ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the French-American transatlantic experience of alternative architecture, it should be said at the outset that the countercultural phenomenon was not confined to France. Aubert preparation of this seminar consisted of gathering together all available sources of information, which were English language documents, including academic or semi-professional publications, specialized architectural journals and pamphlets documenting self-build experiments. It was from AD and other journals that French architects learned of what was going on in America. The spread of interest in alternative architecture became a significant component in the critique of state planning, public housing and the consequences of the welfare state for architecture. Colourful, cheaply produced and well-illustrated publications, derived from American comic books, also became a pedagogic model for some teachers in the Parisian schools of architecture. Do-it-yourself, which was widely present in the 1960s and French culture, highly influenced by Marxist ideology and accustomed to the dominance of the intellect over manual work.
