‘A NEED FOR SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN OLYMPISM AND THE HOST CITY’S SOCIAL REALITY’ Stephany Tzanoudaki MASTERS OF PHILOSOPHY Edinburgh College of Art-Heriot Watt University School of Design and Applied Arts Department of Interior Design submission: January 2001 ‘This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that the copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or the University (as may be appropriate).’ 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Objectives and Methodology Introduction of Chapters Chapter I THE PROJECTION OF OLYMPISM INTO THE 20 th CENTURY SOCIAL REALITY - THE CONCEPTION OF ‘MODERN OLYMPIA’ Introduction Definition of Olympism Coubertin’s Vision of Olympism - A Link with the Past ‘Body and Mind’ Olympism - A Link with 20 th Century Olympism - A Philosophy of Synthesis Olympism - A Philosophy of Eclecticism Conclusion The Conception of ‘Modern Olympia’ The Historic Roots of ‘Modern Olympia’ From the Ruins of Ancient Olympia to the Vision of ‘Modern Olympia’ The Synthesis of ‘Modern Olympia’ The Setting and General Function of ‘Modern Olympia’ -The Site of Modern Olympia -The Scale and Fitting of Modern Olympia The Contribution of the Arts in the Modern Olympic Games The Beautification of the Games Ruskinism as a Solution for Olympic Art Chapter II THE EVOLUTION OF THE OLYMPIC EVENT AND THE ‘TRANSPLANTATION OF THE OLYMPIC CITY’ Introduction The Evolution of the Olympic Event - The Birth of the Olympic City A Game of ‘Sameness’ and ‘Differentiation’ -Means of Sameness and Differentiation -The Meaning of Sameness in the Olympic Evolution -Elements of Sameness Olympism an ‘Unfinished Symphony’ Stages in the Olympic Evolution -The First Stage of Evolution -The Second Phase of Evolution The Evolution of the Olympic City 2 The Transplantation of the Olympic City The Olympic City The Olympic City as an International and Global Environment The Commercial Environment The Local Environment Technology and Local Differentiation The Olympic Environment The Olympic City of Berlin 1936 The Political and Social Meaning of the Berlin 1936 Games The Olympic City of Berlin The Olympic Site Monumental Architecture The Decoration of the City Leni Riefenstahl’s ‘Olympia’ The Olympic City of Mexico 1968 The Meaning of the ‘Mexico 1968 Olympics’ The Planning of the Mexico Olympic City The Olympic City’s Visual Identity The Olympic City of Munich 1972 The Creation of a ‘New’ Image The Olympic Site The Design Plan The Creation of a ‘Miniaturised Cosmopolis’ and ‘Olympics in Green’ The Olympic City of Los Angeles The City of Los Angeles The Staging of the Games The Olympic Look Chapter III A NEED FOR SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN OLYMPIC VISION AND REALITY - THE RE-CREATION OF THE OLYMPIC CITY The Meaning of Symbiosis and the role of the Modern Olympic City Symbiosis and Eclecticism Olympic Cities and ‘Utopias’ The Ambivalent Relation between an Olympic City and a Utopia Olympic Cities as Ideal Cities Cosmopolis A Forced Utopia Technological Utopias The Olympic City and the Imaginary City The Evaluation of the ‘Utopian’ Olympic City 3 The Olympic City of Barcelona 1992 The Re-Birth of the City The Projects The Parc de Mar The Image of the Olympic City The Meaning of Doxiadi’s ‘Entopia The relationship between Doxiadi’s Entopia and the Olympic City of Barcelona CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Towards the Future Olympic City The Olympic City and the Criterion of ‘Symbiosis’ The Olympic City of ‘Athens’ List of References Bibliography 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL i 1.1, 1.5 Plan of Olympia, Olympism Selected Wrirings, p253 i 1.2 General View of the Sanctuary, Olympia, Olympic Publications i 1.3 Model of the Sanctuary, Olympia, Olympic Publications i 1.4 Olympia, Personal Photographic Collection i 2.1 Olympishe Spiele Berling 1936, Verlag Berlin SW68 i 2.2 Germany The Olympic Year 1936, Volkt Reich Verlag, Berlin W9 i 2.3 Speer’s Berlin, Cities of Tommorrow, Blackwell Publishers i 2.4 Warner March, Baw werk Reichsportfield, Deutscher Kunstverlag i 2.5 Reich SportField, Berlin 1936 Official Report i 2.6 Warner March, Baw werk Reichsportfield, Deutscher Kunstverlag i 2.7 Warner March, Baw werk Reichsportfield, Deutscher Kunstverlag i 2.8 Dietrich Eckart, Berlin 1936 Official Report i 2.9 IOC Archives -‘Adolf Kiefer in front of the Olympic Bell’ i 2.10 IOC Archives - ‘View of the Cathedral’, Berlin 1936 i 2.11,2.12 Berlin 1936 Official Report i 2.13 Olympishe Spiele Berling 1936, Verlag Berlin SW68 i 2.14 IOC Archives, Torch Relay i 2.15 Olympishe Spiele Berling 1936, Verlag Berlin SW68 i 2.16 IOC Archives, Torch Relay i 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.22 Mexico 1968, Official Report i 2.23 Post card, Olympic Museum IOC i 2.24 Design (237) Magazine, p31 i 