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Tony Garnier: Une Cite

Industrielle (1917)
• Tony Garnier (1869 - 1948) was a French
architect who pioneered the use of reinforced
concrete and was a forerunner of modernist
urban planning.
• Garnier's grand concept of an imaginary
planned industrial city, worked out in the
earliest years of the 20th century, was first
published in 1918. This work, Une cité
industrielle, is a portfolio of over 160 plates,
and is both visionary and detailed in its
socialist organization.
TONY GARNIER French architect designed a hypothetical
industrial town called “ UNE CITE INDUSTRIELLE”. He
created an imaginary site consisting of high plateau and
level valley, all along side a river.

The plateau would be used for residential , the valley for


factories, total population of the town was to be 32,000.

A dam would furnish hydro electric power. His plan


anticipated what we now know as ZONING. His plan was
very detailed and included locations of hospitals,
cemeteries, factories, mines, sewage plants, abattoir,
bakery and civic center. He used a grid plan for residential
areas
Tony Garnier's Une Cite
Industrialle is one of the most
comprehensive ideal plans of all
time.Published in 1917, it is not
only an outstanding contribution
to architectural and planning
theories but also a sensitive
expression of thought and
cultural conditions of its day.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN EUROPE

The end of the nineteenth century was a time of great change throughout
Europe. The advent of industrialisation altered the landscape of the city
forever. Many of the changes were not for the better and living conditions in
industrial cities steadily deteriorated. The Industrial Revolution had the effect
of bringing more and more people from the countryside into the heart of the
city looking for work.

Such dramatic over-population and unrestricted urban growth led to slum


housing, dirt, disease and a lack of communal green spaces within the city
landscape. Modern urban planning arose in response to this disorde.
Reformation of these areas was the objective of the early city planners, who
began to impose regulatory laws establishing housing standards for housing,
sanitation etc. Urban planners also introduced parks, playground in city
neighbourhoods, for recreation as well as visual relief. The notion of zoning
was a major concept of urban planning at this time.
WHO WAS TONY GARNIER?

Tony Garnier was a French architect born in Lyons in 1869 and it is clear that
the city and surroundings had a great influence on him. Whilst growing up
Lyons was an industrial centre for textiles and metallurgy, the two industries
catered for by Garnier s proposal for his industrial city. Garnier studied at the
École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in 1901 won the prix de Rome competition
and was sent to the French Academy at the Villa Medici. It was here where
Garnier started to formulate his proposal for the Cité and in 1901 Garnier sent
back the proposal to the École.
SOCIAL UTOPIAN CONCEPTS

At the end of the 19th century it was believed that many social reforms could be
achieved gradually through moral and intellectual education leading to a future ideal
state. Garnier believed in the basic goodness of man :when asked why his city contained
no law courts, police force stations, jail or church he is said to have replied that the new
society governed by socialist law would have no need of churches as capitalism would be
suppressed.

In the Utopias of this period, fundamental, natural and primitive conditions were
stressed; the emphasis on exercise, health, and physical well-being was a corollary to the
awakening interest in natural life. Garnier‘s inclusion of a large public area for sports and
spectacles in his city related to early utopian philosophy, pagan antiquity and love for
games.
THE CONCEPT

Garnier ‘s proposal was an industrial city for approx 35,000 inhabitants


situated on a area in southeast France on a plateau with high land and a
lake to the north, a valley and river to the south. Une Cite industrialle is a
well coordinated and monumentally conceived plan placed in a park like
setting where both the classical spirit of the academic tradition and the
primitive simplicity of utopian ideas is demonstrated. In his proposal,
Garnier tried to take into account all aspects of the city including
governmental, residential, manufacturing and agricultural practices. The
various functions of the city were clearly related, but separated from each
other by location and patterns.
The public area at the heart of the city was grouped
into 3 sections: administrative services and assembly
halls, museum collections and sports facilities.

The residential area is made up of rectangular blocks running


east-west which gives the city its characteristic elongated form.
The residential districts are the first attempt towards passive
solar architecture. Garnier had energy efficiency in mind as the
city was to be powered by a hydroelectric station with a dam
which was located in the mountains along with the hospital.
The city was completed by a railroad d station to the east.
Garnier’s Cité Industrielle was never built but echoes of his
vision can be seen in Lyon where the mayor appointed him the
city architect in 1905, a position he held until 1919. The most
important work to emerge from his Cité Industrielle was the
large stockyards complex, the stadium, the Grange Blanche
Hospital and the housing project known as Les États Unis. The
most important connection of Garnier with later planners is
definitely through Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier was the first well-
known architect to discuss Garnier's work and possibly the
reason why Garnier became known as a pioneer of modern
architecture and urban planning.
This is not to say that Garnier's vision of urban utopia is neither
important nor successful. Much of what he proposed is at the
least relevant today and there is no doubt that at the time someone
with Garnier's vision was required to propose what he saw as a
solution to the problems that faced society at that time.
This brings me back to the start, a utopia by its very nature is
impossible to realise. Without people proposing their visions of a
Utopia there can be no progress as out of generous dreams come
beneficial realities.

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