Architectural theory

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Architectural theory is divided into at least three overarching areas to the same extent as architecture itself belongs to different spheres (architecture, technology, culture, environment, etc.).

As a theory of architecture, it is a theoretical foundation of the action and role of architects as well as the contents and forms of expression of architecture itself. From Vitruvius as the author of the oldest surviving treatise on architectural theory to Leon Battista Alberti , Andrea Palladio and others to Gottfried Semper for the modern age as well as the architects of the modern age such as Le Corbusier , Frank Lloyd Wright , Walter Gropius , Mies van der Rohe , Louis I. Kahn , Robert Venturi and others up to the protagonists of contemporary architecture, architects developed the architectural theoretical foundations for their work .

As a theory of architecture , architectural theory is part of art history and the “general art theory to which it belongs as a component”, with art historians focusing more on completed architectural works of art, on their classification in stylistic contexts and on cross-connections to other art fields.

The focus of architectural theory as a reflection on the cultural phenomenon of architecture with all its implications, as a theoretical discussion of content and forms of expression, as well as the effects of architecture on the environment and people's lives, is the observation and assessment of concepts or implemented results. It is dedicated to architecture as a reflection of overall social processes.

Definitions

"Theory of architecture (is) discipline-independent or [...] interdisciplinary thinking about architecture, as well as reflection on methods, scientific and metatheory of architecture." (Self-description of the Chair of Architectural Theory TU Cottbus)

Architectural theory asks about the aesthetics , nature and meaning of architecture , researches its “background in terms of ideas and the history of ideas” and operates its classification in larger historical, cultural, social and artistic contexts. Architectural theory is "part of (the) art literature that (deals) with architecture, also (makes) statements about the job description of the architect and design theory , but mostly first to be understood in connection with general art theory and the discussion at academic institutions ( ist). "(Quotes from the self-description of the Chair of Architectural Theory at the Karlsruhe Institute of Art History)

Architectural theory is the “theory of an action science” which “unlike scientific theories that lay provisional aisles through still unexplored terrain [...] (refers) to reasons, attitudes and worldviews that motivate and guide the actions of architects. [...] She (looks at) the built reality in the light of author's statements, rules, treatises , dogmas and doctrines . She also looks for explanations and hidden motifs where building apparently takes place without any theory or self-confessed authors. [...] She is interested in facts that [...] lead beyond the horizon of direct and unique references. It asks for ideas, topics and topoi that have been discovered, forgotten and reactivated in the course of history. "(Quotes from the self-description of the Chair for Architectural Theory RWTH Aachen University)

Architectural theory is “on the one hand, a reflection of architecture with regard to its potential for reality, that is, with regard to its being made and being made, that is, to the practical implementation and materialization of architectural ideas. In this sense, architectural theory is a practical aesthetic. On the other hand, architectural theory is the critical reflection on the cultural function of architecture, i.e. on its possible conditions in the larger cultural whole, especially where it is in a constant process of reconstruction. When it comes to the cultural conditions for architecture, architectural theory is expanded to include the philosophy of architecture. "

The essence of architecture

The central tasks of any architectural theory include the definition of the term “architecture” itself, the clarification of its special character between building as a requirement and the art of building. This clarification takes place as a comparative consideration of their historically determined solutions, because on the one hand the meaning of the term "architecture" has changed several times in the course of history (from the sub-area of ​​the fine arts to the building construction area), on the other hand, the special character of architecture can only be identified in Demarcation from the neighboring areas of art, science, technology, design etc. should be worked out. “The trench of purpose separates it from the arts - but it can still produce great works of art. It separates the spontaneous and intuitive from the strictly methodical approach of science - but nevertheless it constantly processes the latest scientific and technical achievements. The quality and design requirements separate her from general building - but she still has to master all the building trades perfectly. What separates them from the lack of controllability of artistic production is the need for order planning, which cannot rely solely on the coincidences of creativity and originality, but has to fall back on learnable creative and aesthetic qualifications. Architecture is therefore neither building nor the art of building per se, but the art of building. "

