Modern Architecture in the (re)Making of History. Schools and Museums in Greece

11 MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN THE (RE)MAKING OF HISTORY Schools and Museums in G eece C is ina Pallini Dipa imen o di A chi e u a, Ingegne ia delle Cos uzioni e Ambien e Cos ui o, Poli ecnico di Milano / Depa men o A chi ec u e, Buil En i onmen and Cons uc ion Enginee ing, Poli ecnico di Milano, Milan, I aly Abs ac Challenging he long-es ablished idea o he Medi e anean as he c adle o mode n a chi ec u e, his con ibu ion a gues ha due conside a ion should be gi en o momen s o p o ound change, he eby spli ing he Medi e anean in o i s agmen s. We may hus es o e o i s ex ao dina y ci ies he many and a ied a chi ec u al adi ions ha we e able o nu u e and blend: he much-deba ed medi e anei à (Medi e anei y) u ns ou o be a less ‘monoli hic’ in i s exp ession. Along his line o hough s, schools and museums buil in G eece om 1923 o he a e ma h o WWII may well e eal he ole o a chi ec u e, when called upon o exp ess he ounding alues o a collec i e iden i y. The dialec ic be ween adi ion and inno a ion, eclec icism and mode nism, unco e s i s meaning case by case. Keywo ds: mode n a chi ec u e, Medi e anean, school, museum, G eece Eu ocen ic pe spec i es on he Medi e anean In oducing O ien alism as he sys em o Wes e n ins i u ions es ablished o claim an economic, poli ical and mili a y hegemony o e he O ien , Edwa d Said (1978: 3) also decoded he mechanisms o his cul u al coloniza ion, hus ma king a u ning poin in he monumen al his o y o he Medi e anean wo ld na a ed by Fe nand B audel (1977). Acco ding o some schola s, he Medi e anean may e en be unde s ood as a “scien i ic in en ion,” whose uni a y concep ion was a by-p oduc o F ench expedi ions o Egyp , he Peloponnese and Alge ia (Bou gue , Lepe i , No dman & Sina ellis, 1998). Benede o G a agnuolo (1994) and, mo e ecen ly, Jean-F ançois Lejeune and Michelangelo Saba ino (2010), ou lined an “a chi ec u al genealogy” o he C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y 12 Mode n Mo emen ’s engagemen wi h he Medi e anean and i s e e yday e nacula . Meanwhile, ecen s udies on he wo k o non-mains eam Eu opean a chi ec s, enginee s and builde s ac oss he Medi e anean ha e opened new ho izons in esea ch, ques ioning he meaning, and in lec ion, o mode n a chi ec u e in he di e en con ex s whe e i ook oo s.1 The impo ance o he Medi e anean as a key des ina ion o subsequen gene a ion o young a chi ec s om di e en backg ounds emains an e e g een subjec (Bon an e, 2014; Di Lo e o, 2018), whose cons an e m o e e ence is he cha isma ic igu e o Le Co busie (Bonillo & Monnie , 1991; G a agnuolo, 1997). Placing side by side he wo ks by Le Co busie , Pie e Jeanne e , Fe nand Pouillon and Al a o Siza, he exhibi ion Domus Ma e Nos um - Habi e le my he médi e anéen (Bonillo, 2014) emphasised once again he inex icable link be ween mode n a chi ec u e and he Medi e anean. Howe e , he “Medi e anean adi ion” in o which he wo k o Le Co busie is in e wo en seems all bu monoli hic. When iden i ying Le Co busie ’s guiding s a s, J.-L. Bonillo (1997) ga e Is anbul equal oo ing wi h he Pa henon. Adol Max Vog (1996) a gued ha he Voyage d’O ien - and O oman a chi ec u e - le a pe manen ma k on he mas e who, acco ding o Yo gos Simeo o idis (1997), was deeply ascina ed by Byzan ine a chi ec u e in he enchan ing landscape o Moun A hos and he G eek islands. CIAM IV and he new G eek schools! In he summe o 1933, CIAM membe s s a ed hei sea oyage ac oss he Medi e anean om Ma seille o A hens, whe e Le Co busie u e ed he amous wo ds “ he Ac opolis made me a ebel” (Le Co busie , 1933). La e on, hey sailed o he Cyclades and, almos unexpec edly, ound adi ional houses 1 The con e ence “C ossing Bounda ies. Re hinking Eu opean a chi ec u e beyond Eu ope”, Pale mo, 13-16 Ap il 2014, p o ided he au ho wi h an oppo uni y o ake good s ock o esea ch in he ield. Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018 13 embodying he same imeless a chi ec u al solu ions hey had been wo king ou o a decade o so: iconic combina ion o pu e olumes, la oo s and whi e walls wi hou deco a ion. Back in A hens, CIAM membe s isi ed some newly buil schools designed by young G eek a chi ec s: dissymme ical composi ions, unc ional layou s, a geome y o pu e olumes in pe ec ha mony wi h he A ic landscape. Local newspape s p oudly epo ed on hei commen s o admi a ion (Giacumaca os & Godoli,1985: 9-10). Acco ding o Pie e Cha eau, a he han copying wes e n p ojec s, G eeks a chi ec s had ound hei own pa h o mode n a chi ec u e in esponse o he local clima e. Wha is su e is ha he scale o in e en ion and speed o execu ion - despi e limi ed echnical and inancial means - ma ked an undeniable success o he new schools, which achie ed conside able p ess co e age and a ac ed much schola ly wo k e e since. Howe e , i canno pass unno iced he co espondence be ween he G eek go e nmen engagemen in such massi e school building p og amme and he a i al in G eece o 1,300,000 e ugees om Asia Mino ,!almos one ou h o he o al popula ion a he ime. Following he G eco-Tu kish Wa , he T ea y o Lausanne (July 1923) had a i ied he compulso y exchange o popula ions be ween G eece and Tu key, c ea ing a e ugee p oblem on a scale un il hen unknown, in egions al eady acing a demog aphic eshu ling. The p esence o Asia Mino e ugees led o an ex ensi e economic de elopmen p og amme unded by o eign loans, while hei se lemen became pa o he na ion-building p ocess. As he place whe e, by lea ning G eek, a new cul u al iden i y was o be o ged, he school became a “domina ing heme”2 (Sedlmay , 1948) somehow complemen a y o he chu ch, and o en equipped wi h a combina ion o indoo and ou doo acili ies, unc ional and collec i e spaces o ming a so o mic ocosm. 2 Sedlmay sugges s ha , h oughou his o y, some a chi ec u al hemes acqui ed pa icula impo ance, a ac ing he bes c ea i e ene gies and p o iding a common g ound – a cen e - o all igu a i e a s. C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y 14 Pa oklos Ka an inos, who designed up o o y schools (mos o which ac ually buil ) dedica ed a book o he new school buildings (1938), ye selec ing he mos esponsi e o he mode nis canon. E en so, and despi e he limi ed numbe o examples,3 he book s ill con eys he pionee ing e o made by G eek a chi ec s o mo e beyond he cons ain s imposed by he Minis y o Educa ion, who supe ised design, cons uc ion and cons uc ion managemen . The main quali y o hese buildings lays in hei depic ing wha a mode n school could be in illages, owns, and la ge u ban cen e s in di e en egions o G eece. Ce ainly, no e e y school an icipa ed mode n a chi ec u e. Young G eek a chi ec s we e seeking a balance be ween local aes he ic idioms and he clean o ms heo ized by he Mode n Mo emen . Some beau i ul schools did ea u e simpli ied eclec ic o ms, bea ing a angible e e ence o he a ious a chi ec u al adi ions hen s ill i al in G eece. New schools o a new Thessaloniki I Pa is II had con inued his jou ney u he Eas , CIAM pa icipan s we e o con empla e he uins o Thessaloniki and Smy na, namely he end o he mul ie hnic O oman empi e wi h i s cosmopoli an po -ci ies. To Pie e La edan, he econs uc ion o Thessaloniki in G eece posed on a scale un il hen unknown he p oblem o he ci y, as a wo k o a chi ec u e (La edan, 1922). Consequen ly, Thessaloniki may be conside ed a special obse a o y, because he building o new schools was pa o a wide p ocess o ci y econs uc ion (Ye olympos, 1995). Capi al o he so-called New Lands acqui ed a e he Balkan Wa s (1911-13), he ci y had been des oyed by i e in Augus 1917 and, by 1926, i s G eek popula ion had mo e han doubled. 3 The o al numbe o schools buil , unde cons uc ion, o planned, in 1931 eached almos 3000 (Giacumaca os & Godoli,1985: 6). Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018 15 The Me le i Hané school complex (1926) designed by Nikos Mi sakis was buil on he a ea p e iously occupied by he monas e y o Me le i De ishes (1615) which had long been a spi i ual cen e o he Muslim communi y. He e Mi sakis s a ed expe imen ing wi h elemen s o Byzan ine a chi ec u e - a ches, columns, capi als – simpli ied and adap ed o become pa o a mode n composi ion. Neo-Byzan ine was o cha ac e ise he ci y ising om i s ashes ollowing Heb a d’s econs uc ion plan, ma king a clea b eak wi h he O oman pas o ecap u e i s Hellenic iden i y. Figu e 1. Nikos Mi sakis, Aghia So ia school complex, 1928- 32 ( igh ) and Seconda y School o Gi ls, 1933 (le ), Thessaloniki (au ho ’s econs uc ion). In he Aghia So ia school complex (1928-32), Mi sakis ho e ed be ween a mode nis olume ic syn ax and an eclec ic lexicon, ein e p e ing Byzan ine elemen s as simple colou ed olumes. By adop ing a wo-cou ya ds layou , he a anged he elemen a y school, he gymnasium and he Jewish schools so ha hey migh be accessed independen ly, lea ing he esul ing a eas o open-ai ac i i ies, one o which di ec ly acing on o he s ee eaching he nea by chu ch o Aghìa So ia. Mi sakis ques ioned he ole o he school as gene a i e u ban elemen a a ime o g ea e hno-social ins abili y (Da ques, 2000), when he ci y a ound i was also being buil . C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y 16 A ew blocks away, Dimi is Pikionis designed he Model Expe imen al School o he A is o le Uni e si y o Thessaloniki, es ablished in 1934 o mee he needs and demands o a new socie y o come. The school ea u es a se ies o a icula ed olumes a ound a s eep u ban block, as so o “Macedonian dio ama” wi h a cou ya d on wo le els a i s cen e. Wi h his building, Dimi is Pikionis exempli ied his idea o “ e-in en ion”: Fo m is he esul o many e o s by many souls. A chi ec s should no in en sho -li ed o ms, hey should ins ead " e-in en " exis ing o ms o mee ou cu en needs. Fo m can join ou souls in an ideal symbol. Bu his is no a one man ask: his canno begin and end wi h he wo k o a single pe son. A chi ec s and a is s should no in en epheme al o ms, a he should hey ein e p e he pe ec o ms o adi ion in line wi h cu en needs and cons ain s. This is no jus a men al exe cise, i also in ol es emo ions. A ex om ancien G eece desc ibes h ee kind o c ea ions: a) he "backwa d-looking c ea ion" indica ing ou link o he pas ; b) he "p e iden c ea ion" indica ing ou way o dealing wi h he p esen and c) he "lo able c ea ion" indica ing ou eelings as opposi e and complemen a y o logic. These h ee de ini ions ha e been b ough oge he . The “in e na ional” implying he ela ionship be ween di e en aces mus come o e ms wi h he “na ional” mani es ing he dis inguishing cha ac e o each ace. (Pikionis, 1991: 6). A che ypes and he mode n lexicon: wo museums by P. Ka an inos While Hans Sedlmay included he museum among he mode n "domina ing hemes" (Sedlmay , 1948), Lewis Mum o d de ined museums as u ban ins i u ions pa excellence (Mum o d, 1975: 639). Benedic Ande son emphasised he i al ole o museums in he sel - ep esen a ional na a i e o ising na ion s a es (And eson, 1983). F om a non-eu ocen ic pe spec i e, museums p o ide an ex ao dina y oppo uni y o decode he dialec ic be ween eclec icism and mode nism, adi ion and inno a ion, unco e ing i s meaning Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018 17 case by case. In many cases, museums became ins umen al in dissocia ing he p esen om he ecen pas and selec ing om his o y a pas ha could bes consolida e an idealized ision o he u u e. A key igu e in he deba e abou new school buildings, Pa oklos Ka an inos also leads us o he hea o he deba e on mode n museum a chi ec u e, in cons an a ension be ween place and abs ac ion, be ween oo edness and expo able lessons. Ka an inos was among he ounding membe s o he G eek g oup o CIAM (1932), and played a decisi e pa in connec ing G eek a chi ec s wi h he cen al Eu opean Mode n Mo emen (Giacumaca os, 2003; Fessas-Emmanouil, 2005). Bo n in Cons an inople o Ke alonian pa en s, Ka an inos s udied a chi ec u e a A hens Poly echnic a a ime when he newly ounded Facul y o A chi ec u e was de ining i s cul u al o ien a ion. In A hens, Ka an inos was in oduced o adi ional a chi ec u e by Dimi is Pikionis. On mo ing o Pa is ins ead (1927), he became amilia wi h he wo k o Augus e Pe e (collabo a ing wi h him o a ew mon hs), Tony Ga nie and Le Co busie . Back in G eece, Ka an inos ook an ac i e pa in he local deba e. An example o his mili an a i ude is his objec ion o he idea o housing he new Pa liamen in he old Royal Palace, o which he p oposed con e sion in o a cen al museum complex (1929). Figu e 2. Pa oklos Ka an inos, model o scale o he Olympia a chaeological museum ( i s solu ion), ca. 1952 ( om Giacumaca os, 2003). C is ina Pallini, Mode n A chi ec u e in he ( e)making o His o y 18 In 1933, Ka an inos seized he oppo uni y o A hens’ in e na ional exposu e o show CIAM delega es his school a he ee o he Ac opolis. In 1934, while p epa ing he book abou he new schools, he o ganized he Fi s Exhibi ion o Mode n A chi ec u e in G eece. Ka an inos’ ea ly museum p ojec s a A gos (1936) and Co u (1938) we e ollowed by o he commissions a e he Second Wo ld Wa , when he was called upon o s udy he ex ension o majo Na ional museums – a I aklion and A hens – and design new a chaeological museums a Olympia (1952-66) and Thessaloniki (1960-62). The ci il wa (1946-49), and a p olonged economic c isis, ende ed he G eek a e ma h o Wo ld Wa II e en mo e c i ical han elsewhe e. A ha c i ical junc u e, mos G eek a chi ec s joined uncondi ionally mode n a chi ec u e (Doumanis, 1984), whe eas Ka an inos – in de ining he ypological and unc ional cha ac e o his museums p ojec s - con inued explo ing he a che ypes o classical a chi ec u e. When wo king a he Olympia p ojec , he e lec ed upon he “dis inguishing cha ac e ” o museums in Medi e anean coun ies (Ka an inos, 1954). Recalling a ip o Olympia on a clea win e mo ning, he a gued ha wo ks like he pedimen s o he emple o Zeus, he Nike o Paionios o he He mes o P axi eles we e o iginally c ea ed in o he ligh . I locked inside, hese wo ks we e o appea as ozen Ti ans dep i ed o e e y ib a ion o li e. Thus, in exhibi ion spaces o sculp u es, he Medi e anean ligh demanded an a chi ec u e o i s own, a spa ial syn ax o ligh o eanima e he ancien wo ks o a . In his i s p ojec o he Olympia Ka an inos en isaged a silen cou ya d building whe e an iqui ies would s and ou , a ein e p e a ion o he a ium - he house o he ancien s - in a symme ical layou . The ac ual museum buil in he la e i ies ollowed ins ead a basilica- ype layou , whe e “Ti ans” ecei ed ligh il e ing om he oo o he cen al na e. Ka an inos’ design o he a chaeological museum a Thessaloniki may be unde s ood as a la e con ibu ion o he long p ocess o econs uc ion. Regionalism, Na ionalism & Mode n A chi ec u e Con e ence P oceedings. Po o, Oc obe 25-27, 2018 19 Displaying Hellenis ic and Byzan ine a i ac s4 in a mode nis space, he new a chaeological museum e oked he my hical o igin o he ci y o Cassande and i s pas glo ies in a suspended a mosphe e mean o a ouse an emo i e esponse om he isi o s, whose mode n spi i would be enhanced when con on ed wi h he p ecious wo ks o a . Figu e 3. Pa oklos Ka an inos, en ance o he a chaeological museum, Theassaloniki ( om Giacumaca os, 2003). Ini ially, Ka an inos wo ked on a se ies o a che ypes - he a ium, he c oss- shaped layou , he ci cula plan - inally adop ing a cen al pa io encompassed by a double exhibi ion ci cui : one o Byzan ine a and ano he o a chaeological indings. The low heigh and he ambien ligh – esul ing om he a icula ion o he c oss-sec ion and a sys em o mo able sla s – combined o achie e an an i-monumen al cha ac e . Howe e , like a so o mode n emple, he building ose om a basemen . Reaching ou o he en ance colonnade whe e isi o s could ind a e ac s an icipa ing he museum collec ions, his basemen blends he museum in o he su ounding public spaces, which would in u n acqui e new meanings ollowing he isi o s’ expe iences o he exhibi ion halls. Slende columns, ho izon al slabs, glass walls and glass blocks combine o achie e a a e ied a mosphe e, aimed a con ex ualizing he isi o as a mode n man in on o he ci y’s a is ic he i age. 4 While he building p og amme was de ined in he 1940s, he decision o include he Byzan ine collec ion in he new museum da es back o 1960.