Following the CIAM IX conference (Aix-en-Provence, 1953) younger members of the British and Dutch groups joined forces and took on the preparation of CIAM X, forming the infamous Team X. The goal of this conference was to formulate a Charter of Habitat. Originally planned to take place in Algiers in 1955, the organizing team of CIAM X had to change arrangements, since the outbreak of the rebellions that ultimately would lead to Algeria’s independence were deemed too unstable for the congress. The congress was postponed for another year to July 1956 and relocated to Dubrovnik.
Before the actual congress, a number of formal and preparatory meetings in London, Doorn (Netherlands), Paris, La Sarraz, and Padua were held where ideas about how to proceed with the Charter of Habitat were exchanged not only between the young and the old, but between country sub-groups, individuals, and among members of Team X itself. In the beginning, the British group proposed to use “scales of association” instead of the four terms dwelling, work, recreation, and traffic that had been set in the Charter of Athens and were also applied as organizing categories for the presentation grids used at the conferences. The scheme was based on Patrick Geddes’ valley section diagram, and the scales of reference were isolation, village, town, and city. However, Gideon, Le Corbusier, and Jaqueline Thyrwitt, among others, expressed their worries about the proposed classification and representation mode and referred to it as insufficient. Finally it was decided that three main commissions with various sub-groups were to be formed: one to focus on the Charter of Habitat, a second looking at the grilles, and a third to establish communication between the different groups.
Commissions at CIAM X:A.1 The Formulation of the Charter; A.2 The present situation of the Habitat: a critique; A.3 To select extracts from earlier work of the CIAM with relevance; B.4 The problem of organic unity; B.5 The problem of mobility; B.6 The problem of growth and change; B.7 Urbanism as part of the Habitat
The CIAM X report states that the Charter of Habitat would be finished – with the help of Le Corbusier – by older members of CIAM at Harvard where Gropius was teaching, while the organization was handed over to the younger members. “As for tomorrow – which begins with this year 1956 – my friends and colleagues the road is clear, but beware we are coming to a turning point! “ Luis Sert announced in his concluding remarks at the congress. (CIAM X Report p. 5). This turning point not only meant a change of course or generation but eventually led to the breakup of CIAM at the next congress held in Otterlo in 1959.(CL/MvO)
Sources:
Mumford, Eric (2000): The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.]: MIT Press.
CIAM X Report. GTA Archive. ETH Zurich.
