Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb Zagreb, 2015

Bauhaus
networking
ideas and
practice
NETWORKING IDEAS AND PRACTICE
 Impressum

Proofreading
Vesna Metri
Jadranka Vinterhalter

Catalogue
Bauhaus Photographs
Archives of Yugoslavia, Belgrade
networking Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin
Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, Archiv der

ideas Moderne
Croatian Architects Association Archive, Graphic design
and practice Zagreb
Croatian Museum of Architecture of the
Aleksandra Mudrovi

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts,

Zagreb
Dragan ivadinovs personal archive,
Ljubljana Printing
Graz University of Technology Archives Print Grupa, Zagreb
Gustav Bohutinskys personal archive,
Faculty of Architecture, Zagreb
Ivan Piceljs Archives and Library,

Contributors Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Publisher
Muzej suvremene umjetnosti Zagreb
Avenija Dubrovnik 17,
10010 Zagreb, Hrvatska
tel. +385 1 60 52 700
fax. +385 1 60 52 798
e-mail: msu@msu.hr
www.msu.hr
For the publisher
Snjeana Pintari
Editor
Jadranka Vinterhalter
Expert associate
Vesna Metri
Aida Abadi Hodi, va Bajkay,
Dubravko Bai, Ruth Betlheim,
Regina Bittner, Iva Ceraj,
Zrinka Ivkovi,Tvrtko Jakovina,
Jasna Jaki, Nataa Jaki,
Andrea Klobuar, Peter Krei,
Lovorka Maga Bilandi, Vesna
Metri, Antonija Mlikota, Maroje
Mrdulja, Ana Ofak, Peter Peer,
Bojana Peji, Michael Siebenbrodt,
Barbara Sterle Vurnik, Karin erman, Ljubljana
Darko imii, Jadranka Vinterhalter,
Bogo upani, Isabel Wnsche
Translation
Milena Baljak
Janet Berkovi
Mirta Jurilj
Marina Miladinov
Mladen ipek
Language advisor
Janet Berkovi
Jernej Kraighers personal archive,
Ljubljana
Katarina Beblers personal archive,
Ljubljana
Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Marie-Luise Betlheim Collection, Zagreb
Marija Vovks personal archive, Ljubljana
Modern Gallery Ljubljanja
Monica Stadlers personal archive
Museum of Architecture and Design,
Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
National Museum in Belgrade
Peter Kreis personal archive, Ljubljana
Public Open University Zagreb Archive
Sanela Jahis personal archive, Ljubljana
Selman Selmanagis personal archive,
Berlin
Stadtarchiv Dessau-Rolau
kofja Loka Museum
Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / Bauhaus
Dessau Foundation
Zagreb City Museum, Zagreb
Universalmuseum Joanneum / Neue
Galerie Graz
Filip Beusan
Sreko Budek
Print run
300
2015 Muzej suvremene umjetnosti /
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
ISBN: 978-953-7615-84-0
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the National and
University Library in Zagreb under no.
000915608.
This project has been funded
with support from the European
Commission. The publication
reflects the views of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may
be made of the information contained
therein.

4
 Contents

01 Vesna Metri, Jadranka Vinterhalter Foreword 8

Contents 02 Tvrtko Jakovina The Germans, Germany, and the Slavic South (1919-1961) 18
03 Michael Siebenbrodt The Bauhaus in Weimar A School of Invention / A prototype of a modern, twentieth century university 36
04 Regina Bittner Bauhaus Products: Life-changing Didactic Objects? 50
05 Isabel WnscheFrom Vorkurs to Vertikale Brigaden: Visual Arts Education at the Bauhaus 60
06 Lovorka Maga Bilandi Theatre at the Bauhaus: A Testing Ground for a Theoretical and Practical Examination of the Performing Arts 80
07 Bojana Peji bauhaus in 57 seconds - ivana tomljenovi, the moving image, and the avant-garde film-net around 1930 94
08 va Bajkay On the Road (T): the Hungarian Works of Pcs Weimar Novi Sad Zagreb 120
09 Karin erman The Bauhaus Weimar in Zagreb: the Marie-Luise Betlheim Collection 136
10 Ruth Betlheim The Souvenir Portfolio / Illustrated letters from Lou Scheper to Marie-Luise Betlheim, Weimar Dessau Berlin, 1922-1936 146
11 Peter Krei The Journey of Avgust ernigoj to the Bauhaus in Weimar, or Laying the Foundations of the Slovenian Historical Avant-garde 152
12 Barbara Sterle Vurnik A Brief Tale of a Long Search for the Nearly Lost Legacy of Avgust ernigoj 164
13 Peter Peer Responsibility to oneself and society is even more important than expertise. (Hubert Hoffmann) 182
14 Aida Abadi Hodi Architecture beyond Four Walls: Selman Selmanagi and the Bauhaus 200
15 Jadranka Vinterhalter Bauhaus Dossier: Zagreb Dessau 226
16 Antonija Mlikota Otti Berger Textile Designer, Theoretician, Educationalist, Innovator 238
17 Darko imii Ivana Tomljenovi 256
18 Karin erman, Dubravko Bai, Nataa Jaki The Croatian Architect Gustav Bohutinsky and the Bauhaus 266
19 Jasna Jaki The Bauhaus in the Museum of Contemporary Arts Library 286
20 Vesna Metri The Avant-garde Experiment from the Bauhaus to EXAT 300
21 Maroje Mrdulja Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965 314
22 Iva Ceraj Bernardo Bernardi and EXAT 51: From Avant-garde Activism to the Culture of Living 332
23 Ana Ofak Expo Lab / Pavilions between Art and Industry in 1950 344
24 Andrea Klobuar The Textile Department of the Crafts School and Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb
an Example of the Bauhaus Educational Model 362
25 Bogo upani The B Course the Slovenian Bauhaus of the Early 1960s 376
26 Darko imii Chronology 1918-1961 392
27 Zrinka Ivkovi Bibliography on the Bauhaus and its Impact 410
List of exhibits 418
Lectures, conversations, book launches, events, workshops, exhibitions, as part of the Bauhaus - networking ideas and practice (BAUNET) project 428

