MODERN AND

POST-MODERN
ARCHITECTURE
Jurgen Habermas
Voit and Werder: The Munich Glass Palo.ce, Munich 185J,from Ludwig
Hilbmheimtr: 'Hallen Bauten: Leipzig 1931, p 107

Voit and Werder: The Munich Glass Palace. plan

Contemporary cityscape

The need to undmtand the fondammtal issues underlying the crisis and
confusion in rTU!dLm architecture over the W.st years is only too clear,
particular~y befort one can consider the question of the future facing
architrcturr Uxlay: a critical continuation ofModernism or a radical break.1
A possible answer to this dilemma is given in thefollowing ttxt; an inaugural
sperch presmtrd by Professor jiirgm Habermas in December 1981 at the
exhibition 'The Other Tradition - Architecture in Munich from 1800 up to
Uxla)". This text was first published in the Siiddeutschr Zeitung of 5-6
December 1981. It rrcmlly appeared in Der ArchiUct No. 2, 1982,joumal
ofthe BDA- the West Gmnanequivalenttothe RIBA -onthtoccasionofthe
lOth Goddtsberger lecture on 'The Architecture of Modernism
an
Incompletr Projtct', triggered by Professor Habermas's ideas and organiud
by the BDA.
In this text Professor Habermas analyus the present dispute between
Modernism arui Post-Modernism., criticall)' delineating the main trends in
opposition to the Modem Movement. In order to evaluate the inherent
arguments and possibilities ofthe twofronts, Habermas reassmts the social,
economic and technological conditions. in response to which the Modem
Movtment arost,the problems it attempted to answer through itsprogramme,
its successes- whtrt historical architecturefailed- and itsfailures tofact the
overpowering mechar1isms of the development of industrial capitalism
Within this context, a 1110rr 'objrctivr' assessment of the W.test trends and
1/lOtJtmmts in architecture- (Post-Modernism., Neo-Hirtoricism andA/ternatzvr Architecture), becomes possible; b;critismgopposing trends to Modem
Archittcture, Habermas suggests that a critzcal continuation ofModemzsm
which is still an 'fncompkte Projrcl' constitutes a viable alttr110live.

The exhibition 'The Other Tradition- Architecture in Munich

from 1800 up co today' offers an opportunity lO consider the
meaning of a preposition. This preposition has inconspicuously
become pan of the dispute on Post-or late-Modern Architecture.
With the prefix post the protagonists wish to dismiss the past,
unable as yet to give the presem a new name: To the recognizable
problems of the future, they, that is to say, we, do not yet have the
answer,
At first the expression 'Post-Modern' had only been used to
denote novel variations within the broad spectrum of the 'latemodern', when it was used during the 1950s and 1960s in the
United States for literarv trends that intended to set themsrlves
apart from earlier mode.:O writings. Post-Modernism only became
an emotionally loaded, outright political warcry in the 1970s,
when two contrasti ng camps seized the expression. On the one
hand the 'Neo-Conservatives', who wanted to rid themselves of
the supposedly subversive contents of a 'hostile culture', in favour
of reawakened traditions; on the other hand, certain critics of
economic growth, for whom the New Building (Neues &uen) had
become the symbol of the destruction brought on by modern
ization. Thus for the first time architectural movements which
had still shared the theoretical position of the Modern Architecture
-and which have rightfully been described by Charles J encks as
Late-Modern - happened to have been dragged into the 'conser
vative' wake of the 1970s, paving the way for an intellectually
playful yet provocative repudiation of the moral principles of
Modern Architecture.
9H

