0:00:04 > 0:00:06Archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this collection, Janet Street-Porter has selected
0:00:09 > 0:00:12programmes about post-war architecture.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14More programmes on this theme
0:00:14 > 0:00:15and other BBC Four collections
0:00:15 > 0:00:17are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The world's need for housing and shelter
0:01:01 > 0:01:03becomes more desperate than ever.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Even in London or Paris, the number of homeless is in tens of thousands.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19In the meantime, we continue to destroy units that have worked.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Whole parts of cities have been wilfully demolished, and,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26with it, cultural and human symbols
0:01:26 > 0:01:28which once formed the landscape of a town.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40We live with the strange contradiction.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43While the span of human life has been extended
0:01:43 > 0:01:45by modern science and technology,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48the life of material things has been shortened.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Everything is disposable - cans, houses, even cities.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00The last ten years has seen a change.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Our euphoria for progress and the future has become stale.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06In its place, a longing to look back.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17The old wholesale market of Paris was, for 100 years,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20the centre of many activities.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22An entire neighbourhood lived off it.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Shops and restaurants drew a lively crowd,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28often until the early hours of the morning.
0:02:32 > 0:02:33But over the years,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38the market outgrew its purpose, choking the area with trucks.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Like everywhere else, there was a need to relieve the inner-city area
0:02:41 > 0:02:43from congestion.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49In 1969, the market was moved out of Paris.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52The attractive, cast-iron pavilions by Victor Baltard,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56built in the 1860s, stood empty and deteriorated.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00They were pulled down and the entire area razed to the ground.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13A new shopping centre was built in its place - the Forum des Halles.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17The architects for this vast scheme were Claude Vasconi
0:03:17 > 0:03:19and Georges Pencreac'h.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Much of the shopping was sunk into the ground,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27leaving open the view of the old Bourse de Commerce
0:03:27 > 0:03:29and the church of Saint-Eustache.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36The new buildings are an attempt to create the modern equivalent
0:03:36 > 0:03:38of the old glass-and-iron pavilions.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41They filter the light down to the lower levels,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44minimising the feeling of oppressiveness.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50The fan-shaped architecture blends well with the surroundings.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52It does not dwarf the old buildings.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01The Forum des Halles is both urbane and expansive -
0:04:01 > 0:04:04a courageous step to create a generous public space
0:04:04 > 0:04:06few capitals nowadays can afford.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22There are new hotels, smart restaurants,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24sports facilities and many shops.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28But by pulling down the old markets,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Paris misses out on a vital experience
0:04:31 > 0:04:34which people are only now beginning to recognise.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37The cheerful chaos, with its smell, noises
0:04:37 > 0:04:39and the mixture of people from all walks of life,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41was vital for the whole town.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46The boutique-ing, with the ensuing gentrification of commerce,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49has replaced the rough and tumble.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Everything is orderly and sterile.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02As a result, a lifestyle Les Halles once generated
0:05:02 > 0:05:04and supported is for ever lost.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13London was faced with the same problem as Paris.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The old wholesale market had outgrown its original purpose
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and the area was hopelessly congested.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23In 1974 the market was moved out to Nine Elms.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27The whole area lay open to greedy office development
0:05:27 > 0:05:29and major road schemes.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Plans carving up the whole district were already on the drawing boards.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36Fortunately, by the time London had finished discussing
0:05:36 > 0:05:38the future of the market,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40the pendulum had swung away from modern solutions
0:05:40 > 0:05:43towards preservation of the old.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Instead of destroying, they opted for repair.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52People realised that a planned environment can never have
0:05:52 > 0:05:54the same feeling of liveliness
0:05:54 > 0:05:57as an environment grown up over a long period of time.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19The present market buildings date from 1830.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23They were restored, the roofs were repaired and re-glazed
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and some of the later 19th-century additions were removed.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35But Covent Garden has done more than just restore buildings,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37it has restored a social context.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42The benefit for the whole area has been enormous.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44It has been revitalised.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47It has helped to revive a central urban space
0:06:47 > 0:06:50which most modern cities nowadays urgently need.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55CALL TO PRAYER
