http://hdl.handle.net/2451/29900 Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:47:52 GMT 2026-04-12T08:47:52Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/31296 Title: Front to Rear: Architecture and Planning during World War II Abstract: Considered by most historians of 20th century architecture as a void between peaceful periods of active architectural production, the Second World War remains an unwritten chapter in most textbooks. It corresponds however to an intense body of experience, which can be observed from Japan to the United States, passing through Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England. WWII was a key moment in the process of modernization, and manifold issues are raised by the preparation of war, the total mobilization of territories and cities and their eventual occupation, destruction and reconstruction.... Description: Conference held March 7-8, 2009, at the Institute of Fine Arts. Schedule document includes introductory statement, list of speakers, and time schedule of presented papers. Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:29:26 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/31296 2011-11-03T14:29:26Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30290 Title: City and War: Foreign Influences, the Pacific War, and the Japanese City between 1937 and 1945 Authors: Hein, Carola Abstract: In 1942, Ishikawa Hideaki published a book entitled 'War and the City' ('Sensoo to Toshi') in which he examined foreign planning concepts and laid out the basics for a master plan for the Imperial Capital Tokyo. In the book, Ishikawa refers to numerous foreign examples, including notably German planners such as Paul Wolf and Walter Christaller. This publication provided a detailed approach on the theme of planning for defense, and built on earlier works by Ishikawa and notably his 1941 textbook on urban and regional planning in which he had already proposed his own regional planning ideas. Ishikawa's proposal for Tokyo divided the city into multiple small units and strongly influenced Ishikawa's postwar reconstruction plan. Ishikawa's career with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government spans the war and postwar period from 1933 to 1955. His work in Tokyo and in the colonies, in conjunction with that of other prominent planners and architects of the time, provides room for a two-pronged analysis of war and the Japanese city. In a first part, the paper therefore analyzes urban design for colonial areas, where military structures facilitated the application of Japanese planning concepts. For Japanese planners the colonies were an important study ground of foreign planning concepts (German, Russian, etc.) as well as an opportunity to develop and try out their own design concepts. Among the examples to be discussed are Ishikawa's experiences in Shanghai, Tange Kenzo's proposal for the Japanese Cultural Center in Bangkok (1942) and his 1942 entry in the Greater East Asia competition, as well as the urban project for Datong by a group of planners including Uchida Shozo and Takayama Eika for Datong. In a second part, the paper examines instances in which the war context facilitated planning in Japan, As the government and notably the military prepared the Japanese mainland for a possible future defense, their support allowed planners to realize proposals for decentralization planners had discussed for several years, but that had not found support. The construction of decentralized military towns such as Sagamihara Military City in 1940, or the decision on the construction of a green belt in 1939 are evidence of the urban transformation that took place during the war years. In conclusion, the paper argues that Japanese architecture and planning between 1937 and 1945 were characterized by a conscious borrowing of foreign urban planning and design ideas both in order to demonstrate Japanese architectural and urban design skills in the colonies and in order to transform and defend the urban spaces on the Japanese islands. War and defense preparation led to an acceleration of urban development that is visible both in planning examples in the colonies as well as in Japan. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:23:29 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30290 2011-09-23T19:23:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30289 Title: Alvar Aalto: Planning Finland, c. 1940 Authors: Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa Abstract: My paper will deal with Alvar Aalto's planning ideas during the two Finno-Russian Wars between 1939-40 and 1941-44, during which he spent prolonged periods in the U.S. and became exposed to American regionalism. I will focus on a seminal year 1940 when Aalto was most actively pursuing different planning ideas during and in the aftermath of the Winter War. I will discuss a series of articles and projects which demonstrate the various ways he started to apply regionalist planning principles to the Finnish war-time context. His article 'Finland' written for the Architectural Forum in 1940 maps out the foundation of Finnish modernism on the lines of American regionalism and puts forth his plan for reconstruction. The proposal 'American Town in Finland' executed while Aalto held a research professorship at MIT was a first attempt to put regionalist principles to use. A little brochure entitled 