As Bernhard Hafner’s first theoretical declaration, the Archegrams examine the installation on a three dimensional grid of spatial cells oriented on the basis of sunlight. This organizational principle aimed at the optimization of the dwelling, represents the generative principle of the city of the future. These different diagrams present the architect’s methodological rigour and language, based on a futuristic extrapolation of modern functionalist principles. Resulting from both figuration and calculation, somewhere between representation and abstraction, the Archegrams thus posit the theoretical premisses of a technological urban development which Hafner worked on until 1966.
Aurélien Vernant
