Czabanowski, Pioneering History of Theory & Practice of Sustainable Building; part 1: Theory as Reflections of M.A.-thesis becoming a Global Prophecy

J. Czabanowski, Pioneering History of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Building; part 1: Theory as Reflections of M.A.-thesis becoming a Global Prophecy and Image Poems (revisited)?

Start of Architectural Historical Research 1990

From Theory to Practice: Following steps within the Ecological Architecture. The Development of ecological building by case-studies of seven Dutch settlements [Czabanowski Nijmegen 1992; revis(it)ed version Eindhoven 1995]

The cover of the M.A.-thesis showed sunflowers (lat. Helianthus annuus) as sunspots arranged around the title 'The Development of Ecological Building' as symbol for optimal efficiency to catch sun-beams. A practical hint of Mother Nature for builders to situate the solar cells and PV-modules (on roofs, on fields etc.) into the direction of the solar (cycled) loop, be(com)ing conscious of environmental phenomena, like our most powerful energy carrier and supporter, the Sun; solar power plant in our solar system. Passive and active use of solar energy is essential to plan (cities) as Urbanists and Architects and build human-ecologically minded and conscious. Philosopher Socrates was a supporter of solar directed urbanization in ancient Greece [Czabanowski 1995; Part 2: Illustrations, ill. 45 passiv solar use]. https://pure.tue.nl/ws/files/4319354/456775.pdf

Co-existential Life-support against serial mechanized production

My Master of Arts, M.A.-thesis at the Catholic University of Nijmegen (KUN, now Radboud University of Nijmegen, RUN) included a research of a theory and its practice. It turned out to be a movement and development, in this time (end 1990 till summer 1992), known as 'ecological architecture or building'. It was a manifestation of a reform(ation) movement-in-development by social and environmental engagement, to re-think and re-order the existing conditions in the building sector as nearly lifeless core-business. Buildings as produced serial products by machines and mechanized and petro-chemical processes, merely left out human life and life in general. The new order of postwar Modernism shows the clear and clean image which leads to the Sick Big Building Syndrome (SBBS, neologism of Czabanowski) symbolized by the repetition of endless monotony which leads to the symptom, even more phantom of ILL, the massive use of concrete and steel in the International (styled) Architecture known as ILLNESS and titled as 'Die Unwirtlichkeit unserer St?dte' being burned out, without life [Mitscherlich 1967].[i] Alexander Mitscherlich was a member of the Frankfurter Schule and psychologist by profession. My image-poem 'ILL 5th Avenue', the title of a Minimal Image Poem as poetical Minimalism was published in a poem-book The Meaning of Life in 1997, after giving a lecture by a slide-show as performance at the Open Podium of the Studium Generale, TU Eindhoven. It illustrates the rigid monotony of the high-scaled skyscrapers of reproductional urbanization in so called satellite cities.

The 'culture' of building in the engaged minds asked for a reconsideration; it should be linked to agriculture again, using natural and renewable resources without or with minimal operation and energy-lost. Reminding the original roots of human shelters of our ancestors worldwide spreaded, illustrating a multidiversity of forms, mostly connected to the natural environment. The Shelter-movement by hippies and drop outs choose as conscious human beings an alternative lifestyle as counter-culture movement [Baer 1973][ii], leaving the unbearable cities [Mitscherlich 1965][iii] where cars and highways in Moses-Plan had a higher priority than the living citizens [Jacobs 1961] [iv]: economy first, sociology second. Another image-poem of Juri Czabanowski 'Animal Manhatten' is published in the Magazine Nieuwe reveille (New Awaking) of the Antonius Doctor College (ADC) in Kerkrade in 1983-'84. At that time the author got his laureate after followed college-seminars at Bernardinus College at Heerlen in Summer 1983.

