Architecture and The Conflict of Representation

ARCHITECTURE AND THE CONFLICT OF REPRESENTATION
Author(s): Dalibor Vesely

Source: AA Files, No. 8 (January 1985), pp. 21-38
Published by: Architectural Association School of Architecture
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ARCHITECTURE AND
THE CONFLICT
OF REPRESENTATION
Dalibor Vesely
'One is an artist at the cost of regarding thatwhich all non-artists call specific principles challenged by the currentmode of historicism and
"form" as content, as "the matter itself."With that, of course, one aestheticism - illustrates that the paradox is in fact a vicious circle. I
an invertedworld: for henceforth content becomes some?
belongs to believe that the origin of thisparadox is the ambiguity of architectural
-
thingmerely formal our life included.' form,produced in the process of unilateral and abstract formalization.1
FriedrichNietzsche Form isan elusive term.On the one hand itpartakes of sensible reality
andmay appear as itsvery essence, but it isalso an invisible concept. The
During the past two hundred years, architecture has been oscillation between the real and the possible, the imaginative and the im?
treated, almost exclusively, as a formal problem. We have con? aginary, the concrete and the abstract iswhat makes form such a power?
vinced ourselves, without perhaps being aware, that architec? ful and at the same time elusive and difficult notion.
ture is not that different from any other kind of production and can Form, as a notion, has itsorigin in theAristotelian understanding of
thereforebe manipulated with the same formal freedom and efficiency. creativity (poiesis) in terms ofmatter and form.Matter (hyle) is every?
It is a paradox that the process of formalization and the efficientpro? thing that can be formed,while formwas originally seen as idea (eidos),
duction of architecture very often proceeds against our will and real in? which in the sphere of visual reality appears as icon (eikon).Throughout
tent.The fact that architects themselves rarelydescribe theirprojects in most of the history of the visual arts, form, as a critical notion, was used
terms of technical or economic interest alone, but choose rather a hardly at all. The attempt to reduce the diversity and richness of the
language repletewith reference to historical and socialmeaning, to sym? visual world intoVisual form*took place only in the late eighteenth cen?
bols, styles, and so forth,and regard that language as the true reflection tury.Until then awhole spectrum of terms such as paradigma, typos,
of their intentions, ispart of thisparadox. symbol, allegory, emblem, impresa, schema, figurawere used to grasp
The general feeling of uncertainty integral to the contemporary the meaning thatwas later given to the simple notion 'form' itself.
debate about architecture - its relation to technology and to its own All these terms should be seen as particular revelations of a primary
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transcendental reality (divine order, theworld of ideas, etc.), and only in transformed into a new form of understanding: into a theory which
that sensewere they also revelations of the invisible forms (ideas) and would be a recapitulation and consummation of history aswell as the
theirparticular visible manifestations and embodiments. For the pur? foundation of a new architecturalorder. The second, evenmore curious,
pose ofmy argument, I need not discuss these indetail. It is sufficientto assumption is a belief that the new order could be based upon formal
understand that all the above-mentioned termsparticipate - inone way principles situated outside history. How was it possible to create
a
or another - in the formative power of the invisible reality.This prop? systemwhich claimed to be self-referentialbut which at the same time
ertywe may describe as their structuralormorphological aspect,which could be used as a framework forhistorical criticism and design? This is
becomes visible as recognizable and meaningful representation. This in a dilemma which was never answered but quietly absorbed into the new
turnmay be described as theirphysiognomic or iconic aspect. ways of thinking inspired by the continuing success of the natural
The crucial element in the development of the physiognomy of rep? sciences and thus became a new, sophisticated form of self-deception.
resentation, particularly in architecture, was a tendency toward ideal? It isonly in this century thatwe are beginning to recognize the nature
ization. Itwas through idealization that visible representation moved as well as the depth and scale of this deception. Its origins, as I have
closer to ideal formswhich thereby acquired a new tangibility. For ob? already indicated, can be traced back to the seventeenth century, to the
*
vious reasons themost important influencesupon the idealization of ar? period of divided representation'. The ambiguity between traditional
chitectural physiognomy were modern science and technology. It is symbolic, cosmologically based representation and modern instrumen?
