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Newsgroups: alt.architecture
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From: randolph@xxxxxxxxxx (Randolph Fritz)
Subject: ARCHITECTURE: Sculpture Connection?
Message-ID: <1993Feb24.042534.26287@xxxxxxxxxx>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
References: <churayj-190293220344@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<1993Feb20.071319.3519@xxxxxxxx>
<churayj-220293024547@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1993 04:25:34 GMT
Lines: 49
"In this effort [of lecturing on architecture] I suppose I am to
suffer disadvantage, being more accustomed to saying things with a hod
of mortar and some bricks, or with a concrete mixer and a gang of
workmen, than by speaking or writing. I like to write, but always
dissatisfied, I, too, find myself often staring at the result with a
kind of nausea . . . or is it nostalgia?"--Frank Lloyd Wright
I think of architectural drawings as rather like the score of
orchestral music; not the finished work itself but rather instructions
as to how to produce the finished work. Differentiating architecture
from sculpture, architecture is a multi-media art: heard and felt as
well as seen. I would say, though, that the distinctive artistic
aspects of architecture is scale and sustained interaction.
Architects design everything from rooms to whole buildings; many of
the architectural greats have also designed on smaller and larger
scales from fabrics to cities. Architecture is also unique in that
people interact with most of it frequently over a long period of time.
Unlike sculpture, which after all one need never attend to, people
need to deal with the built environment--all but the simplest styles
of life involve one with a built environment, even if that is only a
tent.
Speaking cautiously, because I don't know from experience, I'd think
that architecture also has different problems and satisfactions than
most other arts. There is an aspect of craft to architecture; it is
used as well as viewed. And every architect I've spoken with, and
every contractor, finds satisfaction in the sense of having built
something that people will live in, will use.
Rick, I think one of the reasons for the long training period for
architects is exactly to provide an opportunity to learn about the
aspects of architecture that cannot be drawn. The kind of sensitivity
to materials that Frank Lloyd Wright had is not something that can be
learned from drawings or photographs. I'd also say that a builder in
a traditional architectural vernacular does know pretty much how a
place will turn out. I think modernist designers, working with new
materials and construction techniques, lost a lot of this, and have
run into many problems as a result. (This isn't intended as a
criticism of modernism; if it were not for experiments, we never would
learn how to deal with new materials and techniques!) For examples,
consider the wear and tactile properties of the older plastics, the
sound reflectivity of glass walls, and the way streets lined with
towers channel the wind. One of the big focii of post-modernism, I'd
say, is recovering that understanding of materials and space. In the
end, I rather feel that the best architects will still need to learn
by working with the materials themselves.
__Randolph Fritz
Newsgroups: alt.architecture
Path:
psuvm!atlantis.psu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!csus.edu!netcom.com!randolp
h
From: randolph@xxxxxxxxxx (Randolph Fritz)
Subject: ARCHITECTURE: Sculpture Connection?
Message-ID: <1993Feb24.042534.26287@xxxxxxxxxx>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
References: <churayj-190293220344@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<1993Feb20.071319.3519@xxxxxxxx>
<churayj-220293024547@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1993 04:25:34 GMT
Lines: 49
"In this effort [of lecturing on architecture] I suppose I am to
suffer disadvantage, being more accustomed to saying things with a hod
of mortar and some bricks, or with a concrete mixer and a gang of
workmen, than by speaking or writing. I like to write, but always
dissatisfied, I, too, find myself often staring at the result with a
kind of nausea . . . or is it nostalgia?"--Frank Lloyd Wright
I think of architectural drawings as rather like the score of
orchestral music; not the finished work itself but rather instructions
as to how to produce the finished work. Differentiating architecture
from sculpture, architecture is a multi-media art: heard and felt as
well as seen. I would say, though, that the distinctive artistic
aspects of architecture is scale and sustained interaction.
Architects design everything from rooms to whole buildings; many of
the architectural greats have also designed on smaller and larger
scales from fabrics to cities. Architecture is also unique in that
people interact with most of it frequently over a long period of time.
Unlike sculpture, which after all one need never attend to, people
need to deal with the built environment--all but the simplest styles
of life involve one with a built environment, even if that is only a
tent.
Speaking cautiously, because I don't know from experience, I'd think
that architecture also has different problems and satisfactions than
most other arts. There is an aspect of craft to architecture; it is
used as well as viewed. And every architect I've spoken with, and
every contractor, finds satisfaction in the sense of having built
something that people will live in, will use.
Rick, I think one of the reasons for the long training period for
architects is exactly to provide an opportunity to learn about the
aspects of architecture that cannot be drawn. The kind of sensitivity
to materials that Frank Lloyd Wright had is not something that can be
learned from drawings or photographs. I'd also say that a builder in
a traditional architectural vernacular does know pretty much how a
place will turn out. I think modernist designers, working with new
materials and construction techniques, lost a lot of this, and have
run into many problems as a result. (This isn't intended as a
criticism of modernism; if it were not for experiments, we never would
learn how to deal with new materials and techniques!) For examples,
consider the wear and tactile properties of the older plastics, the
sound reflectivity of glass walls, and the way streets lined with
towers channel the wind. One of the big focii of post-modernism, I'd
say, is recovering that understanding of materials and space. In the
end, I rather feel that the best architects will still need to learn
by working with the materials themselves.
__Randolph Fritz