/V OPPOSITION TO UOJ)fRNIS\1

It" not taw w <hwmanglt til<' fronuer\ for all parties agree in the

criuqueofthe ~oullt"~~ 'comamer' architecture. of the absence ofa

wtth tlw em tronment and the \olitar: arrogance ol
the unantculated offict block. of the momtrous depanmem
\tore'>. monunwmal univef\ities and congre~~ centre~. of thtlad.
of urbanitv and the mi~amhrop' of the $atellite towm. of tht
heaps of '>P<'< ulati' t' building,, tilt' brutal \uccessorto the'bunker
architecturt'- tht ma\\ prod union of pitch-roofed dog house\,
the dt,trunion of dtit''> in tht name of the auwmobile, and so
fonh ... So manv \logam v. ith no disagreement whatsoe,er!
Indeed what one ~ide call\ immmtml mltrism, the other 5ide
comtdef\ to he oppnutum 111 ilv 'm/)(f,m'. The same reasom that
encourage tlwone sidt to a criucal connnuation of an irreplaceable
tradmon an '>uffi< ttnt for the other side to proclaim a Post
Modern era. Funhennore the e opponents draw contrasting
conclu5iom ac('orcling to whtt)l{'r thev confront the evil in temH
of co~metic'> ot tn ttnns of criticism of the svstem.
Tho\t' of a comrrwlitr disposition satisfv themselves with a
stvlistic co,crup of that which nonetheless exi ts either like the
traclitionaliM von Branca or like the popan ist Venturi today, who
tramform\ tht \pirit of the Modern Movement into a quotation
and mixe\ it ironicallv with other quotations, like dazzling
radiant neon light texts. The radical anltmodtmuts, on the other
hand, tackle 1he problem at a mort fundamemallevel, st'eking to
undermine the emnorntr and admmistrative constraints ofindus
trial constnlnion\. TIH'ir aim is a de-differentiation of the
archuecwral r uhun. What the one \ide consider'> as problems of
Sl) le, the other penei'e' as proble msofthedecoloniz.ation oflost
human habitats. Tlnl\ thost who ''ish to continue the incompleu-d
projt'<l of tht \haken ~1odem \1o' em em st-e tht.msel' cs confront t-el
b, \arious oppon<.ms who agrt.t onlv in a~ much a~ the\ arc
dettrmintd to lmak a''av from modt'rn architecture. Modern
arrhittt wn" hit h haH'\tnleft its mark on evervda, life. after all,
i' \tilltht fiN and onh unifving \l) It \incc the d~ys ofCiassictsm.
It ha' de' eloptd out ofbmh the organic as well as the rationahsuc
origins ofa Frank Llovd Wnght and an AdolfLoo,, and noumhed
m tht mo\1 \UC<t'\\ful work, of a Cropius and a M ies van dt:r
Rolw. a L<Corhmin,md an Ahar \alto. It i'>theoniV"archnectural
monmt.nttoonginau fromtht a\alllgarde spirit: it is equivaltnt
to a,amganlt painting. lllll\ll' and httraturt of our ccntuf\. It
t'ominutd alung 1he u adutonallmtof on idemal rationalism and
was powtrful tnough w <Tt'<ltt its own mocleb: in other worth, it
became d,t\\lt. itwlf <1nd \t.'t the foundations of a tradition, that
from tlw wrv btginning no\St'd n<~tional boundaries. How an
~uch hatdh di\putablv fat 1\ ~twncilable with the fact that in the
vtrv name of tht\ lnternauonal Stvle those unanimouslv condemntd dtfonnauot\\ whic h followed World War II, could havt
come about. Might it bt that tht rtal fan of Modern Architecture
i\ revealed 111 thtw atrtKHit'\, or arc thn misrepresentations ofits
true spirit;'
rt'lauon~htp

Tiff. C/1 HI f \Cf Of /Iff 19/H CF,\TUR}'TO 4RCII/Tl: CTl/Rf:

I should likt to auempt a pro' hional answer b\: I listing the

prublt.nl\ ''hit h f.tttd archi1et ture in the nmeteemh centuf\, 2
gi' ing an account of tht programmauc answers which the
Modnn \1ovtnwm offt"rtd in rt',ponse to tht problems, 3
pointing out tlw kind of probltnl\ whith could not be solved b,
thi' programnw. Finallv, 4 tht'\t' wmitkrations should help to
rnakt a judgtmtm on tlw \U~tstion, which this exhibition
attempt\ w makt (prt,uming its imemion havt been corrttth
undtNood). Ho'' good is the: rtwrnmtndation to adopt the
modtrn tradiuon unemngh .tnd to continue it cnticalh instead
offollowing tlw 't'\t'ilf>i\llllO\ t.menl\ whit'h are turrenth dominant: be it tradition wmt'it)U\ 'Nt'OIIt\toricism',thc ultra-modt.m
'<,tage\C't' archHecturtthat wa\ prtscnted at the Venice Bicnnale
in 1980, o r tiH' 'vitalism' of 'implified hfe in anon)'mOU\, dtproft\\ionali.rt'd, V<'rnatular architcnurc? The industrial revolu
tion and tlw a<cdtrattd social rnodemi.t.ation that followed,
introduced .t new situation w nineteenth cemurv architecture
10

F Dutrrt a11d ~ Conlamm ~fachmm Hall for thr Pam lnlemaltonal

IYhtbtlum. Pam I 889, from C 4 Pial:: 'Dtt BauAunsl der nrunlrn Zfli'
Btrlm /927, p !.'10

