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| Columbus circle in the late 19th century. (courtesy MCNY) |
Influenced by the Theory of Chaos and given the changes that occur due to coincidence, I am contemplating if luck or purposeful interventions or perhaps both have shaped the structure of a city. How has architecture reflected on natural disasters or on major social and economic changes? How has architecture responded to climate change or to war and population fluctuations?
After
the Civil war (1870 - 1920), the number of Americans living in cities grew
from 10 to 54 million. ‘’Cities in the late 19th century were large,
crowded and impersonal places devoted to making money’’. They were not
formed and designed to accept the dramatic increase of the
population resulting in inefficient constructions and very
low quality of life. However, the invention of the elevator and other crucial
technological improvements allowed the construction of massive skyscrapers that
could accommodate thousands of people. The New City has
then inspired many architects to form their own manifestos.
Frank Lloyd Wright wrote: So our big cities, vampires, must die.
In my mind two questions arise; How the New York would have
been formed if the Civil War had never happened? How New York was going to
seem if people hadn’t immigrated there or if the immigrant destination was
another city?
This reminded me of the exhibition at MoMA titled: Frank Lloyd Wright and the City: Density vs. Dispersal (February 1–June 1, 2014) - which showcased two dialectically opposing faces of FLW, expressed in his Mile High tower vs. Broadacre City. Interestingly his attitude towards cities as shown in his design in the Mile High Tower was positive, celebrating the skyscraper before the economic crisis as opposed to the the change in his view and his celebration of the suburbs post-crisis. This notion is discussed in detail in Raymond William's The Country and the City where he links people's views of the city and the country to the economic situation.
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