2.25, 2.26, 2.27, 2.28 Mexico 1968, Official Report i 2.30 Munich 1972, Official Report i 2.31 IOC Archives i 2.32 IOC Archives i 2.33 Munich 1972, Official Report i 2.34 Munich 1972, Official Report i 2.35 Munich 1972, Official Report i 2.36 Konzept visuelles, Erscheinungsbild, Munchen 1972 i 2.37, i 2.39 Konzept visuelles, Erscheinungsbild, Munchen 1972 i 2.38 Munich 1972, Official Report i 2.40 Los Angeles 1984, Official report, Olympic Look i 2.41 Wilshire Boulevard, IOC Archives i 2.42-i 2.47 Los Angeles 1984, Official report, Olympic Look i 2.48 Swim Stadium, Los Angeles, IOC Archives i 3.1 Barcelona 92, Official report, The means vol II i 3.2, 3.3 Ten Years of Urban Planning, Editions du Moniteur i 3.4, 3.5 Barcelona 92, Official report, The means vol II i 3.6 The sites, Villa Olimpica i 3.7 Olympic Review Sept 1991, The master builders of Barcelona i 3.8 Barcelona ’92, The Olympic Village - Architecture, Parks, Leisure Port, Editorial Gustavo Gill i 3.9 Beach of Poblenou, IOC Archives i 3.10 Barcelona 92, Official report, The means vol II i 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 Ten Years of Urban Planning, Editions du Moniteur 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The last three years, working and researching to complete my Masters in Philosophy, have been hard but very enjoyable, at the same time. I have had great support throughout, both from College, the Olympic Studies Centre and from friends and family. I would like to take the opportunity to give a special thank you to Alistair Milligan, Head of Interior Design, who supervised my work and to Les Mitchell and Michael S.Green for their stimulating discussions on my subject during these years. I would also like to give a big thank you to Malcolm Jones for his interest in my subject and his support. Also, to Jamie Anderson and Joan Wallace for their encouragement. I would like to stress my appreciation to the Olympic Studies Centre and the Olympic Research Council for the offer of the ‘Postgraduate Research Award’, which gave me the opportunity to find invaluable information on my subject. Finally I would like to thank the Edinburgh College of Art, the ‘Athens 2004 Committee’ and the Alexander S.Onassis Foundation for thei help and concern. Also, to Pat Bryden who during the last months has been offering me a great help with the editing of my work. 6 ABSTRACT In this study, ‘Symbiosis’ is seen as the ultimate solution reconcilng the philosophy of Olympism and the notion of the Modern Olympic City. Olympism stems from the Ancient Olympic Ideal. It is the underlying theory of Coubertin’s vision, reviving and modernising the ideals of the Olympic past, aiming at the improvement of society through the proportionate cultivation of man’s mental and physical abilities. Coubertin believed that: ‘You have often to transplant a tree to keep it youthful’. He challenged the future host cities to transplant the tree of Olympism into their social realities and to become main protagonists in the interpretation of his vision. The study looks at the evolution of the Olympic Reality turning the Olympic Games in one of today’s largest intercultural and cross-cultural events. It examines the notion of the Olympic City and how it is prone to political and commercial exploitation, represented by ‘sterile Utopias’, either uninterested in emulating the Olympic Ideal or to address the problems of their own social realities. This study aims at proving the importance of the ‘Symbiosis’ between Olympism and Social reality within the city. Also, to create a vision for the 7 future Olympic City in an attempt to bring it closer to Coubertin’s vision of revival. 8 INTRODUCTION The Olympic Games were first revived in 1896, by the French humanist Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympic Movement and the originator of the philosophy of Modern Olympism. Modern Olympism is a philosophy of life with a purely pedagogical dimension which aims at the harmonious development and evolution of the human being. It recognises and rewards individual effort and therefore rejects all distinctions between different nations, political systems and social classes. Modern Olympism is inspired by the social and moral meaning of the Games in antiquity. Coubertin concentrated all his efforts on bringing back to life an institution that had fallen into oblivion since 394AD and giving a new form to its ideals. His vision, stemming from the ancient Olympic Ideal, aimed at the creation of a moden reality where ‘the demands of the present time would coincide with the customs of old’.(ref0.1) Coubertin, in the effort to project the principles of a past ideal onto the needs of the present, has been characterised by many contemporary theorists as an eclectic because of creating a ‘synthesis’ of theories and forms which normally do not fit together.