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13
Kevin Lynch, L’ image de la cité, Paris, Dunod, 1969.
14
One can only be surprised at Christopher Alexander’s apparent neu-
trality in A Pattern Language, as shortly before he had thrown himself into
The Oregon Experiment (New York, Oxford University Press, 1975), i.e.
into participatory urban planning. Upon closer examination, we can see
that the Experiment applied Pattern Language to a specific object. Building
is definitely a political act, even when it appears neutral. Alexander’s princi-
ples, in attempting to be universal, constitute a humanist approach to both
architecture and urban planning.
15
Philippe Samyn being interviewed about public competitions (2007).
16
Jean Prouvé, Cours du
cnam
1957–1970, Brussels, Mardaga, 1990.
17
Philippe Boudon, op. cit.
18
See the bibliography of works by Philippe Samyn at the end
of this volume.
19
Jacques Wybauw, Folders Wybunit, Brussels, (n.d.).
20
See the bibliography of works by Philippe Samyn at the end
of this volume.
21
If this point is being emphasised here, it is in reference to the passio-
nate but perfectly abstract creations by theorists such as Philippe Boudon,
who appear to detach architecture from its material reality, at least in some
of their works or, on the other hand, to philosophers like Henri Lefebvre,
whose remarkable La production de l’espace (Paris, Anthropos, 1974)
appears sometimes to reduce architecture to its social and economic
mode of production.
1
Leon Battista Alberti, L’art d’édifier, translation and introduction by
Françoise Choay and Pierre Caye, Paris, Le Seuil, 2004.
2
Julien Guadet, Eléments et théories de l’architecture, Paris, Librairie
de la Construction moderne, 1902; Henri Focillon, La vie des formes,
Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1934; Georges Gromort,
Essai sur la théorie de l’architecture, Paris, Flammarion, 1996 (re-issued).
3
Louis Sullivan, ‘Kindergarten Chats’, articles published in Interstate
Architect and Builder, Chicago 1901 and 1902.
4
Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, Paris, Crès, 1923; Quand les cathé-
drales étaient blanches, voyage au pays des timides, Paris, Plon, 1937.
5
ciam
, The Athens Charter, 1933 (first French edition Paris, Plon, 1943).
6
Siegfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, Cambridge,
ma
,
Harvard University Press, 1944.
7
Françoise Choay, L’urbanisme, utopies et réalités, Paris, Le Seuil, 1965.
8
Christopher Alexander et al., A Pattern Language. Towns, Buildings,
Constructions, New York, Oxford University Press, 1977.
9
Interview with Philippe Samyn conducted by Lars Kwakkenbos in no.
207 of the review A+, Brussels 2007.
10
Dom Hans van der Laan, Het Plastische Getal, XV lessen over de
grondslagen van de architectonische ordonnantie, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1967.
11
Ernst Neufert, Les éléments des projets de construction,
Paris, Dunod, 1963.
12
Philippe Boudon, Sur l’espace architectural. Essai d’épistémologie de
l’architecture, Paris, Dunod, 1971.
the title: ‘L’ingénierie des structures: au mieux un art,
au pire une technique!’ (‘Structural engineering: at best
art; at worst technique!’) In it, Philippe Samyn develops
elements of what might be called a rational poetics
of construction. The current to which Philippe Samyn
belongs is thus fundamentally realist and pragmatic,
despite the unquestionably poetic character of most
of his creations; he increasingly concerns himself with
the future of buildings, since they become obsolete
increasingly quickly, and preserving a few ‘master-
pieces in danger’ is not the most economical in terms
of immediate profitability.
Willy van der Meeren
Temporary offices,
Sterrebeek, 1965