8 raul and f Hofmann 51trl ~fonumrnt. Lttpz.tp, 191 J.jrom G A Pint:.:

thtd, pI '19

\fa\ Btr~r.: Cmtmary Hall, Brrslau 191 J.from C .4 Plat:: tbtd,

P _'>09

and town planning. I would like to mention the three best known
challenges:
- tht qualitativclv new requirements in architectural de~ign,
the new material\ and comtruction techniques, and finally:
- tht \ubjugation of archil<'cture to new functional. above all
economic. unpetati,e~

Waltrr Gropun: 1-agur Factor,, Al/rld an drr Lrinr 191/.from W MiillaWulckow: 'Bautrn drr Arfmt und dt.\ Vukrhrs'. Lrtpz.tg 192 5, p 21

Alfrtd Mrml: Wrrthmn Drpartmtnl Storr, Brrlm J904.from G A Pial%.:

p 2)2
jo1rph Pa'l:ton Cmtal Palacr. l.Jmdon I 'iH-18~4. photograph ofthL
bui/dmg uru/a CtlllllrudtOTI. from lht l !pprr .Vont'Ood Public LJbrary
f lM Cry1tal Palau Foundalton). London

9H

I ndmtrial <apita)i,m Ul'.ttcd llt"!L mtrrrst sphtrts that evaded

both counlv-t'Cdc\ia\tical architenure, as well as the old European
urban and ntral ardlittuural cuhute. The diffusion of culture
and the formation of a" idtr, educated public, interested in the
ans, calltd for ntw libnrie\ and schools, opera houses ana
tht-atres. Howtnr, tht'\t' W\.'rt' comemionaltasks. Emirehdiffenm
i' the challcng<. prt'\tnud bv the transpon-network which wa\
revolutioni/.ed bv tht. rail\'-a'; not onlv did it give to the alread~
familiartran\pon \llunutts. the bridge\ and tunnels. a different
nwaning, but introductd a ntw task: the construction of railwav
statiom. Railwav \latiom arc charactcri,tic places for dense and
valied a' wdl a' anonvmou\ and Oeeting encounters, in other
word,, for the tvpt of interactions which were tO mark the
atmmphere ol lift in tlw big cities, described bv Benjamin as
onrflowing wid1 txciwmem btu lacking in contact. As the
motorway,, airpon' and tdtvision 10wen. have shown, the
dtvdopnwnt of transport and communication networks have
initiatt:d innovatiom tinw and again.
fhi' a),o applied to tlw d<vdopmem for commercial communication. It not onlv ntatcd tht dcmand for a new scale of
warehou\e~ and marktt-halls, but introduced unconvemional
con\truction projet.t\ a\ well: the depanmem store and the
exhibition hall. Abon all, howenr, industrial production with its
fanorie\, worktr, homing e\tatc~ and good~ produced forma''
comumption, creawd IH'\\ ~phcre~ of life imo which fonnal
dt,ign and ardlittnural articulation \\as not able to penetrate. at
fiN.
In tht "'cond half of tht nineteenth cemurv thol.e massproducts for daih me. which had escaped the stvlistic force of the
traditional an\ and craft\, were the first to be perceived as an
aesthetic problem. John Ru\krn and William Morris sought to
bridge the gap that had optned between utilitvand beau~ in the
e\t'rvday life of the indu\lrial world bv refonningtheapplicd arts.
Thi'> reform mownwnt wa' ltad bv a wider forward-looking
architt'ctural notion which accompanied the claim to fom1, from
an archittcnrral point of view, the 1'/llirr phvsical environment of
boufl.,rroi\ \odetV. Morris in particular recognised the contradiction
bttwten tht dtrnot'ratic demands for universal participation in
culture and the fan that, within industrial capitalism, increa~ing
domains ofhuman an ivitv w<rt being alienated from the creative
cultural forces.
Tht \econd challt:ngc to anhitenurc arose from the development
ofnrwnul/triail (\uch as glas\ and iron, steel and cement) and nw
mrthnd.r ofprodurtion (above alit he usc of prefabricated elemems).
In tht course of the nirwtterrth ccmurv the engineers advanced
the tcchniqut''> of comtrunion, therebv developing new design
possibilities which shauercd tht classical limits of the constructional handling of planes and volumes. Originating from
greenhou'>t' construnion, the glas' palaces of the first industrial
exhibitiom in London, Munich and Pari'>, built from standardi.t.ed
pans. comned to thtir fascinated comcmporaries the first
imprt'\sion of new order' of magnitude and of constructional
principles. The\ nvohuioni.t.<d \'i,ual txperience and altered the
pectatOf\' concept ofspate, as dramaticallv as the railway changed
the pa\sengtr> ton<;cpt of timt. The imerior of the cemreless
repetitive London Cf\\tal Palace must have had the effect of a
transcendence of all known dirnemiom of desigJled space.
Finally. tht third cht~llenge was the capitalist mobili::atron of
labour, rtal t'\late and building\, in general of all urban lirmg
condtltom. Thi'> ltd to tht concentration oflarge masses and to the
incursion of sp<:wlation in the field of private housing. The
reason for todav'> pwte~t\ in Kreu/.berg and elsewhere. originates
in that p<.riod. As hou\ingconstruction became an amonizeable
investment, \O decisiom about the purcha~e and the sale ofestate,
about cormrunion, demolition and reconstruction, about renting
and ''acating propertv wt'rc fned from the tics offamily and local
trctdition; in other words thev made themselves independem of
II

