Progress report
Progress report
Hans Ibelings
The 25th edition of A10, the first issue in the fifth year of publication, and the beginning of a new calendar year. That makes at least good three reasons for pausing to take stock of A10 and its subject matter, new European architecture. The reader need expect no speculations about the consequences for European architecture of the global credit crunch. There will undoubtedly be consequences, but given the long planning process for building projects, they will probably manifest themselves in slow motion.
Instead, a progress report on what A10 has become in five years and 25 issues. The magazine has a still-growing readership around the globe, but first and foremost in Europe, and with the strongest growth in Central Europe. Distribution is increasingly finely dispersed across the entire continent – A10 recently appeared in kiosks in Romania and Bulgaria – and subscriptions continue to rise.
Our impression that, as well as a growing readership, A10 is also beginning to acquire a certain presence in the European architecture world is difficult to quantify. There is a natural tendency to regard one's own deeds as exceptionally significant. And we are all too often confirmed in this belief by the people around us who are polite enough to insist that it is indeed so. Mindful of the somewhat biased image I am bound to have of Arjan Groot's and my brainchild, I nevertheless venture to claim that we have made an impact in this sphere. And by we I mean not just the editorial team but also our correspondents all over Europe who, with their knowledge, insights and contributions, are the backbone of A10. Together, in just a few years, we have managed to give a voice to new architecture from Central and Eastern Europe and the outer reaches of the continent, architecture that, until recently, played hardly any role in the international debate. That is now starting to change. It would be going too far to attribute this solely to A10; it begins with the architecture that is being produced in those areas. But nor do I wish to understate our role in extending the boundaries of which architecture merits international attention.
The changes that Europe experienced post-1989 did not lead overnight to a new European architecture, any more than the current credit crisis is already having a visible effect on the built environment. Owing to the slowness that is inherent to the discipline, it is only in the last few years that the effects of the new Europe have become visible in architecture and urban design. And if A10 can take credit for anything, perhaps it is the fact that it appeared at the very moment when the new Europe started to produce a new European architecture.
1 January | 2009 | Netherlands
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