LEARNING FROM CIVILIA. HETERODOXIAS CRÍTICAS, HISTORIOGRAFÍA Y PROYECTO URBANO / LEARNING FROM CIVILIA. CRITICAL HETERODOXIES, HISTORIOGRAPHY AND URBAN DESIGN

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12795/ppa.2020.i22.02

Palabras clave:

townscape, brutalismo, ficción, collage, fotografía / Townscape, Brutalism, Fiction, Collage, Photography

Resumen

RESUMEN Desde su primera publicación en 1971 como número especial de The Architectural Review, Civilia, The End of Suburban Man ha permanecido como un documento anómalo dentro de la historia de la teoría y la crítica arquitectónica. Profusamente ilustrado con collages hechos a partir de cientos de fotografías de edificios publicados en las páginas de la revista, el libro describía con un lenguaje cercano al manifiesto y en gran detalle una ficticia new town inglesa construida en una cantera abandonada. Situada en un difuso terrain vague entre ficción, sátira y propuesta genuina, Civilia era tanto una crítica al urbanismo inglés de posguerra y a las propuestas urbanas de la modernidad en general como una vívida ilustración del concepto de townscape que la revista llevaba promocionando varias décadas. “Learning from Civilia” ofrece una revisión crítica del contenido del libro, las circunstancias de su confección y su recepción, introduciendo finalmente The Civilia Project, una iniciativa de la Universidad de Newcastle que, integrando investigación y docencia, propone reexaminar Civilia no solo por su interés historiográfico, sino por su valor como herramienta de proyecto y por la relevancia que su discurso mantiene hoy en día, más aún, si cabe, en relación con el planeamiento urbano.

SUMMARY Since its first publication in 1971 as a special issue of The Architectural Review, Civilia, The End of Suburban Man has remained an anomalous document within the history of Architectural Theory and Criticism. Profusely illustrated with collages made from hundreds of photographs of buildings published in the pages of the magazine, the book described, in great detail and with a language close to that of the manifesto, a fictional English New Town built in an abandoned quarry. Located in a diffuse terrain vague between fiction, satire and true proposal, Civilia was both a critique of post-war English urbanism and the urban proposals of modernity in general, standing as a vivid illustration of the concept of Townscape that the magazine had been promoting for several decades. ‘Learning from Civilia’ offers a critical review of the content of the book, the circumstances of its creation and its reception, and introduces The Civilia Project. An initiative of the University of Newcastle, The Civilia Project integrates research and teaching, and proposes a reexamination of Civilia not only due to its historiographic significance, but also because of its value as a design tool and for the relevance that its discourse maintains today, especially, in relation to urban planning.

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Biografía del autor/a

Luis Miguel Lus Arana, Escuela de Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Universidad de Zaragoza.

Luis Miguel Lus Arana (Portugalete, 1976) is an architect, PhD and urban planner-designer. In 2001, he obtained the degree in Architecture, Urban Planning and Design from the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra (ETSAUN) after additional studies in the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia. In 2002 he joined the PhD program in the University of Navarra, and in 2008 he completed a Masters in Design Studies in the Harvard GSD focused on Theory and History of Architecture. In 2008-9 he returned as a visiting fellow (Harvard GSAS/ GSD) in order to develop research for his PhD dissertation “Futuropolis” (2013). Since 2013 he teaches Theory and History of Architecture in the University of Zaragoza. His research deals with Utopian and Visionary Architecture and Urban Design, as well as with the interactions between popular culture, mass media and Architecture.

Stephen Parnell, School of Architecture Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University

Stephen Parnell (Worksop, Nottinghamshire, 1971) is a lecturer in architecture at Newcastle University, interested in architectural criticism and journalism, post-war architectural history, the sociology of the architectural profession and the role the media play in it. His PhD, ‘Architectural Design 1954-1972: the contribution of the architectural magazine to the writing of architectural history’, completed under Peter Blundell-Jones at Sheffield University, won the 2012 RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis. That year, he also exhibited ‘Architecture Magazines: Playgrounds and Battlegrounds’ in the Padiglione Centrale of the 2012 Venice Biennale. Parnell is currently extending his PhD research to the Post-Modern years thanks to a RIBA Research Trust Award and will soon write a full critical history of AD magazine from 1930 to 1992 and its relationship to architectural culture, history and practice. He regularly contributes to the architectural press and was shortlisted for the IBP’s Architecture Writer of the Year in 2011 and 2012. Since 2020 he is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Architecture.

Citas

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Publicado

2020-05-20

Cómo citar

Lus Arana, L. M., & Parnell, S. (2020). LEARNING FROM CIVILIA. HETERODOXIAS CRÍTICAS, HISTORIOGRAFÍA Y PROYECTO URBANO / LEARNING FROM CIVILIA. CRITICAL HETERODOXIES, HISTORIOGRAPHY AND URBAN DESIGN. Proyecto, Progreso, Arquitectura, (22), 36–53. https://doi.org/10.12795/ppa.2020.i22.02