This twist is brilliant illustrated by the duel between Robert Moses versus Jane Jacobs, macho-ism and capitalism versus feminism and activism, the machinary-lobby against humanity-hobby [Jacobs 1961].[v] The civil courage of Miss Jacobs and her fellow warriors to fight for their human rights is still a memorable act to remember, certainly in our actuality becoming overruled by machines, robots, algorythms and automatics. After several years the image-poem 'Animal Manhattan Grid' was developed into a transformed and 'revis(it)ed' 3rd version, being cocooned and later dismantled by an urban metabolism of metamorphosis, showing the modernistic silhouet of the city at night with colored lights. The connection between West and East was symbolized by the globalized cities looking the same as stereotypes of Modernism, being connected by increased airports as phenomenon, calling 'Ni Hao' Tokyo-Hanoi-Shanghai as metropolitan cities of the Mass of Modernism!

Participation and emancipation???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Another important issue concerned the engagement and involvement by employed participation of residents in the concept and constructive performance. Residents were since the industrialized standardisation of serial housing doomed to be pure consumers without any connectness towards the creation of their houses, even the interior of social housing was partly ruled and regulated by governmental laws, rules and norms.?A short summary will be given in the next article as incidence of the Ph.D.-thesis (period 1995-2000; 2006) as continued research of the M.A.-thesis.

Governmental regulation????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Dutch architects and engineers of social housing for instance were in their designing bounded to follow governmental, policy statutes formulated in Voorschriften en Wenken [V en W 1965].[vi] Prof.ir. John Habraken, architect and the first dean of the young Faculty of Architecture and Building at Technology of the Highschool of Technology Eindhoven (THE; later Technische Universiteit Eindhoven TU/e) proposed to separate the outer- and the innerskin of a building in his fundamental research De dragers en de mensen, translated as?Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing [Habraken 1961].[vii] He was one of the founders of the Stichting Architecten Research (SAR), Foundation for Architects Research in 1965, the link between fundamental theory and daily practice [Habraken 1965].[viii] In his approach stayed the building exterior as domain of the industrial construction and technical installation, being resorts and divisions of architects, civil engineers, constructors and installers, but the building interior should be more domained by residents themselves. The prime difference between a house of stones and a home of heart [Czabanowski].?Habraken was seen as a social reformer in a totally industrialized building and housing sector worldwide.??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Social and deep ecology ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Important was the practical activation of Social ecology, since the 1920s a study-branche of the Chicago School of Sociology to study social behavior as mainly theory [Chicago 1920s-1930s]. It got later a more pratical compeer in active philosophy of social activist and anarchist Murray Bookchin, and in building praxis by residents as participants [Frans van der Werf, critical 1970s].[ix] Van der Werf was involved as architect and city-planner in the principles formulated by prof. Habraken; Van der Werf called his practical transformation of SAR as ‘Open ontwerpen’ [Van der Werf 1993].[x] Habraken wrote the opening word of this architectural research making an interconnection and correlation between ‘weefsel-drager-inbouw’ (‘texture-supporter-encase‘). The philosophy of ‘deep ecology’ by prof. Arne Naess enclosed social ecology and environmentalism as being leading principles of a conscious lifestyle [Naess 1972-‘73].[xi]

In social option building is a social act and activity that stimulates social contact and connectness between residents: the human habitat and its building component. Social anthropologist like Levi-Straus emphesized the importance of social components as binding act of tribal members [Levi-Straus]. Author Bernard Rudolfsky wrote bestsellers about the essence of building as an collective human phenomenon, an instinctive like many birds buildings their nest, illustrated by marvellous examples in Architecture without architect [Rudolfsky 1964].[xii]

