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r Dr Revedin, you live in Venice. It was 100 years ago  of just “taking a trip”? If Venice were to become once
             when Margherita Revedin sustainably changed the la-  again the place of the “good visitors”, if it would be dis-
             goon city. Explain to our readers which was the ball  covered by open-minded people and permanently inha-
             that Margherita got rolling?             bited, the city would be saved. The population of 50,000
             With her unbiased view and her wise modesty, my hus-  is over-optimistic. Only half of them are really locals.   MÖBEL
             band´s grandmother, who came from a humble back-
             ground and surprised everyone by marrying into the ari-  r You are the founder and the president of the Locus
             stocratic Revedin family, invented never before realized  Foundation which, under the patronage of UNESCO,
             purposes for the impoverished city of Venice of her time.  annually gives the Global Award for Sustainable Archi-  À LA
             After the First World War and the Spanish Flu, the city was  tecture you initiated. Which are the most important
             almost irrecoverably at the end and the façades of its buil-  challenges of the future?
             dings were literally crumbling into the canals. Margherita  I follow the statement by Walter Gropius of 1919: “Archi-
             combined the spa tourism of the turn of the century with  tecture is science, craft and art in the service of society”.
                                                      The last part of this beautiful definition, the service of so-
             the culture tourism of the young Biennale and invented a  ciety, is what the architects of my generation like to forget.  CARTE.
             completely new kind of tourism: actively experiencing na-
             ture. She turned the lagoon archipelago and the lido, into
             a magnet for tourists: swimming, rowing, clay-pigeon  r Keyword Gropius: The second significant woman of
             shooting and even golf and sports aviation were made ac-  the 1920s/1930s whom you have rediscovered is the se-
             cessible to a wide public for the first time. When I met my  cond wife of Walter Gropius. She became the emanci-
             husband, her grandson, here in Venice 35 years ago, it be-  patory soul of the Bauhaus. What can we still learn
              came clear to me that, one day, I just had to tell about the  from her today?
             adventurous life of this today forgotten visionary.   Ise Frank has dedicated herself to the “Bauhaus idea”
                                                       and contributed her journalistic and literary knowledge
              r Which are the parallels you notice between you and  and ability to formulate, together with Walter Gropius
             Margherita? Your life as well has decisively changed in  and his allies, the theory and the ethics of the German re-
             the city of Venice …                      form-architecture movement. The three fundamental in-
             On my daily walks through the city, I encounter Marghe-  novations which Gropius and Ise Frank also experimen-
             rita in numerous places. After her husband had died, she  tally exemplified in the everyday life of the Bauhaus
             renounced a luxurious life and withdrew to a modern  school were, first, the “ecological city”, secondly the in-
             apartment building with a view of the Guidecca Canal  terdisciplinary Bauhaus teaching and research including
             and Palladio´s Redentore Church. Some years ago, my  numerous sciences and arts. At the Bauhaus time of Gro-
             husband and I managed to buy a small house right next  pius at the Bauhaus, not a single architect taught there.
             to where she lived: for me, the most beautiful location in  Finally, social emancipation through architecture: The
             the city. When I landed here after my years of studies in  Bauhaus of Gropius was the very first school of architec-
             Buenos Aires, New York and Milan, my Milan colleagues  ture which allowed women to study! These three innova-
             sneered: “Now she´s moving to the village!” I had to fight  tions would, however, already be forgotten if Ise Frank
             against the local conditions. I was the youngest assistant  had not decided in 1927 to move the Bauhaus to the USA
             in the Milan office of Aldo Rossi and loved my work.  when faced with the Nazi regime.
             When my two daughters were born, my reputation as a
             bad mother was already predestined.       r As an architect, an architecture theorist and a profes-
                                                      sor of architecture and urban development, you are
             r The lagoon city has about 50,000 inhabitants but is  inevitably confronted with gender issues …
             overrun by 30 million visitors every year. How are you  Each and every day. I encourage my younger female col-
             experiencing the city in times of corona and which are  leagues and my female students to pursue their own
             the chances resulting from this crisis?     dreams; I am trying to show them the joy taken in our
             The world is finally coming to a stop and refocussing on  marvellous profession. When, in 1987, I was accepted by
             what is essential. Is it really the many, the uncontrollable  Aldo Rossi into his office, there were exclusively men wor-
             impressions which evoke creativity? Or is it the quietness  king there; on the construction sites, I learned from male
             of our souls? Could we learn how to travel again instead  technicians and builders and I designed for clients who
                                                      were almost all men. Then I said to myself: But architec-
             Wiederentdeckt von Jana Revedin: Ise Frank und Margherita Revedin  ture is feminine!

                                                       r In Flucht nach Patagonien, your latest book which is
                                                      going to be published in August, you introduce us to
                                                      yet another captivating woman whom you want to
                                                      bring out of the shadows of history …
                                                      Yes, because the world needs female rebels! February
                                                      1937: Eugenia Errázuriz, the most influential patroness of
                                                      the Parisian modernity, invites the young Jewish interior
                                                      designer Jean-Michel Frank on a journey to Patagonia.
                                                      She has invested her entire fortune in the building of the
                                                      first grand hotel of the Andes which is to make Jean-Mi-
                                                      chel Frank renowned worldwide.               LANDSBERG  PARIS  WIEN
                                                                                                   GOIN€PROJECT.COM
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