperament of the author architect who did not always seem to be highly con- Conclusion: scious of the mediums, means and methods Operating at Thresholds through which he/she manifested utopian ideals.46 Zaključak: Djelovanje na rubu Today, however, the sirens of the widely inca- pacitated post-critical architecture are calling It is beyond doubt that historically significant out for utopia infused architectural practices, and definitive utopian moments have always authors of which circumspectly operate at been those within which different sets of thresholds, neither silent nor loud but dili- ideas have come explicitly into collision. gently toned. Those have been the moments of awakening, resistance, insistence and notably loud rhet- Cook’s practice implies two major conceptual oric. To speak of exact instances in time, one fissures within which such critical formu may immediately refer to the symbolic mo- lations of architectural utopianism might ments of post-war modernism which wit- flourish, and their authors operate: The nessed and were marked by both the triumph threshold between amnesia and nostalgia,

46 Cook, 2008: 10 47 Zawia, 2013 48 Cook, 2016 Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… G. D. Guneri 130-141 28[2020] 1[59] PROSTOR 139

and the threshold between representation in his architectural language conveying his and production. utopianisms as a means to encourage inter- Cook, very often, claimed that he found the pretations by the audience. This, certainly, concept of back-and-forth between reality relies on the fact that he believes the author and detachment from reality electric. In his architect should always keep a critical dis- formulations he meticulously operated at the tance between himself/herself, his/her mo- thin line which separates what exists from tive, and the motive’s thrust so as to contem- what does not. Never abnegating his aspira- plate his works’ possible impacts. The virtue tions for past precedents such as “some of of drawings that convey his utopian conceptualizations of architecture is that they “look the architects of the early ‘20s particularly in 51 Germany, particularly the people who re- like something” - something never ready- volved around Bruno Taut who were social- served for architectural form-hunters, but ists”47, his “’English’ memories that could also something which still looks architectural. only have come from those moments in” his In these, Cook goes back and forth between “past”48, or sincerely enjoying and massag- architectural solutions that satisfy practical ing what exists in daily life, Cook succeeded demands and almost romantic expeditions in recognizing “’reality’ itself as—precisely— that owe rather to artistic domains. an all-too-real dream enforced by those who Building upon self-conscious commentaries prefer to accept a destructive and oppressive of his perception and conception of a geo- 49 status quo.” Even in his entirely abstract graphical and temporal status quo, keeping propositions which imply a sort of amnesic and propagating a state of mind that is criti- pleasure, connections to reality - and not cal but not extremely radical, and elaborating only to reality as/of the present but reality as keenly on his motive yet always keeping it at a historical, cultural and spatial artefact - re- a critical distance from physicalistic para- side. Even in those, he operates at the thresh- digms of architecture, Cook, with his praxis, old between desires to render pasts present well exemplifies what critical utopianism and a complete rejection of and resistance to might offer and entail. In this, rather than ex- whatever exists. plosive utopian moments, one might read a Interwoven into this operational ground at the rather silent and diffused existence of utopia- threshold between amnesia and nostalgia is nism, one which parallels reality as a way of Cook’s keen use of representation as a means thinking differently, one within which utopias to mediate between architectural desire and are never present as architectural forms but physicality, symbolism and built form, repre- as trainings of architectural imagination. sentation and production. Cook has always been very successful in avoiding “‘obvious- [Written in English by the author, ness’, ‘full-frontality’ or the direct answer”50 proof-read by Beth Elaine Dogan]

49 Martin, 2005: 5 50 Cook, 2016: 148 51 Cook, 2008: 22 140 PROSTOR 1[59] 28[2020] 130-141 G. D. Guneri Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi Bibliography Sources Literatura Izvori