Foundation as a university subject in Germany

Lewis Mumford and Fritz Schumacher clearly differentiated architecture from real estate management : “When you hear the word 'architecture', the most varied of ideas can emerge inside. (...) In our time, building (...) has become a matter of mechanical entrepreneurship. These achievements (...) form a very important and interesting chapter in economic history , but not in architectural history , we can leave them out once and for all in the following. "

In his foreword as editor of the first issue of the magazine Architectura, magazine for the history and aesthetics of architecture , Leo Adler described the lack of literature exclusively on the subject of the history and theory of architecture. Research into the history of building is therefore divided into the areas of primitive building, archeology and research on art history in architecture. Alfons Leitl founded the journal Baukunst und Werkform in 1947 with contributions to the architectural theory of post-war modernism by Egon Eiermann , Otto Bartning , Rudolf Schwarz , Hans Schwippert and others. a., which led in this journal fierce architectural theoretical debates ( Bauhaus debate , Düsseldorf architects dispute ) about the goals and tasks of reconstruction and post-war modernism.

It was Oswald Mathias Ungers who took up these debates and organized the first international symposium on architectural theory in Germany from December 11-15, 1967 at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin , and referred to the need for this subject to be taught at German architecture schools in the future to teach. Friedrich Achtleitner , Reyner Banham , Peter Blake , Lucius Burkhardt and other well-known architectural theorists took part in the symposium .

Jürgen Joedicke founded the IGMA - Institute for Fundamentals of Modern Architecture and Design in 1967 at the University of Stuttgart and Julius Posener at the Chair of Building History at the Berlin University of Fine Arts (since 2001 University of the Arts Berlin ) established architectural theory as a small subject in German Architecture schools. They were followed by Manfred Speidel , Winfried Nerdinger , Werner Durth , Thilo Hilpert and other architects, who have since understood, taught and operated this subject as follows:

  1. as confirmation : telling (history, narrative) of doctrinal opinions, personal testimonies and statements about architecture in words, images and works by builders and architects from antiquity to the present
  2. as dealing with : showing, looking at, examining, understanding, comparing, interpreting, clarifying, assessing, representing and conveying facts, events and appearances of architecture in everyday construction
  3. as imagining : recognizing, preserving, caring for, taking responsibility and further developing architecture as building and forming ways and forms of life on the basis of social, technological, ecological, political and economic living conditions.

subjects

Architectural theory has been shaped over the centuries by both individual and national perspectives and idiosyncrasies. The general technical and scientific progress , in particular the associated changes and innovations in construction , has repeatedly influenced architectural theory. In the following, relevant partial aspects, disciplines and conceptual approaches that were or still are the basis of architectural-theoretical discourses are listed in brief:

Partial aspects:

Participating disciplines:

