therefore has a social and political background and cannot
be seen only as a technological and aesthetic innovation.
The first documents of the new paradigm show this
clearly. The "Whole Earth Catalogue™ for example
oresented the philosophy and constructions of Robert
Buckminster Fuller, the architect-engineer, who designed
the geodesic dome, one of the functional and
formal symbols of the Counter-Culture against the
square middle class American suburban houses.
Not much later Lloyd Kahn published the Catalogue
"Shelter", which became a primer for the new Alternative
Architecture. Instead of "Learning from Las
Vegas" (Venturi) this Catalogue showed the ingenuity
of the "primitive" and anonymous architecture. Simple
constructions and materials were used instead of highly
sophisticated and expensive systems, Craftsmanship
and skillfulness dominated before machine perfection
and quantitative bigness. Another quality emerged:
Simplicity! And with it came the obsolesescence of
the super technology. The Alternative Architecture
showed ways to heat a house by means of renewable
energies (sun, wind, water), recycle all the wastes
and make use out of the entire property by gardening anc
agriculture,
Some projects of the Counter culture and New Age Move
ment became the symbols and pioneers of the alternative
understanding in environmental design. The Ark of the
New Alchemists for example is one of the most discussed.
The following table shall give an overview over the types
of alternative houses and ecological project by showing
six archetypes of the Alternative Architecture.
These examples show the range of possibilities and the
scale of innovation the alternative architecture is
offering. It expresses the state of the art ofter ten years
of marginal, self-initiated grass-root efforts in ecological
design.
The 6 Archetypes of Alternative Architecture
WULF -RÜDIGER LUTZ
AMERICAN EXAMPLES OF
ALTERNATIVE ARCHITEKTURE
AND ECOLOGICAL URNBAN DESIGN
'What is the use of a house, if you haven’t got a
tolerable planet to put it on."
Henry David Thoreau in "Walden"
A fundamental transition is visible in the field of
architecture and urban planning. The emphasis on
object design, on houses, city systems and the built
environment in general moves back in favor of the
holistic perception of the life support system "spaceship
earth". A new paradigm is emerging among planaers,
architects and environmental designers, which
concentrates on alternative ways of building. This
Alternative Architecture wants to be ecological,
self-sustaining, simple and small-scale oriented.
The beginning of this Alternative Architecture lies
somewhere in the sixties and was a direct response to
the revolutionary mood at that time. The Countersulture~movement
and youth revolt can be regarded
as the root of the alternative understanding in environmental
design, which became obvious shortly after the
first communes and new age groups settled down and
sreated their living situation. Alternative Architecture
Jz
Integral Urban!
House
Che Ark
lamilton Solar
Village
Arcosanti
)uroboros
319 East 11t}
Street
Designer or State of con-Institution
struction
Type and main Adre
features
Farallones Insti- in use since
tute 1975
Olkowski
"an der Run
integrated life- 1516 Fifth Stree
support-system Berkeley
in a remodeled CA 94710
two-familvhouse
The New Alchemists
Tohn Toda
in use since
Neola ial
self-sustaining
life-supportsystem
Prince Edward
Island
"nrada
Van der Ryn
Calthorpe &
Dartner
desien vroposal
ecological City Marin County
on a small-scale California
level (700
ns Fal
Paolo Soleri
& Arcology
Aipele
design and partly "Threedibuilt
mensional" City
as one passive
solar structure
6433 Doubletree Rd,
Scottsdale
AZ 852523
Dennis Holloway in use since
and students 1976
Simple, semiunderground,
earth-shelter,
active and
passive solar
Rosemount Research
Center
Minneapolis
Minnesota
‘nergy task force ın use since
nd "Sweat Equitv!" 1974
remodeled urban
four story builling,
active
cnlar
519 East 11th Street
New-York
NY 700060
ı 277 Non