6
 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965
Vjenceslav Richter,
Pavilion of Yugoslavia
at EXPO 58, Brussels,
interior, 1958,
Archives of Yugoslavia,
Belgrade

Maroje Mrdulja

Synthesis in After the Second World War, the international map of research trends in architecture was in the pro-
cess of restructuring. Most of the leading figures in the European architectural avant-garde including

Croatian Bauhaslers Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, and others had emigrated to the USA.

21
CIAM was dominated by the prominent partisans of modernism: Le Corbusier, Sigfried Giedion, and Jos
Luis Sert. Behind the Iron Curtain, where some CIAM cells were still active, there was conflict between

Architecture:
modernism and social realism. The main topics of CIAM included the new monumentality and synthe-
sis of decorative arts, whose foundations had been laid in the pre-war period through the activities of
the Bauhaus and De Stijl. The issue of synthesis within CIAM was presented by Giedion at a post-war

1947
congress in Bridgewater in 1947, and the same subject was at the core of the Bergam congress working
group in 1949, entitled Art and Architecture. The debate on synthesis was particularly vigorous in France.

1965
Nicola Pezolet has emphasised that the various approaches of individuals, groups, and institutions such 1. Nicola Pezolet in his doctoral
as Le Corbusier, the Salon des Ralits Nouvelles, or the Groupe Espace did not only continue research into dissertation Spectacles Plastiques:
Reconstruction and the Debates on the
total art, but were also part of the complex process of finding a role for modern art within the modern-
Synthesis of the Arts in France,
isation processes of the post-war welfare state.1 Comparable tendencies in exploring decorative forms 1944-1962 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
could be observed in peripheral settings such as Finland or Brazil. 2013).