‘Birds and their nest, Architecture East and West’ [xiii] ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Speaking about birds is calling the spirit of biologist and ornithologist Rachel Carson who wrote about the ‘ecocide’ of nature and its eco-systems and indirect genocide of human being th ethe massive use of the pesticide DDT, that would be or become to final act of the symphony by birds as a killing act in the chain of flower-insect-bird, and finally mankind in her bestseller Silent Spring [Carson 1962].[xiv] Cinephile Czabanowski as fan of ‘The Master of Suspence’ Hitchcock made a link to Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Birds, a movie screened in cinema in 1963 about an early environmental consciousness by writer Daphne du Maurier’s novel Birds published in 1953! and the mentioned scientific research of the influence of pesticides of scientist Mrs. Carson. Czabanowski's thesis: it was an indirect hommage of sir Hitchcock to the heroic alarm of the just passed away biologist Mrs. Carson in 1963! Carson wanted the call her book Man against nature but changed it into SILENT SPRING as a hommage to her beloved winged animals, the joyful singing birds announcing the sparkling life in Spring. The author wants to refer on the oldest poetic lines of Dutch literature by a monk to express his love for life as loving act: “Hebban olla vogela nestas higunnan, hinase ick anda thu; later found last sentence; “uuat unbidan uue nu” translated: “The birds have begun to make their nests, except you and me”, …”why don’t we begin now??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????In final consequence of the poisoned Earth the title could have been named: Man against Man, an illustration of collective suicide of mankind! What does it take to stop this madness of pesticides and herbicides, creating killing fields of poisoned life all around world? Stop this Apocalypse! Again a reference to bird as symbol: John the Evangelist, being transformed and incorporated with an Eagle in the biblic tetramorph. His evangelium begins with the ‘birdview’ effect or ‘bird perspectiv’ from the sky towards beneath on Earth, as spectrum of the king of the sky (like the imagination of God looking from Universe upon the world; since mission of Apollo 8 to the Moon known as Overview Effect).????

Odyssey of Human Mankind: Phase of Sustainability in Age of Transitions????????????????????

This M.A.-thesis became a research like an Odyssey of a present ‘Odysseus’, a survey finding the context behind 'hidden' literature to be(come) dis- and uncovered like a detective of analyzing the poetry of Homer, ‘be(com)ing aware to read between the lines’ and by meeting and visiting pioneers of the history of the theory and praxis of human and ecological; the author uses since his Ph.D.-research his coined combination of ‘human-ecologically minded’ to express the awoken Enlightenment of integral consciousness for co-existence as life-support, later by governemental report known as ‘sustainable building’. Sustainable building is the derivative contribution as target for the building sector as support to develop sustainable societies worldwide as main goal. The UN-Commission for Environment and Development (UNCED) under leadership of the female president Gro Harlem Brundtland advised to restore the global balance between the developing and industrial countries by development of their environment. Sustainable Development of the environment as key for a liveable life for the next generations with help of sufficient life-supporting and efficient systems; the report was, in a typical UN-statement, suggested as Our Common Future, to underline the global mission [Brundtland 1987].[xv] Many UN-conferences followed since 1987 to share the results and adjust the targets.

Pioneers as avant-garde

Prof. mag.arch.ing. Peter Schmid became supervisor of my PhD-research. Prof. Schmid linked building and technology and environment in his educational and research-chair of AM-section: Afbouwtechniek & Milieu-integratie (abbrev. AM; Buildingtechnology and Environmental-integration), since his nomination on the TU Eindhoven in 1972! Important is his and AM-students foundation as Compagny to spread his theory and realisation of Integral Bio-logical Architecture (IBA) by the members of the VIBA, settled in the Brabant Hallen, an re-used and renovated factory of De Gruyter in Den Bosch, capital of the Province of Noord-Brabant (NL) in December 1976.

The other pioneer to meet and to discuss with was prof. dr. dipl.ing. Manfred Speidel as human resource for research (later 2nd promotor of the Ph.D.-thesis). This expert of Theory of Architecture in matter of architectural linguistics for signs as designs and designed signs by semiotics as Ph.D.-thesis, was also specialized in the Japanese period of architect Bruno Taut and being involved by the history and praxis of building with earth, leading summer-seminars of Earth-Building in an agricultural area; here international experts of earth building worked with students on an experimental study-field in Aachen-Seffent by Vetschau; 3 miles from his office called Buro Speidel and Institute of Architecture and the Library of History of Art of the Rheinland Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen) in Germany. The distance to Aachen of Kerkrade, where I was born, counts ten miles by roadway, a town grown by the existence of a famous abbey of Rolduc, the greatest monastic domain of the Benelux, founded by monk Ailbertus, who became abt. He and his spiritual brothers of the Augustine order discovered and mined coal, a mineral what would become the black gold, and lignite as brown gold as resources of the whole region, which transformed the agricultural life into a high-industrialized area of Europe during the Industrial revolution.

