Coventrieren - Nazi propagandists cynically enriched the German dictionary with a word that means the destruction of cities by aerial bombing, after a massive raid on the English town of Coventry. Provincial Coventry was the capital of the automotive, aircraft and military industries, producing cars, motorcycles, bicycles, aircraft engines, as well as artillery and ammunition.
Therefore, the Reich considered Coventry a "legitimate military target." As a result of a continuous 11-hour bombardment on November 14, 1940, the city lost 4330 houses. Three quarters of the city's factories lay in ruins.
The ruined center of Coventry after the bombing on 14 November 1940. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
In just a few years of the Second World War more than forty air raids were carried out on Coventry. And yet the bombing did not break the spirit of the city's residents. The front demanded new weapons, planes and cars. Therefore, those who could work continued to work in the workshops, the rest - dismantled rubble. Services were held in St. Michael's Cathedral, although the church was practically destroyed.
Church service at the ruins of St Michael's Cathedral in Coventry. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
The post-war pace of Coventry's recovery and the enthusiasm that filled all its residents is due to the fact that the townspeople had a good, even great, plan! Post-war Europe was in dire need of new cars, buses, and airplanes, so the economic forecast was more than favorable. Factories that did not stop working even in the most difficult days of the war began to expand rapidly after its end.
The demand for workers in enterprises and constructions attracted thousands of migrants. The quick and successful recovery of Coventry was an idea fixed not only for politicians from the victorious countries. Participation in the post-war reconstruction of Coventry became a mission for planners and designers from various countries in Europe and around the world.
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The scale of destruction, despite the tragedy, opened up a unique opportunity to completely redesign the city. And the city council turned to the plan of Donald Gibson - a young architect who worked on the concept of development of Coventry even before the war, not assuming that in a few years the Luftwaffe would provide him with a blank canvas. Almost clean.
Since Gibson was a radical modernist, his reconstruction plans involved the ruthless destruction of all historical heritage - even the surviving ones. Gibson's ideas won the approval of his fellow architects: "There is no question of returning to the good old days - the days of cramped houses and crooked streets. But about the slums, which still live in the long death of the last century."
The scale of destruction, despite the tragedy, opened up a unique opportunity to completely redesign the city. And the city council turned to Donald Gibson's plan
But the residents, who had experienced so many tragic losses, were not ready to accept such an approach. When a model of the reconstruction of Coventry was presented at a city exhibition in 1945, people could not find any of the familiar buildings and began to protest. In response to the indignation of the residents, the city council announced that the suburbs would be the main space for implementing innovative ideas, and for the central part, architects would try to find an acceptable compromise.
Sculptor Ralph Beyer carves an inscription on the cornerstone for the foundation of Coventry Cathedral. Photo from the historical archive of England
A garden on the site of the ruins of Coventry Cathedral. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
The reconstruction of the cathedral can be considered a symbol of such a compromise. Only the spire and the outer wall remained from the Gothic building of the 87th century. But these ruins were strengthened and preserved. The nave turned into an open-air garden, and next to it, a new modernist structure was built from similar red sandstone, united with the historical remains by a roof. The idea of such a synthesis belongs to the Scottish architect Basil Spence, who received a knighthood for the design of the Coventry Cathedral. The XNUMX-meter spire remains Coventry's tallest landmark today.
Installation of the roof of the new Coventry Cathedral. Photo from the historical archive of England
The Screen of Saints and Angels is a stained glass window created by engraver John Hutton for Coventry Cathedral. Image source: modernmooch.com
A garden city in ruins
Coventry did not claim the status of a regional center and did not need a large number of administrative buildings. Therefore, the urban core, which historically consisted of commercial and residential buildings, remained functionally so. But the road network has undergone a total revision. Since Coventry was considered the capital of the British automotive industry, it was easy to assume that there would be more and more cars on its streets.
Community center Coventry Ling decided to make it exclusively pedestrian - and it was the first fully pedestrianized city center in Europe!
The chief architect of Coventry, Arthur Ling, supported Donald Gibson's idea to surround the historic center with a thoroughfare with roundabouts and radial roads to the suburbs. But the community center Ling decided to make it exclusively pedestrian — and it was the first fully pedestrian city center in Europe!
Plan for the Redevelopment of Coventry City Center by Donald Gibson and Arthur Ling. Image source: coventry.gov.uk
People strolled through shopping arcades, rested in the shade under trees in inner squares protected by houses from noise and wind. Cars, on the other hand, moved along the ring highway, and closer to Broadgate Square could only be reached by air bridges-overpasses - only public buses ran on the ground. So that progressive motorized citizens do not feel discomfort, Ling predicted the construction of multi-story parking lots. Exploited roofs of shopping malls were also used as parking lots.