2. The groups members included
the architects Bernardo Bernardi,
Zdravko Bregovac, Zvonimir Radi,
Boidar Raica, Vjenceslav Richter,
and Vladimir Zarahovi, and the
painters Vlado Kristl, Ivan Picelj, and
Aleksandar Srnec.
3. For an analysis of trends in
Croatian design during the 1950s, the
role of EXAT 51 and the Triennial, see
Jasna Galjer, Dizajn predesetih u
Hrvatkoj: od utopije do stvarnosti
[Croatian design in the 1950s: From
utopia to reality] (Zagreb: Horetzky,
2004); Fea Vuki, Pojam creative components in architectural design. The experiment was particularly directed towards redefin-
oblikovanje u hrvatskoj kulturi
pedesetih godina [The term design
in Croatian culture during the 1950s],
in: Drutvena istraivanja, 58-59
(Zagreb: Institut Ivo Pilar, 2002),
p. 413-431.
Vladimir Turina,
Zvonimir Radi,
Ninoslav Kuan, Ivan
Seifert, Combined
Swimming Resort
Rijeka, project,
cross-section, 1949
From the early 1950s, synthesis was also a central topic in Croatia in discussing new trends in architec-
ture and the visual arts in the turbulent cultural and socio-political context of the post-war reconstruc-
tion of Yugoslavia. Discussions of synthesis were largely associated with the activities of EXAT 51,2 but in
fact it was multifaceted and involved other protagonists and positions. In the architectural discourse of
the 1950s and 1960s, there was no accurate elaboration of synthesis as a concept, but the relationship
between various theoretical or critical texts and practice means two principal positions can be identi-
fied. The first was promoted by EXAT 51 and it blurred the boundaries between architecture, design, and
painting, and between the pure and applied arts. The problem was formulated universally, as a primar-
ily visual phenomenon. The aesthetics and interests of EXAT 51s members were heterogeneous, but the
concept of synthesis was most consistently elaborated by the architect Vjenceslav Richter. The activities
of EXAT 51 had a crucial impact on the evolution of modernist design in Croatia, with Richter and Zvo-
nimir Radi transposing the experiences of EXAT 51 into teaching during the short-lived activities of the
Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb (1950-1954). Another stream consisted of research-oriented archi-
tects, who understood synthesis as the experimental integration of sciences and arts or technical and
itself included heterogeneous paintings and had practically nothing to do with synthesis, even though
ing architectural typologies and integrating new technological elements in architecture. This approach
was cultivated at the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Technology in Zagreb, through the
conceptual platform established by Vladimir Turina, who sought to complement his diverse designer
practice with theoretical reflections.
The positions of Turina and Richter, representing the Faculty of Technology and EXAT 51, were not op-
posed. However, they approached the issue of synthesis from different angles. Turinas path was one
of architectural experimentation; for him, the project served as a model for constructing a theory. On
the other hand, Richter and the EXAT 51 circle aimed at developing a universal theoretical framework or
model for the decorative arts that could be applied subsequently to architectural design.
Both Turina and Richter were aware of the need to publish their ideas, and of the importance of theo-
retical elaboration and mediating projects and positions. Turina organised a series of solo exhibitions,
accompanied his projects with publications, and produced problem-oriented texts. Although largely
focusing on his own work, Richter was even more active in the public domain: he was involved in pro-
fessional organisations, edited the journal ovjek i prostor, and co-initiated and co-organised the 1st and
2nd Zagreb Triennials (the Zagreb Salon today), which took place in 1955 and 1958 respectively, and were
based on the concept of synthesis in art.3
Maroje Mrdulja
316
21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965
Richter: The road to synthesis leads through
abstract art
Vjenceslav Richter, who enjoyed the strong political support of SKOJ members from 1939 on and bene-
fited from the fact that he had participated in the anti-fascist struggle, gathered young artists such as
Ivan Picelj, Aleksandar Srnec, and the architect Zvonimir Radi around him, and collaborated with them
on a series of pavilions for trade fairs and exhibitions, while still a student. These exhibition pavilions in-
cluded syncretistic references to various historical avant-gardes. Vladimir Kuli has accurately detected
these sources, which included the constructivist reduction of the language of design to floating linear
and planar elements... and biomorphic shapes reminiscent of Surrealism and Hans Arp. Some exhibitions
even included solutions that looked like direct quotations from Frederick Kiesler: concave walls, flowing
curves, or unusual, inclined pillars.4 4. Vladimir Kuli, The Scope of
In 1953, an EXAT 51 exhibition took place with a public reading of the groups manifesto. The exhibition Socialist Modernism: Architecture and
State Representation in Postwar
Yugoslavia, in: Sanctioning
the manifesto explicitly stated that EXAT 51 considered its main task to move in the direction of achiev- Modernism: Architecture and the
ing the synthesis of all the visual arts, and further, to give an experimental character to our work, as no Making of Postwar Identities, eds.
progress in creative approaches to the visual arts can be conceived without experimentation. Vladimir Kuli, Timothy Parker, and
Monica Penick (Austin, TX: University
During the 1950s, Richter worked on several experimental projects. When designing the Naprijed book- of Texas Press, 2014), p. 45.
shop, he focused on the visual coordination of all elements in architecture. The Museum of the Revolu-
tion was situated in Metrovis Art Pavilion, where Richter interpolated a parasitic structure a system
of staircases with a construction of floating platforms and exhibition terraces. In his restaurant/pavilion
in Slavonski Brod, he explored the fluid fusion of covered and open spaces. All these projects explored
established architectural concepts and procedures; however, they were technologically and functionally
simple tasks, which allowed Richter to concentrate fully on pure spatial and visual articulation.
At the same time, he was elaborating his theory of synthesis. After various discussions held during 1952
at the Club of Academic Workers, he published a treatise on synthesis that would be published unal-
tered as the first part of his book Sinturbanizam (Synthurbanism) in 1964.5 Despite the belated date of 5. Richters statement from the
publication, the hypotheses in Synthurbanism could be applied to understand the conceptual platform introduction to Sinturbanizam
(Zagreb, 1964).
of the circle around EXAT 51 and Richter. For Richter, synthesis meant erasing the differences between
architecture, painting, and decorative arts, in which a crucial breakthrough had been achieved by the
Bauhaus. Moreover, according to Richter, The notion of the applied arts is incompatible with the idea
of visual synthesis, because in it, nothing is applied any more - everything is structurally formed.6 The 6. Ibid, p. 17.
very autonomy of individual disciplines thus lost its meaning. From the point of synthesis and everyday,
vital contact between man and artwork, exhibitions of painting and sculpture are almost always abso-
lute nonsense. Richter rejected the idea of additive presence in architecture, painting, and sculpture,
claiming that its main problem was the articulation of space. At the very moment when we demand
that a painting or sculpture be inhabitable and suitable for living, working, and pursuing interests, we
have to bring this painting, hitherto unburdened by practical life, into a relation with construction, tech-
nology, and economy, and thus we arrive at architecture.7 Of course, the opposite is also true: If we 7. Ibid, p. 22.
want () each architectural element to become a visual motif (...), if we understand the interior as a
concave painting or sculpture, and if each element of our furniture seems like a sculpture... then we
 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965

