Finding Sołtan - heritages and legacies of modernist architecture

The research aims to rebuild connections between modernist architecture and contemporary architectural thinking and practice. It seeks to position modern architecture, through an evaluation of the work of Polish modernist architect Jerzy Sołtan (1913-2005), as material and immaterial heritage, in order to restate its meaning and possible ongoing relevance to architectural theory and practice. Through a cross-disciplinary case study of the design, teaching, and theory of Sołtan, the thesis questions the accepted canonical vision of modern architecture from several perspectives, asking what is Sołtan’s legacy. Firstly, reviewing the historiography of modern architecture, it brings attention to the often neglected discourse of Central and East European countries, whilst specifically analysing Sołtan’s design activity in Poland. Secondly, analysing Sołtan’s lifelong teaching and theoretical work, it reinstates, through his beliefs, the importance of ideals and values instead of forms and materials into the discourse on modern architecture. As a result, the thesis aims to answer the broader question on how the modern architecture legacy can be redefined and assessed as heritage, through the case study of Sołtan’s work. It offers an alternative reading of modern architecture historiography, which calls for a reinstatement of the modern ethos, which was so misunderstood and thus criticised by latecentury postmodern critics and architects. Following Sołtan’s reading, modern architecture and its heritage, while connected to the past, are projected towards the future and potentially still bear answers to important issues. Sołtan’s work for, and close relationship with, Le Corbusier and his direct involvement and relevance in CIAM (Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne) and Team 10 show his relevance in core places of the discussion on modern architecture throughout the second half of the twentieth century. As a result, through Jerzy Sołtan’s presence, the thesis includes new insight to the dynamics of late CIAM and Team 10, as well as their influence in Poland and in the United States.
The study of Sołtan’s work starts with his texts and ideas, which lay down the basis for the analysis of his teaching and designs. The emerging theoretical framework is centred on the ideals of beauty and poetics, in collaboration with other arts and with science, and on a social-political vision of architecture as a contribution to the society and to the future of human civilisation. This enables us to fully understand the meaning of his professional and academic activity. The former, though limited due to the importance of his lifelong teaching work, stands as an interesting demonstration of Sołtan’s theoretical position through design work. Different design teams and projects were able to engage with a number of typologies including exhibition and interior design, religious architecture, school design, private residences, and others. In addition, the relevance and the importance of his teaching in both Poland at the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw and the United States at Harvard Graduate School of Design enable us, through a gathering of oral histories, to understand Sołtan’s ideas, reading, and vision of architecture and modernism. His teaching – recognised in 2002 with the Topaz Medallion for Architectural Education awarded by the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture – stands as an important contribution to education of new generations of architects in the spirit of modernism.
The thesis develops an original methodological synthesis of information gathered from a range of different records: researching unpublished archival documents, private archive materials including diaries, and through the taking of oral histories, both unofficial and untold, from Jerzy Sołtan’s former colleagues, students, and co-workers. It combines these documents with material studies of the architecture and drawings produced. Through this approach, the research illustrates the importance of modernist architecture as a ‘living heritage’, tightly connected to the problems of the present-day world, recognising similar issues, and with the potential of proposing relevant solutions to contemporary issues. It reads modern architecture as a resource, necessary for the development of present-day practice, and needing recognition as a legacy to be protected.