Overview

The compelling story of the significant relationship between communism and modern architecture in postwar France 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 Renée Gailhoustet (a rare female architect of her generation), Jean Renaudie, and members of the Atelier d'urbanisme et d'architecture, in collaboration with architectural elders such as Jean Prouvé and Oscar Niemeyer, who self-exiled to France, and in relation to contemporary Marxist thinkers such as philosophers Louis Althusser and Henri Lefebvre. She reveals 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.

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9780300259346

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Reviews

"“A landmark book and an immensely valuable contribution to the study of the relationship between politics and architecture. Grossman has given us a pathbreaking, original analysis of the relationship between political communism and architectural modernism in France. She captures brilliantly the real achievements in design and urban planning of leftwing architects, as well as the hopes, conflicts, betrayals, and disappointments that accompanied them.”—Herrick Chapman, New York University ""In Concrete Alliance, Vanessa Grossman reveals how architecture became a key terrain of political engagement, articulated in no small part through its distinctive materiality. This important work offers entirely new insights onto the postwar welfare state and the history of architecture during the Cold War.""—Sheila Crane, author of Mediterranean Crossroads: Marseille and Modern Architecture"

“A landmark book and an immensely valuable contribution to the study of the relationship between politics and architecture. Grossman has given us a pathbreaking, original analysis of the relationship between political communism and architectural modernism in France. She captures brilliantly the real achievements in design and urban planning of leftwing architects, as well as the hopes, conflicts, betrayals, and disappointments that accompanied them.”— Herrick Chapman, New York University  

Author Information

Vanessa Grossman is assistant professor in the history and theory of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design.

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