Lucien Kroll
Lucien Kroll (13 March 1927 – 1 August 2022) was a Belgian architect. He founded with Simone Kroll the Atelier de Architecture Simone & Lucien Kroll. They are considered the founders — as early as 1960 — of participatory architecture. He has realized more than 100 projects.
Biography
Kroll was born in Brussels on 13 March 1927. His father was an engineer and his mother, a nurse.[1]
In 1945, Lucien Kroll enrolled at the Saint-Luc School in Liège where he befriended Charles Vandenhove. In 1948, they both went on to continue their training at ENSAV de la Cambre in Brussels[2] (today the Faculty of Architecture of the Free University of Brussels). He was also a student at the International Higher Institute of Applied Urbanism.
After obtaining his degree in architecture at La Cambre in 1951,[1] Kroll worked with architect Charles Vandenhove for several years.[3][4]
In 1956, Kroll met Simone Pelosse, the "ceramist of Old Lyon", at an exhibition in Brussels. Born in Lyon, trained at the School of Arts et Métiers de Paris, Simone Pelosse was, at that time, already established as a recognized ceramist. She is also politically active in the preservation of her neighborhood in the historical district of Lyon.[5] Kroll visited her several times in Lyon before declaring his love.[6] They became design partners and married in 1965.
Together, they founded the Atelier d'architecture Simone & Lucien Kroll, which was very active in the 1960s and 1990s. During these years Lucien Kroll and his wife fought particularly hard against their designated enemy: modernism and its functionalist deviations.[7] Their success was followed by a long period where their architecture was decidedly out of fashion. Retrospectives organized in Nantes (2013), Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016[7]) have helped to rekindle interest in their work.[1]
Philosophy of Architecture
Critical of the authoritarian relationship between architect and user, Kroll showed a keen interest in participatory architecture and explored a specific way of practising architecture, inspired by people’s differences and spontaneity.[8]
Throughout his career, Kroll opposed the industrialization of housing and and promoted an architecture that is defined as close as possible to the inhabitants. He is thus against "disciplinary alignment" and sought to liberate architecture with consultative, immersive and inter-disciplinary methods. The architecture produced can therefore only be collective and participatory. This participatory concept focuses on the human in the projects and casts the architect not as decision-maker, but as a mediator. In order to perfect their method of participatory architecture, called "incrementalism" by Kroll,[1] they consult, bring together, immerse themselves in neighborhoods and rely on the expertise of psychologists, sociologists, ethnologists and pedagogues.[9]
Projects
The Oury House
One of his first works is the Oury house, a single-family dwelling located at 137 Voie de Liège in Embourg. It was built between 1962 and 1963 for Mr. Oury, a former wood importer. Wood was also the material of choice for the house, but brick and concrete were used for the load-bearing walls, which form four regular spans. The L-shaped plan of the house opens very widely to the south, while the staircase and the corridors which distribute the rooms are to the north. The balcony, as well as the overhanging roof, help to prevent overheating in the summer months.
La Mémé
His most famous work is La Mémé - the building complex for the Medical Faculty at the University of Louvain, Belgium, from 1970 to 1976. Based on earlier experiences in participatory architecture, Kroll was selected as the architect of the complex.
These buildings "aroused widespread controversy in the early 1970s (and even today) due to their their fragmented and improvisational appearance— the result of a deliberate participatory design process— in stark contrast to the adjacent massive and repetitive hospital, the embodiment of a centralized bureaucracy."[10]
Selected Works
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Southern facade of the Oury House -
Détail of the southern facade of the Oury House
References
- ^ a b c d "La mort de Lucien Kroll, architecte écologiste et libertaire". Le Monde.fr (in French). 4 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "Charles Vandenhove". Fondation Jeanne Charles Vandenhove (in French). Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "Histoire". Fondation Jeanne Charles Vandenhove (in French). Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "Lucien et Simone Kroll". Brussels Architecture Prize (in French). Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "RÉSURRECTION DU VIEUX LYON". Le Monde.fr (in French). 30 August 1962. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Bouchain, Patrick; Paquot, Thierry (2013). Lucien et Simone Kroll: Une Architecture Habitée. Actes Sud. ISBN 978-2-330-02145-0.
- ^ a b "Lucien et Simone Kroll". Brussels Architecture Prize (in French). Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ CIVA Brussels
- ^ Zuerich, ETH-Bibliothek. "Lucien Kroll, architecte incrémental". E-Periodica (in German). Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Kroll, Lucien (1987). An Architecture of Complexity. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-61047-7.
Further reading
- Muriel Emmanuel, Contemporary Architects. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.
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