use-value considerations. The laws of the building and housing

market altered the attirude towards building and dwelling.
Economic imperatives also determined the uncontrolled growth
of cities. Out of these arose the requirements of a kind of town
planning which cannot be compared to baroquecitydevdopments.
The way these two sons of functional imperatives, those of the
market with those of communal and state planning, intersect, and
the way they entangle architecture in a new system of subordinations, is demonstrated in a grand style by the redevelopment of
Paris by Haussmann, under Napoleon Ill. The architects played
no noteworthy part in these plans.
FAILURE OF HISTORICISM, MODERNISM'S ANSWER
In order to understand the impulse from which modem architecture developed, o ne has to bear in mind that the architecture of
the second part of the nineteenth centurv was not only overwhelmed by this third requirement of industrial capitalism, b ut,
although the other two challenges were recognised, it has still not
mastered them. The arbitrary disposition ofscientifi cally objectified )tylcs, having been tom from their formative context,
enabled historicism to side-step into an idealism which had
become impotent, and to separate the field of architecture from
the banalities of everyday bourgeois life. By setting utilitarian
architecture free from artistic demands a virtue was made of the
nece)Sil\' of the new domains ofhum an concerns which had been
alienated from architectural design. The opportunities offered by
the new possibilities of technical design were only grasped in
order to divide the world between architects and engineers, style
and function, impressive facades on the exterior and autonomous
spatial disposition in the interior. Thus hi~torical architecture did
not have much more to set against the immanent dynamic of
economic growth, to the mobilization of urban living conditions,
to the social plight of the masses, than the escape into the triumph
of spirit and culture over the (disguised) material bases.
In the reformist tendencies o f the jugtrllbtil, from which
modem architecture emerged, the protest was already raised
against this falsity, against an architecture of repression and
symptom-formation. It was no coincidence that, in the same
period, Stgmund Freud developed the foundations of his theory
of neurosis.
The Modern Movement took on the challenges for which the
nineteenth centurv architecture was no match. It overcame the
stylistic pluralism ci.n d such differentiations and subdivisions with
which architecture had come to terms. It gave an answer to the
alienation from culture and industrial capitalism domains with
the claim for a style that would not only make a mark on prestige
buildings. but would also penetrate everyday practice. The spirit
of modernism was 10 participate in the totality ofsocial manifestations. Industrial design was able 10 take up the reform of the
applied arts: the functional design of utilitY buildings was able to
take up the engineering skills demonstrated in transport and
commercial buildings; the concept of commercial quarters was
able to take up the models of the Chicago School. Over and above
that, the new architectural language seized on the exclusive fields
of monumental architecture, of churches, theatres, law courts,
ministries, town halls, universities, spas, etc. On the other hand it
expanded into key areas ofindustrial production, into serdements,
social housing and factories.

WHAT DOES FUNCTIONALISM REALLY MEAN?

