A concrete alliance : communism and modern architecture in postwar France / Vanessa Grossman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grossman, Vanessa, 1981- author.

Contributor:

Yale University Press, publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parti communiste français--Influence.

Parti communiste français.

Architecture--Political aspects--France--History--20th century.

Architecture.

City planning--Political aspects--France--History--20th century.

City planning.

Communism and architecture--France.

Communism and architecture.

Modern movement (Architecture)--France.

Modern movement (Architecture).

France--Buildings, structures, etc.

France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 276 pages) : 159 illustrations (some color), plans, portraits

Other Title:

Communism and modern architecture in postwar France

Place of Publication:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"The massive reshaping of French cities that took place between 1958 and 1981 is commonly regarded as a unique episode in which modernist ideals were tested on an unprecedented scale. Yet the history of postwar French modernism has never fully accounted for the influence of one of architecture's most important institutional patrons, the French Communist Party (PCF). Drawing political theory and architectural history into conversation, Vanessa Grossman probes the shifting but enduring alliance between modern architecture and the PCF in the aftermath of the political crisis of 1958, prompted by the Algerian War of Independence and Charles de Gaulle's rise to power. Focusing on key episodes, Grossman discusses the work of Reňe Gailhoustet (a rare female architect of her generation), Jean Renaudie, and members of the Atelier d'urbanisme et d'architecture (AUA), in collaboration with architectural elders such as Jean Prouv̌ and Oscar Niemeyer, who self-exiled to France, and in relation to contemporary Marxist thinkers such as philosophers Louis Althusser and Henri Lefebvre. Grossman exposes how communist politics and architectural modernism were mutually reinforcing ideologies that circulated in France across national and international networks of architects, urban planners, civil servants, intellectuals, activists, and politicians. Offering a new understanding of the postwar realization that architecture, particularly housing, could be employed as a political tool, this highly original book reveals the meaningful dialogue between French communism and architectural modernism"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Networks: Toward a countersociety of architects

Programs: Theater, public works, resistance, and the New Brutalism, 1958-68

Monuments: Party headquarters architecture and Aggiornamento in Paris, 1965-71

Landscapes: Technique over politics, or On urbanism and factories, 1972-74

Systems: Revision and the crisis of representation in Ivry-sur-Seine's city center urban renewal, 1974-81.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and online resource (A&AePortal, viewed November 11, 2025).

ISBN:

9780300284713

OCLC:

1550401041

Publisher Number:

CIPO000131666