Organic architecture

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Catholic Church in Paks , Hungary

Since the turn of the 20th century, directions of architecture are summarized as organic architecture , which strive for the harmony of building and landscape, a form appropriate to the building materials, "organically" developed from the function and a biological, psychological and social functionality of the architecture. In more recent times, the concept of ecological building and organic color has been added, which partly coincides with the concepts of organic architecture.

In terms of style, organic architecture is heterogeneous and not obliged to any particular aesthetic - the basic idea of ​​not subjecting function, materials and purpose to a will to form or style, but rather to let the form "grow" out of these conditions, produced very different results - it enables both the classic modern appropriate, strict forms, as well as plastic and biomorphic that are represented more frequently. There are no given external stylistic devices. Means are the architectural and artistic laws themselves, i. H. Proportions, three-dimensional variety of forms, spatial gestures, colors, material characters, etc. These rules were weighted or defined very differently by the representatives of an organic architectural language. Above all, the approach of the holistic view, in contrast to its own claim, has led to differentiated results, in which architects such as Gaudí , Frank Lloyd Wright or Hugo Häring face each other.

Organ term

Rudolf Steiner: second Goetheanum
Pilisi Parkerdö (Visegrád, Hungary): grass house. Architect Imre Makovecz (1984)

In Greek organ (organon) means something like tool . The beginning of a limitation of the term to what is generally described with it today (functionally and physiologically definable, but integral part of a (living) being / body) can be found in Aristotle . Organon refers to parts / body parts of living beings. At the same time, Aristotle claims that organs are purposeful: "Nature created the organs to perform and not to perform for the organs". The organs are the parts of a superordinate whole ( organism , body), this in turn organ of the soul as the cause for the living existence of the body. Subsequently, the term organ is adopted in ancient medicine and the functional orientation of the organs is formulated within medical-physiological cause-and-effect considerations. After the definition of the term was not clear in the Middle Ages , the meaning formed in antiquity occurs e.g. B. in Thomas Aquinas , where the Latin Instrumentum is expressly used for parts / aids / tools outside the (human) body, but Organum for tools connected to the body (and thus the soul) (e.g. the hand ). The purposefulness of organs is extended in the context of theological investigations into the resurrection in Thomas Aquinas in the sense that the organs are there as necessary elements of a physical (form-wise) perfection even when there is no function (in the state of being resurrected).

Erich Mendelsohn: Einstein Tower
Hans Scharoun: Berlin Philharmonic
Alvar Aalto: Helsinki University of Technology
Frei Otto: Munich Olympic Stadium
Udo Heimermann: Försters Weinterrassen, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (2000)
Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes , by Lloyd Wright (1951)

Philosophical concept formation

With the 18th century , the term organ became a more frequent subject of definition. Philosophers as well as naturalists deal with it. Kant deals (at the end of the 18th century) with organisms, “organized beings” as natural purposes: “In such a product of nature each part (...) will exist as for the sake of the other and the whole, i.e. as a tool ( Organ) thought (...) as an organ that produces the other parts, such as cannot be a tool of art, but only (...) nature: and only then and therefore is such a product, as an organized and self-organizing being, called a natural purpose can be ". Since the organs appear subordinate to the whole, the organism as a natural end, they are oriented towards ends. In Schelling's work , the idea shifts to form, claiming that "the life process (is) itself the cause of the mixture as well as the shape of the organs" and that "in the organization the shape of each part depends on its properties".

In the 19th century, after Organ has become part of everyday vocabulary, the adjective organically breaks away from the narrow definition of the noun. "Organic" is given a rubber meaning by referring to living, natural and its manifestations in general, e.g. B. in the sense of organic chemistry ( Justus Liebig et al.). In the course of the emergence of a modern natural science from the 19th to the 20th century, organ was solidified as a biological-medical term in the meaning customary today (see organ transplantation ).