Relevant authors and works

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Antiquity
  • Vitruvius : De Architectura libri decem , around 30 BC Chr.
    German: Ten books on architecture , translated and annotated by Curt Fensterbusch, Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1996, ISBN 3-89678-005-0 .
Late Gothic sacred buildings
15-17 century
  • Leon Battista Alberti : De re aedificatoria libri decem . Florence 1485
    German: Ten books on architecture , unaltered reprint of the edition Vienna / Leipzig 1912, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1991
  • Filarete : Trattato d'architettura , Milan 1460
    English: Filarete's Treatise on Architecture: Being the Treatise by Antonio di Piero Averlino, Known as Filarete. Originally composed in Milan c. 1460 Translated by John R. Spencer. Facsimile ed. 2 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press 1965
  • Francesco di Giorgio Martini : Trattati di architettura, ingegneria e arte militare. Ed. Corrado Maltese, transcription by Livia Maltese Degrassi, 2 vols., Milan 1967
  • Sebastiano Serlio : Sette libri dell'architettura - Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva , Venice 1584
  • Hans Blum : Qvinqve Colvmnarvm Exacta descriptio atque deliniatio, cum symmetrica earum distributione. Froschauer, Zurich 1550. ( digitized version )
  • Andrea Palladio : Quattro libri dell'architettura . Venice 1570
    German: The four books on architecture, German translation based on the Venice 1570 edition , Birkhäuser Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-7643-5561-1 .
  • Vincenzo Scamozzi : L'idea della architettura universale. Venice 1615, A. Forni (Sala Bolognese) 1982
  • Nicolas-François Blondel : Cours d'Architecture Civile , volumes 1–5, Paris 1675–1683
18th century
  • Giovanni Battista Piranesi : Della Magnificenza ed Architettura, de'Romani. Rome 1761; Reprint ed.John Wilton-Ely, in: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Polemical Works, 1972
  • Marc-Antoine Laugier : Essai sur l'architecture , published anonymously Paris 1753, personalized published Paris 1755
    German: Das Manifest des Klassizismus , Verlag für Architektur Artemis, Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8124-6 .
  • Edmund Burke : Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful , 1757
    German: Philosophical investigations into the origin of our concepts of the sublime and the beautiful , from the English by Friedrich Bassenge, newly introduced and edited by Werner Strube, 2nd edition . Hamburg 1989
  • Anonymous: Studies on the character of buildings, on the connection between architecture and the fine arts, and on the effects that are supposed to be produced by them. 1785, reprint m. an Einf. v. H.-W. Kruft, Nördlingen 1986
  • Étienne-Louis Boullée : Architecture. Essai sur l'art , 1793
    German: Architecture. Treatise on art , Ed. Beat Wyss, Zurich Munich 1987
  • Claude-Nicolas Ledoux : L'Architecture considérée sous le rapport de l'art, des moers et de la législation , Paris 1804, new edition in two volumes, without text 1847 under the title L'Architecture de Claude Nicolas Ledoux
  • Johann Joachim Winckelmann : Notes on the architecture of the old , Dresden 1762; Reprint: Baden-Baden, Strasbourg 1964
19th century
  • Arthur Schopenhauer : The world as will and conception , (Volume 1 1819, Volume 2 1844) Textkrit. edit u. ed. v. Wolfgang von Löhneysen [on architecture: Vol. 1, § 43–44; Vol. 2, Book III, Chap. 35 "On the Aesthetics of Architecture"], 3 vols. Frankfurt am Main 1986
  • John Ruskin : The Seven Lamps of Architecture. London 1849, Reprint Dover Verlag 1990, ISBN 0-486-26145-X
    German: The seven candlesticks of architecture , Dortmund 1994
  • Heinrich Hübsch : In which style should we build? , Karlsruhe 1828
  • Eugène Viollet-le-Duc : Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVe siècle. 10 volumes, Paris 1854–1868
    German: Definitions. Seven key words from the Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture with a German-French table of contents of the nine-volume edition of the “Dictionnaire” from 1869 , Birkhäuser Architektur Bibliothek, Basel et al. 1993
  • Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand : Precis des lecons d'architecture donnees a l'Ecole Polytechnique. 2 vols., Paris 1817-1819; Reprint: Unterschneidheim 1975
  • Auguste Choisy : Histoire de l'architecture. 2 vols., Paris 1899; Reprint of the 1899 edition. Geneva-Paris 1982
  • Karl Friedrich Schinkel : The Architectural Textbook. documented in: Goerd Peschken, The Architectural Textbook (Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Lifetime Achievement) Munich-Berlin 1979
  • Gottfried Semper : The style in the technical and tectonic arts or practical aesthetics , reprint of the edition from 1860–1863, Mittenwald 1977
  • Heinrich Wölfflin : Prolegomena to a Psychology of Architecture , Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 1886, reprint Gebr. Mann Verlag Berlin 1999
  • Louis Sullivan : The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered in Lippincott's Magazine 1896
  • Camillo Sitte : Urban planning according to its artistic principles , 1st edition. Vienna 1889, reprint d. Ed. 1904, Vienna 1972
20th century
  • Adolf Loos : Ornament und Verbrechen , 1908, reprint Prachner, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85367-059-8 .
  • Paul Scheerbart : Glass architecture , Der Sturm publishing house, Berlin 1914; New edition Munich 1971
  • Hermann Sörgel : Architectural Aesthetics. Theory of architecture. Berlin 1921, reprint Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-7861-1992-9 .
  • Adolf Behne : The modern functional building. Drei Masken Verlag, Berlin 1926, reprint Bauwelt Fundamente Vol. 10, Berlin; Frankfurt 1964, reprint by Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1998
