The thesis questions the ways in which architecture might embody the notion of modernity in different cultures and regions yet achieve appropriateness relative to place. In the early twentieth century in the industrialized world, the issue of modernity in architecture was identified with the notions of abstraction and rationalization that colored the development of the modern movement. The second generation of the modern movement queried the roles of human experiences and urban and architectural contexts in architectural design. With the spread of the modern movement to the rest of the world, the issue of context in architecture grew stronger. Following this line of thought, this dissertation examines the tension between modernist abstractionism and urban and architectural contexts in place in which the presence and the role of local knowledge and traditions in architecture remained influential. It investigates modernity in architecture through a specific Asian reading and through an analysis of the work of Geoffrey Bawa of Sri Lanka. Selected works of Geoffrey Bawa are chosen because the significance of his oeuvre is often contested by interpreters who see it as reflecting various contemporary approaches, including regionalism and vernacularism. Thus, in an effort to refute such simplistic explanations of his work, this thesis examines selected works of Bawa, analyzing their spatial organization, formal arrangement, materials, techniques, and building details. In particular, it attempts to highlight the ways in which Bawa articulated the notions of experience and memory in his architecture. These analyses are then placed within the framework of the social and cultural situations that his architecture confronted in Sri Lanka. It is within this framework that we might determine the ways in which modernity and locality were embodied in Bawa's work. Interpretations of his work take into account the understanding of modernity as a cultural practice and an attitude. Modernity as an attitude relates to a specific modernist subject who is able to use reason for judgment in addressing context. In this dissertation, a reading on the work of Walter Benjamin on modernity, the pasts, and traditions frames this understanding of this modernist subjectivity. In architecture, modernity as an attitude means that is not a style but a way of thinking and formulating design intent. This inquiry is then used as a framework within which this dissertation will interpret the relationship between modernity and local identity. The conclusions of the dissertation contribute to an understanding of the achievement of modernity in architecture in tight relationship to context. On a more focused level, it also hopes to contribute to an appreciation of the extant works of Geoffrey Bawa, which the author of this dissertation deems exemplary of what modern architecture might achieve in Asia.

The thesis focuses on the icons of the czech brutalism who are nowadays often a subject of discussion. It aims to provide coherent outlook to the reader, not just a technical description of the building but more so the process of its construction from the idea on the paper to the its final state. It observes how the views have been transformed and the perspective of the public, which is oftentimes dimmed by the stigma of the era in which these buildings were created. The goal of this thesis is to extend the knowledge about qualities of the brutalist architecture among younger generation so they could make better judgement of what will happen to these buildings in the future. For this purpose there is a didactic elaboration that will introduce brutalism to the high school students. KEYWORDS architecture, 20th century architecture, brutalism, architecture in education

v anglickém jazyce Abstract This thesis focuses on the type of balcony access house in the context of urban development of Žižkov. First, the development of mass housing in general is outlined, followed by the developement of the balcony access house itself, in which was considered also historical perspective of material and social environment of the Žižkov area. The core of the thesis is the analysis of the Žižkov balcony access house with aim to determine its specific features and to show how it get along with the increasing requirements for quality of living, how it has been adapted, as well as how the balcony access house had to retreat. The final chapter establish the impact of the balcony house to the genius loci of Žižkov and demonstrate its understanding on the arts of contemporary architecture. Keywords Žižkov, ballcony access houses, 19th century architecture, 20th century architecture Prague, reconstruction

The starting point of the thesis consists of a number of statements by prominent representatives of the cultural elite characterising architecture with references to classicism as the modern architecture. In the following years Swedish architecture was dominated by references to classical historical architecture focussing on the ideal of simplicity, which in turn formed a wider conceptual framework of ideas and ideals for architectural creation. The simple reason why the classical historical architecture became something of a role model was that it represented all these new ideals. The main purpose of the thesis is to study how architects made use of the more prominent ideals in the new conceptual framework. A secondary purpose is to describe and analyse the three chosen buildings in detail. A third purpose is to situate these buildings into the broader national context. The buildings under study are Liljevalchs konsthall (Liljevalchs Art Gallery), Kanslihuset (The Government Offices) and Kungstornen (The Towers). They were built at different times between 1910 and 1930. Each building has an obvious connection between the building program and the social changes of the time. In the first chapter the contemporary conceptual framework is presented based on examples from the architectural debate. The most important parts were the opposition to the traditional ideals in combination with the formulating of new ones like simplicity, unity and clarity as well as an orientation towards the historical national architecture and an open attitude towards new techniques. Central to the usage of the basic of elements of the historical architecture was transformation rather than imitation. The common view meant that role models and basic creational elements of the past were regarded as opportunities for new developments. The three following chapters examine the buildings under study. The buildings and their planning processes are described and the application of the historical references and their relations to historical buildings in the environment are analysed in detail. The buildings are further discussed in relation to the broader social trends of the time. The Art Gallery is discussed in view of its connections to the contemporary industrial architecture due to the industrialisation. The analysis of the Government Offices situates the practical and symbolic aspects of the building in the contemporary struggle between the monarchy and the old civil service and the newly established parliamentary democracy. The Towers are discussed in relation to the contemporary discussion of skyscrapers in Europe and in relation to the beginning of commercialism and popular culture. / <p>QC 20120424</p>

