Mediterranean visions

Like many architect travellers, the Austrian, Bernard Rudofsky, had a visionary idea of architecture engendered by his impressions of the places he had visited. Le Corbusier, for example, first fell in love with the buildings and towns on the Mediterranean sea in his Journey in the East in 1911, where he discovered not only the noble architecture of the classical tradition, but also popular, vernacular construction. However, the case of the Austrian architect differs from that of the Swiss maestro. To build up a sample book of themes, figures and design procedures, Rudofsky completed ignored the monumental examples, which had been the destinations of the Grand Tours for centuries. Instead, he concentrated on humble architecture, which he believed more suitable for the construction of suitable spaces for contemporary, democratic life.