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In a recent essay on the failed architectural experiments of the rapper Ye, I argued (perhaps tendentiously) that his designs are “fascist” because they fail to account for the fact that “architecture is.. both an art form and a type of social infrastructure.” Whether designing a school or a home, Ye is scornful of the infrastructure part, creating spaces that are harsh, sterile, and that sometimes lack plumbing.

It’s easy to pick on Ye, a figure few are eager to defend, but the history of architecture is littered with such ideologues. Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin — which called for the flattening of Paris to make room for rows of uniform concrete towers — is perhaps the most famous example of an architectural vision that sought to iron out the messy and idiosyncratic needs of real people from the urban fabric. Indeed, sometimes one wonders if in trying to transform homes into “machines for living in,” Corbu didn’t also want to engineer a more machinelike human being, an architectural version of Trotsky’s “New Soviet Man.”

Similarly, Etienne Louise Boullee’s Dark Neoclassical vision for a post-Revolutionary France featured buildings designed to dwarf the individual human being. In my essay on Boullee, I argued that the monumental grandeur of his work reflects a political ideal in which the individual is subordinated to the state in both mind and body.

If Plan Voisin was actually accomplished, it would have been a tragedy, and an infinitely worse one than Ye’s desecration of a Tadao Ando house. And if Boullee’s Church of the Cult of the Supreme Being was constructed, it would stand today as the first example of totalitarian architecture, a sort of proto-Stalinist monument that one could never admire except with an asterisk.

However, blessedly, these ideas have remained on paper where they can be approached with pleasure as objects of contemplation. Indeed, it is not just fun to think about jarring and uncomfortable models of building and living. It is necessary if architects are to break through old paradigms.

Imagine being Le Corbusier and drawing up plans for the bulldozing of Paris to make way for a utopian social housing scheme. Thrilling! And proposing it to the horrified bourgeoisie — even better! Corbu’s insane scheme confronted postwar leaders with their own conflicted values. Did they really value social housing and the improvement of living standards? More than beauty? How much more? The virtue of Plan Voisin is that it forced these contradictions to come to the surface.

Paper architecture, or building schemes that are ultimately meant to be contemplated rather than built, is a great way to break new ground in ideation. Sometimes, what is revealed through the fearless process of ideation isn’t so flattering to the artist. For instance, Boullee’s latent totalitarianism was probably unknown to himself. He thought he was just an Enlightenment thinker, a Republican. But that is what art does. It exposes the creator, and one must (as the adage goes) write like your parents are dead.

The point is we learn a lot from paper architecture. The following three architecture movements produced very few if any buildings, but the ideas they proposed opened new ways of thinking about architecture and urbanism.

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Metabolism (Japan, 1959 – 1975)

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Buildings are solid structures, designed to endure for decades or even centuries. Yet societies are constantly evolving, and capitalism accelerates this change at an unprecedented pace, especially today, with algorithmic trading programs capable of identifying and responding to market trends in fractions of a second. This contradiction between the fluidity of capitalist society and the permanence of the built environment was explored memorably by the Metabolists of Japan.

The Metabolist movement emerged in 1959. Spearheaded by Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa and Fumihiko Maki, the Metabolists envisioned buildings and cities as dynamic, adaptable organisms — much like the biological process of metabolism. Their ideas were characterized by a belief in the impermanence of structures, advocating for architecture that could grow, evolve and even deconstruct as society’s needs changed.

One of the few completed examples of Metabolist architecture is Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, completed in 1972. This building consists of a central core to which individual, prefabricated living units, capsules, are attached. These capsules were designed to be replaceable, reflecting the Metabolist ideal of flexible, modular living spaces that could be easily updated or recycled.

Nakagin Tower is — or was — real, but the Metabolists also proposed visionary urban projects, such as Kikutake’s “Marine City,” a floating city designed to expand onto the ocean, and Arata Isozaki’s “City in the Air,” a concept for a city suspended above Tokyo’s existing infrastructure. These projects were not just never realized, they were impossible to ever realize. This was the very source of their charm.

Kikutake’s floating Marine City is free from the constraints of national borders and the threat of war. The artificial ground supports agriculture and the residential towers extend deep into the ocean, reaching depths of up to 655 feet (200 meters).