paradoxical perhaps that itwas architecture, togetherwith the other tal thinking gave rise to the illusion that the latter is a perfect substitute
visual arts, that contributed, during the fifteenthand sixteenth centuries, for the former because traditional symbolic representation is indeter?
to the formation ofmodern science, later to become an insignificantap? minate and vague, and can be replaced by an unambiguous and precise
pendix to both modern science and technology. mathematical equivalent. This iswell illustrated byDescartes, when he
One of the keys to thisparadox is the belief, shared by artistsand scien? says, T have observed certain lawswhich God has established so firmly
tistsduring the critical period of transition, that the true order of reality inNature, and which he has imprinted so steadfastly in our souls, that
was mathematical and thatmathematical formswere therefore themost after reflectingon them long enough, we can no longer doubt that they
adequate representations of theuniverse. At this stage,not only architec? are precisely observed in everything that happens in theworld.'4
ture and art but also sciencewere still representational. Kepler's aswell In the lightof all previous understanding, the novelty and audacity of
asNewton's cosmologies were formulated asmodels of the universe in this statement is astonishing. The distance between the divine and the
an attempt to represent and, through the representation, to participate human, the ideal and the real order of reality,which was always seen as
in the hidden universal order. 'The Christians know', saysKepler inhis infinite,was reduced to the hypothetical identity of 'everything that
Harmonices Mundi, 'that the mathematical principles according to happens in theworld' and itsmathematical representation.The richness
which the corporeal world was to be created are coeternal with God, of symbolic mediation between the ideal and the real nature of things
thatGod is the soul and mind in themost supernally true sense of the was replaced by hypothetical experiment, inwhich the distinction be?
word, and that human souls are images ofGod the creator, conforming tween thatwhich isonly possible and thatwhich is factual lost itsmean?
to him in essentials aswell.'2 Itwas to a great extent religious zeal to? ing. (It is important to realize that the experimental and thehypothetical
getherwith the 'discovery' thatnot only ideal but also empirical reality nature ofmodern science belong together.)
was mathematical in its nature which was responsible for bringing
the problem of representation to a point of fundamental ambiguity. In The challenge of instrumental representation
fact the period from the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth cen? In order to understand how itwas possible to replace the complexity of
tury isbest understood in termsof 'divided representation'. On the one symbolic mediation with the relative simplicity of an experiment, we
hand, mathematical representation was stillpart of the traditional cos? must analyse the nature of the experiment itself. Inmodern scientific
on the other, itbecame a foundation of the new kind of rep?
mology; thinking the experiment isproduced under thehypothetical assumption
resentation known asmodern science. This ambiguous and stillnot too that the essence of factual reality ismathematical. This initialhypothesis
well understood period inEuropean culture is reflected in the architec? is thepoint of departure fora project inwhich reality is interpreted (pro?
ture ofGuarino Guarini aswell as thatof Claude Perrault, tomention jected) in such away that itcan be described mathematically. In the next
only themost obvious examples. stage, projection determines the factsof factual reality, and the facts in
The possibility of eliminating all remaining references to traditional turn support the projection as awarranted conception of factual reality
cosmology emerged in the late eighteenth-centurywritings of Lagrange itself.This process ofmutual confirmation is the very essence of the ex?
and Laplace. Similar resultswere achieved in thework of the so-called periment.5 'What in truth ismerely a method and the results of that
revolutionary architects, but especially in that of J.N. L. Durand. It is method isnow taken for "real nature", nature is reduced to amathemat?
generally accepted thatDurand was the firstto attempt successfully to icalmanifold.'6
lay the foundation of an architectural order without direct reference to This represents a profound ontological disorientation fromwhich we
a have still not fully recovered. In the expanding domain of experimen?
existing tradition, referringinstead to stateof architectural autonomy.