1. Betsky, A. (1998), Zaha Hadid: The Comple- 16. Levitas, R. (1990), The Concept of Utopia, Philip Internet Sources te Buildings and Projects, Thames & Hudson, Allan, Hertfordshire Internetski izvori London 17. Levitas, R. (2003), On Dialectical Utopianism, 2. Bloch, E. (1995), The Principle of Hope, The MIT “History of the Human Sciences”, 16: 137-150, 1. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/ Press, Cambridge https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695103016001011 name/peter-cook-ra [7.4.2020] 3. Coleman, N. (2005), Utopias and Architecture, 18. Levitas, R. (2013), Utopia as method: The ima- 2. http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/the- Routledge, Abingdon ginary reconstitution of society, Palgrave Mac- peak-leisure-club/ [7.4.2020] 4. Coleman, N. (2013), ‘Building in Empty Spa- millan, Hampshire 3. https://www.archdaily.com/472429/this-was- ces’: is Architecture a ‘Degenerate Utopia?, “The 19. Martin, R. (2005), Critical of what? Toward a our-utopianism-an-interview-with-peter-cook Journal of Architecture”, 18 (2): 135-166, https:// utopian realism, “Harvard Design Magazine”, [22.4.2020] doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2013.783225 22 (2): 1-5 5. Cook, P. (1970), Experimental Architecture, Uni- 20. Pickering, A. (2006), Archigram: Architecture versal Books, New York without Architecture (review), “Technology and Illustration Source 6. Cook, P. (1993), Six Conversations, Academy Culture”, 47 (3): 661-663, https://doi.org/10. Izvor ilustracije Editions, London 1353/tech.2006.0196 7. Cook, P. (1997), Accurate reminiscences, in: Ar- 21. Sadler, S. (2005), Archigram: Architecture wi- Fig. 1 © Peter Cook, Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, chigram Symposium zur Ausstellung [ed. Louis, thout Architecture, The MIT Press, Cambridge London, Photographer: John Bodkin / Daw E.; Stooss, T.], Kunsthalle Wien: 18-39, Vienna kinsColour 8. Cook, P. [ed.] (1999), Archigram, Princeton Ar- 22. Schumacher, P. (2004), Digital Hadid: Landsca- chitectural Press, New York pes in Motion, Birkhauser, Basel 9. Cook, P. (2008), Drawing: The Motive Force of 23. Spens, M. (2007), From Mound to Sponge: How Architecture, Wiley, West Sussex Peter Cook Explores Landscape Buildings, “Ar- 10. Cook, P. (2013), Looking and Drawing, “Archi- chitectural Design”, March/April: 12-15, https:// tectural Design”, 83 (5): 80-87, https://doi. doi.org/10.1002/ad.419 org/10.1002/ad.1638 24. The Royal Academy (n.d.), Sir Peter Cook RA (b. 11. Cook, P. (2016), Architecture Workbook: Design 1936), The Royal Academy, https://www.royal through Motive, Wiley, West Sussex, https:// academy.org.uk/art-artists/name/peter-cook-ra doi.org/10.1002/9781118965382 [7.4.2020] 12. Gannon, T. (2008), Return of the Living Dead: 25. Webb, M. (1999), Boys at Heart, in: Archigram Archigram and Architecture’s Monstrous Media, [ed. Cook, P.], Princeton Architectural Press: “Log”, 13/14: 171-180 2-4, New York 13. Geus, M. (1999), Ecological Utopias: Envi 26. Zaha Hadid Architects (n.d.), The Peak Leisure sioning the Sustainable Society, International Club, Zaha Hadid Architects, http://www.zaha- Books, Utrecht hadid.com/architecture/the-peak-leisure-club/ 14. Goodwin, K. (2016), Cities of dreams: Peter [7.4.2020] Cook RA on the importance of imagination, The 27. Zawia (2013), This was our utopianism: An In- Royal Academy, https://www.royalacademy. terview with Peter Cook, Arch Daily, https:// org.uk/article/cities-of-dreams [10.4.2020]. www.archdaily.com/472429/this-was-our-uto- 15. Harvey, D. (2000), Spaces of Hope, University pianism-an-interview-with-peter-cook of California Press, Berkeley [22.4.202] Scientific Papers | Znanstveni prilozi Peter Cook Beyond Archigram… G. D. Guneri 130-141 28[2020] 1[59] PROSTOR 141 Summary Sažetak