Untethered to any specific location, Marine City drifts freely across the ocean, adapting to its environment and expanding as needed. When the city eventually ages beyond its capacity for habitation, it is designed to submerge itself into the ocean, completing its life cycle and making way for new structures to take its place.

At its core, Metabolism was about building not just for the needs of the present, but for a future that is by its nature unknowable. This is more relevant today even than it was in the 1960s, as we are confronted with the ecological costs of construction and the necessity of repurposing existing infrastructure.

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Archigram (UK, 1960 – 1973)

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Kikutake’s Marine City is a beautiful concept piece, something like an architectural poem that embodies the Buddhist ethic of transience. Peter Cook’s “Plug-In City” is a dystopian counter to this ideal of a constantly changing, infinitely adaptable urban environment. In the Plug-In City, there are no buildings, just modular cells that can be “plugged in” to a giant machine. Just like modern society, the Plug-In City is always changing; it is not rooted in place. In the future, Cook theorized,  more and more people would take up a nomadic existence, and the idea of cities with unique and stable identities would become a thing of the past. 

Between 1960 and 1973, the radical collective Archigram published over 900 illustrations. Not all of them were as cold and alienating as the Plug-In City. Other Archigram projects, such as Ron Herron’s Walking City were more humorous. In this scheme, people live in giant robots that stalk the Earth, likely in the wake of some apocalyptic event. 

In all cases, Archigram was interested in urban planning that reflected the dynamism of the city as a site of habitation, interaction and protest (this was the 1960s, after all). They took inspiration from figures like Buckminster Fuller and Yona Friedman, who emphasized the need for light and adaptable structures. But they also were inspired by the Situationists in France, who saw the urban landscape as a canvas in which to stage politically charged performance pieces. Like the Situationists, Archigram intended to change consciousness through shock and disruption. 

To learn more about Archigram, I highly recommend Simon Sadler’s 2005 Book, Archigram: Architecture without Architecture. Sadler does a great job of situating the group’s sci-fi vision within the context of the psychedelic 60s. 

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Superstudio (Italy, 1966 – 1978) 

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Also a product of the 1960s, the Florentinian architecture firm Superstudio was more explicitly Marxist than Archigram. As James Imam put it in his 2021 New York Times review of a Superstudio retrospective, “The starting point of everything Superstudio did was dissatisfaction with the uniformity of modern architecture, which its left-wing members saw as an instrument of capitalism that disempowered the masses, robbing them of their individuality and freedom. Sometimes, they made fun of the status quo, or took it to absurd conclusions; other times, they imagined utopian futures.”

The most important motif in the work of Superstudio, both their brilliant photomontages and their furniture designs, is the grid. For them, the grid is an image of deep ambivalence, representing both a framework for transformation and the uniformity of capitalist city planning. As Imam writes, their work consists both in imagining utopian futures and in pushing the status quo to “absurd conclusions.” What he overlooks is the fact that it is sometimes hard to determine which strategy Superstuio is pursuing in a given image.

A good example of this is the “Continuous Monument” series, in which a black and white gridlike structure expands across urban and natural environments, defining the space around it in a manner that would have been appreciated by Wallace Stevens. In this series, the line between utopia and dystopia is not always so clear. Is it a tragedy that capitalist modernism has conquered the globe? Or is it a perverse type of triumph — an opportunity for sublation? 

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Cover Image: Created by Architizer on Midjourney. 

The post Daring To Dream: The Radical Design Movements of the Long 1960s, the Best of Paper Architecture appeared first on Journal.

This interview was conducted by Vincent Martinez, Architecture 2030 President and COO. Architecture 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from a major emitter of greenhouse gases to a central source of solutions to the climate crisis. For 20 years, the nonprofit has provided leadership and designed actions toward this shift and a healthy future for all.

Ghaith Tibi is an urban planner and sustainable development advisor with extensive experience in city planning and sustainability advisory projects in the Middle East. He was a featured speaker for Architecture 2030’s Official UNFCCC side event titled “Planning, Design, and Development in the Global South: The “How to” for People & Planet” at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Ghaith and I had some time to sit down and chat at COP28 in Dubai about urban planning and decarbonization, including key principles for planning sustainable new cities. The following Q&A builds on some of that discussion and highlights new ways we think about the social and environmental implications of urban planning.