Après sa naissance en 1909, La ville de Tel Aviv continue son essor jusque dans les années 1930-1948 marquées par l'architecture modernes, sous l’influence de l’urbaniste Patrick Geddes. Celui-ci écrit son rapport à 1925, qui s’inspirent du modèle de la Cité Jardin. Le site comprend 3 000 bâtiments inspirés par des architectes modernistes européens : Mendelsohn, Le Corbusier, Gropius et autres. La déclaration d’indépendance d’Israël en 1948 entraîne l’établissement d’institutions nationales et la construction rapide de bâtiments publics et de logements. La prise de conscience de l’importance de la conservation de La Ville Blanche et sa patrimonialisation engendrent à leur tour un changement du tissu urbain et de son architecture (1977-2003). Nous tentons d’identifier ici les facteurs susceptibles de déclencher les mutations nombreuses qui ont pris place durant les années 1948 - 2003 et qui ont amené la ville de Tel Aviv jusqu'à son inscription au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. Nous avons analysé l’apparition de certains modes d’adaptation de la ville aux changements, à la lumière des principes de planification de Geddes, issus de la biologie organique. Les mécanismes d’adaptation sont analysés en fonction de 3 facteurs : Les processus de planification, les décisions d'ordre politique et la réception du public. Afin de comprendre les différentes représentations de chacun des trois facteurs, nous avons consulté les archives historiques des plans de la ville, les protocoles, les débats et publications officielles de la municipalité, ainsi que les représentations de la ville telle qu’elle apparait dans la littérature pour enfants, le cinéma, et la presse. Pour chacune de ces époques, nous avons identifié un modèle de comportement récurrent des changements. Ainsi sont discernés les modes d’influence des trois coefficients de planification - architectes, décideurs, et le grand public - et leur influence réciproque sur la ville est démontrée. / After its creation in 1909, the city of Tel Aviv continued to develop until the years 1930 – 1948 during which the Modern style was predominant. That took place under the remarkable influence of the urban planner sir Patrick Geddes whose vision on the extension of the city was published in 1925 inspired by the ideas of Garden-City. The site of the White City includes 3,000 buildings designed by Jewish immigrants under the influence of Modern European architects such as Mendelssohn, Le Corbusier and Gropius. The Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel in 1948 brought about the establishment of national institutions and the need for the quick solutions of construction of public buildings and social housing, meant for thousands of refugees. The awareness and importance of the conservation of the White City brought about significant changes in the local approach towards the existing urban tissue, and its architecture (1977-2003). This research aims at identifying the factors susceptible to trigger the architectural mutations that took place during the years 1948 – 2003 up until the final inscription of the White City as world heritage site by UNESCO. We have analyzed the emergence of a number of types of adjustment to changes within the City, from the field of organic biology. The various mechanisms of adjustment are analyzed according to three different factors: Planning process, the political decision making, and the reception of the values and myths of the city by the Public. In order to understand the different representations of each of those 3 factors, we have checked the historical archives of the City Planning Department, including protocols, debates and official publications. We have then gone through the representation of the city as it materializes in children literature, movies and the media. For each time period, a recurrent pattern of behavior of changes was identified. This method allows pinpointing the various types of influence of each of the three coefficients of planning: architects, Decision Makers, and the Public. The reciprocal influence of those factors on each other can then at last conclusively be established.

The work of Antonin Tenzer involves his activities in the period of six decades in the turbulent era of development of Czechoslovak history of architecture. The architect is known as one of the representatives of the avant-garde and High functionalism, author of Faculty Hospital in Prague-Motol and other medical buildings or the Jalta hotel, a building associated with socialist realism. In my dissertation, I tried to map the main typological fields that Antonín Tenzer used in his work. My goal was to widen the portfolio of famous buildings, and on the basis I defined the architect's major themes and current issues, which were responded in his effort. I based primarily on historic materials - published projects, plan documentation and writings of public and private archives, as well as personal heritage, made available to me by the architect's family. In particular thematic areas I focused on Tenzer's vital and successful implementation of competition projects, which he later followed and extended. In addition to impulses from his collaborators, debates and majors works of those days I was looking for elements and methods of Tenzer that influenced the architecture environment. I observed the influence of historical events and the socio-political situation in his work, for example, housing issues in...

The dissertation deals with ideas about Japanese architecture in the Western, namely European discourse between 1945 and 1970. Architects and critics identified striking similarities between the Modernist architectural principles and the Japanese tradition from the 1920s; after the World War II, these similarities sparked a wide interest among the architectural public, which led to numerous publications on Japan unprecedented in scope and depth when compared with any other non-Western culture. The goal of this work is to map the discourse that occurred this way, identify the main themes connected to Japan, and show their significance. The sources for the study are prevalently printed media: architectural magazines and books. The notion of 'image' of Japan proves useful since we study interpretations of a different culture; history of ideas as well as visual representation in photography. At the same time, work also follows the of general issues of understanding the 'other'. An analysis of these various representations of Japan in the printed architectural media makes up the main part of the research presented here. To examine the origins of these ideas we go back to the 1930 with architects-writers Tetsurō Yoshida and Bruno Taut, and subsequently look into of writings about Japan by architects who...

