Nueva Babiloniauna ciudad soñada y dibujada bajo los auspicios del Team 10

Abstract

Constant Nieuwenhyus' work is usually described as a speculative exercise on the contemporary city based on a critique towards capitalism. With a strong influence on architectural thinking, many of his approaches are being reviewed again today. This text aims to meke visible not only an ideological but formal relationship between Constant's New Babylon and Team 10's revolutionary approaches in the context of CIAM, beyond the well-known influence of Guy Debord and the situationists. Nigel Henderson's photos of children playing in the street, Aldo Van Eyck's playgrounds, the gypsy camps of Alba in Italy and, finally, the Smithsons' cities in the air will end up shaping a city that becomes a paradigm of a new architeture where user's subjectivity is the goal and action its means.