Ifwe look carefully at thepages of his Recueil,3 what unfolds before us is tally established reality itbecomes difficult to see the true artificialityof
not a history of architecture, but a collection of systematically selected modern science: that is, the extent towhich modern science is still a
examples, organized into a comparative survey similar to the com? genuine representation of reality and truth, and how much it is, rather,
a production of a partial reality in a sense which is identical with the
parative studies and taxonomies of contemporary science. But the set of
a
images,drawn carefully to the same scale,were only point of departure characteristics of modern technology. There is little doubt that both
and reference for the real task - the analysis of comparative material and technology and modern science aremotivated by the same interest the
-
the definition of primary elements and principles thatwould allow him domination of reality and thewill to power. They also share the same
to create a universal 'mecanisme de la composition'. project of realitywhich leads to 'productive' knowledge.
This new method of design,which was supposed to be the foundation The level of formalization which has been achieved in science and
of a new architectural order,was based upon several assumptions. These technology throws an interesting light on the problem of represen?
are not immediately apparent, but they can be analysed and seriously tation. Ifmodern science isoriented not towards representative but to?
questioned. The firstis thathistory had already run itscourse and come wards productive knowledge, and if itsmain interest is the domination
to a standstill at the end of the eighteenth century. It could therefore be and control of reality,what role, ifany, can be leftto representation? It
22 AA FILES 8

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isnonetheless interesting that representation remains a problem even stop. The main weakness ofDurand's method was his belief that his?
for themost abstract of sciences. The pure autonomy of science is a fic? torical time could be arrested and encapsulated in a theory thatwould
tionwhich any genuine scientistwould dismiss. 'The complete elimin? have a permanent validity.
ation of sense impressions isquite impossible - sincewe cannot shut off The limits ofDurand's achievement were recognized in the follow?
the acknowledged source of all our experience - inother words that di? ing generation, particularly by Gottfried Semper, who
set himself a
rect knowledge of the absolute is out of the question.'7 How abstract similar task. 'The frenchman Durand came in his Parallele and other
and distorted the relation of science is to factual reality isunimportant; works on architecture closer to the task {scientificarchitectural theory)
itmust represent something, otherwise it is an empty construction. than anybody else. But even he lost the goal ... He lost himself in
What science represents isobviously determined by the nature of scien? tables and formulae, organised everything into series, and brought in?
tificknowledge and also by hermeneutical conditions, i.e. the cultural dividual elements together in a mechanical way without demonstrat?
was
context inwhich it is received and understood. The dogmatic belief that ing the organic law that establishes their relationship.'11 Semper
the scientific 'world-picture isat last commanding general recognition, better equipped and more sophisticated, and he seemed also to be
independently of the good will of the individual researcher, indepen? aware, unlike Durand, that his goal was nothing less than a complete
- science of architectural design. In one of his earlier statements he says,
dently of nationalities and of centuries indeed independently of the hu?
man race itself,8 isone of the greatestmisconceptions ofmodern times.
When Iwas a studentinParis Iwent often to theJardindes Plantes, and Iwas
According to themore enlightened and critical scientists, 'contem? always attracted, as itwere
by
a
magical force, from the sunny garden into
porary thought is endangered by thepicture of nature drawn by science. those roomswhere the fossil remains of the primaevalworld stand in long
This danger lies in the fact that the picture is now regarded as an ex? seriesranged togetherwith the skeletonsand shellsof thepresent creation. In
thismagnificent collection, thework of Baron Cuvier, we perceive the types
haustive account of nature itselfso that science forgetsthat in itsstudyof
for all themost complicated formsof the animal empire,we see progressing
nature it ismerely studying itsown picture.'9 This understanding very
nature, with all its variety and immense richness most sparing and economical
much coincides with my own line of argument,which attempts to indi? in its fundamental forms and motives ... A
method, to that which
analogous
cate that science is only a partial representation of reality, i.e. that it would at
Baron Cuvier followed,applied to art,and especially to architecture
takes into account only that which is susceptible to mathematical least contribute towards gettinga clear insightover itswhole province and
a
an instrumental perhaps also itwould formthebase of a doctrineof styleand of sortof topic
understanding and that, in the last instance, it is only or method, how to invent.13
of reality and thus belongs to the essence of modern
representation
technology. In that sense symbolic and instrumental representation I have quoted this passage at length because it illustrates very clearly
stand inevitably indeep conflict.While the former is reconciliatory and the inspiration and main intentions behind Semper's own system.
serves as a vehicle of participatory understanding and global meaning, What such a systemmight be was determined by his admiration for
the latter is aggressive and serves as an instrument of autonomy, domi? science, in particular a science which could deal with change and pur?
nation and control. pose (biology), and by the contemporary belief that art is an expres?
