cities within the city

oswald mathias ungers

cities within the city

urban design ecologies pgs 36- 47

september 6, 2013
prepared by: tamara yurovsky
 [1984]
[1976] messe-torhause,
Planning Criteria frankfurt
[2005]
wallraf richartz
museum

[1968] [1976]
moved to returned to
the US germany

[1950] [1965] [1974] [1983] [1986] [2007]

opened practice opened office in opened office in opened office in full tme prof. in passed
in Colonge berlin frankfurt karlsruhe dusseldorf away

[1947-50] [1963-67] [1969-75] [1979- 80]

studied professor & dean at chair of arch. at visiting prof. at uni
architecture tech. uni. of berlin cornell of aplied arts vienna

[1973 & 78]

visiting prof.
at harvard [1997]
[1926] hamburger
born in kunsthalie
germany [1974 - 75]
visiting prof.
at ucla [2007]
[1967] alfred wegener
residential block, institut
[1977]
berlin
Cities Within a City
planning criteria: “reality as found”

01: “impulse of design” comes from the en-

vironment as it exists + accepting existing
conditions. The process is a continuous “ex-
periment of knitting & fitting,” with design
“determined by a specific building task.”

02: accidents are part of the process - the first

level being planned intention or “framework”
with the secondary level being “accidental,
spontaneous and if necessary temporary.”

03: there is a “plurality of solutions” - many

interpretations for the same solution needed.

04: architecture not just as “object” but an in-

fluencing “urban element”

05: adaptability as one of the “basic condi-

tions of design” - meaning that “adaptability
in architectural design means a transforma-
tion from an authoritarian act into an act of
participation.”
 “cities within a city”

summer academy in berlin

with cornell university
a. thesis, b. comment, c. conclusions
thesis 01: berlin’s population drop

berlin is experiencing a dramatic drop in pop-

ulation. city planning needs to recognize this
problem to avoid “jeopardizing the general
quality of the urban environment”

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thesis 02: criticism of current design theories

argues that we must avoid the idea that a city

can be restored “to its former historic sub-
stance and configuration” or what he calls
“restored city.” this problematic nostalgia
will not work in a depopulated city.
thesis 03: the problem of the population drop

depopulation due to efflux from the city to the

suburbs creates “a partial decay of the city
centre.” people are more comfortable in the
country, with improvement of transportation
methods - so “the spatial and the psychologi-
cal distance has been considerably reduced.”
this process is happening in cities around the
world, not just berlin.
thesis 04: the differentiated urban structure

cities are “characterised by an overlapping of

many opposite and divergent conceptions.” to
find order in a city - “a convergence of princi-
pals and a climate of functionality.” therefore,
cities really should not be beyond 250,00 in-
habitants - for better quality of life.

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 thesis 05: the idea of the city in the city

sees berlin as evolving as a “federation of all

these single towns with different structures,
developed in a deliberately antithetic man-
ner.” instead with planning, identify these
parts of the city to implement “integrative
and complementary measures.” areas with
high density (“bulk”) need the addition of
recreational areas such as parks while less
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thesis 06: establishment of the area of city-islands

address each specific area through examples

of “comparable typological features” because
these “zones” stand out from the others “by
their characteristics and importance.”

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 thesis 07: the green archipelago

the spaces between the “islands” of the city

could be transformed into green environ-
ments instead of redeveloping with new struc-
tures. this would be a range of green spaces -
from recreational to productive (agriculture)
as well as allowing for transient cultures (“al-
ternative living”).
thesis 08: the urban villa as a form of residential building

there are two main types of residential build-

ings - apartment buildings and detached
homes - however, people prefer the detached
home. detached homes take away viable land
that could be used by the whole community.
the solution is to adapt the “old rented villa
type of home” into clusters of 4-8 homes (like
town homes).

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 thesis 09: transformation of the city in the course of history

the history of berlin “shows us the devel-

opment of a city into many different zones”
- this city is not a unitary image but a living
collage, a union of fragments. the contempo-
rary vicinity of contrasting elements is from
a historic point of view the expression of the
dialectic process in which the city has always
found itself and still does.”

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thesis 10: standards & definition of objectives for the future

everything mentioned needs to be “discussed

within the framework of the reconstruction
of the city” - the future of the city is not about
making a new city, but “discovering a new or-
der for the city” - so the creation of this “ar-
chipelago in the city” is the solution for the
city facing many challenges
 Interview with Rem Koolhaas on O.M. Ungers
“I think that what is almost impossible
for somebody who has not experienced
it to understand is really what the es-
sence of Ungers was. It was not a way of
thinking or any kind of method, but an
unbelievably exhilarating presentation
of his own way of thinking. It was al-
most an ecstasy on his part, and in this
ecstasy you would be made constantly
aware of how a small beginning could
be manipulated through an endless se-
ries of variations, transformations, or
new ideas projected onto it. It was real-
ly about being in the presence of a vir-
tuoso of thinking—or even a virtuoso of
intuition—perhaps intuition is a better
word than thinking in his case.”
Photograph, 1971. From left: Werner Seligmann, Unknown, Fred Koetter, O.M. Ungers, Jerry
Wells. Image courtesy of Arthur Ovaska and the Cornell AAP Archives.
oswald mathias ungers
cities within the city

Die-Stadt-in-der-Stadt (Cities-Within-the-City,
or The Green Archipelago). Axonometric, 1977,
by O.M. Ungers, Hans Kolhoff, Rem Koolhaas,
Arthur Ovaska, and Peter Riemann. Berlin as
archipelago. Image Courtesy of Arthur Ovaska
and the Cornell AAP Archives.