Princess Elizabeth opens Broadgate Square in Coventry after its refurbishment. May 22, 1948. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
A fireman helps install the statue of an elephant atop the standard in Broadgate, Coventry, 1948. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
Statue of Lady Godiva in Broadgate Square in Coventry. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
Ling decided to turn Broadgate Square itself, which before the war was a narrow intersection jammed with chaotic buildings, into a city business card. As the German bombers acted as agents of radical clearance, the surrounding neighborhoods were completely destroyed, so there was a free space for the creation of a "green island" - a park space, in the center of which a statue of Lady Godiva - the patroness of Coventry - was installed. The island was surrounded by modernist buildings - hotels and shopping centers. In the photos from 1948-1949, the park is already ready, and the construction of the buildings continued until the end of the 50s.
Long live concrete!
The French expression béton brut (bare concrete) became the embodiment of a new idea for English architects. Modern critics of architecture believe that the post-war shortage and the desire to provide poor citizens with new housing as soon as possible cannot explain the fanatical devotion of Coventry planners to brutalism. Not only practical considerations, but also a new ideology played their role.
The architects sought to get as far away from bourgeois decadence as possible and embody a "new honesty" in the houses: concrete and metal do not shyly hide behind the decoration "under the stone", but appear exactly as they are. So an honest worker does not try to pretend to be an aristocrat and refuses caricatured attempts to impose someone else's image on himself. It was a demand of time for justice cast in concrete.
The center of Coventry - the 80s of the XX century. Image source: modernmooch.com
The industrial depression that nearly destroyed Detroit hit Coventry's auto industry just as hard
Concrete high-rise buildings were also good because they quickly offered thousands of people, in addition to walls and a roof over their heads, such civilizational benefits as central heating, hot water, separate bathrooms and kitchens. The large-scale construction of the first post-war decades transformed Coventry from a provincial medieval town into the recognized world capital of the new architecture — brutalism. The rapid development of the city continued until the global economic crisis of the 70s and 80s. The industrial depression that nearly destroyed Detroit hit Coventry's auto industry just as hard.
Coventry railway station, opened in the spring of 1962. Image source: modernmooch.com
Was it all a mistake?
“Coventry's historic street pattern was destroyed by ill-conceived post-war planning, which had a number of failings, including high-rise buildings in the middle of the street, poor urban legibility and inadequate or blocked views. And the elegant post-war architecture itself has been compromised by tactless additions," architect Daniel Morgans from Chapman Taylor, presenting a plan for a large-scale renovation of the center of Coventry in 2021, voices the opinion of a fairly wide audience who feel acute nostalgia for the time when the writers of the Romantic era called Coventry one of the most beautiful medieval cities in England.
What the post-war generation was so proud of is often demolished today to the applause of people who are nostalgic for Victorian architecture
Yes, from an architect's point of view, Coventry is a magical rough box filled with wonderful and horrible gross toys. But not all local residents share this enthusiasm. Every year, the voices of those who call for getting rid of the ugly "concrete bunkers" and in general the entire legacy of the post-war years, and at the same time "disgusting hybrids" - postmodern misunderstandings, similar to the Poole Meadow bus station, which looks like a construction hangar, sound louder and more influential. with an attached antique portico.
Fragment of the facade of Coventry Cathedral. Image source: modernmooch.com
What the post-war generation was so proud of is often demolished today to the applause of people who are nostalgic for Victorian architecture. The economic depression of the late XNUMXth century, "Thatcherization", which was accompanied by the decline of the British provinces - all this was a difficult test for society. And tarnished concrete buildings, covered with damp spots, only strengthened the overall negative psychological background. People decided to get rid of gray brutal monsters: such architecture was no longer pleasing, it was oppressive.
See also: Ziggurats and labyrinths. Memory architecture
The masterplan for the revitalization of Coventry city center by architects Chapman Taylor envisages a radical clean-up of the city's "many insensitive modern additions to post-war architecture which have proven harmful to the urban environment", as well as "facade improvements". Visualizations for the master plan show us a prosperous center of a modern city filled with sunlight.
The project of the reconstruction of a shopping area in the center of Coventry by the architectural office Chapman Taylor. Image source: coventry.gov.uk
Everything we love (yes, we love): landscaped stylish public spaces, active facades, mid-rise, roof gardens, accessibility and transparency. If we were talking about new construction in the post-industrial area, then there would be no questions. But the project proposals from Chapman Taylor are devoid of any individuality, which is more than surprising for a city with a remarkable history.
Chapman Taylor Architects' vision is, in essence, the same internationalism that led to the appearance of faceless twin districts in the 50s and 80s. The modernists made many mistakes, but (at least the modernists in Coventry) sought to give the city a distinct individual character.
"Elephant's Trunk" escalator, in the Upper Precinct shopping area. Image source: coventry.gov.uk
The Chapman Taylor project, developed and approved by Coventry authorities in 2017, was met with disappointment by defenders of brutalism. The escalator that the townspeople called the "Elephant's Trunk" was removed from West Orchards Square, and it turned into a loud scandal. And when it became known about an even larger renovation project of the City Center South area, which should be implemented by 2026, then the defenders of the heritage of the whole of Great Britain rebelled.