The New Sryle could certainly not have penetrated into all spheres
of life had modem architecture not assimilated the second
challenge, that is, the immensely widened range of technical
design possibilities with a determined aesthetic approach. The
term 'functionalism' incorporates certain key notions- principles
for the construction of rooms, for the use of materials and
methods of production and organization. 'Functionalism' is
based on the conviction that forms should express the usefunctions for which a building is produced. But the expression
12

Walltr GrofRw: BauJuJw, Dmau 1926.from W Miilkr-Wuldow:

'&utm dtr Gnnnnschaft', Lnplig 1928, p 84

Bruno Taut: Sudlung BriJ1. 'Das Hufwm', Btrbn 1927,from W MiUltrWuldow: 'Wohnbautm und Sudlungm', Ltlpug 1928, p 106

Pettr Behrens: Aircraft Hangar of the Carnage Worls, Hannover 191 5,

from W Milller-Wuldow: ibid, p 55
'functionalism' also suggests false concepts. II nothing else it
conceals the fact that the qualities of modem buildings res ult
from a consistentl y applied autonomous system of aesthetic
rules. That which is wrongly attributed to Functionalism it owes tn
fact to an aesthetically motivated Constructivism, follo\\;ng
independend y from new problem definitions posed in art.
Through Constructivism, modern architeaure followed the
experimental trail of avant-garde painting.
Modern architecture found it~clf at a paradoxical point of
depanure. On the one hand architecture has always been a use
oriemated art. As opposed to music, painting and poetrv,
architecture cannot escape from its practical contextual relations
any more than prose of a high literary standard can evade the use
of colloquial speech. These arts remain tied to the network of
common practice and everyday communication. It is for that
reason that Adolf Loos considered architecture, together with
anything else that serves a purpose, to be excluded from the
sphere of an.
On the othtr hand architecture is dominated by the laws ol
modem culture - it is subject, as is art in general, to the
compulsion of attaining radical autonomy. The avam-garde an,
that freed itself from perspective perception of the object and
from tonality, from immitation and harmony, and that turned to
its own means of representation, has been characterized by
Adorno with key words like construction, experiment and montage.

9H

lltdutg lllibashmntr: Design foro Ctll Dn.rlopmmt, oYonomrtric, from

I. 1/tlbmhrtmrr: tbul. p 128

I.udutg Htlbmhrunrr Dtsign foro Ctt) Dn.rlopmrnt, pions, srctions and

rln.atumr

While the Modem Movement recognized the challenges of the

qualitatively new requirements and the new technical design
pos ibilities, and while it essencially responded correctly, it
reacted rather helplessly to tht" pressures of the market and the
planning bureaucracies.
The broadened architectural concept which had encouraged
the Modem Movement to overcome a stylistic pluralism that
stood out against everyday rcalitv, was a mixed blessing. Not onlv
did it focus auemion on the important relations between industrial
de~ign, imerior design and the architecture of housing and town
planning, but it also acted as a sponsor when the theoreticians of
the New ArchiteCtUre (Nruts &urn ) wanted to see total form~ of
the life completely subjugated to the dictates of their design tasks.
However, such totalities e'\tend bevond the powers of de ign.
When Lc Corbusier finallv managed to realize his design for a
'umtr1ardm !'trltcalr', it was the communal facilities that remained
unused or were eradicated. The utopta of preconceived forms of
life which had already inspired the design of Owen and Fourier.
could not be filled with life. Not onlv because of a hopele ~
undcrcstimation of the diversitv, complexitv and variabilitv of
modem aspects of life, but also because modernized societies
with their functional interdependencies go beyond the dimensions
of living conditions, which could be gauged by the planner with
hi~ imagination. The crisis which ha' betome apparent todav
withm modern architecture cannot be traced back to a crisis in
architecture itself, but to the fact that it had readilvallowed itself to
be over-burdened.

TIIC0.\1PULSIONOFTHSYSTEM,ARCHITCTURANDTH
WIU TOUF

According to Adorno, the paradigmatic works indulge in an

esoteric absolutism, 'attht vcptnst ofrtal approprwtrntss. within wluch
functiOnal ObJrCts, as for o:amplt bridgts and industnal facililits, sttk lhttr
uumformallaws. Onlhtconlral), lhtautonomous workofart,functtonal
on/) u tlhm tis tmtnanrotltlto/og), suh toallam tluJt wluch was oncualltd
brautJ'. Thus Adorno contraslS the work ofan, functioning'within
itselr, with the use-objea. funCtioning for 'exterior purposes'.
However, modern architecture in its most convincing examples,
docs not comply with the dichotomy outlined by Adorno. Its
functional ism rathercoim:idts with the inner logic of a development
of an. Above all, three groups worked on the problem which had
arisen out of cubist painting: the group of purists around Lc
Corbusier, the construCtivists around Malevitch, and in panicular,
the De-Stijl movement (with van Doesburg, Mondrian and Oud).
Just as de Saussure had analysed language struCtures at that time,
the Dutch NeoplasticislS, as they called themselves, investigated
the grammar of the means of expression and design of the most
general techniques used in the applied ans in order to incorporate
them in a total work ofan imolving the comprehensive architeCtural
aniculation of the environmem. In Malevich's and Oud's verv
early house plans one can see how those objects of thefunetionali;t
Bauhaus architecture emerge from the experimental approach
using pure means of design. It is precisely in Bruno Taut's catchphrase: 'whotfunctions wtl~ looks good', thattheatsthttic lignificanaof
Functionalism, expressed so clearly in Taut's own buildings. is lost.
9H

