Contenu du sommaire : Ville et monument

Staging the City as an Exhibition
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German Federal Republic began a quest for symbols apt to engender a sense of unity and to compensate a persistent deficit in terms of national identity. Rebuilding Berlin as the capital indeed represented a unique opportunity: this once divided metropolis is to become the prototype of a new European city, and, what is more, a metaphor embodying the triumphant values of democracy. Its promoters, both private and public, concur on the meaning inherent in this extravagant urban spectacle. We examine here three projects through which they intend realising this vision: the Potsdamer Platz, a monumental commercial complex; three commemorative constructions, the “Topography of Terror”, the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Memorial; finally, the chancellery, an illustration of “multiculturally” inspired State architecture.

Values and Practices of Contemporary Architecture
More and more “ordinary” buildings—those that are without any direct relation to centers of authority—are conceived initially as liable to become tomorrow's heritage. This intention is paradoxical because the status of monuments in general presupposes either a power relationship or the passage of time which confers memorial value. Possible explanations include, on the one hand, the changes relative to the division of labor necessary to architectural conception for public works and, on the other hand, the ambitions of some architects in a context of increased individualism within the profession. These explanations are more complementary than conflictual.

Monuments and their Illumination
The fact that monuments are increasingly illuminated and otherwise prepared for night-time viewing represents a notable phenomenological rupture. With the advent of urban lighting, we no longer look at monuments in the same way. This technological change introduced a kind of distancing between what is contemplated and has simultaneouly systematized mechanisms of perception. Even if they are easily integrated into our daily environment, new modalities of spatial coding gives rise to new forms of observation and transforms our urban imagination.

On Architectural Reconversions and Historical Monuments
Architectural reconversions art associated with the dilution of the term pqtrimony. The extention of this term to industrial buildings, to the countryside, to factories and to mines must be understood in terms of new forms of economic organization and the emergence of tertiary cities where historical traditions plays a role in the definition of « images » capable of maintaining local identities. The examples of Brazil and France are useful in to study in illustration of this phenomenon.

Staging the City as an Exhibition
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German Federal Republic began a quest for symbols apt to engender a sense of unity and to compensate a persistent deficit in terms of national identity. Rebuilding Berlin as the capital indeed represented a unique opportunity: this once divided metropolis is to become the prototype of a new European city, and, what is more, a metaphor embodying the triumphant values of democracy. Its promoters, both private and public, concur on the meaning inherent in this extravagant urban spectacle. We examine here three projects through which they intend realising this vision: the Potsdamer Platz, a monumental commercial complex; three commemorative constructions, the “Topography of Terror”, the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Memorial; finally, the chancellery, an illustration of “multiculturally” inspired State architecture.

The Natural Dimension of a Monumentalized Landscape: Reinventing the Singularity of Brasilia
The Brasilia pilot plan has been recognized by UNESCO as a contribution to international patrimony because the project follows the principles established in the Athens Charter. Examination of the city and the project, however, reveals another singular dimension: the nature of the site contributes to the monumentality of the landscape. This dimension, involving the myth concerning the city's foundation and its “project image”, appears in representations of Brasilia. However, this conception is threatened by a number of factors.

Postsocialism, and Globalization in Hungary
The internal tensions born of globalization and the contradictions of neocapitalism have emerged with particular acuity in Hongary where the roots of the crisis and the fall of state socialism are most developed There exists in this country a double structure of economic power. On the one hand, there is a strong concentration of capital and production in the hands of foreign investors using western labor management and production methods. On the other hand. there is an interior market with a paternalistic. « feudal » organization and culture.