'Post-War Reconstruction: Rehousing Research in Finland', published through the Finnish Consulate in New York for American distribution in 1940, puts forward the idea of 'flexible standardization,' which allowed architecture to absorb various contingencies from site conditions to programmatic needs. Aalto's first large scale planning project, the Kokemäki River Valley Regional Plan (1940), both commissioned by Finnish industry, both encompassed new settlements, infrastructure, production, and recreational facilities and used planning as a means to regulate the spatial relationships between these functions. I will point out how the Second World War offers a backdrop, even an answer, to Aalto's activities at that time. The 'Finland' article was aimed at convincing his American audience--a potential source of humanitarian aid--that the Finns had nothing to do with the (putatively) Communist-infested international modern movement nor nationalism that fuelled the Second World War. My paper will thus expose the audience to little-known aspects of Aalto's activities and persona, namely that he was very well versed in statecraft and saw his writings and architecture as a means to promote and even act out various geographical scripts. His geographic narratives produced terminology, representations, and spatial products whose goal was to understand and reinforce national culture, on the one hand, and conceptualize relationships to other countries, on the other. The spatial idea behind regionalism was a nested network, in which the country's internal infrastructural, settlement, and production networks are supported by and connected to the larger global networks of international commerce. On the whole exposure to regionalism helped him to overcome the nationalist and internationalist ideologies that had fuelled much of the architecture culture of the early part of the 20th century and take a pragmatist approach to geographic questions emphasizing management of economic, human, and natural resources during the period of post-war Finnish reconstruction, which eventually laid the foundation for the future economic prosperity of the country. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:16:11 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30289 2011-09-23T19:16:11Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30288 Title: System Theories: Science, War, Construction Authors: Imperiale, Alicia Abstract: This paper will examine the confluence of information and systems theory and the production of architectural building systems. The two are interrelated around the adaptation of pre-WWII techniques and knowledge that became transformed during the years leading up to, during, and in the immediate postwar period. Much of the progress regarding the evolution of computation is attributed to the large scale deployment of highly acute mathematical minds to the problem of interpreting the encrypted messages sent from Axis command centers to the troops on land, on the sea and in the air. Known as the 'code breakers' these individuals were crucial in the advancement of computation, cybernetics and systems theory. After laying out the theoretical implications of systems theory, this paper analyzes two case studies of wartime building systems. In one case, a wartime factory was retooled for peacetime housing production, and in the other pipe factories were retooled to produce bomb casings. Case 1: Packaged House System. At the end of 1941, Konrad Wachsmann and Walter Gropius, German emigres to the U.S. began to collaborate on a project for industrialized modular housing, which became known as the 'PACKAGED HOUSE'. Wachsmann designed a 'universal Joint' that would give great structural stability to the joining of prefabricated panels. The JOINTING SYSTEM was based on 2-, 3-, and 4-way connections between panels. All surfaces were conceived to be used from the same panels: exterior walls, interior partitions, floors, ceilings and the roof. In February of 1942, the National Housing Agency allocated $153 million for the housing of displaced defense workers. By May 1945 with the end of WWII, the house was still not in production, despite enthusiasm for the project. But the house could have a second chance, in the enormous postwar demand for returning GI's and their families. The General Panel Corporation raised funds to be able to take over the former Lockheed Factory in Burbank, California, which had been built to build wartime aircraft for government contracts. And it was a classic example of using factories that made armaments could be retooled to make houses. Case 2: Tubi Innocenti: scaffolding system. Ferdinando Innocenti, born 1891, experimented with iron pipe and tubes and started producing tube scaffolding in 1933, with a rapid system of mounting and dismantling a combination of tubes and a mechanical fastener. During the war years the Innocenti plants supplied bodies for 150 and 250 kg airplane bombs, for which cut down tubes were used, and also produced 15% of all bullets produced in Italy. After the war, Innocenti continued to make scaffolding and all other types of pipe and tubes for industry and then developed a scooter: the Lambretta. The idea came from vehicles dropped in Rome by the British paratroopers. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:09:37 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30288 2011-09-23T19:09:37Z