Moreover, modem architecture, with the indsitincrions of

functionalist ideology was poorly armed against the dangen
brought about by the post-World War II reconstruction, the
periodduringwhich the International Stvle broadlyassened itself
for the first time. Gropius cenainlvemphasiLed the close relations
that architeCture and town planning had with indust:ry, commerce,
politics and administration. In those early days he already
perceived the charaCter of the process of planning. However,
within the Bauhaus, these problems only appeared in a 'format',
which was tailored only to didacuc purposes. Funhermore, the
~uccess of the Modem Movement led the pioneers to the
un1u ~tified expectation that 'unitv of culture and production'
could be achieved in another sense as well. The economic and
politico-adminiSLrativc limitations to which the design of the
environment was subjected, appeared in this transfigured viewpoint to be a mere question of organi7.ation. When in 1949 the
American Architects Association sought to insert in its statute the
condition that architeCtS should not operate as building contraCtors,
Gropius protested - not against the insufficiency of the means,
but against the purpose and reason for the proposal. He persisted
in his belief: 'Art, tluJt luJs btcomr o cultural foetor m grnrraL will br m a
ptmtton to gwt lht social rnutronmtnttht umlr. wluch will bt lht trot basu
foro culturr tmbracing tva) oC]tcl, from a mnplt chair to a housr ofpra_)tr'.
Within this grand synthesis, all the contradiCtions charaCterizing
capitalistic modernization especially in the field of town planning
disappear - the contradiCtions between the requirements of a
structured environment on the one hand, and the imperatives
shared by money and power on the other.
RESTORATION OF URBAN/1Y1

No doubt that development met with a linguistic misunderstanding.

Those means, that are suitable for a cenain purpose, are called
functional'. In this sense one can understand FunCtionalism' as
seeking to construct buildings according to the measure of the
users' purposes. The term funCtional' however also characterizes
decisions which stabilize an anonymous relation of aCtivities,
without the system's existence having necessarily been called for
or even noticed by any of the participants. In this sense, what is
considered as 'system functional' for the economy and administration. for example an increase in the density of inner city areas
with rising prices in real estate and increasing tax revenues, by no
13