It isunfortunate that this has not been fully recognized as themain sion of mysterious and still unknown powers in nature, as well as by
source of the contemporary crisisofmeaning and of the general crisis in his own belief that architecture should also refer to itsown past. The
contemporary culture. In disciplines such as architecture, it isbelieved, final condition led Semper to choose the primitive hut as a generative
even today, that instrumentalitycan be reconciled with symbolism, that matrix of architectural order; this, however, he saw not as a symbol
a balance can be established between them, that instrumentalitycan pro? but as a formal structure constituted by material and technical
duce itsown symbolism, or that they can exist independently. The ab? elements. Central to Semper's systemwas a vision of architecture as 'a
we referto an earlier tradition
surdityof such a belief isquite clearwhen conformity of artistic formwith the history of itsorigin, with all the
which understood very precisely that techne (instrumentality) must conditions and circumstances of its creation'.13 This conformity, or
always be subordinated to poiesis (symbolic representation), because harmony, was conceived by him as a direct analogy to amathematical
techne refers to only a small segment of reality,while poiesis refers to structure,where thework of artwas meant to derive from a functional
reality as awhole.10 relationship between the individual conditions, material, technical,
The recent elevation of techneto a universal instrumentalitycoincides religious, political, etc., including individual talent and freedom.14
with the growing influence ofmodern science on architecture. I have Semper's impressive but impossible taskwas never completed and
already referred toClaude Perrault and the rolewhich scientific think? in fact could not be completed. In order to do so, itwould have been
ingplayed inhis interpretationof architectural order. The ambiguity of necessary to transform the whole culture to which architecture in?
this type of influence in relation to the restof architectural knowledge, evitably belongs into verifiable conditions and tomake them part of a
that is, to experience, tradition and the primary order of design, is complete functional system. The difficulty and impossibility of such
characteristic ofmost of the eighteenth century.Apart from the specific a taskwas probably recognized by Semper himself.What he did not
was the self
influenceof geometry, stereotomy,mechanics, theory ofmaterials, etc., recognize, however, and neither did his followers,
therewas also a lessvisible but evenmore powerful influence exercised nature of the whole enterprise. Its success would have
defeating
- meant the transformation of architecture into an instrumental disci?
by the new style of thinking which appeared in the fascination with
encyclopaedism, taxonomies, comparative studies, different kinds of pline with a formal purpose but with no explicit meaning, making it
measured observations, etc. This fascination with everything that sup? an instrument of pure ars inveniendi.
ports the desire for autonomy, certainty and power is a key to a deeper Only a small part of Semper's doctrine influencedWagner, Loos,
understanding of the influence ofmodern science at the very end of the theGerman Werkbund, the Bauhaus, etc. The restwas abandoned as
an unfulfilled dream. But circumstances have changed. The influence
eighteenth century.During theNapoleonic period, particularly in in?
- of doctrines based on scientific ideas has been displaced by themore
stitutions such as the Ecole Polytechnique, architecture was taught
- to create a was confronted with
probably for the firsttime as a science. Durand's attempt powerful influence of technology. Architecture
universal method of design had its influence, and in that sense was the possibility of design based on no more than an understanding of
a was limited
relatively successful,but as meaningful method of design it form, purpose, material and technique, the simplicity and intrinsic
and naive. It could succeed only in a culturewhich had forgotten itsown poverty ofwhich was complemented by an unprecedented complexity
tradition and history. An ideal vehicle for eclecticism, itwas never? in formalization. Here we are obviously deep in the instrumental
theless useless in the face of a living history which, of course, did not realm.
