Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31664/zu.2020.107.04
Architect Vuko Bombardelli and Eksperiment–57
Sanja Matijević Barčot
; University of Split, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Archiecture and Geodesy, Split, Croatia
Abstract
The paper focuses on the work of Split-based architect Vuko Bombardelli (1917–1996) and his response to the postwar housing crisis, embodied in the paradigmatic project Experiment–57 (E–57), which was the name of his innovative solution for a type of an apartment building intended for mass production. With this project, Bombardelli created a housing option whose price was almost three times lower than the average, contributing considerably to the early post-war attempts at rationalization in the construction of apartments. The need for rationalization, accompanied by a general consensus that standardization and industrialization in housing would facilitate the necessary increase in its productivity, faced architects with a challenge to redefine the previous model of architectural endeavour. On the one hand, following the dictates of standardization meant giving up on certain tools characteristic of the architectural profession and, to some extent, renouncing at artistic ambition. On the other hand, ignoring these social demands would have meant leaving the problem of housing to other agents to solve, such as construction companies, thus marginalizing the architectural profession in this important social issue. Thoughts on how to redefine architectural endeavour are presented in this article through an analysis of Vuko Bombardelli’s public debate with architect Lovro Perković. Perković believed that architects must remain the bearers of the creative process, but in order to do so, creativity and innovation in housing architecture should be transferred from the domain of design to the technical one; the existing housing standards must be maintained and the price reduction should be achieved by developing innovative designs and technical solutions in cooperation with industry. Bombardelli, on the other hand, believed that all elements of housing should be reconsidered within the new social reality, including the common notion of the housing standards. Moreover, it was by not accepting the “abstract norms and standards of housing” and by questioning and redefining “the idea of what an apartment should be like” that architecture was to fulfil its true task—to create housing that would be a more authentic and credible reflection of the new era and the new man. It was this thought of Bombardelli’s, according to the author, that underlay the idea with which he would soon begin to develop an apartment type called Experiment–57. With E–57, the proclaimed reduction in price was achieved by combining the known and available methods of standardization and industrialization, but also by a more scrutinizing review and reduction of some of the established surface standards and floor-plan relations within the apartment. In this sense, Bombardelli’s interpretation of the Existenzminimum came close to the concept of minimal housing as understood by the politically left-wing Czech artist and architectural theorist Karel Teige in his 1932 book Nejmenší byt (The Smallest Apartment). In this article, Bombardelli’s E–57 has been compared with Teige’s model of modern housing to establish an interesting analogy. Bombardelli’s organization of living space, his solutions of individual apartment segments, especially the kitchen and bathroom, and the extensive use of technical equipment, presupposed a change in lifestyle and turned the apartment into an operational instrument for wider social emancipation. In this way, the author suggests, the significance of E–57 was not exhausted in finding the most pragmatic and fastest solution for the housing crisis, but also contained a broader social agenda. The E–57 type sparked an intriguing media campaign that was rather unusual at the time. It was initiated and skilfully led by Bombardelli himself, thus expanding the previous mode of architectural endeavour. Research has shown that this media campaign, which started with a fervent public debate with fellow architects and continued with a series of articles in daily newspapers and professional magazines, was an important and inseparable aspect of developing E–57. Namely, by moving the architectural discourse from a narrow professional circle to the public media space and thus making it accessible to everyone, Bombardelli received the necessary political support for his “experiment”, as well as the support of the citizens and future tenants. Following the development of the project through newspaper articles, they understood and consequently accepted the modern housing culture introduced by E–57, despite the fact that —due to deviations from the established housing standards—the local professional and administrative bodies simultaneously opposed its implementation. Nevertheless, despite this initial resistance, the almost unconditional popular support in the period from 1958 to 1960 led to the construction of E–57 apartment buildings in several locations. Designed to be adaptable for use in different housing types and scales, E–57 was used in Split as the floor-plan basis for the first skyscraper ever built, for interpolations in the block matrix of the historic city, and in a number of apartment buildings following CIAM’s urban principles. Outside Split, E–57 apartment buildings were constructed in Dalmatian towns of Kaštel Sućurac, Kaštel Gomilica, Dugi Rat, Ploče, Mostar, and Čapljina.
Keywords
Vuko Bombardelli; Eksperiment–57; Split; housing construction; standardization; housing crisis after the World War II
Hrčak ID:
257932
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2020.
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