With Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcretre (1928)—published now for the first time in English—Sigfried Giedion positioned himself as an eloquent advocate of modern architecture. This was the first book to exalt Le Corbusier as the artistic champion of the new movement. It also spelled out many of the tenets of Modernism that are now regarded as myths, among them the impoverishment of nineteenth-century architectural thinking and practice, the contrasting vigor of engineering innovations, and the notion of Modernism as technologically preordained.
The enduring influence of the architect Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) derives primarily from his monumental theoretical foray Der Stil in der technischen und tektonischen Künsten (1860-62), here translated into English for the first time. A richly illustrated survey of the technical arts (textiles, ceramics, carpentry, masonry), Semper's analysis of the preconditions of style forever changed the interpretative context for aesthetics, architecture, and art history. Style, Semper believed, should be governed by historical function, cultural affinities, creative free will, and the innate properties of each medium. Thus, in an ambitious attempt to turn nineteenth-century artistic discussion away from historicism, aestheticism, and materialism, Semper developed in Der Stil a complex picture of stylistic change based on scrutiny of specific objects and a remarkable grasp of cultural variety. Harry Francis Mallgrave's introductory essay offers an account of Semper's life and work, a survey of Der Stil, and a fresh consideration of Semper's landmark study and its lasting significance.
Bridges the gap between the history and theory of twentieth-century architecture and cultural theories of modernity. In this exploration of the relationship between modernity, dwelling, and architecture, Hilde Heynen attempts to bridge the gap between the discourse of the modern movement and cultural theories of modernity. On one hand, she discusses architecture from the perspective of critical theory, and on the other, she modifies positions within critical theory by linking them with architecture. She assesses architecture as a cultural field that structures daily life and that embodies major contradictions inherent in modernity, arguing that architecture nonetheless has a certain capacity to adopt a critical stance vis-à-vis modernity. Besides presenting a theoretical discussion of the relation between architecture, modernity, and dwelling, the book provides architectural students with an introduction to the discourse of critical theory. The subchapters on Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno, and the Venice School (Tafuri, Dal Co, Cacciari) can be studied independently for this purpose.
The introduction of iron – and later steel – construction and decoration transformed architecture in the nineteenth century. While the structural employment of iron has been a frequent subject of study, this book re-directs scholarly scrutiny on its place in the aesthetics of architecture in the long nineteenth century. Together, its eleven unique and original chapters chart – for the first time – the global reach of iron’s architectural reception, from the first debates on how iron could be incorporated into architecture’s traditional aesthetics to the modernist cleaving of its structural and ornamental roles. The book is divided into three sections. Formations considers the rising tension between the desire to translate traditional architectural motifs into iron and the nascent feeling that iron buildings were themselves creating an entirely new field of aesthetic expression. Exchanges charts the commercial and cultural interactions that took place between British iron foundries and clients in far-flung locations such as Argentina, Jamaica, Nigeria and Australia. Expressing colonial control as well as local agency, iron buildings struck a balance between pre-fabricated functionalism and a desire to convey beauty, value and often exoticism through ornament. Transformations looks at the place of the aesthetics of iron architecture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period in which iron ornament sought to harmonize wide social ambitions while offering the tantalizing possibility that iron architecture as a whole could transform the fundamental meanings of ornament. Taken together, these chapters call for a re-evaluation of modernism’s supposedly rationalist interest in nineteenth-century iron structures, one that has potentially radical implications for the recent ornamental turn in contemporary architecture.
A new paradigm combining architectural tradition with emerging technologies Digital tools have launched architecture into a dizzying new era, one in which wood, stone, metal, glass, and other traditional materials are augmented by pixels and code. In this ambitious exploration, an eminent thinker examines what, exactly, the building blocks of architecture have meant over the centuries and how technology may—or may not—be changing how we think about them. Antoine Picon argues that materiality is not only about matter and that the silence and inscrutability—the otherness—of raw materials work against humanity’s need to live in a meaningful world. He describes how people define who they are, in part, through their specific physical experience of architectural materials and spaces. Indeed, Picon asserts, the entire paradox of the architectural discipline consists in its desire to render matter expressive to human beings. Through a retrospective review of canonical moments in Western European architecture, Picon offers an original perspective on the ways materiality has varied throughout centuries, demonstrating how experiences of the physical world have changed in relation to the evolution of human subjectivity. Ultimately, Picon concludes that computer-based design methods are not an abrupt departure from previous architectural traditions but rather a new way for architects to control material resources. The result reinforces the fundamentally humanistic nature of architectural endeavor with an increasing sense of design freedom and a release from material constraint in the digital era.