Origins of the concept of organic architecture

According to Joseph Rykwert , the Italian monk and architect Carlo Lodoli spoke of organic architecture for the first time around 1750 (handed down by Lodoli student Andrea Memmo in Elementi d´Architettura Lodoliana around 1786 ). Lodoli's ideas are concretized in furniture that externally adapts to the contours of the human body through a concave shape. The theoretical framework was formulated in the middle of the 19th century by the American sculptor Horatio Greenough : “My theory of building is as follows: A scientific arrangement of rooms and forms in adaptation to function and location; Emphasis on elements in proportion to their importance in relation to function; Color ( organic colourfulness ) and ornament must be determined, applied and varied according to strictly organic laws, each decision being precisely justified. "

Knowing Greenough, Louis H. Sullivan formulated his thesis: “It is the law of all organic and inorganic, all physical and metaphysical, all human and superhuman things, all genuine manifestations of the head, heart and soul that life is in its expression shows that form always follows function. ” The pointed short version Form Follows Function is an elementary component of functionalist architecture theory to this day.

Development since the 20th century

Different practical approaches and theoretical statements on organic architecture emerged at the beginning of the 20th century with the liberation from historicizing architectural styles and forms, etc. a. Classicism , and various other stylistic features that are categorized with the prefix Neo and are also generally characterized as eclecticism . In the search for new forms, the architectural philosophies ultimately tended towards two currents: one more rational-geometric and one more artistic-sculptural. Looking back, you can see two generations of designers moving within these directions.

The term "organic" is used by some architects to express the principle of "that which develops organically from a thing", as opposed to the mechanical-additive. The term, which can be found within philosophy in the context of thoughts on holism , is thus, occasionally also under religious aspects, in contrast to strongly materialistic or analytical-scientific views. This means that the practical formal expression within architecture is diversified and integrated under the term organic tendencies that run parallel to (based on) Art Nouveau ( Antoni Gaudí ) and Expressionism ( Erich Mendelsohn ), but also lead to examples related to the landscape, e.g. B. at Hans Scharoun or in Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house . The use of the term organ also results in surprising overlaps with the more rationally shaped functionalism . By the tool-like nature of the organic u. a. plays an important role for Hugo Häring , the intellectual parallel to functionalist modernity becomes visible. In both styles, the fulfillment of the purpose is a primary goal of formal training. The distinction then arises e.g. Sometimes only from the very different interpretations of the “purposes” that buildings or architectures have to fulfill. In this sense, the opposite is the functionality at Mies van der Rohe with the pure creation of space for a specific, (ostensibly verbally) undefined space requirement, and on the other hand, spatial sculptures by Rudolf Steiner , for the aspects of mental health or In more everyday terms, psychological effects assumed by the designer that are motives for finding a form. In the 80s, organic architecture was increasingly shaped by ecological, sustainable building and the creation of forms from scientific studies of bionics.

Architects

Antoni Gaudí and Louis Sullivan , the creators of the thesis form follows function , are counted among the earliest representatives of organic architecture . Gaudí named as his model: “An upright tree; he carries his branches and these the twigs and these the leaves. And every single part has grown harmoniously, magnificently, since the artist God created it. "

Other important representatives of organic architecture are Frank Lloyd Wright , Lloyd Wright , Eero Saarinen , Hugo Häring , Hans Scharoun , Chen Kuen Lee , Alvar Aalto and the developer of lightweight structures Frei Otto . Also worth mentioning are the representatives of Hungarian organic architecture, such as the anthroposophically oriented Imre Makovecz and the so-called Pécs group around György Csete .

The buildings by Santiago Calatrava use an organic- futuristic design.

On the other hand, the buildings of the painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser are not viewed in architectural circles as works of organic architecture, since predominantly conventional buildings or floor plans are enriched with decorative ornamentation.

literature

periodical

  • Mensch + Architektur Berlin, since 1990 ISSN  1616-4024 journal on organic architecture

Web links

Commons : Organic Architecture  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Louis Sullivan: The tall office building artistically considered . In: Lippincott's Magazine . March 1896, p. 408 ( digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dtallofficebuildi00sull~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D at Archive.org ).