Installé à Paris en 1911, Diego Rivera se rallie au cubisme pour retourner au réalisme en 1918. A cette époque, il tisse une amitié riche en échanges avec Élie Faure, socialiste comme lui. Faure voit chez l'artiste "une source inépuisable de surprises et d'enseignements»; Rivera considère l'historien de l'art comme l'un de ses« maîtres". Élie Faure a une compréhension de la société et de l'art basée sur la contribution de personnalités qui ont bouleversé la pensée et les arts depuis la Révolution française: Saint-Simon, Nietzsche, Dostoïevski, Tolstoï, Cézanne, entre autres. Déclarant l'échéance de l'esprit individualiste de la Renaissance, il annonce l'avènement d'un rythme collectif d'expression artistique sociale et monumentale, notamment architecturale, dont l'intention de «construire» en peinture est un symptôme. Le Moyen-âge français lui fournit un paradigme de l'ordre collectif et de I' «Art social», la cathédrale comme étant la plus parfaite expression, manifestation de la collaboration humaine et symbole même d'une civilisation. En 1921, décidé à militer pour l'établissement d'un nouvel ordre social, Rivera rentre dans son pays. Il est passionné par la socialisation de l'art et par l'architecture. Son discours et ses démarches révèlent ses affinités intellectuelles avec l'historien de l'art français et exprime une volonté de mener à son accomplissement l'"Art social". Cependant, les idées du peintre évoluent avec les évènements politiques, sociaux et culturels du Mexique, tenant compte du contexte mondial. Cet échange franco-mexicain illustre la complexité des transferts qui conduisent aux discours actuels de la mondialisation artistique. / Moving to Paris in 1911, Diego Riverais won over to Cubism only to return to Realism in 1918. During that period, he builds a rich friendship with Elie Faure, a socialist like him. Faure sees in the artist ''an endless source of surprises and lessons." Rivera considers the art historian Faure as one of his "masters. "Elie Faure has an understanding of society based on the contribution of individuals who have changed thinking and the art since the French Revolution : Saint-Simon, Nietzsche, Dostoïevski, Tolstoï, Cézanne, and others. Declaring the end of the individualistic spirit of the Renaissance, he announces the beginning of a collective rhythm of social and monumental artistic expressions, especially in architecture, with the intention to "construct" by painting as an indication. The French Middle Ages provides Elie Faure with a paradigm of collective order and "Social Art," of which the cathedral is the most perfect expression - a manifestation of perfect human collaboration and a symbol of a civilization. In 1921, having decided ta campaign for the establishment of a new social order, Rivera returns ta his country. He is passionate about the socialization of art and architecture. His speech and his actions reveal his intellectual affinity with the French art historian and show a willingness to carry to completion "Social Art. "However, the painter 's ideas evolve with the political, social, and cultural events of Mexico, taking into account the global context. This Franco-Mexican exchange illustrates the complexity of the transfers that lead to the current globalization of artistic discourse.

The thesis deals with the history and the interpretation of the development of sacral architecture during the first half of the twentieth century. It interprets the topic in a broad framework, which mentions the historical preconditions of this development and in the most important cases also its international relations. The introductional chapters list all up-to-date publications to the topic and suggest certain means of interpretation of sacral architecture which reflects the natural division of this topic between the disciplines of architectural theory and religion science. The own thesis begins with characteristics of social and religious situation in the Austria-Hungary and its consequences of sacral architectural development. It mentions basic examples of sacral buildings and the measure of their relation to the contemporary architectural development in general. Subsequently it mentions transformational influence of World War I and of declaration of souverain Czechoslovakia, which led to the emergence of new churches with their own architectural ambitions and also to the focus shifting of discipline to new contemporary topics. It follows the parallels with contemporary architectural trends of 1920's and the level of their use in the specific field of religious buildings also in relation to individual churches with their different architectural developments. Further it mentions sacral building development in 1930's with the emphasis in relation to the contemporary social atmosphere and in accent transformation between conservative and progressive religious approach. Than it follows with a review of religious culture transformation during World War II in Protectorate Czech Moravia and shows particularity of unnumerous examples of church buildings and projects from this era. The final part than reflects the evolution of the social role of religion after the War as well as an influence of communist coup in 1948 at potential of sacral architecture. It states the negative influence of both totalitarian regimes on the quality of sacral buildings of following period and on a poor measure of disciplines theoretical knowledge, which among others results in unsufficient primary sources, from which this thesis would likely have taken. Even when this thesis have not and cannot have an ambition of full exploration of the topic, it presents the factography and collecion of interpretations, by means of which the significant gap in the historiography of 20th century Czech sacral architecture can be at least partially bridged.

The purpose of this study was to determine the trends that are developing in the architecture of the civic, commercial, and religious buildings in Fort Worth, Texas. This will be shown by an analysis of what the author considers to be the best examples of buildings constructed in Fort Worth during the past ten years.