Vincent Martinez: The global building stock is projected to double the current floorspace, adding approximately 2.4 trillion square feet (241 billion square meters) during the coming four decades. To support these buildings and their inhabitants, it has been estimated, by then-UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres of the UN Environment Program, that three-quarters of the infrastructure that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built. During your presentation at COP27 you highlighted key principles for planning sustainable new cities. Can you briefly describe what those are and why they are so important?

Ghaith Tibi: Yes, sure. The principles are organized in the form of five questions and in the order of priority actions. The first question is whether we should build at all. This question really is trying to provoke the notion that we should look into the existing building stocks and explore how we could maximize their utility, which could involve changing their current use, modifying them and maybe adding some extensions to them, before exploring building new construction.

The second question is how much do we need to build? The second question is about pushing ourselves to think carefully about how much more we should build, how much we really need, and that principle is about making sure that we are not building much more than we need and therefore ending up with waste… waste of all sorts of resources, including financial resources.

The third question is where to build? This is really another very important point to consider, and the reason it is a very important point is because where we build dictates how many resources we’re going to need to build there and also equally if not more importantly how many more resources we’ll need to operate, maintain and sustain to keep that place up and running. For example, building close to an existing infrastructure network means you’re going to need minimal intervention to extend the existing network, whereas building somewhere in the middle of nowhere means you’re going to need to ship construction materials out there to the middle of nowhere to be able to build that place and you’re going to have to invest a lot of resources and build from scratch every single supporting infrastructure system. Of course another aspect of this question has to do with risks associated with where we’re building, such as climate-related issues.

Then, the fourth question: What form should be built. Are we going to go horizontal or vertical? Are we going to go somewhere in between? Are we going to have massive highways or small scale streets that are walkable and human-friendly? What form are we going to use? This question is critical because, again, what form we use dictates what kind of place we’ll create and what resources we’re going to need to build and maintain and operate that place. What kind of investments are going to be needed to keep the place going. Most importantly, what kind of form will attract people to stay in this place and therefore utilize it as opposed to a form that isn’t inviting for people, one that people use for very limited time in a day and then gets abandoned for the rest of the day, the season or the year. We need to think carefully about what form we’re using in the creation of those new places to make sure that those places are thriving as much as possible for as long as possible during a day, a season, the year and over the decades.

Finally, the fifth question is about how we’re building that form. How can we build new places as efficiently as possible? How can we use past design strategies that are appropriate for the locations and environments we’re designing for to minimize use of resources and optimize the performance of what we’re building for people?

VM: I want to explore your first two principles, which question the need to build new and if we do, asking how much we need to build. These principles are elements of what is being called sufficiency — avoiding demand for energy, land, water and materials while delivering well-being for all — which according to the IPCC has the potential to reduce global building sector emissions by 17% by 2050. These principles also demonstrate the power of design to meet the projected global need, and doing so with less. Can you share some examples in your work where you’ve been able to meet the project/client’s needs while utilizing what was already available, or showed them they could get what they needed with less than what they anticipated?

GT: Sure, let me start by saying that beyond giving specific project examples, every building retrofit, neighborhood revitalization and urban regeneration project is really a form of applying the first two principles. These types of projects leverage existing resources and upcycle them, instead of using new resources, to create better places for people. I can share a couple of examples that are from my personal experiences working on different scales of urban planning projects in the Middle East.

The first project was a Strategic Urban Plan for one of the emirates in the UAE. The plan had to provide land provisions for local citizens’ housing. The initial approach for providing this housing typology was to allocate greenfield areas that can accommodate the projected demand for citizens housing up to 2040. However, applying the first two principles allowed us to reduce the need for new land by proposing the redevelopment of old and under-utilized housing areas that citizens didn’t use anymore due to their conditions. This also meant that most of the existing infrastructure (utilities and transport) corridors and networks will be utilized with limited need for new elements.

The second example was for a planned development in Dubai surrounded by extensive transportation and utility infrastructure. Through a considered approach to the design of the masterplan, and specifically having the second principle in mind, we managed to reduce the number of new infrastructure elements needed for several systems such as power and transport, including the number of power substations and roads, which are all carbon-intensive elements.

