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Outline for an Exhibition:

HOW CAN CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE HELP TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS?

The purpose of an exhibition of contemporary architecture is to introduce the public to the human and social problems that exist all over the world today, and to show in what ways architecture can be helpful in finding solutions.

In other words, this exhibition must awaken the public to a consciousness of its own needs.  We believe that it is possible to create a general public demand for better housing, better planning and a better way of living, just as it is possible to stimulate the demand for a car, an ice-box or a television set.

PRINCIPLES OF THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition is designed to give a clear and comprehensible appreciation of the complicated but exciting PROBLEMS that have to be solved today.

Therefore it cannot be base simply on a historical explanation of the origins of these problems, as was tried in book for in "Space, Time and Architecture", nor can it be exclusively a spectacular show of the different categories of building, like our book "A Decade of Contemporary Architecture" (CIAM Publication). What the exhibition must do is to illustrate the different problems by showing plans that were made, or actually carried out, in the effort to solve them.
A short preview will be given in the following pages. The exhibition will be introduced by photos, plans and models of the work of the creators of contemporary architecture, and it should end with examples of works of the youngest generation. The beginning and the end will thus "frame" the different problems dealt with. This should give an objective as well as a human insight into the subject, and will help to convince the public that a new tradition is in the making.