  • Bruno Taut: Architecture. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg / West Berlin 1977
  • Le Corbusier : Vers une architecture. Paris 1922
    German: Kommende Baukunst , Leipzig 1923; Outlook on an architecture , Bauwelt Fundamente Volume 2, Birkhäuser 2001
  • Le Corbusier: Findings. 1929, Bauwelt-Fundamente Vol. 12, Vieweg, Braunschweig 1978
  • Henry-Russel Hitchcock, Philip Johnson : The International Style. Bauwelt Fundamente, Vol. 70, Vieweg, Braunschweig 1985
  • Emil Kaufmann : From Ledoux to Le Corbusier. Origins and Development of Autonomous Architecture. Vienna, Passer 1933, new edition Hatje, Stuttgart 1985
  • Sigfried Giedion : Space, Time & Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition , 1941
    German: Space, Time and Architecture: The emergence of a new tradition , Birkhäuser Verlag 2000, ISBN 3-7643-5407-0 .
  • Hans Sedlmayr : loss of the middle . The fine arts of the 19th and 20th centuries as a symptom and symbol of the times. Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1998, 11th edition, ISBN 3-7013-0537-4 .
  • Martin Heidegger : building, living, thinking, lectures and essays , Klett-Cotta 1951, ISBN 3-608-91090-5 .
  • Peter Eisenman : Eisenman Inside Out. Selected Writings 1963–1988 , New Haven-London, Yale University Press 2004
  • Colin Rowe , Robert Slutzky: Transparency , 1964
    German: Transparency , Birkhäuser Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-7643-5615-4 .
  • Robert Venturi : Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture , 1966
    German: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture , Bauwelt Fundamente Volume 50, Birkhäuser Verlag 2007.
  • Louis I. Kahn : Architecture: Stille und Licht (1970), in: Louis I. Kahn: The architecture and the calm. Conversations and findings , ed. v. Alessandra Latour, Basel; Boston; Berlin 1993
  • Robert Venturi , Steven Izenour, Denise Scott Brown : Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form , 1972, revised version The MIT Press 1977
    German: Lern von Las Vegas. On the iconography and architectural symbolism of the business city. Bauwelt Fundamente Volume 53, Wiesbaden 1979
  • Christopher Alexander : A Pattern Language. Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, New York 1977, ISBN 0-19-501919-9
    German: A sample language. Cities, Buildings, Construction , Vienna, Löcker Verlag 1995, ISBN 3-85409-179-6 .
  • Charles Jencks : The Language of Postmodern Architecture , 1977
    German: The Language of Postmodern Architecture - Origin and Development of an Alternative Tradition , Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-02940-7 .
  • Rem Koolhaas : Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto of Manhattan , 1978
    German: Delirious New York: A retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan , Arch +, 3rd edition. 2006
  • Colin Rowe , Fred Koetter: Collage City , The MIT Press 1984, Birkhäuser Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-7643-5608-1 .
  • Rudolf Arnheim : The Dynamics of Architectural Form , DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1980
  • Alberto Perez-Gomez: Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science. MIT Press 1983
  • Fischer, Fromm, Gruber, Kähler, Weiß: Farewell to postmodernism. Bauwelt Fundamente, Vol. 64, Vieweg, Braunschweig 1987
  • Julius Posener : Lectures on the history of new architecture. Arch + -Verlag, Aachen 2003
  • Reyner Banham: The Revolution in Architecture. Theory and design in the first machine age, Bauwelt Fundamente, vol. 89, Vieweg, Braunschweig 1990
  • Jacques Derrida : At the Zero Point of Madness - Now Architecture. In: Wolfgang Welsch, (Hrsg.): Ways out of the modern - key texts for the postmodern discussion , pp. 215–232, Weinheim 1988
  • Oswald Mathias Ungers : Design with images, metaphors and analogies. Notes on a morphological concept. In: Architektur 1951–1990, Stuttgart 1991
    The Thematization of Architecture , 1983, published by Technische Universität Dortmund and Walter A. Noebel , Niggli Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7212-0698-2 .
  • Heinrich Klotz : The second modern. Publishing house C. H. Beck, Munich 1996
  • Jürgen Pahl: Architectural Theory of the 20th Century. Prestel Verlag 1999
21st century
Source collections
  • Ulrich Conrads (Ed.): Programs and manifestos on 20th century architecture. Bauwelt Fundamente Volume 1, Berlin: Ullstein-Verlag, 1964
  • Fritz Neumeyer , (Ed.): Source texts on architectural theory. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2002
  • Gerd de Bruyn and Stephan Trüby (eds.): Architektur_theorie.doc. Texts since 1960 , Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 2003
  • Bernd Elvers and Christof Thoenes (eds.): Architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-8228-5082-9 .
  • Akos Moravánszky (Ed.): KM Gyöngy (assistant): Architectural theory in the 20th century: A critical anthology , Springer Verlag, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-211-83743-4 .
  • Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani , Ruth Hanisch, Ulrich Maximilian Schumann and Wolfgang Sonne (eds.): Architectural theory of the 20th century. Positions - Programs - Manifestos , Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2004
  • Thomas Friedrich , Jörg H. Gleiter (eds.): Empathy and phenomenological reduction Basic texts on architecture, design and art , LIT Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-8258-9366-8 .
  • Susanne Hauser, Christa Kamleithner, Roland Meyer (eds.): Architecture knowledge . Basic texts from cultural studies. Vol. 1: On the aesthetics of social space , transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8376-1551-7 .
  • Susanne Hauser, Christa Kamleithner, Roland Meyer (eds.): Architecture knowledge . Basic texts from cultural studies. Vol. 2: On the logistics of social space , transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-8376-1568-5 .

