RETHINKING MODERNITY 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 11 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 RETHINKING MODERNITY: BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND THE INTERNATIONAL BY ANTIGONI KATSAKOU 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 33 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 © RIBA Publishing, 2020 Published by RIBA Publishing, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD ISBN 9781 85946 879 1 The right of Antigoni Katsakou to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 sections 77 and 78. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Commissioning Editor: Ginny Mills Assistant Editor: Clare Holloway Production: Jane Rogers Designed and typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions Printed and bound by Page Bros, Norwich Cover image: Atelier Stéphane Fernandez (photograph by Jean Michel Landecy) While every efort has been made to check the accuracy and quality of the information given in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher accept any responsibility for the subsequent use of this information, for any errors or omissions that it may contain, or for any misunderstandings arising from it. www.ribapublishing.com 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 44 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii About the author ix Foreword by Antonio Millan-Gomez x Introduction Modernity: A small word for such a big world xv Chapter 1 Tradition and identity 1 Chapter 2 Modernity and context 21 Chapter 3 Materials and colours 45 Chapter 4 The forbidden wor(l)d: Ornament and 67 decoration in the alternative modern Chapter 5 Geometry and spatial experience 91 Chapter 6 The modern diaspora: Latin America 111 (by Antigoni Katsakou and Iliana Miranda-Zacarias) Chapter 7 Modern diaspora and the British 137 interwar period Afterword 167 Timeline 173 Endnotes 174 Index 185 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 55 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 For Nik and Michael. 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 66 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All books are collaborative eforts. I am grateful to the editor Ginny Mills for proposing to write this book, and for thus providing the chance to talk about projects which I am especially passionate about. A book that focuses on local contexts demands ‘inside’ information and guidance, therefore I feel obligated to friends and colleagues around the world for ofering their valuable advice and expertise: Karina Contreras Castellanos, Anna Victória Wanderley Silva de Azevedo, Jorge Anibal Manrique Prieto, Fabio Shoyama, Sung-Taeg Nam, María Cecilia Kesman, Sladjana Markovic and Eveline Galatis. For kindly responding to my queries, I thank Virginia Gutiérrez, Jakub Heciak, Ania Cymer and Ljiljana Blagojević. For sharing her expertise on Mexican modernity, and for her perceptiveness, special thanks are due to Iliana Miranda-Zacarias. I am particularly grateful to Antonio Millan-Gomez for his insight, instructive comments, and above all for sharing my passion for the topics discussed in the book. For contributing with their feedback along the development of this project, I would like to thank Elisabeth Tostrup, Maria Angélica da Silva, Spyros Kaprinis and Eleni Axioti. I am indebted to a number of people who actively ofered their support by generously providing original material, especially to: Claudio Williams, Bettina Cetto, Carlos Warchavchik, Elisabeth Selmer, Dimitris Konstantinidis, Alexandra Tsoukala, Frøde Larsen, Michalis Souvatzidis, Diane Ghirardo, Alejandro Lapunzina, Luis Carranza and George Makris. I gratefully acknowledge the generous fund granted by the Society of Architectural Historians Great Britain for covering, in part, the image fees. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 77 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 I would like to express my gratitude to the editorial / production team and external collaborators of RIBA Publishing, especially Susannah Jayes and Kathryn Glendenning, for their professionalism. Finally, I would like to thank my husband Nik for ofering the encouragement I needed to embark on this laborious task, for his unfailing support, and for his ever so helpful, creative suggestions; our son, Michael, for being such an inspiration; my parents, Stamatis and Dina, and my sisters, Dimitra and Sofia, for their unconditional love that lasts beyond time and makes all things possible. viii RETHINKING MODERNITY 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 88 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Antigoni Katsakou is a London-based architect (ARB) and author, holding a PhD in History and Theory of Architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL, 2011). A graduate of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, Dipl Arch Eng 1999), of Barcelona Tech (UPC, MArch 2001), and a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies (2012-2013) she has been awarded with various funding grants. She has practiced and taught in the UK, Switzerland and Greece; she has presented her scholarly work worldwide and has published in several languages, including the books The Competition Grid (RIBA Publishing, 2018) and Concevoir des logements (PPUR, 2008). ABOUT THE AUTHOR ix 99778811885599446688779911__pprriinntt..iinndddd 99 0088//0044//22002200 1122::1155