“Theory and Design in the First Machine Age.” Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter 3: The Academic Succession: Garnier and Perret

Pupils of Guadet.

Garnier has more academically respected career (to say more classical?)

Garnier’s style to switch from Rome Prize design of State Banking House to Cité Industrielle.

Garnier does work for Herriot at Lyons along stylistic lines with Behrens, Poelzig and Sant’Elia

Banham refers to Garnier and Perret as as “transitional classicist” that helped form the generation that would produce true modernism

Concrete construction acceptiable but tied to classical form. Piecemeal replacement of timber beams by concrete seen in vernacular in factories on Rue Des Cordeliers.

Perret’s Rue Franklin and Notre Dame du Rancy cited as influential in the modern use of concrete and display of structure.

 

Chapter 4: England: Lethaby and Scott

Decline of English Architecture simultaneous with advance of German.

Methusius: Architect attached to London embassy on behalf of the German government.

TG Jackson denounces Art Nouveau (1906), Founding of Deutcher Werkbund (1907), Denunciation of Glasgow Art Nouveau (1908)

Banham supposes reason for English decline is failure to recognize Glasgow Art Nouveau as part of ‘English Free Architecture’ rather than an opposition

Fagus Factory- 1911- Met with calls for neoclassic revival

Criticism arises of Modernism’s lack of studied composition (classical) and Paris as a center for Modernism

British School in Rome developed to restore classicist spirit.

Geoffrey Scott’s “Architecture of Humanism” is hostile towards Lethaby.

Banham refers to Lethaby and Scott as carrying on moralistic values of Ruskin and Morris.

Lethaby is rationalist (le-duc-ish, choisy-ish) “the method of design to a modern mind can only be understood in the scientific or engineer’s sense, as a definite analysis of possibilities-not as a vague poetic dealing with poetic matters.” (yikes)

Banham quotes Lethaby laing out pretty much the same ‘moralistic values’ as modernism: design towards current technological conditions, honesty in materials, scientific construction (science definition is now more in line with modern conception). Banham then states the problem lies within muddled thinking.

CFA Voysey: Domestic Architecture, bold geometry. Preferrs “the soft effect of the outline of an old building where the angles were put up by eye, compared with the mechanical effect of the modern drafted angle.”

Scott’s falacies: Romantic, Picturesque, Naturalistic, Mechanical, Ethical, Biological.

Scott’s elements: Mass, Space, Line, Coherence (Guadet/Blanc- esque)

Space is a new conception by Scott from Theodor Lipps (Lippsian Theory) and can be seen in Mies and Corbusier.

 

Base of Operations

GIFs are really in right now.

Hipster.

“Theory and Design in the First Machine Age.” Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Choisy: rationalism and technique.

“Histoire de l’Architecture” -diagrammatic drawings. Theme is ‘form as the logical consequence of technique.’  Referenced by Corbusier in “l’Espirit Nouveau”

Guadet- composition

Choisy- construction

Art Nouveau occurring an “excess of personal willfulness.”

Placing yourself in the frame of mind of what was ‘rational’ in the early twentieth century is difficult. For example Choisy’s  insistence that the eye is an accurate judge of measurement. In terms of aesthetic proportion I think there are discernible relationships but I don’t think one can so easily ‘see’ the function of structure or that “the stone works to its maximum effort.” Banham references Pol Abraham who notes just that.

Choisy seems to think pre-Doric wood architecture is an imitation of Doric stone architecture (yup, that’s what it says p.29)

Choisy also feels all appropriate forms have been invented regardless of material. Kind of un-rational.

Design developing as a concept along with ‘form’ as terminology. Form having rules of dimension and proportion.

Choisy has respect for Gothic and Doric. Doric is simple and ad hoc which he likes. Gothic represents for him “the  culmination of logical method in structure.”  The fact that Gothic exterior buttressing can’t be seen bothers him because it’s not visually intuitive.

 

Some advice

Joking aside the resources page is worth keeping in your back pocket.

