The mechanization and
componentization of production promoted the repetitive use of dedicated and precise
elements for the construction of buildings. Influenced by this continuous
production, patterns, geometric grids and their configurations cultivated a premise
of modern architecture. The application of industrialized components to achieve
greater spans and lighter enclosures for new building types (hangars,
exposition halls, airports) pioneered the modular, triangulated and filigree frame
as a 20th century structural archetype. The repetitive nature of theses
compositions also established the space frame as a model for the interchangeability
and coordination of the underlying building systems.
Colossal post-war rebuilds, cold war
politics and the space race helped fuel architects’ use of space frame
representation to develop futuristic city and housing structures. Advances in
techniques, materials and communications globalized the space frame as a comprehensive
building system.
The mega-structure as an
architectural type, evolved from large space frame structures relating themes
of assembly, industrialization and the pressing need for housing. These utopic
and scalable architectural expressions shaped architectural theory. As
Reyner Banham stated in his book (Megastructure: Urban Futures of the Recent Past) the mega-structure was emblematic of architects taking
matters of social change in their hands and proposing a bold new world. From
Japanese metabolists to Yona Friedman’s spatial cities, the industrialization
of building fuelled the amplification of these geometric systems and their
relating components.
The Raumstadt loosely translated as
«space city» was developed by Eckhard Schulze-Fielitz in 1959. He envisioned a future
building system that integrated scales of infrastructure, cityscape, and housing
in a triangulated support structure. Characteristic of systems thinking, modular
coordination and values of rigorous and coherent design, the Raumstadt depicted
a potential city building system and the geometrically rooted nature of space
age architecture. Acting as a support structure, programmatic elements could be
plugged-in or removed as the city’s needs evolved.
The skeletal structure capable of
supporting dwellings and their inhabitants spoke to the glorified themes
of the industrial city, the speed of an ever evolving technical society, and
the potential of space travel that promised to transform our cities into
veritable organisms of mobility. The Raumstadt is one of countless projects
that proposed the megastructure as a flexible, adaptable and scalable
system for city planning in the post-war era.
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| Raumstadt - developed by Eckhard Schulze-Fielitz in 1959 |
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