Some of the Brutalist buildings were included in English Heritage, recognizing them as "an integral part of the post-war architectural history of Great Britain"
Faced with resistance from citizens, speakers from the Chapman Taylor bureau and the developer company became much more cautious in their statements. They claim that the renovation will not affect the objects of post-war construction, only "clean them of the unsuccessful extensions of the 80s and 90s."
But in fact, the plans destroy Arthur Ling's modernist series of low-rise shopping districts - the project involves a radical reconstruction of the architectural ensemble of the Bull Yard square, which, according to heritage defenders, will be a fatal mistake. Ling designed the operating car parks on the roofs to free up space for pedestrians at ground level, however, according to modern planners, this is irrelevant today, as is the gloomy appearance of the darkened concrete facades.
The Phoenix statue, erected to celebrate the revival of Coventry in the square near the Bull Yard shopping centre. Photo: Andrew Fox
But, according to "Mathematical foundations of natural philosophy" by Isaac Newton, every action has a reaction. Public outcry has saved the Elephant Building, an iconic building designed by architects Terence Gregory and Harry Noble in the shape of an elephant (as a reference to Coventry's coat of arms, which features the creature carrying a castle on its back).
Elephant Building sports center. Image source: wikimedia.org
Some of the Brutalist buildings were included in English Heritage, recognizing them as "an integral part of the post-war architectural history of Great Britain." And when Coventry was declared the cultural capital of Great Britain for 2021, it was the architecture of brutalism that became the core of the city's cultural development concept.
Practical, honest, beautiful
The authors of Coventry's cultural development strategy for the next decade focused not only on explaining the value of the post-war heritage, but also on examples that confirm that new construction does not necessarily mean the destruction of old buildings.
For example, the Cathedral Lanes shopping center in Coventry is often referred to as "a film blocking the view of a medieval cathedral". In the 2000s, the department store fell into disrepair — its stores were emptied. Members of the group of haters of brutalism rubbed their hands, the chances of achieving the demolition of the disgusting building grew every day.
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But to their dismay, the "monster" has managed to defend itself, turning Cathedral Lanes into a popular food market. It opened on the eve of the pandemic, and despite the quarantine, most restaurants reopened as soon as restrictions were lifted.
Modernist cafe "Godiva", which became a symbol of the cultural and social life of post-war Coventry. Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
The iconic Godiva cafe, which became a symbol of social life in the 50s - a cylinder of glass and steel, raised on a column, is today under the roof of the shopping center - and is a successful example of integration.
Cafe "Godiva". Image source: coventrytelegraph.net
Rehabilitation of post-war architecture through the forces of culture and art is an effective and simple way
A local campaign to save Coventry's brutal monsters has coincided with a global trend. The 2020s were marked by the return of concrete fashion. Not just practicality and honesty, but also the desire for safe architecture - this is another reason why brutalism has regained its popularity in recent years.
At the end of the 2017th century, many buildings tried to make them more attractive by covering them with composite materials, which, despite safety certificates, actually turned out to be flammable. After the tragic fire in Grenfell Tower in June 71, which claimed the lives of XNUMX people, the requirements for cladding and insulation of facades were reviewed in Great Britain.
It turned out that almost none of the materials used in construction can be considered completely fire-resistant, and most, on the contrary, could provoke an instant spread of fire over a large area. But concrete monsters in this sense are obviously as safe as possible.
"Brutal blue" became the signature color during the cultural festival in Coventry. Image source: coventry2021.co.uk
The practical benefits of concrete construction must be explained and proven by numbers. But the rehabilitation of post-war architecture through the forces of culture and art is an effective and simple way.
An installation by Janek Schaeffer as part of the Listening to the Anthropocene project at Coventry Cathedral. coventrybiennial.com
Illumination of central Coventry, created as part of The Coventry Phoenix Initiative art project. Image source: coventry2021.co.uk
Back in 2004, MacCormac Jamieson Prichard Architects, as part of The Coventry Phoenix Initiative, transformed a pedestrian route through the city center into a metaphorical journey around the theme of reconciling the present and the future, using light, colour, glass and pop-up additions. Most of the artistic actions in recent years in Coventry are closely related to the post-war architectural monuments.
See also: War and Peace by Lebbeus Woods
"A city of hospitality, a city of activists and pioneers, a city of peace and reconciliation, a city of innovation and invention, and now a city of culture," is how the authors of the Coventry City of Culture Trust manifesto describe modern Coventry. In 2021, during one of the cultural events, a quote by George Eliot was projected on the facades of religious buildings in various areas of Coventry: "Interruption of music or poetry is always fatal."
This statement can be considered true for architecture. Interruption of natural continuity, destruction of fragile architectural palimpsest occurs during global disasters - wars, floods, earthquakes. But to destroy architectural layers in peacetime to suit ideology or changed tastes is madness.
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