Architecture, Urbanisme & Utopie

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Architecture, Urbanisme & Utopie Architecture, urbanisme & Utopie La tour de Babel était selon la Genèse une tour que souhaitaient construire les hommes pour atteindre le ciel. Selon les traditions judéo-chrétiennes, c'est Nemrod, le « roi-chasseur » régnant sur les descendants de Noé, qui eut l'idée de construire à Babel (Babylone) une tour assez haute pour que son sommet atteigne le ciel. Descendants de Noé, ils représentaient donc l'humanité entière et étaient censés tous parler la même et unique langue sur Terre, une et une seule langue adamique. Pour contrecarrer leur projet qu'il jugeait plein d'orgueil, Dieu multiplia les langues afin que les hommes ne se comprissent plus. Ainsi la construction ne put plus avancer, elle s'arrêta, et les hommes se dispersèrent sur la terre. Cette histoire est parfois vue comme une tentative de réponse des hommes au mystère apparent de l'existence de plusieurs langues, mais est aussi le véhicule d'un enseignement d'ordre moral : elle illustre les dangers de vouloir se placer à l'égal de Dieu, de le défier par notre recherche de la connais- sance, mais aussi la nécessité qu'a l'humanité de se parler, de se comprendre pour réaliser de grands projets, ainsi que le risque de voir échouer ces projets quand chaque groupe de spécialistes se met à parler le seul jargon de sa discipline. Ce récit peut aussi être vu comme une métaphore du malen- tendu humain; où contrairement aux animaux, les êtres humains ne se comprennent pas par des signes univoques, mais bien par l'équivocité du signifiant. Les récits de constructions que les hommes tentaient d'élever jusqu'au ciel ont depuis longtemps mar- qué les esprits, source d’inspiration pour bon nombre d’écrivains et d’artistes. Cité idéale La Cité idéale est une aspiration à la perfection architecturale, sociale, morale et politique. La réalisation d'une « cité idéale » est un des grands rêves des sociétés urbaines ou en voie d'urbanisation. Le terme pourrait sembler synonyme d'utopie si certaines de ces cités n'avaient été construites dans les faits. Il s'agit cependant de réalisations « idéales » au sens où, contrairement à la cité spontanée, qui se développe peu à peu selon les besoins en fonction de décisions multiples, et donc de façon organique et parfois anarchique, la cité idéale se conçoit avant de se construire, et sa fondation résulte d'une volonté unifiée. « Ainsi ces anciennes cités qui, n'ayant été au commencement que des bourga- des, sont devenues par succession de temps de grandes villes, sont ordinaire- ment si mal compassées, au prix de ces places régulières qu'un ingénieur trace a sa fantaisie dans une plaine » — René Descartes, Discours de la méthode, seconde partie. La Cité idéale, d'abord attribuée à Piero della Francesca puis à Luciano Laurana et maintenant à Francesco di Giorgio Martini Antiquité et Moyen Âge Maquette de la ville de Milet conservée au Musée de Pergame (Berlin) Dès l'antiquité, les hommes rêvent d'édifier une cité idéale comme en témoigne le mythe de la Tour de Babel. Le sujet apparaît chez les philosophes grecs dans le contexte parti- culier de la cité-état, La République de Platon (427 à 348 av. J.-C.) en étant le plus célèbre exemple. Or, de fait, dès le viie siè- cle av. J.-C., on note une tentative pour ratio- naliser l'espace dans les villes nouvelles. Certaines colonies grecques comme Sélinonte sont construites selon un plan à damier encore grossier, dit plan hippodamien. Cette ratio- nalisation de l'espace urbain, dont la paternité a longtemps été attribuée à Hippodamos de Milet (ve siècle av. J.-C.), montre un souci de planification urbaine qui rejoint les préoccupations des philoso- phes. Selon Aristote, Hippodamos est à la recherche de la cité idéale au sens où l'organisation de l'es- pace urbain s'applique à traduire l'organisation de la république idéale , et on lui attribue le plan en damier du Pirée, ainsi qu'en -479 av. J.-C. la reconstruction de Milet, incendiée par les Perses. Dans sa Politique, Aristote se préoccupe de l'organisation sociale et urbanistique de la cité idéale, après avoir critiqué la République de Platon et les cités existantes. Organisation de l'espace, organi- sation sociale et organisation politique rationnelles sont les axes selon lesquels les philosophes pen- sent la cité idéale, à laquelle les architectes et les premiers urbanistes se sont déjà attaqués sur le ter- rain. La fondation des villes par les colons romains, telle que la décrit Pierre Grimal, est effectuée selon un plan idéal obéissant à plusieurs exigences : rationalisation de l'espace par un réseau de rues en damier à partir d'un axe majeur fourni par l'intersection à angle droit du decumanus et du cardo5 dont les extrémités vont être les quatre accès