Interweaving architecture, philosophy and cultural history, Materials and Meaning in Architecture develops a rich and multi-dimensional exploration of materials and materiality, in an age when architectural practice seems otherwise preoccupied with image and visual representation. Arguing that architecture is primarily experienced by the whole body, rather than chiefly with the eyes, this broad-ranging study shows how the most engaging built works are as tactile as they are sensuous, communicating directly with the bodily senses, especially touch. It explores the theme of 'material imagination' and the power of establishing 'place identity' in an architect's work, to consider the enduring expressive possibilities of material use in architecture. The book's chapters can be dipped into, each individual chapter providing close readings of built works by selected modern masters (Scarpa, Zumthor, Williams and Tsien), insights into key texts and theories (Ruskin, Loos, Bachelard), or short cultural histories of materials (wood, brick, concrete, steel, and glass). And yet, taken together, the chapters build to a powerful book-length argument about how meaning accrues to materials through time, and about the need to reinsert the bodily experience of materiality into architectural design. It is thus also, in part, a manifesto: arguing for architecture to act as a bulwark against the tide of an increasingly depersonalised built environment. With insights for a wide range of readers, ranging from students through to researchers and professional designers, Materials and Meaning in Architecture will cause theorists to rethink their assumptions and designers to see new potential for their projects.
Sustainable, circular, up-to-date Most modern buildings are built from diverse materials, but few confront their manifold composition as a question of both design and performance. This book takes a close look at a series of global building traditions and contemporary practices to uncover the possibilities and challenges of working with mixed materials. Visually stunning, color-coded drawings reveal the materials and construction for every project. Through case studies, design experiments and writings, the authors examine the opportunities of heterogeneous construction for contemporary, sustainable, circular, and culturally situated architecture. With contributions by Jeannette Kuo, Ajay Manthripragada, and Jesús Vassallo, and photography by Naho Kubota. Graphic design by Andrew LeClair. Richly illustrated case studies of lesserknown hybrid construction techniques Beautiful graphic design and unique spot color printing reveal the interrelationships of materials in construction In-depth essays that discuss the technical, cultural, and environmental implications of heterogeneous construction
This volume explores the concept of "spatial transparency"; a form of spatial continuity that articulates depth through permeable, layered, or porous three-dimensional organizations where interstitial light is present. Although transparency is a concept largely associated with the modern movement, the use of glazed components, and twentieth-century architectural discourse, spatial transparency is a form of depth awareness through intermediate domains, takes place through the interstitial fabric of a structure, and occurs when several consecutive domains are spatially and visually connected. These immersive environments invite active participation, not as one-way communication but as a series of visual and experiential exchanges, interdependencies, and relationships. Divided into four parts, the book examines spatial transparency in massive opaque constructions, light constructions, glass assemblies, and hybrid systems. It analyzes both the phenomenon of visual connectivity and continuity through intermediate spaces, and spatial transparency’s capacity for promoting and enabling graded, interflowing environmental transactions. Using historical and contemporary examples, it catalogs some of the most common and recurring configurations that manifest these characteristics. Over 20 international case studies from the Americas to Japan are presented to argue that environments exist in porous mediums and that by studying the openings, voids, light, and materials of layered and/or permeable organizations, important insights about space making can be revealed. Written for students and academics, this book explores various expressions of spatial transparency in architecture and helps connect their abstract ideas with significant built works, analytical drawings, and comparison charts.
Investigates how architecture, technology, politics, and urban planning came together in French architect Victor Baltard's creation of the Central Markets of Paris. Presents a case study of the historical process that produced modern Paris between 1840 and 1870.