0:06:58 > 0:07:02In many places, a reconstruction of the past is vital.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04In the desire to join the 20th century,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08many Arab countries have blotted out their history.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11The almost total destruction of old buildings
0:07:11 > 0:07:14was a condemnation of the way of life associated with poverty.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Nobody wants to live like their fathers.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Many Arab cities have become places of nowhere.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33The future lay in the shining palaces which came from the West.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41The beautiful old streets and houses of Jeddah crumbled
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and were allowed to rot.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46A significant chapter in the history of Saudi Arabia
0:07:46 > 0:07:50was threatened to be wiped out, creating a collective amnesia.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55The Arabs, due to almost unlimited wealth, have become a fast-moving
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and almost continuously changing society.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02In recent years, it has dawned on them
0:08:02 > 0:08:05that in order to find a national and collective identity,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08people have to come to terms with their past.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20SPEAKS ARABIC
0:08:23 > 0:08:27An extensive restoration process of old Jeddah was begun.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59In America, too, people are learning that many old buildings have still
0:08:59 > 0:09:01a lot of life in them.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04The visible past may be culture, but it is also money.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08The old Washington post office,
0:09:08 > 0:09:13a ten-storey Romanesque wedding cake of a building dating from 1899,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15was considered an eyesore,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18out of step with the aspirations of a modern city.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22A few years ago, public concern prevented it from being pulled down.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27Now, it has reopened under the fancy name of The Pavilion.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31In the clock tower, ten enormous new bells, replicas of Westminster's,
0:09:31 > 0:09:32chime the hour.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44The main attraction of this building has always been its arched galleries
0:09:44 > 0:09:46looking down on a magnificent court -
0:09:46 > 0:09:49a cross between a cathedral and a cotton mill.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55The floor was once the sorting office,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58with a catwalk for inspectors to check on the honesty of the sorters.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03This is now a vast marketplace,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06housing 22 shops, 19 restaurants
0:10:06 > 0:10:08and eight floors of offices.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20A highly successful urban fairground
0:10:20 > 0:10:23and a perfect stage set for the wooden kitchenware
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and the lavender-filled cushions of Laura Ashley designs.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35The increasing appreciation of vernacular architecture,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38especially of industrial buildings, has saved many warehouses
0:10:38 > 0:10:40and factories from destruction.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45An old industrial car repair shop of the 1930s
0:10:45 > 0:10:47on the Regent's Canal in London
0:10:47 > 0:10:51was taken over by the television company TV-am.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The architect for this conversion was Terry Farrell,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02an ardent postmodernist.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12It is a whimsical, glossy and, most of all, humorous.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17The showbiz razzmatazz of the exterior
0:11:17 > 0:11:19reflects what goes on inside.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24The egg-cup finials are a particularly witty touch,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26providing a corporate identity.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34The back facade overlooking the canal
0:11:34 > 0:11:37has preserved just enough of the old-world charm.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39It has been brightened up with colour,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42balconies and some additional windows.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50As a result, a relatively undistinguished industrial building
0:11:50 > 0:11:54has been saved and has gained in character and personality.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Farrell's solution for the front is less happy.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03An Art Deco movie-house architecture.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08The architect could not work with a strong unifying statement
0:12:08 > 0:12:09as at the back.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12The old front was simply an undistinguished glass block
0:12:12 > 0:12:17that Farrell demolished totally, to replace it with a curved front,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19hoping to liven up a rather dull area.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26MAN: Well, TV-am has added a lot more life to the street side,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28where we radically changed the facade.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33And that was a rather seedy street. and it has given a lot of impact.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37It has said to that part of Camden Town that TV-am is here,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39this is your new neighbour.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42On the canal side, I think, by keeping the old wall
0:12:42 > 0:12:43and adding a bit of colour,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46the kind of colour you would find on canal boats,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49it really kept a continuity with the canal.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51It's a relatively good neighbour
0:12:51 > 0:12:53although it still looks like it is an entertainments building
0:12:53 > 0:12:55rather than a brewery or what have you.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58You see, the modernists threw away the history books.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01In the 1920s, they said history is dead.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04It's only the future we're now concerned with.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08And that was an attitude, it wasn't a reality. You never can.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10One exists...