EXAT 51 left practically no complete work of collective synthesis; instead, its architects applied refined
compositional concepts, while its painters participated in an increasing number of interior decoration
projects, enriching them with artwork. These acts also provoked debates on genuine abstract art, such
as the famous controversy concerning the Ritz Bar. The authors of the project were, paradoxically, repre-
sentatives of two opposing sides: the synthetist Vjenceslav Richter and the lyricist Edo Murti. Richter
designed the interior by using the denivelation of the floor and the ceiling to create a fluid, partitioned,
yet integrated space. As Ljiljana Kolenik has observed, the debate was primarily about the nature of
genuine abstract art, rather than synthesis as such.9 In this debate, some parts of which acquired rather 9. Ljiljana Kolenik, Izmeu istoka i
unpleasant overtones, Richter revealed himself as a tactician; however, in a later newspaper article, he zapada, umjetnost i likovna kritika
1950-ih u Hrvatskoj [Between East and
emphasised that Murti had imposed himself upon the investor and that he had not been Richters per- West: Art and visual arts criticism in
sonal choice. Criticism of interventions in the interior was not only reserved for the debate on the Ritz Croatia during the 1950s] (Zagreb:
Bar. An especially fervent critic was the architect Andrija Mutnjakovi, who wrote for ovjek i Prostor, a Institute of Art History, 2006).
journal edited by Richter himself from 1958 to 1961. Mutnjakovis target was a series of prestigious inte-
riors in Zagreb, located on Republic Square: the bar on top of the Skyscraper, the entrance to the same
building, and the interior of Centroturist, designed by Neven egvi, with artwork and artistic interven-
tions by Edo Murti, Vojin Baki, Zlatko Prica, and others. Later, Mutnjakovi also wrote about the com-
mercialisation of synthesis, triggered by the regulation that 1% of all architectural investment in public
Vjenceslav Richter,
buildings should be designated for artistic interventions.
Pavilion of Yugoslavia
at EXPO 58, Brussels, An ideal occasion for synthesis was the Yugoslav pavilion for EXPO 58 in Brussels, designed by Richter. In
exterior, 1958, a way, this pavilion owed some features to his previous experience - its open concept, as in the pavilion
Archives of at Slavonski Brod, its exhibition platforms, as seen in the Museum of the Revolution, and its modular co-
Yugoslavia, Belgrade
ordination, as in the Naprijed bookstore. For the competition, Richter proposed a glass pavilion suspend-
ed on a gigantic central column. Regardless of his unease with the revision and elaboration of the project
following the competition, the central column was rejected and replaced with a conventional skeletal
construction. This alteration made the project even more synthetic, with clearer, more precise spatial
painting, since the simple steel columns became an integral part of the buildings visual construction
and spatial organisation. The exhibition display was coordinated by the graphic designer Emil Vii and
the architect uka Kavuri, while the complex task of representing Yugoslavia was divided into four
thematic units: the State and Social System; Science, Art, and Education; Economy, and Tourism. These
topics were presented through a combination of original artefacts, artwork, photographs, and graphic
have transformed the present-day notion of architecture into one just created by merging painting and art. Richter collaborated with two large teams charged with designing the exhibition: the Zagreb and
8. Ibid. sculpture. The road to experimentation and the possibility of synthesis... leads through abstract art.8 Belgrade groups, who both relied on Richters concept of space and his instructions for further elabora-
Eventually, this dual movement towards the abolition of individual arts led to the concept of spatial tion.10 This experiment in communicating the social system and other features of Yugoslavia resulted in 10. For a detailed analysis of the
painting, the genesis of which Richter credited to De Stijl, especially Mondrian. In explaining what the an elegant exhibition display, in which a wide variety of exhibits - samples, machines, statistical charts, groups work and the list of authors,
see Jasna Galjer, EXPO 58 i jugoslaven-
qualities of spatial painting should be, Richter stated that they could not be additive applications of and artwork - were harmonised in an integrally designed system. Though a considerable number of ski paviljon Vjencesava Richtera [EXPO
painting or neutral surfaces; however, in his proposals he did not manage to go further than demanding works were distributed throughout the pavilion, the two dominant visual elements were photography 58 and the Yugoslav pavilion by
that the concept should be consistent and carried out by colourist interventions and analyses of sur- and graphic design, for example the panel depicting the opportunities for exporting electrical energy, Vjenceslav Richter] (Zagreb: Horetzky,
faces, again referring to Mondrian. This generalising, yet primarily visual stance may have resulted from designed by Alesandar Srnec. The pavilion at EXPO 58 thus presented an ideal image of Yugoslavia and a 2009), p. 497.

the fact that Richters idea of space originated in his practice of creating ambiences and communicating utopian vision of perfectly harmonious, planned social development, and was at the same time the pin-
content through exhibitions, rather than solving complex functional tasks. nacle of Richters exploration of the collective synthesis of the decorative arts.

Maroje Mrdulja

318
 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965

Turina On the road of overall social

t r a n s f o r m at i o n

Before the Second World War, Turinas work was characterised by a functionalist, research-oriented ap-
proach that culminated in two prize-winning, yet unrealised competition projects - the State Opera in
Belgrade (1939) and the Hospital in Zagrebs alata district (1941).11 The Belgrade Opera had a completely 11. Certainly, Turina could rely on
transformable central stage, in which it resembled Gropius idea of total theatre. The Hospital design two local precedents in these
projects: Striis prize-winning
was based on accurate articulation into separate functional elements, interconnected in an efficient sys- design for the Cracow theatre and the
tem. It represented a new type of architectural imagination, detached from static, composed structures, competition projects for hospitals in
favouring a complex, technological, spatial organism that integrated modern, mechanical air-condition- Kraljevica and Zagreb by Ernest
ing systems, movable platforms, elevators, lighting, and all sorts of equipment. These buildings were ide- Weissmann.

al opportunities for Turinas experimentation, as examples of complex projects that depended essential-
12. Turinas circle also included
ly on technology and were also undergoing conceptual changes during the first half of the 20th century. collaborators from outside the
In 1946, Turina became a lecturer at the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Technology in Faculty of Architecture, such as Franjo
Zagreb and gathered a series of young academics as co-workers: Radovan Niki, Mladen Vodika, Alek- Neidhardt.
sandar Dragomanovi, and Boris Maga, with the occasional collaboration of Zvonimir Radi, Ninoslav
13. After the Second World War, the
Kuan, Edo midihen, and others.12 The atmosphere among the young teaching staff was research-ori- Department of Architecture at the
ented and dynamic, with architects working together in various groups in order to participate in compe- Faculty of Technology became a hub
titions. At the same time, Boidar Raica acted as a link between the Faculty of Technology and EXAT 51.13 for the leading architects of different
generations: Alfred Albini and Zdenko
In those politically turbulent times, and in the midst of a debate on social realism and functionalism, in
Strii, who had gained fame before
1947 Turina created one of the most radical designs in Croatian architecture the Combined Swimming the war, and lecturers who started on
Resort in the Delta district of Rijeka. The working group led by Turina included several students about to their career immediately after the
graduate in architecture under the mentorship of Radi (a future member of EXAT 51), Kuan, and Ivan war, such as Boidar Raica, Neven
egvi, and Vladimir Turina. The
Seifert, with Franjo Neidhardt as the associate in charge of technological matters.14 The project explored academic staff implemented their
the subject of transformability in architecture, in terms of programme and technology. The proposal en- projects through the Facultys
visaged a sports park in a non-urbanised area of Rijeka city centre, with a huge, cylindrical hangar (50 Institute of Investment Documentati-
metres in diameter) as its central building. A large, mobile terrace glided on rails from open-air pools, on and were thus not burdened by
the need for productivity to secure a
through the hangar, to an athletics field. The pools could be covered by movable flooring, to make the steady income, as was the case with
Vladimir Turina, hangar usable for other sports and exhibitions. At that time, there were only a few international pro- commercial studios.
Center for Mothers jects exploring the mechanical transformability of space, such as the Maison de Peuple de Clichy by Jean
and Children , 14. It developed a student project by
Prouve (1935-1937), but they were far smaller in terms of dimension and ambition. Turina rightly empha-
Zagreb, ground Petar Kovaevi.
floor - waiting sised that the project was without precedent in both typology and technology. Even though it could be
hall, entrance hall, associated with the heroic proposals of the historical avant-gardes, its technological basis and rationale
1953-65 made it a unique research project, beyond the domain of visionary or utopian architecture, and it served
as an example of synthesis between conceptual and technological research. The first version was exhib-
ited in London in 1948, on the occasion of the Olympic Games, and then in Stockholm in 1949. An account
of the project was also published in the prominent journal LArchitecture daujourdhui.
Turina continued to be involved with sports architecture, including part of the execution of the Dinamo
football stadium in Zagreb; however, the research-oriented architects at the Faculty of Technology
mostly focused on public buildings. In a series of competition designs and finished projects, strategies
were developed that aimed at harmonising the relationship between new, modern institutions in public

