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Seminar : “Writing the history of architectural education: documentary sources and challenges”Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, February 19, 2016Project presentation by Anne-Marie CHÂTELET, professor of history and architectural culture, Strasbourg National School of Architecture translated by Xavier FromentThe teaching of Architecture was at its most influencial back in the 19th century when the École des Beaux-arts was almost unrivalled in France. It attracted students from all over the world who, once back, would promote its teaching model from Russia to the United States. In the twentieth century, this discipline’s appeal somewhat faded. It fell into a long lasting slumber neither disrupted by wars nor political changes until the sudden awakening of the 1968 uprisings. Yet, signs indicated this slumber was not as deep as the lack of interest from historians should prove. Despite an apparent inertia, it can be seen that a thorough study of this teaching model should unveil its past glory and help enlighten its future.AcknowlegementsTo Philippe Bach, who as Head of the École d’architecture de Strasbourg, drew our attention to this subject area when he asked us to research the History of the School before its relocation into new premises designed by Marc Mimram. To Eric Gross, his successor, who gave life to the project by taking up the torch. Supporting the idea of a national survey, he subsequently turned to Maryvonne de Saint-Pulgent, Chairperson of the History Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, who gave her immediate support to the project. Agnès Vince, Director of Architecture, was consulted. She showed a marked interest in our research especially as a National Programme for Architecture was being implemented. Their combined support helped give birth to this project. We are very thankful to them and in particular to the members of the History Committee : Arlette Auduc, Florence Contenay, François Chaslin and Geneviève Gentil who was extremely supportive from the start. We also express our appreciation to the Head of Office for Urban Architectural and Landscaping together with the Director of the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine and three lecturers : John Ockman from Pennsylvania University, Kerstin Renz and Klaus Jan Philip from Stuttgart University. They have published books and articles which have become reference works on the art of teaching architecture in the 20th Century. We wish them welcome. The quality of both our dialogue and this project depends on them as much as on you, who have come to this workshop.The project : the teaching of Architecture in the 20th Century A National Programme for Architecture was launched by the Ministry last October. This programm aims to deepen the scientific, professional and regional integration of the schools. It will create specific lecturer-researcher posts, reform the status of the schools and widen their scope to create links with the professional world. Thus, our research will allow us to understand how those schools evolved, the relationships that existed betwen University and the economy and ultimately develop our strategy.In spite of its observable constancy, the teaching of Architecture witnessed considerable changes in the 20th Century. It underwent three major retructurings: in 1903 when regional schools were created, in 1940 with the reorganization of education closely following that of the profession and in 1968 with the breaking-up of the architecture department from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts.After extensive discussions, the creation of regional schools in 1903 was a victory for French provinces. Out of the seven cities consulted, five agreed : Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Rennes and Rouen. Then, subsequently, the schools of Strasbourg (1921), Grenoble (1927) and Bordeaux (1928) were created, followed in the fourties by Nancy (1943), Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand and Nantes (1945 and 1946). Overseas studios such as Algiers (1940), Tunis or Saigon should also be accounted for. Paris École des Beaux-arts which was always at the epicenter of architectural teaching remains the core of our project. The breaking-up of its architecture department in 1968 together with the creation of teaching units in architecture impacted Paris and the regions in different ways. In Paris, the break-up created many institutions : initially six, increasing to nine and now back to six including Versailles and Marne-la-Vallée. In the provinces, the status quo prevailed. The existing regional schools endured and matured. Two were added to the original set : Saint-Etienne and Montpellier. Our study will focus on this set of Écoles nationales supérieures d'architecture.The study of the educational policies of these schools will have lead us to take other schools into consideration. From the start, regional architecture schools have had close ties with regional art schools and local universities often sharing part-time teachers and premises. Some had to compete with pre-existing schools such as the Institut Saint-Luc which relocated from Lille to Tournai or the École Nationale Technique founded in Strasbourg under the Reischland period. It is also worth comparing them with other schools that provided courses of architecture until 1940 such as Polytechnique, Ponts et Chaussées, Centrale, the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics or the École des Arts Décoratifs etc. Also, we will try to analyse the international impact of the École des Beaux-Arts and compare its evolution to other foreign schools that were developed following its model.The history of the School is closely related to its professional environment. Associations, unions and professional groups were very active in the debates on education. They played a major role in the regionalisation of teaching, the issuing of a diploma with intrinsic benefits and the creation of the Architects Order in 1940. Since then, the Académie d’Architecture, the Société Française des Architectes and the Architects Order, involved in education, took over the running of architectural education.In this complex and moving environment our ambition is twofold. On the one hand we aim at generating opportunities to record the history of architectural education. On the other, we intend to participate in the preservation of a vanishing memory, creating opportunities for future research by collecting oral and written archives and the digitisation of rare documentary sources.The constitution of documentary sourcesMaking history with education might be as difficult as capturing smell. One has to be extremely talented with archives, as was Alain Corbin who was able to publish "Miasma and Daffodils", but above all one first needs archives. Teaching is highly volatile. The spoken word is hardly stored. Written work, classes, topics, student works are not often preserved. One will argue that the École des Beaux-arts is hoarded with treasures. Indeed exceptional pieces are in their stores but all date prior to 1968. Therefore they cannot illustrate the evolution of educational methods. At best, the schools’ archives are official paperwork. The most significant in both quantitative and qualitative terms are those of the École des Beaux-arts which were deposited at the National Archives. Archives from regional schools, teaching units and Écoles Nationales Supérieures d’Architecture are not yet deposited. One purpose of this project is to inventory them, which the History Committee has already started doing.Yet, we will have to go further. Manuscripts and sketches are scattered. If some private collections are available for consultation in public archives, most of them remain in the attics of their creators. They are now owned by their families. Most originators will be identified through the « Dictionnaire des élèves architectes de l'École des beaux-arts (1800-1968) » compiled under the direction of Marie-Laure Crosnier-Leconte recently posted on line on the website of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art. This review will give us the opportunity to collect oral testimonies and memories no administration had been tasked to compile until now.These documentary sources also include publications by the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts to promote both its objectives and results, together with newsletters from associations and corporations. The cross-collection inventory of these rare documents will be the first step. Then, they will be digitised and made available to researchers. These documents, combined with archive holdings from private architectural pratices and regional councils of the Architects Order will provide a fertile ground for researchers. This is the reason why you are being asked to participate in a research study through three round-table meetings devoted to written archives, oral records, sketches and prints respectively.The particulars of the projectOur project will mix individual careers and thematic studies, scholarly monographs and essays whose topics will be as diverse as the impact of architectural environment on teaching, social use of schools, degrees and careers, World Wars and institutions, doctrinal contents and pedagogy, feminisation of education, exchanges with foreign countries… Over the next four years we will meet in architecture schools biannually. Next fall, we will be happy to welcome you in Strasbourg. In 2020 an international conference will complete this project. We will also publish a guide book on the documentary sources and a report that will ultimately emphasise the importance of architectural education in France in the 20th Century. [sommaire]