Congrs International d'Architecture Moderne

The Congrs

internationaux

d'architecture

moderne

CIAM

(International Congresses of Modern Architecture) was an organization

founded in 1928 and disbanded in 1959, responsible for a series of events
and congresses arranged around the world by the most prominent
architects of the time, with the objective of spreading the principles of the
Modern Movement focusing in all the main domains of architecture (such as
landscape, urbanism, industrial design, and many others). CIAM was one of
many 20th century manifestos meant to advance the cause of "architecture
as a social art".
It was not only engaged in formalizing the architectural principles of the
Modern Movement, but also saw architecture as an economic and political
tool that could be used to improve the world through the design of buildings
and

through urban

planning.

The

group

discussed

concentrated

on

principles of "The Functional City", which broadened CIAM's scope from

architecture into urban planning. Based on an analysis of thirty-three cities,
CIAM proposed that the social problems faced by cities could be resolved by
strict functional segregation, and the distribution of the population into tall
apartment blocks at widely spaced intervals. These proceedings went
unpublished from 1933 until 1942, when Le Corbusier, acting alone,
published them in heavily edited form as the "Athens Charter."
As CIAM members traveled worldwide after the war, many of its ideas
spread outside Europe, notably to the USA. The city planning ideas were
adopted in the rebuilding of Europe following World War II, although by
then some CIAM members had their doubts. The CIAM organization
disbanded in 1959 as the views of the members diverged. Le Corbusier had
left in 1955, objecting to the increasing use of English during meetings.
The declared intentions of CIAM were:

To formulate the contemporary programme of architecture

To advocate the idea of modern architecture

To introduce this idea into technical, economic and social circles

To see the resolution of architectural problems

The creation of CIAM may perceptively be due to a responsibility to the

changing social and political conditions of Europe after the First World War,
however ulterior motives to the association was to be a contributing factor.
Le Corbusiers entry for a League of Nations competition was rejected on a
technicality by the jury. Le Corbusier arrogantly began an international
campaign to have his verdict overturned. He used his formation of CIAM as
an

instrument

of

propaganda

to

advance

his

cause.

In accordance to the formation of CIAM by Le Corbusier, the Berlin

Ring group of radical architects were in conflict to purify the new
architecture of the expressionists. Running parallel to the German group,
the Swiss Werkbund (under the personalities of Matt Stam, Hans Schmidt,
and Hannes Mayer), wanted to advance their movement of the Neue
Sachlichkeit (the New Objectivity, a school of thought of anti expressionist
art). They dedicated their work to socially relative buildings based on
scientific principles.
The World War, political revolutions and the rapid industrialisation were
changing social conditions. Focusing on Europe, there was the mass
housing shortage and the depression that followed the war. This problem
was discussed in depth by Karel Teige in his bookThe Minimum
Dwelling The greatest architectural problem of our time is to provide
adequate housing for people of minimum income. With respect to Germany
in particular, he explains in greater detail how the housing shortage cannot

be blamed on the building of nothing during the years of the war, or the
increase in population. Instead, the housing shortage can be traced to
sociological factors: 300 000 apartments are unfit for habitation and there
already is an absolute shortage of 550 000.3
Reaction to defeat in Germany was a revolution that brought the Weimar
Republic and along with it was the polarisation of political extremes to the
left and right. The new Weimar Republic wanted a radical break of
modernity. An example may be seen as the Bauhaus. Their school of thought
was to bring the creativity of the arts and crafts to coalesce with the
expression through architecture.
For a reform of CIAM, the group Team 10 was active from 1953 onwards,
and two different movements emerged from it: the New Brutalism of the
English members (Alison and Peter Smithson) and the Structuralism of the
Dutch

members

(Aldo

van

Eyck and Jacob

B.

Bakema).