The Other Modern: The Traditional City and its Architecture in the Twentieth Century, is an exhibition and conference that will examine 20th century traditional urbanism and architecture from two directions: one looking back, from an historical perspective and the other, looking forward, drawing lessons from the past for a vision of the new millennium. The exhibition will revisit the history of architecture of the Twentieth Century by highlighting the Modern traditional city and its architecture from 1900 to 1999. Until recently, architectural historians have equated ‘modern’ with the modernist movement. Yet Twentieth Century modern architecture and urbanism have not been exclusively modernist. By definition, the term ‘modern’ sits in contradistinction to modernism. The former refers to current times whereas the latter identifies a specific historical ideology.

Despite the modernist representation of history as a continual, inevitable progression away from tradition, modern cities, neighborhoods and buildings were built throughout the Twentieth Century that adapted the tradition of classical and vernacular architecture to the current conditions of life and society.

In fact, the regional and national values of The Other Modern have been powerful forces of architectural and urban progress, and they have gained a renewed and emotional presence in the closing years before the millennium. The yearning for such buildings and places has increased as the integrity of the traditional urban environments has been eroded and destroyed. Throughout the world, cultures have continued to design, build and reconstruct cities and buildings governed with notions of permanence and continuity as a way of establishing meaning for themselves and future generations.

The traditional city is manifested through time tested principles of construction, building typologies, and urban organizations, nature providing the reference point that ties the myriad of cultures to the human condition.

The diversity of traditional and vernacular architectural expressions create a dialogue between the idea of the universal and the specific building traditions of a region. The Other Modern exhibition will consist of original drawings and photographs of buildings and urban interventions selected in archives and museums around the world. In addition, new models and drawings, including by computers, will be constructed in various university schools of architecture. With this mix of material the curators intend to create an exhibition that appeals to a large public, including high schools’ students, developers, public officials, etc. The exhibition includes projects and built works by Gunnar Asplund (Sweden), Lina Bo Bardi (Brasil), Dom Bellot (France-Canada), David Brutzkus (Israel), Alexeï Chtchoussev (Russia), Michel De Klerk (Holland), Hassan Fathy (Egypt), Raymond Hood (USA), Leon & Rob Krier (Luxemburg), Edwin Lutyens (England), Luis Moya (Spain), Ragnar Ostberg (Sweden), Auguste Perret (France), Marcello Piacentini (Italy), Dimitris Pikionis (Greece), Josef Plecnik (Czech Republic), Richard Riemerschmid (Germany), Eriel Saarinen (Finland), François Spoerry (France), Robert Stern (USA), Heinrich Tessenow (Germany), and dozens of others. Moreover the exhibition will examine important contributions such as the garden cities, the university campuses, the regionalist and vernacular movements (the Neo-Mediterranean Style, etc. ), and the reconstruction of the cities devastated during the first and second World Wars.

THE CATALOGUE

The Italian and English versions of the catalogue will contain 520 pages and more than 800 illustrations in black & white and colors. The first section consists of historical and theoretical essays; the second presents and analyzes the development of The Other Modern chronogically and typologically throughout the Twentieth Century. The final section deals with Visions for the New Millenium.

Authors include Matthew Bell, Maurice Culot, Victor Deupi, Léon Krier, Denis Hector, Jorge Hernandez, Jean-François Lejeune, Michael Lykoudis, Catherine Lynn, Caroline Mierop, Demetri Porphyrios, Vincent Scully, Gabriele Tagliaventi, David Watkin, Carroll William Westfall, etc.

THE ORGANIZERS

The Other Modern will be the centerpiece of the third edition of the International Triennale of Architecture and Urbanism of Bologna in 2000. It follows the first two editions organized in 1992-3 and 1995-6 by A Vision of Europe and the events set up in Alexandria and Chicago by the Classical Architecture League. Created in 1992 by a group of architects, engineers, architectural historians directed by Ivo Tagliaventi, the not-for-profit association promotes the preservation of historic cities and neighborhoods as well as the transformation and development of suburban and periurban areas into new traditional neighborhoods based upon a structure of streets, blocks, and squares. Supported by the EEC Commission and with the collaboration of important European and American private and public institutions, both Triennales culminated in an exhibition inaugurated by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and held at the Centro San Giorgio in Poggiale in the core of Bologna, and at other venues in Brussels, Istanbul (United Nations Conference Habitat II), Oslo, San Sebastián, Bilbao, Lisbon. The Third Triennale is jointly organized by The New Architecture Group, a network of European and American institutions with extensive experience in the organization of architectural events. The exhibition will open in Bologna in the spring, and at the end of the year in Oslo and San Sebastian before going to Chicago, Washington D.C. and New York. It is expected that after 2000 the exhibition will travel to other locations around the world.