mt>am ha~ to provt> to be 'Junctional' in tht> background ol the

Ji,es of both inhabitants and neighbouring rt>sidents. The problem~
of town planning arc not primarih probltm~ of design. but
problt>m\ ofcontrolling and dealing will1 the anom'lnous sv temimptrati\t'~ that influence the 'phc.rev of cit\ life and threaten to
dnastaw the urban fabric.
Toda\, twrvone is talking about recalling the traditional
Europtan citv. However. as carlv as 1889, C;unilo Sine. who wa~
ont' of tlw first to compare the nl('dit\altown with the modc.rn
citv, had warned against such forced lack of constraim~. After <l
cemun~ criticism of the large cit\', after innumerable. repeated
and disillu~ioned attempts 10 keq> a balann in the cities. to \a\'t'
the inrwr cities. to divide urban ~pace into residemial areas and
comnwrcial quaners, industrial fariliuc.s and garden suburb'>:
private. and public wnes; to build habitablt 'tatellite towm: w
rc.habihtate slum areas; 10 rc.-gulate tr.tllit mo\t \t'nsibh etc the.
quemon that is brought to mind i\ whet her the anual notwn of the
cit\ hav not it.,tlfbeen super~eded . Ava comprehtnsible habitat,
the. Cit\ could at one time be architenutalh de!>igned and
nwntallv represented. The socral funnionv of urban life, political
and economic, private and public, tlw a'>'ignmems of cultural
and teligiouv rcprcsemation, of work, habitation, recreation and
cdcbration rould be lramlatrd into use-purpo\es, into functionv
of temporallv regulated u~c of dcsigrwd spat cv. However, bv the
nHtetcc.mh cemun at the lau:~t. thc cit\ bc.came the intersection
point of adiflamtlt.ind offunctional rdauonvhip. It was cmbedckd
in abvtract vy\lemv which could no longtr lw captured acsthcticalh
Ill an tntdligible presence. The fan that from the. middle of tht
nimtctnth nntun tillth<' lat<' 1880,, tlw grc.at indu\lrial<."1.hibi
tiom wc.n planned as big archtttnural event\ reHah an impulvt
whKh \l'l'tm toufhing today. Wlulst for tht purpose ofintemational competition arranging a ft,tin and vivid display of their
induvt1 ial products in magnificent halh fort ht gtneral public, tht
gowrnmt'nl\ literally wamt'd to vettht \lag<' for the world marktt
and bring it back within the limit~ oft he human habitat. How<.ver.
not tvtn the railwav stations. which had brought their passengers
into roman with the trampon netwod... rould represent th<
nttwork\ function~ in the ~amc wa\ '" tlw dt\ gates had once
rq>rt'\enttcl tlw actual connenionv to thc nc.arb\ \'illages and
tlt'ighbounng towm. Beside\, arp<>rLS wd.t\ arc situated ''a'
oul\idt ntie'>. for good r<avon\. In tlw characterless oflice
buildmg\ which dominate the. town nmre,, in tht banh and
minivtcrics. the law court\ and coq>Oratt admini\lrations. the
puhli,lung and printing houses. tht pmate and public bureaucratic'>, ont ran not recognize the funuion.tl rdations whose point of
intn\t'(l ion t hev form. The graphir., of wm pam 1rademarks and
of neon-light advertisements dcmomtrat< that diffcre111iation
mmt tak<' placc bv means other than that of 1ht formal language
of architecture. Another indication that the urban habitat iv
inuta,nglv being mediated b\ W\lt'mir relatiom, which cannot
be giwn concrcu: form. is tht fatlun of perhaps the most
ambitiou' project of the New Architc.eturt ,\'rurs Baum . To this
da\, it ha\ not been possible to mtt-gratt' social housing and
factoritv within theciry. The urban agglonwrauons ha\eOutgrown
the old connpt of the city which peopk '>O cherish. Howe,er. that
" ntith<'r the failure of modern architcctur<. nor of an\' othcr
arch ittcturt.