 

“Theory and Design in the First Machine Age.” Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The academic tradition and the concept of elementary composition

Cubist and Futurist movements occurring.

Banham lines out three new things: A sense of architectural responsibility to society connected to the Deutscher Werkbund (Pugin, Ruskin, Morris), a rationalist approach (Willis, Le Duc, Choisy), and academic instruction (l’Ecole des Beaux Arts)

Five volume work by Guadet “Eléments et théorie de l’architecture.”

Charles Blanc (l’Ecole des Beaux Arts librarian)  “Le Grammaire des Arts de Dessin”

Guadet’s insistence on composition echoing Durand on assembly of component volumes.

Axial planning and cataloged styles assumed and unjustified until challenged in the early twentieth century. Standard crib book is Normand’s “Parallèle”

Talbot Hamilin’s “Forms and Functions…” is attempted remake of Guadet.

Different definitions of Science and Objectivity within the historical perspective and when referring to design.

Science: “erudation plus logical method” rather than “experimental philosophy.”

Obectivity: “logically impeccable” rather than “substantiated by experiment” (meh…)

Banham parallels Guadet’s ideas on to architecture to Blanc’s on abstract art. Blanc gives little consideration to subject matter, Guadet little to “stylistic details.”

What it all boils down to is an emerging idea that history is “to be understood, not imitated, its lessons embodied less in the actual monuments of former time than in the principles that can be abstracted from them.”

Not so far from the truth

Entry level Junior Designer position available for candidate holding an accredited degree in Architecture with experience in residential, commercial, hospitality, health care, mixed income, government, transportation, urban planning, and historical renovation/rehabilitation projects. Must be proficient in AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Revit, Eagle Point, Rhino, Grasshopper, 3DS Max, GIS, Sketchup, Excel, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, After Effects, and Microsoft Paint. LEED accredited a plus along with excellent graphic design and hand representation skills. Fluency in XHTML, CSS, Java, Flash and Dreamweaver preferred as daily website maintenance and creation will be required for some reason. Priority will be given to applicants with PhDs, excellent written communication skills, and conversational competency in French, Italian, Spanish and Creole. Candidate must express creative spirit, encyclopedic knowledge of art and architecture history, and an obsessive level of commitment. Salary is between $9,000-$12,000/yr commensurate to level of experience.

Due to an incredibly high number of applicants we will only be able to contact those who are chosen for interview.

Some philosophy on boxing

I received this article in an e-mail from my father. The two of us have kept boxing as an inconsistent hobby over the past several years and this piece sums up pretty well what I’ve always insisted about the sport, that there is something deeper afoot.

I’ll save my own musings because Marino does a better job of saying anything I could. But, I imagine everyone has their own struggles with fear, personal courage, and morality so this would be a good read for anyone.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever recieved via Ira Glass

A professor of mine referred me to these videos when I was doing a short lived radio show about Architecture. I re-watch them frequently. I think it’s solid advice for any creative discipline (especially part three). I’m placing them here for easy reference.

Ira Glass on Storytelling #1

Ira Glass on Storytelling #2

Ira Glass on Storytelling #3

Ira Glass on Storytelling #4

Names to remember while revisiting “Theroy and Design in the First Machine Age.” Chapter 11

Individuals from Chapter 11: Holland: Berlage and attitudes towards Wright

Hendrikus Peter Berlage (b.1856)- De Stijl, truth to materials, advocate of Wright, pupil of de Groot

Jan Hessel de Groot- originator of a focus on proportional systems among contemporaries

J.G. Lauwericks- influenced Adolf Meyer who worked with Gropius. I doubt the significance of the story but he built what may have been Corbusier’s first encounter with a proportionally designed space (a villa in Bremen for artist J. Thorn Prikker)

Muthesius– proponent of English arts and crafts movement, knew Berlage, concerned with similar topics, different bias

Frank Lloyd Wright- American architect that became known to Berlage in 1911. Comparison made by Banham of Wright’s Larkin Building and the Beurs Van Berlage