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Society exists at a point in time, which is a continuity with the past,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15looking to the future, but it's now.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19And to express now is the act of the architect
0:13:19 > 0:13:22or the artist or the writer, whoever.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28And to express the now of where we are does involve looking back.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33NARRATOR: This is not the dawning of a new generation, conscious of some
0:13:33 > 0:13:37spiritual link with the past, as some preservationists want us to believe.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41It is simply the recognition that many industrial buildings provide
0:13:41 > 0:13:45marvellous large spaces surrounded by good solid walls -
0:13:45 > 0:13:47commodities that modern buildings seem to lack.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Maintaining and renovating older buildings costs less than
0:13:52 > 0:13:54pulling down and rebuilding.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58The saving of energy and raw material is considerable.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08The dock areas of London have been derelict for 20 years.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Ever since large container ships began to use the seaports,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14the warehouses that stored the goods shipped up the Thames
0:14:14 > 0:14:17from all parts of the world became obsolete.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23In the '60s and '70s, many were pulled down
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and replaced by undistinguished buildings.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39In recent years, a hectic restoration programme has been put in motion.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43The whole area has become one of the most active building sites in London,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46a paradise for speculators and developers.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51The New Concordia Wharf was built in 1885.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58It was commissioned by a wealthy grain merchant who named it
0:14:58 > 0:15:01after the town of Concordia in Missouri
0:15:01 > 0:15:02where much of the grain came from.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07The building served as a grain store for nearly a century.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10In 1980, threatened with demolition,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14the wharf was bought by a young developer who restored the building
0:15:14 > 0:15:16for private and partly commercial use.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The original architecture has been retained where possible.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25The brick was chemically cleaned and the parapets and sills restored.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Where new windows were needed, they were matched to the original.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Inside, many of the original features are preserved.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02Past centuries preserved only what was precious,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06exemplary or sumptuous - castles, cathedrals.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Now we preserve not only for symbolic, but for other reasons -
0:16:10 > 0:16:14for sentimentality, for decorativeness, for continuity.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Recording and saving our past has become a widespread concern.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24A gregarious society collects.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26We all have become collectors of relics,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28many of us with an eye on profit
0:16:28 > 0:16:30rather than out of a genuine desire to preserve.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36One should conserve all buildings that still have a value,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40whether it's a human value, because people love it or remember it
0:16:40 > 0:16:43or remember people who lived there
0:16:43 > 0:16:45or actually like the appearance of it.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49I also include a value in resource terms, that it may actually
0:16:49 > 0:16:51be more economic to keep buildings
0:16:51 > 0:16:52than to pull them down and rebuild them.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Of course we should preserve, but you have to preserve the very best.
0:16:56 > 0:16:57You can't preserve everything.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03The evolvement of a nation's culture is a continuing process.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05So when you are preserving today,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07you've got to bear in mind what the people in the future
0:17:07 > 0:17:09are going to think about what you've preserved,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13and when you are designing for today, you have an obligation to the future
0:17:13 > 0:17:16to demonstrate the best that today could do.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And I think if we don't stop doing pastiche
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and if we don't stop preserving indifferent buildings,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24the future will look back on us
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and say, "They really didn't do what they should do."
0:17:27 > 0:17:30And you can learn about the future by looking back,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34and if you look back now, you can see how vigorous
0:17:34 > 0:17:37the patrons and designers of the past were.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39They were totally committed to the present.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42NARRATOR: The many insensitive ways
0:17:42 > 0:17:44in which architects have dealt with an old environment
0:17:44 > 0:17:47has made us afraid of modern solutions.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Previous centuries seem to have had more courage
0:17:50 > 0:17:52and stronger convictions.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55In St James's Street, London,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58a row of houses built over a period of 200 years
0:17:58 > 0:18:01seems to create no discord.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04They acknowledge each other, enter into discourse.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Yet when they were first built,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09each new addition must have come as a total shock.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13We seem to accept the red brick next to the Georgian sandstone.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Nobody, except historians, is unduly worried
0:18:16 > 0:18:18about the total break in the window line.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25Why are so may people alienated by the latest addition to St James's?
