Influence and reinterpretation: A paradigm for sustainable contemporary transcultural and regional architecture

[Extract] Already in 1967 Jørn Utzon was recognised by Sigfried Giedion,in the fifth edition of his book Space, Time and Architecture as the prime exponent of the new third generation of architects, the first generation being the pioneers of Modernism, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe and second generation were represented by Aalto and Kahn. Giedion recognised in Utzon an appreciation for the past and an interest in anonymous structures; an interest which was not that of an historian, but is rather concerned with gaining architectonic knowledge from the past, to solve contemporary architectural aims .Giedion saw travel as the best means to gain such knowledge and emphasised that “the attitude of the third generation to the past is not to saw out details from their original context. It is more an inner affinity, a spiritual recognition of what, out of the abundance of architectonic knowledge, is related to the present time and is, in a certain sense, able to strengthen our inner security” (Giedion, 1982,p. 670). For Gideon, Utzon heralded a new architectural sensibility;one which represented an optimistic alternative to the nightmare scenario Giedion described in his book Mechanization Takes Command (Giedion 1955).