Representing the State

by Sonne, Wolfgang

• ISBN13: 9783791328980
• ISBN10: 3791328980
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Prestel Pub

Summary

Wolfgang Sonne examines the relationship between urban design and politics in five major capital cities, all of which underwent comprehensive planning at the beginning of the twentieth century: Washington, Berlin, Canberra, New Delhi and the World Centre of Communication, a proposed international capital of peace. With more than 150 illustrations, this book explores the evolution of the ambitious urban design schemes of the period and the difficulty in integrating architecture with the political ideals it endeavours to represent. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Wolfgang Sonne teaches architectural history and theory at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. He has previously taught at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Harvard and the University of Vienna

Table of Contents

I. Introduction:The Political Iconography of the City	29	(21)
1. What is a Capital City? The Definition of the Topic	32	(3)
2. What is Representation? On the Role of Symbolism in Politics	35	(5)
a. Representation	36	(1)
b. Symbol and Politics	37	(3)
3. Reconstructing Meaning: Remarks on the Method	40	(4)
4. Capital City Planning in Context: Urban Design in the Early Twentieth Century	44	(6)
a. The Tasks of Urban Design	44	(2)
b. National Schools and International Connections	46	(4)
II. Washington 1902: National Self-presentation of a Consolidated Democracy	50	(51)
1. Events up to 1902	50	(2)
2. First Plans	52	(3)
3. The Senate Park Commission Plan	55	(8)
a. The Comprehensive Plan	56	(2)
b. The Public Buildings	58	(1)
c. The Mall	59	(3)
d. Design Means	62	(1)
4. Protagonists and Positions	63	(18)
a. Beauty, Unity, Civic Pride: Architects Supporting the Plan	63	(7)
b. Patriotism, Democracy, Public Education: Politicians and Public Representatives Supporting the Plan	70	(7)
c. Formalism, Autocracy: Architects Opposing the Plan	77	(2)
d. Extravagance, Absolutism: Politicians and Press Opposing the Plan	79	(2)
5. Steps towards Implementation after 1902	81	(8)
a. Bills	82	(1)
b. Buildings	83	(3)
c. Monuments	86	(3)
6. Imperial Representation on the Philippines: Manila and Baguio	89	(5)
a. Manila	90	(2)
b. Baguio	92	(2)
7. "Washington of the North": Ottawa	94	(7)
a. First Plans	94	(3)
b. The Federal Plan Commission 193-15	97	(4)
III. Greater Berlin 1910: Raising a European Capital to Imperial World Status	101	(48)
1. State Buildings in Berlin	101	(3)
2. Launching the Competition	104	(1)
3. Ideas and Expectations	105	(5)
a. Government and Citizen Representatives: Health and Power	105	(1)
b. Architects and City Planners: Monumental Expression of National Greatness	106	(4)
4. The Competition Designs	110	(13)
a. A First Prize: Hermann Jansen	111	(3)
b. A First Prize: Joseph Brix and Felix Gemmer	114	(1)
c. Third Prize: Bruno Möhring, Rudolf Eberstadt and Richard Petersen	114	(3)
d. Fourth Prize: Bruno Schmitz, Otto Blum, Havestads & Contag	117	(4)
e. Acquisitions and Other Designs	121	(2)
5. Uniformity, Metropolis, Internationality, Democracy	123	(7)
6. Picturesque, Small Town, Nation, Hierarchy	130	(3)
7. Sentiment, Nature, Necessity	133	(5)
a. Architecture as a Language of Sentiments	133	(2)
b. Urban Design as a Product of Nature	135	(2)
c. Necessary Expression through Fulfilment of Purpose	137	(1)
8. Consequences	138	(2)
9. Other European Capital Cities	140	(9)
IV. Canberra 1912: Searching for Democratic Monumentality	149	(40)
1. Events	149	(2)
2. Australian Ideas	151	(4)
a. Politicians: Greatness, Height and Centrality	151	(1)
b. Architects: Meaningful Plan and Picturesque Elevation	152	(3)
3. First Prize in the Competition: Walter Burley Griffin's Plan and His Comments	155	(7)
