To Heal the Earth by Ian L. McHarg

Author:Ian L. McHarg [McHarg, Ian L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781597269223
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2012-09-12T04:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

The housing solutions which have been advanced or utilized in this century fall into three main categories; the two extremes of the multi-story flat and the free-standing, single-family house, and, between these, the terrace-row semi-detached house. The multi-story flat has particularly been espoused by the leaders of modern architecture. From Le Voisin, La Ville Radieuse, The Siemensstadt, “De Plaslaon” in Rotterdam, and their derivatives to the Unites d’Habitation, modern architecture had advanced the multi-story apartment as the prime urban house type. Yet it hardly justifies this devotion and dependence on the grounds of its modernity. Some reaction to this preoccupation and devotion to the flat has appeared within C.I.A.M., founder and prime protagonist of modern vertical living. At C.I.A.M. 10 the English members W. and G. Howell, J. A. Partridge state that “Even if and when we have built up a successful tradition and practice of multi-level living, which we are very far from having done—we feel that—there will always be a demand for a considerable proportion of (town) houses. And if the program demands it we must find ways of using them as elements in the city.”

Although having a recurring role for two thousand years, the multi-story apartment has not built a successful tradition; it has found only limited acceptance and far from offering the key to a new and selective recentralization, is unable to arrest decentralization.

The realization must be all the more disheartening to the protagonists of vertical living in view of the fact that the concept has been advanced during a severe housing shortage when choice was severely restricted. The Unites, Barbican, High Paddington, the Smithson concept, Gratiot all point towards improvement in multi-story development, and the tall apartment will continue to play an important role in central city housing. However, it is not a sovereign cure. The vocabulary urgently needs to be expanded; the court house constitutes an invaluable addition to the vocabulary of central housing. The court house can return the civilized, the urbane, and polite to the cities, offer the milieu for family life within the city, and provide an environment as urbane as it is delightful.

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