principaux à la ville; découpage de l'espace en ilots qui seront répartis selon le rang et la fonction des futurs occupants dans un esprit de justice et d'égalité5 ; enfin orientation selon un plan est-ouest (decumanus) et nord-sud (cardo), déterminé par rapport au soleil, qui indique la dimension sacrée de la ville et peut-être son rapport au monde. La cité idéale romaine est une sorte de matrice, l'essence de la ville-mère, l'Urbs, Rome5. Traduite sur le terrain, la ville romaine doit permettre aux citoyens de circuler, d'habiter, de travailler et d'être sous la protection des dieux. Pierre Grimal cite l'exemple de Timgad, aujourd'hui inscrite au patrimoine mondial de l'huma- nité par l'UNESCO. Au Moyen Âge, le plan hippodamien est toujours utilisé dans la création des villes nouvelles, par exemple les bastides. Cette grille hippodamienne est aussi celle du jeu d'échecs qui sert au domini- cain Jacques de Cessoles à décrire l'organisation idéale de la cité ceinturée dans ses murs, symboli- sés par les quatre tours d'angle. Selon Jacques Heers, le fractionnement de l'espace urbain en espa- ces privés, l'absence d'un pouvoir central fort s'opposent à la conception et la réalisation de grands projets publics au cours du Moyen Âge. Quoi qu'il en soit, le christianisme, s'appuyant sur le texte de l'Apocalypse de Saint Jean, offre aux fidèles la promesse d'une cité idéale qui n'est pas de ce monde, la Nouvelle Jérusalem. La cité idéale à laquelle les hommes doivent travailler, c'est La Cité de Dieu de Saint Augustin. De la Renaissance à l'âge classique Les utopies Vue d'Utopia de Thomas More à vol d'oiseau Avec le retour de la cité-état, l'organisation de la ville et de la société idéale est un des grands thèmes de l'hu- manisme italien de la Renaissance. Les villes médié- vales aux ruelles tortueuses et incommodes apparais- sent comme une forme dégénérée de la cité antique aux larges avenues rectilignes et aux perspectives majestueuses. Elles ne répondent plus aux exigences stratégiques et économiques de leur temps. Se pose aussi la question de l'organisation politique de la cité. Le thème du bon gouvernement se décline chez les philosophes, les juristes, les artistes, notamment les architectes, comme Le Filarète, qui dans son traité d'architecture en 25 volumes présente les plans d'une cité idéale, Sforzinda. Dans le Songe de Poliphile (1467), Francesco Colonna décrit une cité idéale sur l'île Cythérée. C'est aussi sur une île que Thomas More situe son Utopia (1516). François Rabelais (L’abbaye de Thélème, 1534), Johann Eberlin von Günzburg, (Wolfaria, utopie pro- testante), Tommaso Campanella (La Cité du Soleil, rédigée en 1602) et Francis Bacon (La nouvelle Atlantide, 1627) imaginent eux aussi des sociétés idéales. Campanella est notamment très préoccupé par l'organisation d'un espace urbain qui épouse parfaitement l'organisation économique, sociale et politique de la cité. Avec la redécouverte des oeu- vres de Vitruve et les écrits de Leone Battista Alberti, la cité idéale se décline aussi dans l'art. Parallèlement, des juristes comme Jean Bodin (1529-1596), des philosophes comme James Harrington (1611-1677)15 s'interrogent sur la structure juridique la plus favorable à préserver l'état idéal. Les expériences Les aspirations sociales et politiques de la pensée utopique ont du mal à se traduire dans les faits en Europe. Les réalisations concrètes sont des expériences isolées, souvent à l'initiative de quelque per- sonnage suffisamment puissant ou fortuné pour mener à bien ces projets. Ces réalisations expriment un idéal de rationalisation de l'espace urbain épousant la fonction de la ville, mais aussi le respect de la « divine proportion », pour reprendre l'expression de Luca Pacioli. Le village de Cortigiano, berceau du pape Pie II devient ainsi la ville de Pienza en 1459. Les travaux, qui devaient en faire une cité idéale, restent inachevés à la mort de l'architecte florentin Bernardo Rossellino et de leur principal ins- tigateur. L'aménagement de la cité de Ferrare par l'architecte Biagio Rossetti à partir de 1492 s'inscrit dans cette recherche d'un idéal mariant esthétique et rationalité, mais l'Addizione Erculea, intersection de deux avenues flanquée de quatre palais, ne représente qu'une fraction du projet qui reste lui aussi inachevé. En 1593, le surintendant de la ville de Venise fait construire Palmanova, en forme d' étoile à neuf bran- ches. La forteresse vise à la fois la perfection formelle et stratégique : les portes monumentales sont conçues par Vincenzo Scamozzi dans la tradition vitruvienne, mais le plan rayonnant permet aux sol- dats rassemblés sur la place d'armes au centre de se rendre rapidement à leurs différents postes sur les remparts en passant par des avenues larges et dégagées.
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