The Social Role of Workers’ and People’s University of Moša Pijade (RANS)

Galjer, Jasna and Lončar, Sanja and Rubić, Tihana. (2018). The Social Role of Workers’ and People’s University of Moša Pijade (RANS). Andragoški glasnik : Glasilo Hrvatskog andragoškog društva, 22(1). pp. 17-26. ISSN 1331-3134

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Abstract

The paper investigates the link between architecture and its social purpose, with a specific focus on the institution known today as Public Open University Zagreb (POUZ) and previously also as the Workers’ and People’s University of Moša Pijade (RANS). Given the specific relationship between the ideological and cultural framework of architecture, this is the comprehensive attempt to analyse and interpret the complex architectural, urbanistic and social role of this institution. The paper is thus intended to contribute to the regard the institution is held in both nationally and globally. The focus is on the innovative character of the architectural concept, function and social role. An interdisciplinary approach is taken, encompassing the fields of art history, architecture and urbanism, as well as ethnology and cultural anthropology. The interpretational framework employs the theories of architecture and design, anthropology of space and of architecture, and anthropology of work and of education. The paper begins with an analysis of the relationship between architecture and society; i.e., the characteristics of socially engaged architectural production are described. Overviews of the history and significance of RANS are analysed and compared, as are narrative data sources (interviews). This, in addition to the theoretical and methodological insights afforded by ethnology and cultural anthropology approaches to space and architecture, will demonstrate how the significance and symbolic values ascribed to the RANS building were shaped and modified through time. These include, for instance, the exchange of ideas and knowledge which the building prompted, as well as the emotional attachments to the building forged by its employees and visitors. The paper also examines the sociocultural categories and the relationship between culture and the city (and work) in the variety of periods since the institution was founded. This is a complex relationship between employees, users, programmes and the designed architectural environment on the one hand, and the political, economic and social context on the other

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