Secondary literature

History of Architectural Theory

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hanno-Walter Kruft : History of Architectural Theory , p. 12
  2. ^ Jörg H. Gleiter : Architectural Theory Today. P. 8.
  3. ^ Günther Fischer : Architectural theory for architects. The theoretical foundations of the subject architecture. In: Birkhäuser Verlag , Basel 2014, p. 60.
  4. ^ Fritz Schumacher : Building as Art . In: Schumacher / Thiersch / Bühlmann / Michel (eds.): Handbook of Architecture, Fourth Part: Designing, Designing and Furnishing Buildings, 1st Half Volume: Architectural Composition . JM Gebhardt, Leipzig 1926, p. 5 .
  5. ^ Leo Adler : Architectura, journal for the history and aesthetics of architecture. Retrieved May 8, 2017 (1932-1933).
  6. ↑ Jürgen Joedicke : Functions of the architectural theory . In: TU Berlin , Chair for Design VI o. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. OM Ungers (Ed.): Theory of Architecture, International Congress at TU Berlin, December 11th to 15th, 1967 . Issue No. 14 edited by Jörg Pampe. Self-published, Berlin June 1968, p. 132 .
  7. ↑ List of architecture-theory definitions at German-speaking universities. In: September 23, 2013. StadtinnenArchitektur, accessed on May 9, 2017 .
  8. ^ Hanno-Walter Kruft : History of the architectural theory. From antiquity to the present . Ch.Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-64497-9 .
  9. ↑ Thilo Hilpert : Century Of Modernity 1904 1920 1936 1952 1968 1984 2000 2016 The Century of Modernity, Architecture and Urban Design, Essays and Texts . Springer Vieweg, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-07042-7 .
  10. ↑ Diverse: Mechanical City? Junkers.Dessau . Ed .: Manfred Sundermann. Anhalt Edition Dessau, Dessau 2002, ISBN 3-936383-06-5 .