Maroje Mrdulja

320
 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965

education, health care, and sports, with individual experiences. A wide range of experts exchanged ideas
during the 1950s, through a series of reform initiatives and symposia on education and healthcare, which
resulted in establishing interdisciplinary services such as the Commission for the Construction of Edu-
cational Buildings, Equipment, and Teaching Aids, founded in 1954, which involved architects, educators,
and other experts. It was precisely this period of open debate on education and healthcare, combined
with a lack of firm standards in urban planning or typological schemes, which allowed for an experi-
mental approach and encouraged architects to interpret scientific achievements with relative freedom.
In the wake of this application of synthesis, Raica designed Zagrebs Fire Fighting School (1951), a prima-
ry school in Mesieva Street (1953), and a secondary school in the district of Trenjevka (1953), applying
innovative concepts of space. In the spirit of the synthetic approach, he resorted to colourist interven-
tions in the interior, while treating architectural and technical elements as visual phenomena. His most
outspokenly experimental approach, in association with Niki and Georgij Nedeljkov, was his unrealised
competition design for the Teachers School (1954), which was to have been one of the pillars of school
reform. This vast project was elaborated as a complex system resembling an educational town, and
some of the experimental teaching programmes were located in hexagonal pavilions. The school com-
bined various types of grouping, ranging from smaller teaching groups to the entire school body, and
spatial organisation was treated by the gradation of proportions and a capillary system leading from the
collective towards the intimate.
After a series of projects which were never built, Turina finally won the opportunity to design the Centre
for Mothers and Children (1953-1956) in Klaieva Street in Zagreb, located in a block next to the Seces-
sionist childrens hospital by Ignjat Fier. The construction was co-sponsored through UNICEFs aid for
underdeveloped countries. The architectural concept was innovative and resulted from a new under-
standing of the social role of healthcare. It was a polyvalent institution, intended for the education of lay
people and for training and specialisation for healthcare workers, and it also included modern clinics. In
1953, at a time when the Centre was expanding, Turina held a lecture at the Faculty of Architecture, enti-
tled Modulor, which was subsequently published in ovjek i prostor. The starting point was his reaction
to international criticism of Le Corbuisers Unit dHabitation in Marseilles, but Turina used the occasion
to propose his own definition of architecture.
In his words, As we are heading towards general social transformation (...), it must be stated that:
1. Architecture is a result of scientific and experimental analysis of given functional, technological, and
economic elements.
2. Architecture is a reflection of the psycho-creative complex that accompanies this synthesis of ele-
ments...No arbitrary interpretations (...) can replace or change the scientific progress of architecture
today. In this progress as is appropriate for all sciences the key role belongs to experimentation.15 15. Vladimir Turina, Modulor Le
Turina assigned to architecture the task of overcoming the central cultural problem of the mid-20th cen- Corbusiera i marseilleski eksperiment
[Le Corbusiers Modulor and the
tury: the gap between science and society. In his opinion, architecture was not an isolated science, but Marseilles experiment], in: Arhitektura,
a synthetic discipline functioning as a mediator, as it harmonised the demands and possibilities posited 2 (Zagreb: Croatian Architects
by science and placed them in a humanised spatial framework. Science and technology were simulta- Association, 1953), p. 39-40.
Vladimir Turina,
neously the source and the means: the source when creating a concept to define typological models
Radovan Niki,
Georgij Nedeljkov, and spatial organisation, and the means by which technological capacities could be used in the physical
Teachers School, articulation of architecture.
competition project, Turina applied this vision to the Centre for Mothers and Children, where he explored the spatial rela-
1952-53, Zagreb City
Museum
tions of new functions while focusing on the psychological experience of space. As the plot was of very