0:18:25 > 0:18:29Have we become so familiar with the architectural language of the past
0:18:29 > 0:18:34that Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian styles all form a unit in our minds
0:18:34 > 0:18:37while the language of the modern architects strikes a wrong note?
0:18:40 > 0:18:44This office building by Tripos is a blatantly modern building.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Like the others, it makes few concessions to its neighbours.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54It should soon be regarded as an equal partner, contributing its share
0:18:54 > 0:18:58to the patchwork of the street made up over a span of 200 years.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04It is vital that each period leaves its imprint.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08When a modern building, like this one by Timothy Rendle,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12matches the quality of the old one, the style seems immaterial.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Good quality transcends time.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Otherwise we end up with nothing but buildings like this...
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Georgian, 1982.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26MAN: We have lost nerve, because it's so much easier to look back,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29to copy the past rather than move forward.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Any new buildings are put behind old facades,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and, as William Morris said, that is the most terrible thing you can do
0:19:35 > 0:19:38to an old building - use it as a death mask.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40And it advances you nowhere at all
0:19:40 > 0:19:42because you don't get a good new building
0:19:42 > 0:19:46and you've lost your original old building.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49If you only keep the facade, what point is there keeping even that?
0:19:53 > 0:19:56The fashionable German architect, Helmut Jahn,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00was commissioned to extend Chicago's Board of Trade, built in 1930.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Helmut Jahn's openly declared love affair
0:20:04 > 0:20:08with skyscrapers of the Art Deco period made him an obvious candidate.
0:20:09 > 0:20:15Synthesis is one of Jahn's favourite words - blending between old and new.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Jahn has added a black-and-silver building.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Its glittering grid looks like a Rolls-Royce car grille -
0:20:21 > 0:20:24sophisticated and chic.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26The glass panes are a striking contrast
0:20:26 > 0:20:29to the buff-coloured limestone of the old building.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34The rather squat shape does not obscure the original skyscraper
0:20:34 > 0:20:36by Holabird and Root.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41SHOUTING
0:20:43 > 0:20:46A new trading floor for the largest commodity market in the world
0:20:46 > 0:20:49was the main reason for this extension.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Jahn has created a large,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00column-free space on the third floor of the building.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Above it rises a soaring atrium 12 storeys high.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16It is a technical tour de force.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28The outside wall of the old building
0:21:28 > 0:21:30has become the inside wall of the new one,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33creating a clear visual link between the old and the new wing.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The inside of the old Board of Trade is a marvel of Art Deco style -
0:21:41 > 0:21:45mirrored surfaces, black marble and ivory carving.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Jahn repeats some of it in the entrance hall to his new extension.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59The motif of the scallop echoes the lush decoration in the old part
0:21:59 > 0:22:02in its various forms and sizes.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Of course, the obsession of the 1930s with elegant surface detail
0:22:06 > 0:22:08can no longer be reproduced.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13A closer look at the new decoration reveals a distinct deterioration.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Plastic will never be the same as lacquer.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Where the new building gains over the old one is in its use of space.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27The architect has employed the modern findings of technology
0:22:27 > 0:22:30to create a dazzling atrium.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32The decorations are still historical,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36but in its spaciousness, and in its openly acknowledged eclecticism,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38it is the building of the 1980s.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50In many places, the lack of the past makes people invent one.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52The dividing line between the genuine
0:22:52 > 0:22:56and the fabricated past is getting thinner.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Imitation villages and replicas of old buildings
0:22:59 > 0:23:01are springing up everywhere.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03MEDIEVAL MUSIC
0:23:07 > 0:23:09This is not a medieval festival in Italy,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12it is a commercial for a television station
0:23:12 > 0:23:15being shot in the court of the recently finished
0:23:15 > 0:23:18new arts centre in Miami.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20This blatantly historical building
0:23:20 > 0:23:23is the work of America's number-one architect, Philip Johnson,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26a man able to play with any style.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31For Miami, with a very large Cuban population,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35he has opted for this pseudo-Spanish architecture.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38With its cheap imitations of a vernacular style,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40it is not only a betrayal of the past,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42but also an appalling sell-out of modern architecture.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47The flimsiness of the ironwork
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and the fake old street lamps might fool the viewers of the commercial,
0:23:51 > 0:23:57but a second-rate Spanish pastiche is exactly what Miami did not need.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02In its quaintness, it is hopelessly provincial. It lacks any urbanity.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10A stunning contemporary and urbane building
0:24:10 > 0:24:12would have been more appropriate
0:24:12 > 0:24:16in a town striving to put itself on the architectural map.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20WOMAN: It is a most superficial kind of pastiche.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23And I am not against history.