Genius loci - Scenius loci - critical regionalism

Living here in the 20th Century was more or less identical with be(com)ing familair with mine-industry as supercharger of the 'spiritual fire' of industrialization in an international zone situated in a triangle of Germany-the Netherlands-Belgium; once 'quadrilateral' of four countries by creation of the mini-state of Moresnet because of the omnipresence of zinc, a valuable resource with worldwide greatest population related who spoke Esperanto, an artificial language constructed by doctor Zamenhof, developed to become the world language worldwide. This Euro-region represents an inspiring place by presence of forces as space for spiritual inspiration or 'genius loci' [Norberg-Schultz 1979].[xvi] As illustration another bestselling book is chosen of the author with the same intentition to honour the collective architecture of our ancestors: The Prodigious Builders published in 1977. On the cover and during study-travel the cave-houses at Goreme Valley in Cappadocia, Turkey are registrated illustrative ( ? ill. Czabanowski-UrchiTecton 2015, visit t of cave-houses and -chapels in winter 2012). After being served as basic homes for poor people they became exclusive apartments for residents and tourists.

The Roman genius loci is now known as 'ambiente' or 'coleur locale'. Next to the genius loci manifests an inspired scene as podium, familar with the local conditions, the breeding mentality and behavior of a long and eminant history of the formation and reformation of Europe, a story of rise and decline or scenius loci or local mis-en-scene [Czabanowski 2015].[xvii] Both, the local inspiration and the presence of a podium are important criteria for critical regionalism in architecture, the expression of a local and regional type of architecture and historical way of building related to local materials, tools, knowledge, handcraft, craftmanship and rituals, characteristic for the place and it's local or regional population [Mumford 1961].[xviii] Critical regionalism is linked to Schools with typical characters as expression of historical traditions, bounded roots. Modernism and modern way of life called modernity broke with all these existing traditions of conservatism. Traditionalism keeps things, conserve them, holds on on old fashions, and does not change: 'keep on going' The dangerous risk of these mentality and behavior is the chance of change and exchange, missing the link and missing links till the whole system collaps, getting out of fashion and outdated, becoming old-fashioned and locked up without connection to the outerworld, even get lost and forgotten if next generations leave their roots, becoming global citizens as modern nomads on the road wherever hedge- and headhunters and jobs take them.

End notes and references

[i] [Mitscherlich 1965]; Alexander Mitscherlich, Die UNWIRTLICHKEIT UNSERER STADTE, Anstiftung zum Unfrieden, Hamburg 1965; psycho-analysis of urbanism as a cul-du-sac, an oneway road to disappear and despair.

[ii] Steve Baer, Shelter, serial Magazine of traditional ways of building be(com)ing an alternative against the serial- and mass-produced housing and building-sector, Bolinas 1973.

[iii] See note 1 of psycho-somatic psychologist Mitscherlich.

[iv] [Jacobs 1961]; Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York 1961.

[vi] [V en W 1965], Voorschriften en Wenken, governmental policy regulation for building and housing.

[vii] [Habraken 1961]; John Habraken, De dragers ende mensen, 1961; against monotony caused by industrialized standards in the building industry, far away?from human activity.

[viii] John Habraken was director in period 1965-1975.

[ix] Architect and VIBA-member Frans van der Werf introduced the participation and emancipation of the residents as elementary part of the planning concept till the realization as building-process.

[x] Frans van der Werf, Open ontwerpen, Rotterdam, 010-uitgeverij 1973.

[xi] Arne Naess coined the term ‘deep ecology’ in 1972-’73 being impreseed by the research Silent Spring (1962) of the biologist and ornothologist Rachel Carson.

[xii] Bernard Rudolfsky, Architecture without Architects, 1964; hommage to our common ancestors who build their homes themselves.

[xiii] ? Poetic one-liner by Juri Czabanowski 2018.

[xiv] [Carson 1962]; Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962.

[xv] Brundtland-report, Our Common Future, Oxford 1987.

[xvi] Christian Norberg-Schultz, Genius Loci, Landschaft, Lebensraum, Baukunst, Milano 1979.

[xvii] Juri Czabanowski coined the neologism ‘scenius loci’ in 2015.

[xviii] Lewis Mumford, The City in History, its origins, its transformations, and its prospects, London 1961