Garnier, Tony
Princeton Architectural Press, 1989
SKU: 03742

Excellent reprint of the 1918 visionary work praised by Le Corbusier. Introductory essay by Kriti Siderakis. 

"Around 1900, Tony Garnier, in his Cité Industrielle, materialized as a series of majestic drawings, proposes for the first time a town that has become the domain of the public and provides community facilities for all the inhabitants. He integrates, once again, dignity and purity, after a long eclipse, in the areas of habitation, work, and civic contact."

—— Manière de Penser l'Ubranisme

Tony Garnier (1896-1948) conceived of the Cité while a Rome Prize student at the Villa Medici. He spent the rest of his life planning and developing this utopian city.

Garnire's project was first exhibited in Paris in 1904 and received tremendous praise from the press. When published in 1917, it became an enormous commercial success. The Cité consists of a complte urban utopia based on a socialist society. There are no churches, police stations, prisons, or army barracks because Garnier believed that a socilist government rendered such institutions obsolete. The city contains a technical school, an arts school, a vineyard, a hydroelectric plant, and centers for historical and laboratory analysis. The residential area is made up primarily of individual houses set in the midst of a "great park" ––no walls or enclosures restrict the landscape, allowing pedestrains to walk freely.

Garnier's impressive vision of architecture and urbanism influenced an entire generation of planners, most notably Le Corbusier, who recognized Garnier as one of his masters. Garnier was also one of the first to use reinforced concrete, allowing him to develop roof terraces, free plans, and pilotis, trademarks of the modern moverment.

The reapperance of Une Cité Industriellle testifies to the tenacity and imprtance of the ideas it introduced over 100 years ago.

196 pp. Foldout map, 14 color, 152 B&W illus. Cl.