0:24:23 > 0:24:24I'm a historian,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26I am not against using history.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31But I believe in the intelligent
0:24:31 > 0:24:34and responsible use
0:24:34 > 0:24:36of whatever source you want to quote...
0:24:38 > 0:24:42..within the requirements of society,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44of the programme for the building,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46of the need, of the use for the building.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50I don't think there's a great building
0:24:50 > 0:24:54that doesn't answer these questions.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And I think you feel it the minute you see it
0:24:57 > 0:24:58and walk into the building.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03NARRATOR: This is a new office building in Soho.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07It is the work of Quinlan Terry, an ardent classicist.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Terry built a replica of a Georgian town house.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14It is an attempt to recreate the architecture of the 18th century
0:25:14 > 0:25:16with scrupulous attention to detail.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20The building technique and finish
0:25:20 > 0:25:22are based on genuine 18th-century formulas.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25The building cannot hide a certain wooden expression.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31However pleasant to the eye, it does not breathe life.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Buildings are a reflection of a certain lifestyle,
0:25:34 > 0:25:35certain views of the world.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39When these change, buildings must also change.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47MAN: You get this kind of schizophrenia
0:25:47 > 0:25:49when you have an office building
0:25:49 > 0:25:51by Quinlan Terry which looks like, I don't know what,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53some kind of housing stock on the outside,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55but it's ultramodern on the interior.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58You could say that this schism is very much part of modern life
0:25:58 > 0:26:01but I think the positive...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04positive achievements of the earlier 20th century
0:26:04 > 0:26:07was a confidence in its own time
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and a refusal to kind of split life in this way, you know,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12in such a kind of schizophrenic way.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17So, I think we've got to come back at some point, rather,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20to a confidence in our own capacity, you know,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23and our own capacity to build sensitively and realistically
0:26:23 > 0:26:27with the materials or sources and instruments of our own epoch.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31NARRATOR: Frankfurt had an old famous city centre.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It was almost totally destroyed by bombs.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37After the war, the remains were cleared away
0:26:37 > 0:26:39to make room for modern solutions.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42These were meant to improve people's lives.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44Instead, they turned Frankfurt
0:26:44 > 0:26:47into one of Germany's ugliest post-war cities.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51During the last ten years,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54the city fathers decided to improve their image.
0:26:54 > 0:26:573,000 buildings were given a preservation order
0:26:57 > 0:27:01and Frankfurt began to restore many of its old sites.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05This is the old town square of the city.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09The houses look as though they have survived several centuries.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11They were, in fact, built in 1985.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20After the war, all that remained were remnants of the town hall
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and a badly damaged church.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Over the years some rebuilding was done.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29The various schemes reflect how our attitude towards restoration
0:27:29 > 0:27:33has radically changed during the last 30 years.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35The houses built in the 1950s
0:27:35 > 0:27:39try at least to keep to the scale of the original square.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Then, in the '60s, the city opted for a modern building
0:27:42 > 0:27:45opposite the oldest remaining timber-framed house.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49The perpetrators of this act of vandalism, believe it or not,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52are, in fact, the keepers of our cultural inheritance.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55This is the museum of history.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03There is no doubt that the latest reconstruction is popular.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07The old town square has again become the parlour of Frankfurt,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11with an eye, as it is always nowadays, on commercial success.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Boutiques and restaurants
0:28:13 > 0:28:16thrive in this sort of Hansel and Gretel architecture.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27The nostalgia of today is for Italian piazzas and cobblestone streets,
0:28:27 > 0:28:31but we want them without dirt, disorder, without the ugly grey.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35In short, we want history, but it has to be dry-cleaned.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39GERMAN MAN: Many people make fun about them,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41especially the intellectuals, of course.