24 AA FILES 8

Sebastien Ledere:
The Academy ofArts
and Sciences, 1698
Nationale
(Bibliotheque
?Arch. Phot.Paris/
S.P.A.D.E.M.).
J.B. Fischervon Erlach:

Reconstructionof theObelisk
ofMarcusA urelius
andL. Verus, with
statues
equestrian of
theEmperors,
from
Entwurf einer historischen
Architektur, 1721.
TaXXI
'emt aucc /es

(Statuts dt :Xa. vdlect
ctjwtstrts Cmptrcurv
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f c & apres ffartket
25

What remains of architecture in this new context? Clearly the ques? less in their taste for architecture, than in food and raiment, and, com?
a judicious
tion cannot be resolved within the domain of technology, but itmust paring one with the other, they themselves may make
be pursued because even themost abstract technological structures are, choice/16 The pictorial and scenographic qualities of Fischer's work,
in the end, visible and they sometimes resemble architecture. The ap? intended 'To please the eye of the curious', were developed to a high
preciation and the beauty of incomprehensible or enigmatic reality is level of perfection in late baroque illusionistic painting, and perhaps
an experience which we know very well from modern aesthetics. even more explicitly in baroque theatre design.
Aesthetic appreciation of technology isone of themost critical dimen? In 1703 Ferdinando Galli da Bibiena invented a new form of diag?
sions inmodern architectural debate. onal perspective which he described as 'veduta per angolo'. Unlike
the traditional perspective stage, structured as an illusionistic exten?
The possibilities of aesthetic representation sion of the auditorium, the diagonal arrangement was a source of
In the current understanding, aesthetics covers everything from the ap? discontinuity. The architecture of the stage set presented a world
preciation of beauty in nature to the beauty in art.Often it is simply which looks like ours but does not belong to it. It isonly a picture of a
identifiedwith art,which is seen as the production of aesthetic objects similarworld. This 'flight into the unreality of the picture declared to
par excellence. During the last hundred years, aesthetics has also as? be "only" art destroys the unity of Baroque illusion'.17We may also
sumed a defensive role in the context of modern science and tech? add that the separation of baroque illusion from its context destroys
a a
nology. This, aswe shall see later, is misunderstanding, and in fact the continuity upon which symbolic representation depends. The il?
contradiction. Science, technology and aesthetics belong together. lusion may still represent something, but the representation ismerely
The development of scientific objectivity depends, aswe have already aesthetic.18
seen, on the role of the subject responsible for the project of science. The transformation of symbolic representation into aesthetic rep?
In other words, themore objective reality becomes, themore subjec? resentation was obviously conditioned by the cultural context of the
tivemust be the position of man, because inmodern science he en? seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but more specifically by a
counters by definition, as itwere, only his own projection of reality. desire to dominate visible reality through a new order based on inven?
In conclusion, it ispossible to say that objectivity in science is in fact tive interpretation.We can see an indication of this in the ideal pro?
the product of the subjectivity ofman. jects for theConcorsi Clementini, in the drawings of the young archi?
The transformation of the traditional relationship of man to the tects inRome at the beginning of the eighteenth century, but, most
world was not limited to the reality of science, but became the basis importantly, in thework of Piranesi himself. In some of his cycles, es?
for the gradual transformation of thewhole of European culture into pecially the capricciy the historical erudition and polemical intention
artificial domains of objectivity and subjectivity.With the firstwe are still belong to a context which, on the conceptual level, fully co?
already familiar. The second is theworld of subjectivity, but also of incideswith the continuity of the classical tradition.However, on the
- visual level the same context is represented as a discontinuous field of
everything that resistsmathematization qualities, perception, imagin?
ation, feeling and fantasy. Itwas in this ambiguous domain of qualities elements which sometimes have a precise symbolic meaning but most
which cannot be precisely determined, but at the same time cannot be often are only metaphorical allusions. The unity of the scenes is estab?
completely suppressed or ignored, that aesthetics came into existence. lished through standard pictorial devices derived from theatre-set
It grew slowly out of repeated attempts to establish some kind of logic design: gradation of light, contrasts of foreground and background,
or order in the qualitative world, but also out of the general aesthet dramatic juxtaposition of elements, etc., but this unity has very little
icization of culture. to do with the content, which remains a hieroglyph even for those
Aestheticization itself is closely linked with the relativity of taste versed in classical iconography and iconology. The relationship be?