VM: Over the past few years I’ve had conversations with urban planners and researchers as I try to understand the climate mitigation opportunities of planning. I’ve explored ideas around ideal densities for embodied carbon reductions; the critical importance of mixed use development to reduce transportation emissions; and even unconsidered implications of planning bylaws allowing for higher embodied carbon building design. You have brought another lens to this discussion, highlighting the importance of social and economic factors in realizing the carbon reduction potential of these planning strategies. Can you explain how planning for mixed-income communities supports carbon mitigation goals?

GT: Indeed, this is very important from my perspective. Not only because it has an impact on the environmental sustainability of our cities, but because it also contributes to the broader and more holistic approach to sustainable development, which includes, in addition to the environmental aspects, the social and economic aspects.

Creating mixed-use and mixed-income developments (through providing affordable housing options with a range of types and densities, for example) within our cities supports our carbon mitigation goals in many ways. It allows us to reduce urban sprawl and create a more compact urban form, which leads to reduced use of many resources, including land and carbon-intensive utilities and transport infrastructures. This will result in fewer carbon emissions, as more people will be able to live and work within the same areas, commuting for significantly shorter distances between their workplaces and homes. They will also be able to share the same community facilities and amenities with others, such as community centers, green spaces, and recreational facilities. This sharing reduces the need for redundant resources and infrastructure, thereby lowering the overall environmental impact, including embodied and operational carbon emissions.

Top image: Dubai skyline by Ghaith Tibi

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The post Rethinking Urban Futures: Planning the Path to Decarbonization and Sustainable Cities appeared first on Journal.

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

I’ve only visited Albania once, around 2006 or so, on a family vacation. Having been just a kid, only two things left a lasting impression on me: the beautiful seaside and the sheer number of bunkers scattered everywhere. At the time, it was just an odd observation, but looking back now, it speaks to the country’s lingering signs of its difficult past (it’s safe to say that my conclusion as a kid wasn’t this poetic).

Now, as both an adult and an architect, it’s fascinating to witness Tirana’s fast urban growth and the fact that it’s drawing in renowned architects and firms to create new landmarks. For anyone coming from the Balkans, this kind of rapid transformation feels almost surreal. The region saw significant setbacks in the 1990s, with political instability and economic struggles following the transition from communism. Yet, Tirana is now defying these challenges, leading a new wave of urban development that is rewriting its future.

So, how did this come about? After the fall of Enver Hoxha’s regime in the early 1990s, Albania began to slowly open up to the world, but progress remained gradual. It wasn’t until when the economy started to grow in the 2000s that Tirana’s leadership made urban development a key priority. The focus shifted toward improving the city’s infrastructure, modernizing public spaces and rethinking its layout to meet the needs of a growing population.

This article will take a closer look at the projects and landmarks that aim to redefine Tirana’s skyline and turn it into a modern city on the rise.

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Tirana 2030 Master Plan

By Stefano Boeri Architects, Tirana, Albania

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First things first — urban planning! Stefano Boeri’s Tirana 2030 Master Plan aims to transform the city with a focus on sustainability and urban greenery. The plan calls for tripling green spaces by planting two million trees in an orbital forest around Tirana, along with new parks, ecological corridors and nature reserves. The idea is to promote vertical growth to free up public spaces in the dense urban center while integrating green areas into the city’s layout.

Boeri’s plan also emphasizes improved public transport, introducing a congestion charge and expanding bus networks to connect key city areas. Additionally, it envisions the creation of new schools and the Park of the World, a square that will host global embassies, reinforcing Tirana’s growing international importance.

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Mount Tirana

By CEBRA, Tirana, Albania

Mount Tirana will be the tallest building in Albania at 185 meters, drawing inspiration from the country’s mountainous landscape. Located in central Tirana near the National Historical Museum, the project reflects Albania’s cultural heritage and natural surroundings. The tower will feature housing, commercial spaces, a boutique hotel, offices and restaurants. Its design incorporates terraces with local plants to reduce the need for cooling, while the use of locally sourced materials, like natural stone, minimizes the building’s carbon footprint.

With its mountain-like silhouette, Mount Tirana is envisioned to stand as a symbolic landmark in the city, offering a lively public space at street level that connects with the surrounding park.

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The Pyramid of Tirana

By MVRDV, Tirana, Albania

Once a monument built to honor dictator Enver Hoxha, The Pyramid of Tirana has been dramatically transformed by MVRDV into a vibrant cultural hub. Originally a brutalist museum, the deteriorating structure has been repurposed into a space that serves Albania’s youth and cultural life.

