Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tony Garnier
Summary
Tony Garniers (18691948) plans and sketches for an ideal
industrial city, UneCitIndustrielle, began as Ecole de Beaux Arts
Prix de Rome studies or envois in 1901 and were eventually
published as a loose-leaf folio in 1917, to become one of the
formative theoretical proposals of 20th centruy urban design. This
article is a translation of the Preface to Une Cit industrielle with
representative plates that Indicate Garniers prodigious drawing skill.
Key words
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2 HOUSING
Many towns and cities have already enacted standards for hygiene according to local geographic and climatic conditions. In this city, it is assumed
that the direction and conditions of the prevailing winds prompt particular practices represented in the following set of building regulations:
In residences, each bedroom should have at least one south-facing
window, large enough to illuminate the whole room and admit direct sunlight
All spaces in residences, however small, should be illuminated and
ventilated directly from outside and not rely upon internal shafts
House interiors (walls, floors, and so forth) should be of a smooth
surface with rounded corners
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site coverage and prohibit the use of enclosuresand also because the
land is graded for drainage, there is great variety in overall design.
The town is composed of a grid of parallel and perpendicular streets.
Its main street originates at the railway station and runs east-west.The
north-south roads, tree-lined on either side, are 20 meters wide and
planted on both sides. The east-west roads are 13 or 19 meters wide;
those of 19 meters are planted on the south side.
3 ADMINISTRATIONPUBLIC BUILDINGS
A large number of small meeting rooms (each with its own office
and changing room) for unions, associations, and other groups
At the center of the city, an extensive area is reserved for public buildings. They form three groups:
I. Administrative services and assembly halls
II. Museums
III. Facilities for sports and entertainment
Groups II and III are situated in parks, bordered to the north by the
main street and to the south by planted terraces which afford an open
view of the plain, the river, and mountains beyond.
All these rooms are located beneath a vast portico that provides a covered promenade for the town center and a spacious area where people
can meet, sheltered in case of inclement weather.
To the south of this portico is the clock tower, visible along the length
of the main street. It is a landmark indicating the center of town. The
administrative services include:
A building containing municipal offices open to the public records
(births, marriages, and deaths), and an arbitration tribunal; each of
these will include rooms for the public, committees, and related offices
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4 SCHOOLS
Conveniently located throughout the citys neighborhoods are primary schools for children up to approximately fourteen years of age.
Schools will be coeducational; grouping of children will be by age,
ability and advancement. A special landscaped street will separate the
classes for smaller children from those of their elders, and will provide
a play area for use between classes. Recreation areas will also include
arcades and open porticoes. Schools will be equipped with projection
theatres in addition to the necessary classrooms. The school principal
and grounds attendants are housed nearby.
Secondary schools will be situated at the most northeastern point of
the town. The curriculum will be addressed to the needs of an industrial town. For the majority of students, the education will involve
general courses in vocational studies. A limited number of students
will receive specialist training in administration and trade (that is, professional arts instruction). All children attend the secondary schools
between fourteen and twenty years of age. Those qualified for further
studies will enroll in professional schools or colleges.
The professional arts school is intended to prepare those who will
engage in artistic productionin architecture, painting, and sculpture,
as well as related areas of design such as furniture, fabrics, linen, embroidery, clothing, leatherwork; also in copper, tin, iron, glass, pottery,
5 HEALTH FACILITIES
The hospitals (715 beds) are situated on the hillside north of the city
center.They are sheltered from the cold mountain winds by trees forming a screen to the east and west. The complex contains four main
buildings.
Hospital
Heliotherapy center
Hospital for contagious diseases
Hospital for invalids
The plan as a whole as well as in detail has been designed according to
current standards of medical science. Each section is disposed to accommodate future expansion.
6 RAILWAY STATION
The district around the railway station is mainly reserved for collective
housing, such as hotels, and department stores, and so forth, so that the
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The station is of average size and is sited at the intersection of the great
artery leading out of town and the streets leading to the older developed area along the riverbanks. The main building opens onto the
square and its clock tower is visible from all over town.
Spacious roads with trees arranged in quincunx patterns will lead to the
various areas of the industrial complex. Each department is arranged to
allow for future expansion without curtailing other parts of the complex.
7 PUBLIC SERVICES
Certain basic services depend on the municipal administration and are
subject to special requirements. These services include meat distribution, flour and bread production and storage, water supply, the control
of pharmaceutical and dairy products. The administration is in charge
of sewage and garbage disposal, and the recycling of refuse. It also
controls the water supply, electrical power, and heating for industrial as
well as for private consumption, and requires a centralized plant to
provide such municipal services to all buildings and areas of the city.
8 FACTORIES
The main factory is a metallurgy works. Nearby mines supply raw
materials. Energy is generated from the local hydropower site and
power plant.
The factory produces steel rods and pipes, rolled-steel section, sheet
metal, wheels, machine tools, and agricultural machinery. In addition,
it fabricates metalwork for railway stock and naval equipment and
bodywork for automobiles and airplanes.
The factory complex includes blast furnaces, steel mills, workshops
with large presses and power hammers, assembly and repair shops, a
dock for launching and repairing ships, a river port, workshops for
outfitting automobile bodies, and workshops for refractories. It also
includes vehicle testing tracks, numerous laboratories, and housing for
engineering staff.
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9 CONSTRUCTION
Materials used in building construction include concrete for foundations and walls, and reinforced concrete for the sills and roofing. Important structures are to be built in reinforced concrete. These two
materials are highly plastic, and require specially prepared formwork;
with simple forms, the installation is easier and construction costs are
lower. This simplicity of means logically leads to simplicity of structural expression. Note that if the construction remains simple, without
ornamentation or moldings and with sheer surfaces, the decorative
arts can be effectively employed in all their forms, and each artistic
object will maintain a cleaner and fresher expressiveness, due to its
independence from the construction itself. Moreover, the use of concrete and cement makes it possible to obtain large horizontal and vertical surfaces, endowing the building with a sense of calm and balance
in harmony with the natural contours of the landscape. Other construction methods and materials will without doubt contribute to
other forms that will be equally interesting to study.
This concludes the summary of the planning of a city, an endeavor in
which all can appreciate that work is a human law and that the cult of
beauty and order can endow life with splendor.
REFERENCES
Miriani, Riccardo, ed., 1990. Tony Garnier: Une Cit Industrielle, New
York: Rizzoli International Publications.
Wiebenson, Dora. 1969.Tony Garnier: The Cit Industrielle, New York:
George Braziller.