Peter Cook izvan Archigrama: Prema kritičnom utopizmu

Peter Cook zauzima značajno mjesto u svijetu arhi- što on naziva ‘utopijskim realizmom’. Ipak, u kon- Bio je vrlo marljiv i precizan u svom jezičnom iz tekture. Poznat je po svojem radu u Archigramu - cepcijama obaju autora postoji stroga i negativna ražavanju. Fizički determinizam u svojim crtežima avangardnoj skupini arhitekata iz 60-ih godina 20. kategorizacija utopije. Time se ne dopušta razot- zamjenjuje arhitektonskim tumačenjem moguć stoljeća nadahnutoj tehnološkim napretkom svoje- krivanje različitih medija, sredstava i metodologija nosti. Njegovi utopijski eksperimenti s arhitektu- ga vremena i prikazivanjem provokativne stvarno- utopizama koje su ukorijenjene u tim praksama. rom i unutar nje razvijaju se kroz njegove crteže sti kroz hipotetičke projekte. Rad Petera Cooka U ovome je radu namjera predstaviti alternativni put koji omogućuju konceptualne interpretacije i tako proteže se ipak izvan radikalnih vizija same grupe. razotkrivanja utopizama s naglaskom na važnosti ustupaju mjesto bogatim arhitektonskim inkar On propituje standarde arhitektonske produkcije metodologije, bez ograničenja definirajućih, razli- nacijama. Tragovi njegovih utopijskih eksperime- svrstavajući sebe izvan podjela na modernističku i kovnih i vremenski povezanih formulacija. To je na- nata s arhitekturom i unutar nje u osnovi su nefor- postmodernističku paradigmu. čin na koji arhitektura može učiti od kritičkih načina malni u svim tim utjelovljenjima. Oni su prilično Ovaj se tekst bavi kritičkim utopizmom u praksi, utopizama ukorijenjenih u prošlim praksama kako konceptualni. unutar koje postoji način arhitektonskog razmišlja bi odgovorila novijim zahtjevima prema odavno iz- Sve u svemu, Cookova praksa podrazumijeva dvije nja utemeljen prije u refleksivnim propitivanjima gubljenoj kritičnosti. Praksa Petera Cooka uvijek je glavne konceptualne pukotine unutar kojih bi mogle negoli u apsolutnim i zatvorenim utopijama. Cilj bila usmjerena prema kritičkim istraživanjima kroz procvjetati kritičke formulacije arhitektonskog uto- mu je preokrenuti pitanja koja povezuju utopiju i koja su izranjale dvosmislene i neočekivane arhitek- pizma, a njihovi autori djelovati: razdjelnica izme- prostorni determinizmam prema pitanjima koja se tonske mogućnosti. Na početku svoje karijere on je đu amnezije i nostalgije te razdjelnica između re- vrte oko utopijskih metodologija koje postaju poli- bio najrječitiji član grupe Archigram. Njegove ilustra- prezentacije i produkcije. Djelujući na razdjelnica- goni za vježbanje arhitektonske imaginacije. Takvi cije, više negoli njegovi tekstovi, glasno su najavlji- ma, nadograđujući se na samosvjesne komentare utopizmi i njihove specifične reference na prostor vale takve mogućnosti u vidu hipotetičkih okoliša. svoje percepcije i koncepcije zemljopisnog i vre- predmet su proučavanja u sklopu rada dvaju zna- Ne samo Cook nego i skupina kao cjelina proizveli menskog statusa quo, čuvajući i promičući stanje čajnih autora: Davida Harveyja i Reinholda Martina. su gotovo karikaturalne prikaze drukčije arhitektu- uma koje je kritično, ali ne krajnje radikalno, te raz U svojemu značajnom radu Spaces of Hope, Harvey re. U njima je poruka nadmašila formu. Za Cooka je rađujući svoj motiv, ali uvijek ga čuvajući na kritič- (pogrešno) razlikuje utopije prostorne forme i uto- crtež uvijek bio motivirajuća snaga arhitekture, noj distanci od fizikalnih paradigmi arhitekture - pije društvenih procesa te predlaže alternativni put sredstvo uspostavljanja veza između pojmova i nji- Cook, sa svojom praksom, predstavlja dobar pri- utopizma - ‘dijalektički utopizam’ koji je definiran hovih vizualnih reprezentacija. Njegov je pogled na mjer onoga što kritički utopizam može ponuditi i prostorno-vremenskim odrednicama i oslanja se crtež bio u suprotnosti s onim što čini crtež formal- što povlači za sobom. U tome, umjesto eksploziv- na razumno, kritičko i refleksivno propitivanje. nim, dopunskim i podržavajućim prikazom. Kroz nih utopijskih trenutaka, može se razabrati prilično Reinhold Martin također promišlja o utopizmu kao njih Cook je osmislio jezik za arhitektonsku repre- tiho i difuzno postojanje utopizma, onoga koji obliku kritičkog propitivanja. On podupire revidira- zentaciju, koji je dijaloški i kritičan. Pritom se pod odražava paralelnu stvarnost kao drukčijeg načina ni i alternativni oblik arhitektonske prakse uteme- jednako distancirao od svoga motiva i od fizičkih razmišljanja, onoga u kojem utopije nikada nisu ljen na kritičkom utopijskom razmišljanju o onome paradigmi arhitekture. prisutne kao arhitektonske forme.

