DOI issue:
No. 309 (December 1918)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24600#0103
Studio- Talk
* involve any attempt in the
direction of a literal repro-
^ ^^^^^^^L^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^' ^..!^Tan^.. "" and inconveniences,
- ^Ll~~----jfB^P^'-'' both as regards Planning
. - ' ^V^LLj^^^^^Wi^' and situation, which made
->^_. many of the old houses
unequal to the require-
HOUSES AT MAGNIERES (MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE) . DRAWING BY ANDRE VENTRE ments Of modem life The
great danger to be guarded
acted on and determined the general character against is that the urgent desire of so many
of the habitations located therein. Thus in exiles to resume the peaceful lives they led before
the low-lying region adjacent to the sea where the advent of the invader may tempt them to
high winds, heavily charged with moisture, yield to the allurements of big manufacturing
prevail, and the soil, consisting of sand above concerns of dubious nationality, who will offer
and clay at a short distance below, is con- to supply them with some " standard " type of
tinually waterlogged, the houses are mostly of house which can be erected quickly at much
one story as the foundation is too unstable for less cost than a building constructed according
a tall superstructure, and the roofs, tiled or to local traditions and methods, and the danger
thatched, have a big slope, extending on the is all the greater because of the scarcity of local
windward side to near the ground. Proceed- materials and of labour as the result of the war.
ing inland, through Picardy, the Champagne, But great as it is, there appears to be a firm
the Argonne, down to the Vosges, the cor- resolve that it must be sternly resisted, and that
relation of architecture and natural environ- it wrould be nothing short of a disaster if the
ment in these regions also was described by M. old local varieties of domestic architecture were
Leon, whose address, reprinted at length with to be replaced by some more or less uniform
those delivered by M. Joseph Reinach and " model " throughout the long tract of territory
M. Revault, is worthy of attentive study as an which has so long borne the brunt of warfare,
exposition of the genesis of
local types of architecture.
Now the fundamental prin-
ciple emphasized by these
eminent speakers and by M.
Jacques Hermant, the Pre-
sident of the Societe des
Architectes diplomes, who
presided at the three con-
ferences, is that the plans for
rehabilitation of the devas-
tated territory must take
account of these local con-
ditions and idiosyncrasies.
At the same time it was
contended with equal em-
phasis that the observance
of this principle did not
involve and ought not to houses at girecourt (vosges) drawing by andre ventre
93
* involve any attempt in the
direction of a literal repro-
^ ^^^^^^^L^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^' ^..!^Tan^.. "" and inconveniences,
- ^Ll~~----jfB^P^'-'' both as regards Planning
. - ' ^V^LLj^^^^^Wi^' and situation, which made
->^_. many of the old houses
unequal to the require-
HOUSES AT MAGNIERES (MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE) . DRAWING BY ANDRE VENTRE ments Of modem life The
great danger to be guarded
acted on and determined the general character against is that the urgent desire of so many
of the habitations located therein. Thus in exiles to resume the peaceful lives they led before
the low-lying region adjacent to the sea where the advent of the invader may tempt them to
high winds, heavily charged with moisture, yield to the allurements of big manufacturing
prevail, and the soil, consisting of sand above concerns of dubious nationality, who will offer
and clay at a short distance below, is con- to supply them with some " standard " type of
tinually waterlogged, the houses are mostly of house which can be erected quickly at much
one story as the foundation is too unstable for less cost than a building constructed according
a tall superstructure, and the roofs, tiled or to local traditions and methods, and the danger
thatched, have a big slope, extending on the is all the greater because of the scarcity of local
windward side to near the ground. Proceed- materials and of labour as the result of the war.
ing inland, through Picardy, the Champagne, But great as it is, there appears to be a firm
the Argonne, down to the Vosges, the cor- resolve that it must be sternly resisted, and that
relation of architecture and natural environ- it wrould be nothing short of a disaster if the
ment in these regions also was described by M. old local varieties of domestic architecture were
Leon, whose address, reprinted at length with to be replaced by some more or less uniform
those delivered by M. Joseph Reinach and " model " throughout the long tract of territory
M. Revault, is worthy of attentive study as an which has so long borne the brunt of warfare,
exposition of the genesis of
local types of architecture.
Now the fundamental prin-
ciple emphasized by these
eminent speakers and by M.
Jacques Hermant, the Pre-
sident of the Societe des
Architectes diplomes, who
presided at the three con-
ferences, is that the plans for
rehabilitation of the devas-
tated territory must take
account of these local con-
ditions and idiosyncrasies.
At the same time it was
contended with equal em-
phasis that the observance
of this principle did not
involve and ought not to houses at girecourt (vosges) drawing by andre ventre
93