Maroje Mrdulja

322
 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965

modest proportions, Turina built a low central structure and distributed the contents along the inner
corridor connecting two streets, thus incorporating the building into the citys morphology. All the clin-
ics, lecture rooms, and other facilities opened directly into the grounds, while the corridor had overhead
lighting and a spatial arrangement that created intimate and also emphatically open ambiences. The
technological elements of lighting, heating, and air-conditioning were integrated in the interior compo-
Radovan Niki, sition. However, Turina only completed the ground floor, while the skyscraper which was planned for the
Ninoslav Kuan, northern side of the plot was never built, due to disagreements between the architect and the hospital
Petar Kuan,
Workersand
management.
Peoples University Upon completion of the project, Turina published a booklet about the building, in which he explained
(RANS), entrance the project and also included broader theoretical reflections. He interpreted the development of archi-
hall and exterior, tecture as part of the general evolution of culture and technology, which could be reduced to the
1955-61, Public Open
University Zagreb indispensable law of a permanent precedent.16 Given the difficulties there had been in executing the 16. Centre for Mothers and Child
project, economisation became an issue for Turina that was theoretical and utterly pragmatic at the Care, special edition (Zagreb, 1957),
Archive
quoted in: Rukopisi Vladimira Turine
same time. Thus, he claimed that the synthetic approach necessarily led to rational architecture. The [Manuscripts of Vladimir Turina], ed.
architecture of the new era should be a unique set of values in both the technological and spatial-visual Vladimir Mattioni (Zagreb:
senses, which are themselves based on sound economic foundations. 17 UPI-2M Plus, 2007), p. 98.
Turinas notion of synthesis was primarily associated with functionalist-experimental integration. The
issue of synthesis in the decorative arts, as discussed in the circles around EXAT 51, was only secondary. 17. Ibid.
One feels that something is stirring in terms of integration between the visual and decorative arts in
the domain of architecture, which should serve as a cover for... experiential synthesis... However, archi-
tectural synthesis... depends on many factors beyond the visual-decorative domain and is therefore
independent of it. In his opinion, Todays architectural synthesis, which consists of familiar and scien-
tifically defined elements... offers sufficient evidence that it will become and remain a living medium of
high-ranking integration. Moreover, Turina was critical of the often forced application of artwork in in-
teriors, saying, this total symbiosis should be feared at any cost. I would, in principle, accept this sym-
biosis on condition that the coordinating activities of architects should not be sacrificed to a universal,
visual divinity with a commercial halo.18 Nevertheless, the Centres interior did not lack formal expres- 18. Ibid.
sion richer than Richters module-coordinated spaces: the paving of the entrance hall, the staircase, and
other details were lavishly designed in the spirit of the high-modernist aestheticism of the 1950s. Nev-
ertheless, the functional spaces were ascetic and the psychological impact depended to a great extent
on colour and light.
The modestly proportioned Centre for Mothers and Children, and the Dinamo football stadium, were
Turinas only more complex achievements. However, they indicated the intentions behind his attempts
at achieving a theoretical, vaguely defined second synthesis. At the time, the Centre was praised as the
pinnacle of modernism in Zagreb, both architecturally and as a healthcare institution, because it was a
completely new architectural concept, articulated in an original spatial form without precedent. This
second architectural synthesis was not concerned with abstract topics, but rather emerged as a direct
reaction to progressive, modernist currents in Croatia during the 1950s.

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 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965

tive models of architectural modernism after the Second World War, endorsing the research-oriented
approach as an answer to radical social change. Niki worked on the project partly during his stay in the
Netherlands and partly upon his return. A rather playful, stereotomic composition took the place of a
more concise solution, based on open spatial organisation and a precise tectonic system. Influenced by
Nikis Netherlands experience, the revised solution shows a convergence between the spatial paint-
ing approach and typological experimentation.
The very idea of establishing a new type of institution for educating and emancipating the working
classes required an experimental typological concept, based on a complex network of extended com-
munications, as places of informal education and socialisation. In the interior, the project avoided the
mechanical application of artwork and the impressive ambience was achieved by creating an ethereal,
open space. The decorative form was created by means of a Mondrian-like play of black lines, consist-
ing of columns and window frames, and the white surfaces of the walls, following Richters concept of
spatial painting. The furnishings were designed by Bernardi, under the influence of the Danish designer
Hans Wegner, while the colourist interventions were Radis work. An almost reverent atmosphere was
19. Cf. Ljiljana Kolenik, Izmeu istoka
created by the beautiful spatial proportions, prevalence of monochromatic tones, and careful coordina- i zapada: Hrvatska umjetnost i likovna
tion between the details and the whole. Richter also praised the project as a rare realisation of synthe- kritika 1950-ih godina (see note 9), p.
sis.19 Like Turina, with his Centre for Mothers and Children, Niki and Kuan envisaged a house that was 156.
a catalyst for a new type of institution, and in the long run it also proved capable of accommodating a
considerable range of adaptations.
20. CIAM en reorganisation (1957),
Niki encouraged his colleagues to engage in international networking and kept in touch with Bakema, Liste des noms propose comme
with whom Turina and Radi were by then also in correspondence. In August 1957, Turina and Niki were membre individuel, 19.8. / Cf. Eric
included on a list of proposed members of CIAM, along with Aleksandar Josi, a partner in the Paris studio Mumford, The CIAM Discourse on
Urbanism, 1928-1960 (Cambridge, MA:
of Candilis-Josic-Woods, and the architect Juraj Neidhardt from Sarajevo, who had worked with Le Cor-
MIT Press, 2002), p. 337.
busier before the war.20 What followed was the creation of a group within the Zagreb circle of architects,
and the elaboration of a proposal for the reorganisation of CIAM, signed by Ibler, Niki, Radi, Raica,
and Turina. This rather vaguely formulated text, preserved in Turinas personal archive, was probably a
draft for a more precisely articulated proposal. It is entitled CIAM in Reorganisation21 and focuses on the 21. For the proposal, see CIAM in
generally posited issue of synthesis in architecture. Synthesis is defined succinctly as the unity of space Reorganisation (August 1957) in:
Rukopisi Vladmira Turine (as in note
and decorative arts, leading towards truth in architecture. However, synthesis was far outside the focus 16), p. 253-255.
of interest of CIAMs reform group, later Team X. At that time, architectural discourse in Zagreb could
Th e R A N S p r o j e c t a n d i n t e r n at i o n a l r e l at i o n s offer nothing more articulate. In further correspondence, late in 1957, the potential members of Zagrebs
Vladimir Turina, CIAM group were joined by Richter, and the group also included Bernardi and Bregovac, Dragomanovi,
Combined Swimming Srebrenka Gvozdanovi, and Kuan - obviously it consisted of lecturers from the Faculty of Technology
Resort Rijeka, project,
Turinas associates continued these typological experiments. Synergy between emancipatory social and members of EXAT 51. This group of potential members and associates was later reduced and the list
1948, Zagreb City
Museum, Zagreb movements and research-oriented architecture was integrated in the building of the Workers and Peo- of participants at the last meeting in Otterlo mentions only Niki and Radi. As he was in London at the
ples University (RANS) in the former Street of Proletarian Brigades, designed by Niki and Kuan, who time, Radi could not be present at the meeting, so the epilogue to this attempt to include Zagrebs ar-
won the competition in 1955. After working with Turina, Niki left for the Netherlands in 1956, to study chitects in CIAMs reform was a lecture given by Niki at Otterlo on the subject of RANS, which probably
and work in the distinguished studio of Jaap Bakema and Van den Broek. At the time, Bakema was among also represented most accurately the capacities of Zagrebs architectural circle during the later 1950s, in
the pioneers of CIAMs reforms, which led to the foundation of Team X, a group that developed alterna- terms of both design and theory.