a. Functional Fulfilment of Democratic Needs	156	(1)
b. Symbolic Representation of Democratic Values	156	(2)
c. Searching for a Democratic Language of Architecture	158	(3)
d. Rooting Democratic Urban Design in Nature	161	(1)
4. Other Award-winning Competition Plans	162	(8)
a. Second and Third Prizes: Saarinen and Agache	162	(4)
b. Prizewinners of the Minority Vote: Griffiths, Coulter & Caswell, Comey and Gellerstedt	166	(3)
c. Acquisitions: Magonigle and Schaufelberg, Rees & Gummer	169	(1)
5. Eliminated Competition Entries	170	(8)
a. Comprehensive City Types: Radio-concentric, Grid and Informal	170	(2)
b. Government District Types: Ring, Axis, Mall, Forum and Castle	172	(6)
6. Reactions to the Competition and Other Consequences	178	(5)
a. Overseas: Democratic Spirit and National Sensibility	178	(1)
b. Australia: Griffin, the Progressive Rebel, and Canberra, the City of Freedom	179	(4)
7. The Failure of the 1914 Competition for the Houses of Parliament	183	(6)
a. A New Democratic Style	184	(1)
b. Democratic Monumentality	185	(4)
V. New Delhi 1913: Manifestation of the Empire's Supremacy	189	(52)
1. Positions and Plans in the Empire	189	(12)
a. The Urbanistic Debate in Great Britain	189	(5)
b. Plans for an Imperial London	194	(5)
c. The Union Buildings in Pretoria	199	(2)
2. New Delhi: Events	201	(6)
3. Positions and Opinions of the Participants	207	(13)
a. Politicians: Enduring Rule through Selective Adaptation	207	(6)
b. Architects: Western Superiority through Universal Classicism	213	(7)
4. The Plan and the Buildings	220	(10)
a. The Plan of the Delhi Town Planning Committee	220	(3)
b. The Buildings by Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Herbert Baker	223	(7)
5. Reactions and Critiques	230	(11)
a. Travel Guides and History Books: Delhi as the Indian Rome and Key to Rule over India	230	(1)
b. Newspapers and Journals: A Combination of Styles for a Co-operative Empire	231	(3)
c. Architecture Journals: Imperial Politics between Colonial Export of Style and Benevolent Support for Regional Traditions	234	(7)
VI. World Centre of Communication 1913: The Futile Invention of an International City of Peace	241	(45)
1. Academic and Other Ideal City Plans	241	(12)
a. Austria	241	(1)
b. France	242	(11)
2. Peace Traditions	253	(5)
a. The Hague: Peace Conferences, Peace Palace and World Capital of Peace	253	(4)
b. Brussels: Paul Ottet, Henri La Fontaine and the International Organisation of Knowledge	257	(1)
3. The World Centre of Communication by Hendrik Christian Andersen and Ernest Hébrard	258	(11)
a. Layout	259	(8)
b. Political Goals: Communication, Progress and Peace	267	(2)
4. Reactions and Criticism	269	(8)
a. Dignitaries: Approval and Restraint	270	(2)
b. Newspapers and Journals: Enthusiasm, Derision and Some Criticism	272	(5)
5. Aftermath	277	(9)
a. The League of Nations and the League of Nations Palace	278	(2)
b. Ottet and the Mundaneum	280	(1)
c. Andersen and the World Centre	281	(1)
d. Hébrard and Urban Planning for the French Colonies	282	(4)
VII. Conclusion: City Images and their Political Meaning	286	(31)
1. Aesthetic City Types and their Political Connotations	286	(8)
a. The Beaux-Arts City	287	(2)
b. The Metropolis	289	(1)
c. The Picturesque City	290	(1)
d. The Garden City	291	(2)
e. The Skyscraper City	293	(1)
2. Urban Design and Architectural Means of Political Communication	294	(6)
a. The Comprehensive City	294	(1)
b. Urban Elements	295	(2)
c. Building Types and Elements	297	(1)
d. Architectural Styles	298	(2)
3. How Capital Cities Mean: Architecture and City as Signs	300	(11)
a. Conventional Signs	302	(3)
b. Natural Signs	305	(3)
c. Complex Signs	308	(1)
d. Unfocused Signs	309	(2)
4. What Capital Cities Mean: Possibilities of Representing the State in the City	311	(6)
Notes and Bibliography	317	(26)
Appendix	343	(20)
Index	363