0:28:41 > 0:28:47Whereas the people of Frankfurt, they like them because they are...
0:28:47 > 0:28:51somehow signs and symbols of remembrance, of the past,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54of that what Frankfurt has been before the war.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59And if one respects that desire of people,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04that at least on one place some of these houses have been reconstructed
0:29:04 > 0:29:08and showed the former structure of the city,
0:29:08 > 0:29:10I think it's worthwhile to do it.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13One should not take these houses serious.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16One should not take them as real. They are not real.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19They are something... They are symbols, like I say,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23they are signs, for something that has been, and that's all.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37NARRATOR: Frankfurt also possessed a splendid example
0:29:37 > 0:29:41of a 19th-century opera house, designed by Richard Lucae.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44It, too, fell victim to the bombs.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48The new opera house, built after the war,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50was very much in line with modern theatre building -
0:29:50 > 0:29:53functional, with no symbolic meaning or atmosphere.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Recently, it was decided to rebuild the old opera house as a concert hall
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and conference centre.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07The badly damaged building was totally gutted,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10the facade skilfully restored and repainted.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17The present change has sharpened our eyes to the quality of past buildings
0:30:17 > 0:30:19and to craftsmanship.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21After the destruction of most ornament,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25we begin to value the rich language of the 19th-century architecture.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30The inside has been totally adapted to modern needs.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34A new concert hall was hung into the old frame,
0:30:34 > 0:30:36allowing for better seating arrangements.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42The old entrance hall, leading into the new foyer,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44was faithfully restored.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48FAINT PIANO MUSIC
0:30:53 > 0:30:55But a modern version has replaced the grand staircase,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58which was too expensive to reproduce.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07It is interesting to note
0:31:07 > 0:31:09that the juxtaposition between the old and the new
0:31:09 > 0:31:13makes one more aware of the historical elements.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Some parts of the building, like the old crush bar,
0:31:21 > 0:31:22have been painstakingly restored.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Modern rooms were introduced in the upper gallery.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36The restoration of Frankfurt's opera house is a good example
0:31:36 > 0:31:37of how one can adapt to modern needs
0:31:37 > 0:31:40without losing the advantages of the old building.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46This new opera house offers all the amenities of a modern theatre.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49At the same time, it responds to people's expectations
0:31:49 > 0:31:51of a festive event.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57"To beauty, truth and goodness," says the inscription.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01This restoration is a sign of our longing to regain a bourgeois world
0:32:01 > 0:32:04with the help of the props of the past.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07But the people who dress up for Sunday morning concerts
0:32:07 > 0:32:09are no longer motivated by the same feeling
0:32:09 > 0:32:12as those for whom the original opera house was built.
0:32:12 > 0:32:17The economic, social and spiritual world has altered beyond recognition.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24The architecture once designed for an elite has become a stage set,
0:32:24 > 0:32:25an anachronism.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32However loved, these restored buildings raise many questions.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38It was Andre Malraux who said, "No man builds in a void,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42"and a civilisation that breaks with the style at its disposal
0:32:42 > 0:32:44"soon finds itself empty-handed."
0:32:48 > 0:32:52Some architects are using the style at their disposal.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Restoring a building can also mean the fusing of old and new.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00The south bank of the River Main at Frankfurt came through the war
0:33:00 > 0:33:02almost intact.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04It boasted many fine villas,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08which the town gradually purchased to turn into museums.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11The whole river bank will eventually become a museum area,
0:33:11 > 0:33:13stretching for over a mile.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19Several famous architects are engaged to create postal, film, fine arts
0:33:19 > 0:33:20and architecture museums.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26We did not make the decision like the Parisians made,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28the decision really to tear down the whole centre
0:33:28 > 0:33:31of one certain part of Paris
0:33:31 > 0:33:34and to build that huge Centre Pompidou
0:33:34 > 0:33:36which is almost a museums machine,
0:33:36 > 0:33:41containing five different museums under one roof,
0:33:41 > 0:33:42in one container.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45We decided to split up these functions
0:33:45 > 0:33:51and use all the different houses lined up on the Main, all of them,
0:33:51 > 0:33:55to make small museums out of them - small is beautiful.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57You still have contact,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00you still can relate to as a person, as an individual,
0:34:00 > 0:34:01which is why they're small.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05NARRATOR: The architecture museum is a neoclassical villa
0:34:05 > 0:34:07built in 1901.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13It was totally gutted, rebuilt and extended at the back and sides.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16The architect for this conversion was Oswald Mathias Ungers.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Ungers left the facade
0:34:20 > 0:34:24but added a reddish sandstone base upon which the old villa sits.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26He grafted his new building onto the old one.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32A newly created arcade leads into the entrance hall.