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326

22. Vjenceslav Richter, untitled paper,
in: Razgovori o arhitekturi, 2 (Ohrid:
1960, Institute of Architecture and
Urban Planning of the Republic of
Serbia, Belgrade 1964), p. 6.
23. Matko Metrovi, Iznimno ka
opem (Uz izlobu in. arh.
Vjenceslava Richtera u Zagrebu)
[From the exceptional to the universal
(On the exhibition by the architect
Vjenceslav Richter in Zagreb)], in:
Arhitektura Urbanizam, 27 (Belgrade,
1964), p. 22.
21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965
a separate discipline, and demanded its full integration into the equivalent systems of complex produc- 24. Matko Metrovi, to je budui
put arhitekture [The future path of
To wa r d s a n e x t e n d e d f i e l d o f s y n t h e s i s tion activities at the technological and conceptual levels of a higher organisational order.24 However,
architecture], in: Arhitektura
owing to the obvious impossibility of realising such a utopian total synthesis and equivalence between Urbanizam, 19 (Belgrade, 1963), p. 39.
social processes and constituting the built environment, individual research projects such as Richters
From the early 1960s, Richter sought to extend the concept of synthesis to the field of politics. He kept the progressive horizons of architecture vivid.25
was aware of the need to redefine the social position of architects, for which the theory of Yugoslav Following the publication of Synthurbanism, Richter wrote an article for a thematic issue on Yugoslav 25. The active dialogue between
Metrovi and Richter is important
self-management Socialism decentralisation and the weakening influence of the state, as well as the culture of the philosophical journal Praxis in 1965, entitled Assistance and Engagement: About Some Fun- because of the synchronicity of
active participation of the population in all spheres of public decision-making provided some hope. damental Questions of Our Architecture. He saw an obstacle to the humane development of the built Richters theoretical and practical
At the symposium of the Yugoslav Architects Association in Ohrid in 1960, Richter emphasised that the environment in divisions between the roles of society as commissioner, designer, and constructor. extension of the concept of synthesis
issue of expression was no longer crucial, as modern aestheticism had already been accepted in Yugo- Instead of these fragmented relations, a phase in social agreement could be reached in which architec- and the emergence of the New
Tendencies movement, which in a
slavia: Progressiveness... must be expressed in a more complex form... in the phase of creating pro- ture becomes identical with urban planning, and both become the organisational promoters of social series of five exhibitions held in
grammes... The architect is no longer a hired agent for a task imposed by a sponsor, but an equal public progress (...) The process of synthesis must acquire broader social proportions in terms of the concep- Zagreb between 1961 and 1973
partner with direct social responsibility.22 In such a task, the concept of decorative synthesis was no tual and organisational unity of structure.26 In this article, the only one on architecture ever published featured some of the leading
international artists and theoreticians
longer adequate. in Praxis, Richter developed his critique of architecture within a programme of social harmonisation,
of research-oriented art. The
While demanding the extension of the social role of architects, Richters own architectural practice was adopting a position similar to Metrovis. After the School of Catering Services in Dubrovnik, Richter theoretical platform of New
at a crossroads. In his prize-winning design for the Museum of the Revolution of Yugoslav Peoples in Bel- designed a number of less prominent, more eclectic pieces of architecture, and some interiors, but he Tendencies, based on the integration
grade (1961), Richter continued the spatial concept that he had elaborated for the EXPO pavilion. How- dedicated most efforts to the utopian project of Synthurbanism, which should be assessed primarily as of sciences and arts, was envisaged
by Metrovi in a programmatic,
ever, in the design and realisation of the School of Catering Services in Dubrovniks Ploe district (1961), an illustration of the potentially extended field of synthesis, as presented in the Praxis article.
untitled article published in 1963 in
his architecture acquired an outspokenly urban character. The Museum of the Revolution and the School Turina and Maga designed the Theatre in Zenica (1961-1962), a competition project that concluded the the catalogue for the second
of Catering Services seem not to be products of the same era - the Museum belonged to the phase of series of radical neo-avant-garde experiments. Whereas Richter, in his proposal on Synthurbanism, oc- exhibition. According to Metrovi,
EXAT 51 and its syncretistic reconstruction of neo-avant-garde concepts, while the School of Catering casionally ended in a sort of techno-utopian escapism, Turina and Maga tried a formal and functional social progress required the abolition
of differences between sciences, arts,
Services corresponded to the contemporary international trends in systemic art and structuralist archi- concept that was without precedent, by proposing a transformable hall with bilateral auditoria situated and society. Art could no longer retain
tecture, anticipating the New Tendencies movement. Here, Richter surpassed the format of an individ- in a heroic,triangular cross-section. The project failed at the competition stage and Turina turned to- its privileged position; what was
ually composed building, developing a non-hierarchical systemic approach applicable to a wider field. wards criticism. Without touching on the possibility of influencing political grounds in developing the needed was an increase in the social
usefulness of science and both
The project was based on the generative model; by adding equivalent spatial units, it could be adapted built environment, Turina expressed his disappointment concerning the impact of architecture on mod-
domains were to disappear as
to different topographies, leading to growth and change. It was followed by the large, unfinished pro- ernisation, and even the potential of synthesis, in a series of three articles published in Telegram during separate social phenomena.
ject for the Student Hall of Residence (1962) situated on the neighbouring plot, which was supposed to 1963. In one of them, indicatively entitled Humanizam i antihumanizam novovjekog urbanizma (Human-
develop the urbanisation of Ploes slopes according to the same generative code. As for the School of ism and Anti-humanism of Modern Urban Planning), Turina stated that everywhere in the world there
Catering Services, here Richter solved a complex architectural task, which was also his first investigation are drafts for technocratic plans of modernist tendencies. Properly speaking, this means that the tech- 26. Vjenceslav Richter, Asistencija i
of three-dimensional systems, anticipating the decorative work of Centra and Centrija in 1963-1965. His nological and rational component has been absolutely triumphant in contemporary urban architecture, angairanost O nekim fundamen-
talnim pitanjima nae arhitekture /
interest in systemic architecture, which he applied so convincingly to the School of Catering Services in prevailing over the living human being.27 Assistence and Engagement: About
Dubrovnik, later evolved in his proposal for an ideal city, Synthurbanism, presented in the book of the From the end of the Second World War to the mid-1960s, the concept of synthesis permeated archi- Some Fundamental Questions of Our
same name published in 1964. tectural discourse in Croatia as the sole attempt at establishing the theoretical foundations of archi- Architecture, in: Praxis, 4-5 (1965),
p. 577-578.
While individual executions during the 1950s showed that the idea of synthesis could be applied suc- tecture. The actual term synthesis was used in various ways and served several purposes. Thus, EXAT
cessfully by both schools of thought, including the influence of architects on building projects, the in- 51 presented its programme as socially engaged, although in terms of architectural realisation, this
tense rhythm of urbanisation did not yield satisfactory results. In an article published on the occasion of engagement actually referred primarily to representing Yugoslav Socialism: for example, through Vjenc-
27. Vladimir Turina, Humanizam i
Richters exhibition in 1962, the theoretician and critic Matko Metrovi stated that these individual ex- eslav Richter, beginning with his exhibition pavilions in the late 1940s, the pavilion for EXPO 58, and the antihumanizam novovjekog
periments in architecture were a temporary opposition to regressive processes in constituting the built Museum of the Revolution of the Yugoslav Peoples in Belgrade, to the pavilion for the Milan Triennial urbanizma [Humanism and
environment. By using the synthetic way of thinking and clever, non-schematic observation, [Richter] (1961) and the exhibition of his work in Turin (1963/64). Parallel to these ideologically charged projects, anti-humanism in modern urban
planning], in: Telegram (Zagreb, 22
establishes connections between crucial information (...) surpassing practical thinking and operative the debate on synthesis focused on the relatively ephemeral tasks of designing mostly prestigious urban
March 1963), quoted in: Rukopisi
urban planning that erases or obstructs the deeper interests of the living community through reckless interiors. On the other hand, modernisation and the reform of social institutions presented opportu- Vlaidmira Turine (as in note 16),
moves...23 Metrovi was of the opinion that architecture (or any other activity) should be abolished as nities for exploring new typological concepts. Research-oriented architects like Turina were searching p. 224-229.
Maroje Mrdulja
328
 21 Synthesis in Croatian Architecture: 1947-1965

