Talk:Architecture
LLWArch » Forums » Gothic architecture forum » a new aesthetic, an aesthetic of line rather than mass
Re: a new aesthetic, an aesthetic of line rather than mass by Paul Reed - Saturday, 15 May 2010, 07:30 PM.
To follow on from your last point I had been thinking about whether the Gothic style was a result of a more economic use of scarce materials, or an innovative approach to building taller churches that would not collapse under their own weight or ecclesiatical pride or just wealthy excess. Certainly the churches in France were rich and powerful enough to employ master masons and purchase and transport the materials from limestone and sandstone quarries. Where Gothic architecture did take longer to emerge such as Germany, the Gothic churches tended to be built in brick, and in Italy it was marble, which may have played a role in its later adoption. However, new carving techniques and tools would have help transform the roughly hewn stone into some thing more ornate and slender and therefore something more elegant than mere mass. Ultimately, I think it was less to do with the availability or cost of stone but an emotional appeal that reflected the independence and power of the Churches and a desire to build something that was more indicative of heavan than earth and in sharp relief to the poverty and disease that puctuated the lives of most of the congregations.
LLWArch » Forums » Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque forum » Brunelleschi
Re: Brunelleschi by Paul Reed - Tuesday, 25 May 2010, 02:09 PM
One of the phrases I read most often when authors describe Brunelleshi contribution to architecture is order and linear perspective. Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters, semicircular arches, hemispherical domes and niches culminating in strong clear lines seemingy converging on an invisible spot in the distance. It brought depth, order, clarity and a sense of cohesion almost to the point that you could believe that that his buildings were solving a mathematical puzzle in a way that the irregular Gothic architecture could not. His use of perspective can be seen in Foundling Hospital in Florence and the use of engineering acumen in the dome of Florence Cathedral
Sutton observes (p126) that the Rennaisance could not ne understood in purely archtectural terms. Brunelleschi may gave been inspired by rennaissance artists use of Approximate Perspective and while his use of classical architectural elements were not unique they assembled in innovative ways. While he may be the father of early Renaissance, Brunelleshi might not be described as it most didactic proponent. He was in some ways a transitional figure who employed some Gothic features (Florence Cathedral) as well as drawing inspiration from the classical and it was left to Alberti to codify and the rules of classical architrcture that enabled other architects to gain inspiration inspired and it was he who applied the rules most consistently. Ultimately, Sutton goes on to say (p136) that there was never a Golden Age of Renaissance Architecture orthodoxy and many (Mannerists) artists like Michelangelo sought to subvert and distort the rules to create yet more beauty. Yet Brunelleschi can still be thought of as more than just a milestone along the progression of experimentation and innovation insofar that he was able to combine engineering, geometry and aethetics to his buildings.
LLWArch » Forums » Modern movement forum » Modern 'Honesty' v the Dishonesty of 'Historicism'
Modern 'Honesty' v the Dishonesty of 'Historicism' by Paul Reed - Monday, 5 July 2010, 06:52 PM
I found myself eventually warming to Modernism having always equated it with post-war, unimaginative, poorly built New Towns like Crawley or the Brutalist visions of Erno Goldfinger [Trellick Tower, London].
Where Modernism succeeds is when its architecture expresses its function in a plain, form-follows-function rational, unadorned fashion bereft of any unnecessary cutural, religious or political symbolism. The United Nations building fits that rationale. One can see that this is an International building that owes little to the antecedents of any one country. It also looks to the future not the past
It is also 'honest' where there is no disguise of the engineering that went into the building. There is no implied strength where none exists or design feature where not needed. It avoids the pastiche or conceit that goes into the building of something that (although well meaning) pretends to be something it is not [e.g. Podium Shopping Center - Bath] Modernism can also be innovative and dramatic like Niemeyer's Brasilia Cathedral or Peutz's Glass Palace [Netherlands 1935], which looks very contemporary.
Unfortunately, Modernism can at one extreme be dogmatic. Pugin's Victoria Tower does not express its steel structure and it is covered in ornament yet conveys no dishonesty but used modern materials and techniques sympathetically to fit in with its function. The Internationalism of the style also means that towns and cities lose some cultural identity and diversity and the people who live in them adapt and subordinate themselves to the buildings other than the other way around, which is remedied perhaps in the Postmodern arcthitectural era.