On a trivialle\el. thi~ holclv tnt<.' lor Nco-Htstonetsm, wh1ch

tramforms department vtorc.s imo medieval rows ofhou~e,, and
underground ventilation vh.thv 11110 pocket-book size Palladian
villa\. As in the past centun. tht nturn to eclectici~m iv dm to
romp<.'n'<ltory needs. This traditionalism fall s under the lwadmg
of poltucal Neo-Comenamm, not unknmnt to Ba\'aria. tmofar
a' it redefines problem'> which lie on a diffrrmtlttrl. in ttrrn' of
qut\fions of stvle, thus rcmoving it from the consciousnt'\'> oft lw
public The t'!>CapiM reaction i' tehmd to a tendcnn fot tlw
allirmative: all that rcmaim should .,ta\' as it is. The separation ol
lm m and function abo applies 10 tht Polf-,\fodl'm ,\1rwmrt'lll. which
<on <.''>poncb to Charles Jcncb' ddinitiom and which is frct: ol
nmtalgia whether it i'> Eiwnn1.1n nand Gra\'l's, who autcmomi/t'
dw lonna! repertoire of tlw 1920v anivtkalh. or whcthtr it h
Holkin and Venturi. who. likt vurnali\1 \!age desigtlCI\, uuh/e'
modern design meLhod'> in ordtrto roa' pinuresque efftn, from
,lgrt'v\1\Th-mixed sty-It-\. ThclanJ-'tlageofthi' \tageset archit<nun
indulge' in a rhetoric that \ItII \l't'kv to t''l.prevv in cipher'> wvH'Jillt
rdauonv which can no longc.r be ar(hitenuralh fomllllaHd
~ malh. tht unit\' ofform and fuunwn "brol..tn in a difftnm wa\
IJ\ the 'lltmm/11r Arrhitt'clurc' "hith i'> ba.,ed on the probltmv of
twlogv and of the pre,cnation of hivwrirallv dc\'cloped ut ban
divtlict\. Tlwse trend'> ofttn rharantri.,ed as 'vitalivlic', .ut
prim.1rih aimed at clo,clv linking .1rrhitecwral design to vpatial,
tuhural and his10riral rorm''l.l' Thcrt'in vuni,c vomt of dw
tmpulwv of the Modnn Mmtmem. now ob,ioush on tlw
ddtn,l\t' Abo,eall. it iswonh noungthtinitiativeswhichaimat
d tommunal 'panicipaton arrhmnun. which dt\lgm urhan
anav in a dialogue with tlw ditmv. Whtn the guiding nwrhan~Vmv
of tlw market and the town planntng administration funnton 1n
\Ut h a wa\ a' to ha\'e divfunntOnalromcqucnces on tht ltn' of
thow connrned. failing tlw functionaJi,nl' as it was under\lc)()d,
tlwn it onlv follows that the fonnati\'l' communication of the
pat licipant~ be. allowed to wmpeH' with the mc.dia of mont'\ ancl
powt'l.
llmwvcr, the nostalgia for de-differentiatt'd forms of txi\lt'nt"l'
ofun btvtow' upon thew ttnd<ncitv an air of amimodnnivm.
Tht'\ art then linl..ed to tht cult of tht nmacularand to nnnnn
for the banal. Thi' ickolol{' of tlw unromplicated dtntt'' tlw
vtmible potential and tht 't><nfic II\' of nrltural modcrni\m. fht
J>liltvt' of anom,llOu\ architt'<..tUrt', ofarchitec:ture\\ithout archit<'t "
hav a prin which thi' \ italivm having beromc critical of the whult
vv\ll'JII, i\ willing to pav
cwn if it ha., anmher 'VolkvgtiVI' in
mind. a' for example. the om whovt tratl'>figuration in il\ tinw
brought the monumentali'>m of tht F(ihrer-architectun w itv
ultimme completion.
A good deal of trllth abo lits inthi'> fonn of oppositioin. ltt.tkn
on the unanswered probkms which modern architecture had left
in t ht' barkground - that i' to'"' the. coloniation of thc human
habnat bv the imperati,c~ of autonomittd systems of economK
,mel admini!>trti\'c proCC)'>CV. llowtnr. it will onh- bt: pos)ible to
learn \Oillething from all of thc.vt oppo\itions. if we kcep one
thing in mind. At a certain fonunate moment in modern
architc.oure, theaesthcticidtnut\'OfConstructi\'ism met wnh tht
practical spirit of strict Funnionali~m and cohered infonnallv.
rraclitions can only live through '>Uch historic moments.

1'/ HPU:X/TY AND REACTIONS

A\\llltting this diagno~is is not ab,olutd\' wrong, then it first of all

mtrdv wnfinm the dominating ptrpl<xitv and the need t<>
seardt for ntw solutions. Ofcourse. it aho raises doubts as to the.
reaniom which have been \Ct off bv the divaster of the simultantou'h ovc.r burdened and imtrumcmalind architecture of
the \1odnn \itovtmcnt Xrub Baum . In ordtr to at le~t pro\'i'>ionalh onentate m,,elf within the complt--1. wrrain of countermoH'Illt'nts, I ha'e distinguishtd thnt tendencie~ which ha\e
on<' thing in common: contran to tht wlf-critical continuation of
tlw Moclt-m Movement, the\ break awav fmm the Modern Stvlc.
Thcv want to dissolve the tie~ of the avant-garde formal language
and the infltxible functionalistir principles; programmaticallv,
form and function are to be ~eparattd otKt' again.
14

JufKtn Habennas has anl'CI "' lht Diuttm .11 lht \ta,Piant 1.. hl,tiluw.u
St.lmlxfK for reearch imu tht li' ing <"onduwoh in !Itt' ' l inuifit
H't hn1cal world \Inn 1971 . I k wa'" rncard1 a~i\lant a1 the lmtitutt for
Snti.ll Swdu:' in Frankfurt from 19'ih 111 1<159. He held lht Chaor for
Plulmo11ll\ a1 1he Unnr\U\ of llt-iddb<f'K from 1961 10 19b1 .utd
"'h't'qutn!lv he wa' appoinlt'd 1lw Ptofl'\'iOr for Philo,oph\ .:tnd
Sunulo~ ;u1hc Uni,el\il\ ofl-r.ml..fun Jurgtn Ho~benna~ ha., publilll'd
wideh. among\! his mo'' \\Til-known boo I.., .m Thrort ar1d Prn-.:11 of I t)63
ilnd CultuuatldCriltnll11of1973. In 1976. he received llwSigmund-Frcud
Prite for ~dcmilic prose awarded bv llw Ctrman Acadcnw for L..utgu.tgt
,mel Poe1rv.
9H