CIAM, Congrs internationaux d'architecture modern (The International

Congresses of Modern Architecture)

CIAM was formed one year before the building of the German Pavilion in Barcelona. Its foundation marks the
determination of Modernist architects to promote and finesse their theories. For nearly thirty years the great
questions of urban living, space, and belonging were discussed by CIAM members. The documents they
produced, and the conclusions they reached, had a tremendous influence on the shape of cities and towns the
world over.
Founded - June 1928
Location- the Chateau de la Sarraz in Switzerland,
Founders: 28 European architects organized by Le Corbusier, Hlne de Mandrot (owner of the castle), and Sigfried
Giedion
Other founder members
Andr Lurat
Henri-Robert Von der
Karl Moser(first president)
Ernst May
Mhll,
Hendrik Berlage
Fernando
Garca
Mercadal
Juan de Zavala
Victor Bourgeois
Hannes Meyer
El Lissitzky
Pierre Chareau
Werner M. Moser
Nikolai Kolli
Sven Markelius
Carlo
Enrico
Rava
Moisei Ginzburg
Josef Frank
Gerrit Rietveld
Gabriel Guevrekian
Alberto Sartoris
Max Ernst Haefeli
Hans Schmidt
Hugo Hring
Mart Stam
Arnold Hchel
Rudolf Steiger
Huib Hoste
Szymon Syrkus
Pierre Jeanneret(cousin of Le Corbusier),
Other later members includedWalter Gropius,Alvar Aalto,Uno hrn,Louis Herman De Koninck(1929)
andFred Forbt.
Responsible for a series of events and congresses arranged around the world by the most prominent architects
of the time, with the objective of spreading the principles of the Modern Movement focusing in all the main
domains of architecture (such as landscape, urbanism, industrial design, and many others). CIAM was one of
many 20th century manifestos meant to advance the cause of "architecture as a social art".

The La Sarraz Declaration

Modern architecture includes a league between architectural phenomenon and prevailing economic system
Economic efficiency does not imply maximum usefulness, but production minimum work effort
Need for maximum efficiency economy is the inevitable result of a impoverished economy
The more efficient production method is the result of rationalization and standardization
You will be given more emphasis on building that architecture, subjecting it to more extensive political problems and
economic
The quality of construction would depend therefore no artisans or workers but adopting rational methods of
production.
The development should also be subject to a functional order, through policies collective ground . Farewell to chaos
in the subdivision of land , to speculation, to inheritance and the unfair distribution of surplus resulting from public
works
architecture
could no
longer
exist in an isolated
state
separate
from
governments
and politics,
that economic
As society became
more
industrialised,
it was vital
that
architects
and
the construction
industrybut
rationalise
their and
social
conditions
would
affect
thefor
buildings
the future.
methods,
embrace
new fundamentally
technologies and
strive
greaterof
efficiency.
(Le Corbusier, one of the movement's
founders, often liked to compare the standardised efficiency of the motor industry with the inefficiency of the
building trade.)

The Athens Charter

The fourth CIAM Congress in 1933 (theme: "The Functional City") consisted of an analysis of thirty-four cities and
proposed solutions to urban problems. The conclusions were published as "The Athens Charter".
This document remains one of the most controversial ever produced by CIAM. The charter effectively committed
CIAM to rigid functional cities, with citizens to be housed in high, widely-spaced apartment blocs. Green belts
would separate each zone of the city.
The Charter was not actually published until 1943, and its influence would be profound on public authorities in
FUNCTIONS:
post-war
Europe.
- Inhabiting: Home
- Work: workplaces
- Cultivate the body and spirit: recreation areas
- Circular Road and Transport
Historical Heritage

PRODUCT:
rigid functional zones, separated by green belts
Only one type of urban housing, high-rise, widely separated
Dogmatic, unworkable, paralyzing research on other types of housing
Housing should take the best urban spaces
Minimum of hours basking
Minimum distance between home and work
Independent Living Industry Sectors
Business Center (equipment) easy access to housing

RECREATION:
All neighborhood with green surface necessary for games and sports
Demolishing unhealthy apples and turn them into green areas
That rivers, forests, hills, valleys, lakes, sea integrate
Circular:

Classification of roads according to their nature

Crossings with high traffic overpasses
separate automobile Pedestrian
Differentiation Street: housing, walk, transit, primary
Large green areas isolated flow

CIAM II 1929
Frankfurt
Invitation Ernst May, Head Department of Housing, Planning and Construction
Subject: Affordable Housing
Efficiency and economy in design and construction, 'May System' prefabricated slabs
"Existence-minimum" standards of space, extensive use of integrated furniture (kitchens "Frankfurter Kche"
cabinets,wardrobes)
Exhibition of drawings to the same scale, of various interventions (becomes rule for other centers)
For the first time presented Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Jos Luis Sert

CIAM III 1930

Brussels
Initiative Victor Bourgeois
Theme: "Rational Methods for Site Plan" (detached house in a row, apartment buildings,
footpaths)
New President: Cornelius van Eesteren planner, younger, representative of the future
approach CIAM

CIAM IV 1933

Moscow
express invitation of the USSR Association of Housing and Construction
Theme: Urban Planning, "Functional City"
Stalin does not allow its realization (against the avant-garde)

CIAM VIII 1951

Hoddesdon, London
Organized by MARS
The 4 basis points of the Charter of Athens decided were insufficient
"the heart of the city" was added
Last period of CIAM that would be dedicated to the formation of the city center, followed by concern for human
habitat
The pedestrian rights became a key point of planning
the first sketches of Chandigarh is shown
The old guard can not satisfactorily answer questions on the issue of the war, young people who become restless
in this predicament

CIAM IX 1953
The new generation opposed the basic categories of the Charter of Athens, criticizing its simplicity, and
address the issue of "identity", referring to the need for belonging and recognition of the district as the unit
above the housing

Habitat Charter
Spatial relationships of the individual:
- Within the family
- With the community
- Need of stillness and isolation
- The need for contact with nature
- From passive observer to active participant
Village, city and metropolis replaced by "human agglomeration"
Contemporary architecture that starts with solving a problem

The End of CIAM

It didn't take long for architects to question the conclusions reached at Athens, and to worry publicly about
the sterility of the city envisioned by CIAM. Chief among these doubters were young British architects
Alison and Peter Smithson, who led a breakaway from CIAM in 1956. Three years previously they had
outlined their concerns; "Man may readily identify himself with his own hearth, but not easily with the town
within which it is placed. 'Belonging' is a basic emotional need- its associations are of the simplest order.
From 'belonging'- identity- comes the enriching sense of neighbourliness.
The short narrow street of the slum succeeds where spacious redevelopment frequently fails."
The Smithsons worried that CIAM's ideal city would lead to isolation and community breakdown, just as
European governments were preparing to build tower blocks in their ruined cities.
The last CIAM meeting was held in 1956. By the mid-1950s it was clear that the official acceptance of
Modernism was stronger than ever, and yet the concerns voiced by the Smithsons and their allies that the
movement was in danger of creating an urban landscape which was hostile to social harmony, would rise
to a crescendo in the decades to come.
CIAM succeeded in developing new architectural ideas into a coherent movement, but Modernists would
spend many years defending, and often undoing, its legacy.