0:34:37 > 0:34:38Here it becomes immediately clear
0:34:38 > 0:34:42how much the architect has imposed his own language.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48The older villa is only the shell for the complex.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52Ungers built a modern house within an old house.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56It's an ingenious idea, intriguing, like a Russian doll.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58The house becomes an exhibit.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01What could be more appropriate for an architecture museum?
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Being a postmodern building,
0:35:03 > 0:35:06it, of course, cannot resist quoting.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11The glass roof is a citation of Otto Wagner's Postsparkasse in Vienna
0:35:11 > 0:35:12of 1904.
0:35:15 > 0:35:16And the enclosed tree quotes
0:35:16 > 0:35:21Le Corbusier's Pavillon de l'Esprit Moderne in Paris of 1937.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45The square dominates the museum.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49It runs as a theme through the entire building right down to the furniture,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52also designed by Ungers, for the highly flexible lecture theatre.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03A little further along the river is Frankfurt's latest acquisition,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07the museum of fine arts, by the American architect, Richard Meier,
0:36:07 > 0:36:09an expert in museum building.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Meier was also given an old villa dated from 1803.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23But he opted to leave the old building alone
0:36:23 > 0:36:25and construct an extension.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33The square ground plan of the villa
0:36:33 > 0:36:35is repeated in all its variations,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38right down to the grid and the windows.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42The new building forms an angle almost embracing the old villa -
0:36:42 > 0:36:46a solution which creates a harmonious balance between old and new.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52Meier links the two buildings by a dramatic bridge
0:36:52 > 0:36:54which seems to pierce the heart of the old house.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59Richard Meier's buildings
0:36:59 > 0:37:02are like the realisations of Le Corbusier's dreams.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06They are the last outpost of modernism, and yet, like Ungers,
0:37:06 > 0:37:07they are of our time.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19Everywhere nature is allowed to enter, creating airiness and light,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23which counteracts any impression of monumentality.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26MAN: Because the building as an addition, because of the site
0:37:26 > 0:37:28and the park and the existing trees,
0:37:28 > 0:37:29the idea of the building,
0:37:29 > 0:37:32the concept of the organisation of the building
0:37:32 > 0:37:38is one which is extroverted, it looks out, it reaches out, it...
0:37:38 > 0:37:43Also the...the notion of the European curator
0:37:43 > 0:37:46towards the use of natural light within the museum
0:37:46 > 0:37:51allowed for the use of windows in all of the gallery spaces
0:37:51 > 0:37:54so that wherever you are, you're looking out into the gardens,
0:37:54 > 0:37:55into the city.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02NARRATOR: As in his Atlanta museum, the inside features a long ramp,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05giving a sense of progression through space.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08The visit becomes a journey.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14Making museum spaces is a very difficult task.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18A neutral space is often the best way to see an object,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20but it is also the most boring.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23On the other hand, a lively, interesting space
0:38:23 > 0:38:25often competes with the exhibits.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30Meier breaks up the monotony of too large a space
0:38:30 > 0:38:34with a highly flexible architectural solution,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36often heightening the dramatic effect of the objects.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Smaller spaces alternate with larger ones.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Both adaptations, Ungers and Meier, show how modern architecture
0:38:51 > 0:38:55can deal with an old structure and turn it into a building of our time.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Pale copies of the past,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06pale distillations of old messages, do not echo any meanings.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Only strong and assured solutions
0:39:10 > 0:39:14reflect the three dimensions of the past, the present and the future.