The renovation maintains the concrete shell, adding green spaces and a new network of cafes, studios, workshops and classrooms. Half of the spaces will be used by TUMO Tirana, offering free tech education to young Albanians, while the rest will house cafes, studios and other public functions.

Visitors can now climb the Pyramid’s sloping sides or take a lift to the top, while large glass flaps replace old glazing, allowing light and air to flow through the structure. The reborn Pyramid serves as a symbol of Tirana’s transformation, shifting from a relic of dictatorship to a center for creativity and learning.

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Multifunctional Tower Tirana

By CHYBIK + KRISTOF, Tirana, Albania

This 272-foot (83-meter) multifunctional complex is set to become a prominent feature of Tirana’s skyline, situated in the heart of the city’s developing Cultural District. This tower, part of the New Boulevard masterplan, is primarily residential, with the lower floors offering office and retail spaces.

Its cascading design, wrapped in red concrete, connects key cultural buildings in the district, including the opera house, art gallery and cultural center. Positioned near River Park, the tower links the urban environment with nearby green spaces. The design emphasizes sustainability with green roof terraces and shaded loggias in the apartments, offering natural solutions for Tirana’s climate. This project is a collaboration between private investors and the city of Tirana, representing a significant step in the city’s continued development.

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ODA Tirana

By CHYBIK + KRISTOF, Tirana, Albania

ODA Tirana is yet another project by CHYBIK + KRISTOF, bringing together residential, commercial and public spaces in the heart of Tirana. The development features three towers — two residential and one for offices and a hotel— surrounding a flexible exhibition center. The red concrete façade reflects Albania’s architectural heritage, while green terraces and shaded loggias address the Mediterranean climate.

Positioned between the New Boulevard and Central Park, the design encourages public engagement with a central piazza offering cafés and social spaces. ODA Tirana is a key addition to Tirana’s rapidly evolving skyline.

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Hora Vertikale

By OODA Architecture, Tirana, Albania

Hora Vertikale is a new residential project in Tirana that reimagines urban living through a vertical settlement inspired by the ancient Albanian “Hora.” The development features a series of towers designed as a vertical village, set amidst a green park. Sustainability is at the core of the project, with locally sourced materials used to minimize the carbon footprint and support the local economy.

The design consists of seven different types of cubes, each with seven stories, creating a dynamic profile that integrates urban and rural elements. The project prioritizes community engagement, providing amenities for residents and visitors alike. With its unique form and emphasis on sustainability, Hora Vertikale is set to become an iconic addition to Tirana’s skyline.

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MET Tirana Residential Building

By Mario Cucinella Architects, Tirana, Albania

A finalist at the WAF Awards 2019 in the Future Projects Residential Category, MET Tirana is a 12-story residential and mixed-use building in the center of Tirana. At 160 feet (49 meters) tall, the project contributes to the city’s urban redevelopment plans, with a focus on maximizing pedestrian access at the ground level.

The tower features a spiraling exterior design with green terraces that provide outdoor spaces for each apartment. The façade, with a mix of transparent and opaque sections, allows for optimal natural light while reducing solar heat. The ground floor opens up to commercial, public and sports facilities, creating a lively public space that connects with the surrounding area.

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A City in Transition: From Vision to Reality

The vision for Tirana and all of these bold projects is certainly ambitious, but will they actually come to life?

While some, like Stefano Boeri’s Tirana 2030 Master Plan and the Pyramid of Tirana by MVRDV, are already making progress, others, such as Mount Tirana and ODA Tirana, remain in the design phase. Yet the fact that these plans are in motion is a clear signal: Tirana has caught the attention of renowned architects and design firms worldwide.

The interest from firms like Steven Holl Architects, whose EXPO Albania project recently won an international competition, demonstrates how Tirana is becoming a focal point for bold and innovative architecture. The expo center, with its ecological focus and artistic collaboration, shows how art and sustainability are driving this new wave of urban development.

So while some projects are still on the horizon, the involvement of world-class architects signals that Tirana is no longer a city on the periphery but a key player in the architectural and cultural scene of the Balkans. The Albanian capital is definitely rewriting its future, one landmark at a time.

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

The post Tirana’s Radical Transformation: How Albania’s Capital is Defying Tradition and Rewriting Its Future appeared first on Journal.