Vladimir Turina,
Clinical Hospital
alata, 1941, model
of competition
project, Zagreb City
Museum, Zagreb

Vjenceslav Richter,
School of Catering
Services in Dubrov-
niks Ploe district,
1961, Croatian Arc-
hitects Association for new organisational forms suitable for complex projects; for them, synthesis meant integrating the
Archive, Zagreb
knowledge needed for the interpretation of programmes, technological possibilities, and new concepts
of space.
By the late 1950s, it had become clear that neither of the two currents had a decisive influence on the
rapid urbanisation of Yugoslavia, and that the scope of exploratory architectural culture was limited.
Despite the theoretical potential of self-management Socialism, applying the extended field of synthe-
sis to the built environment remained utopian. The much criticised practice of additive collaboration
between architects and artists in interior decoration would continue its intriguing development during
the 1960s and 1970s, in a wide variety of situations: from buildings for political organisations, to banks
or the many hotel lobbies on the Adriatic, where Murti, Raul Goldoni, Zlatko Prica, Duan Damonja and
others realised many projects that have not survived to the present day. The typological experiments
and efforts of architects to become actively involved in the sensitive task of designing buildings corre-
sponding to the social standards of the time remained isolated enterprises in a domain that was becom-
ing less and less suitable for research, owing to the introduction of stricter norms in urban planning and
reduced budgets for education and health care. Nevertheless, both aspects of synthesis have remained
present up to the present day as essential components in the Croatian modern architectural tradition.
*/ Translated from the Croatian by:
Marina Miladinov

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