Biography Biografija

Gizem Deniz Guneri, PhD, holds a professional de- Dr.sc. Gizem Deniz Guneri diplomirala je arhitektu- gree in architecture. She completed a Masters in ru. Magistrirala je u području arhitekture i urbanog Architecture and Urban Design at Columbia Uni dizajna na Sveučilištu Columbia kao Fullbrightova versity as a Fulbright scholar and a PhD in Archi stipendistica, a doktorirala u području arhitekture tecture at Middle East Technical University. She na Tehničkom sveučilištu Bliskog istoka. Nedavno has recently completed her studies as a research je završila svoj studij u svojstvu istraživača na Sve- fellow at Harvard University Graduate School of učilištu Harvard (Graduate School of Design). Nje- Design. Her major interests include architectural zini interesi usmjereni su prema utopijama u arhi- utopias, collective urban form, landscape and ur- tekturi, kolektivnoj urbanoj formi, krajobrazu i urban design. banom dizajnu. 28 [2020]1[59] A SCHOLARLYJOURNALOFARCHITECTUREANDURBANPLANNING ZNANSTVENI ÈASOPISZAARHITEKTURUIURBANIZAM UDK | 10.31522 https://doi.org/ ISSN 1330-0652 ARCHITECTURE FACULTY OF OF ZAGREB, UNIVERSITY FAKULTET ARHITEKTONSKI U ZAGREBU, SVEUÈILIŠTE 1-6 [2020] 1-200 28 [2020]1[59] CODEN PORREV UDC /p 71/72 PROSTOR POSEBNI OTISAK/ 2-19 Znanstveni prilozi Mara Mariæ Mladen ObadŠæitaroci

Scientific Papers

SEPARAT Towns Fortified Medieval-Renaissance Landscape Areaswithin UDC 711.4:712”12/20” https://doi.org/10.31522/p.28.1(59).1 Original ScientificPaper Typology, ValorisationandEnhancement

OFFPRINT UDK 711.4:712”12/20” https://doi.org/10.31522/p.28.1(59).1 Izvorni znanstvenièlanak Tipologija, vrjednovanjeiunaprijeðenje gradova srednjovjekovno-renesansnih Pejsažne površineunutarutvrðenih