and the formalization of experience. One might referyet again to Per tween the content of the picture and itsorder, based upon subjective
rault as one of the firstto acknowledge the relativity of architectural imagination, isvery similar to the relationship between the empirical
order and the new phenomena such as conventional beauty, taste, etc. phenomena and the ordering mind in the scientific experiment.19 In
But I shall refer instead to thework of Fischer von Erlach as a more that sense, Piranesi's capricci and invenzioni are also experimental
explicit example. In his Entwurf einer historischenArchitektur, pub? projects. Only slightly laterwould the experimental nature of the ar?
lished in 1721,15Fischer von Erlach assembled the first history of tistic project be 'discovered' as a power which could produce itsown
architecture. Itwas a personal interpretation, based upon historical -
reality the aesthetic reality of 'pure' art.
and archaeological reconstructions and, to a great extent, upon inven? Because of its subjective nature, aesthetic reality is inevitably iden?
tion. The main intention of thework, to establish a background of ticalwith subjective experience. The work of art becomes aworld in
meaning and legitimacy for his own work by restoring the historical itself,virtually removed from all connection with practical reality; it
linkswith the Temple of Jerusalem and the sequence of empires, is is to be experienced only as a beautiful aesthetic form. Such an under?
not important formy present argument.What is important is the un? standing of artwas codified at the end of the eighteenth century in the
precedented survey of history, represented in a series of panoramic principle of artistic disinterestedness.20 Artistic disinterestedness sep?
pictures, the fascination with knowledge and its translation into con? arates art not only from science but also from any specific purpose. As
crete images, and most of all the invention of an architectural order Gadamer says, 'for now art, as the art of beautiful appearance, was
which is both syncretic and pictorial. Fischer's emphasis on inventio, contrasted with practical reality and understood in terms of this con?
which also means freedom and choice, stands in sharp contrast to the trast. Instead of art and nature complementing each other, as had al?
traditional imitatio naturae, with its emphasis on the direct and im? ways seemed to be the case, theywere contrasted as appearance and
plicit continuity of architectural precedents. This seems also to be the reality'.21 The consequences of this new situation are many. First,
meaning of his own declaration, in the preface: 'The author's inten? 'through "aesthetic differentiation" thework of art loses itsplace and
tion has been more to furnish admirers of this art with designs in theworld towhich it belongs in so far as itbelongs to aesthetic con?
sundry species of architecture and to lay down plans for those who sciousness. On the other hand, this isparalleled by the artist also losing
make a profession of this art to raise new inventions upon, than to in? his place in theworld.'22 Secondly, in the aesthetic experience nothing
struct the learned' and, further, 'this essay of diverse architecture will isknown about the objects which are judged as beautiful. The nature
not only please the eye of the curious and those of good taste, but will and meaning of the object does not affect the essence of aesthetic judge?
embellish theirminds ... Artists will here see, that nations dissent no ment. As a consequence thework of art has nothing to do with truth.
26 AA FILES 8

It isonly a beautiful form, a 'meremodal point in the possible variety become a foundation for a self-referential architectural order. How?
of aesthetic experiences',23 and itexists for the purpose of pleasure. ever, such a possibility is an illusion ofwhich Boullee himselfwas not
The separation of art from the practical sphere of life, from every? aware. The most important element and source of meaningful regu?
mean?
thing that isuseful, but also true and good, has its source in an artificial larity isnot inside but rather outside this particular circle. Any
and misleading interpretation of necessity and freedom. In modern order to a limited extent on our experience. It
ingful depends only
culture, necessity belongs to the objectivity of nature and therefore to represents rather the complexity of architectural history which has
the domain of science, while freedom is seen as a primary attribute of evolved and been stabilized in a specific tradition. In Boullee's system,
the subject, and therefore belongs entirely to the domain of subjec? tradition isobscured by the apparent autonomy of hismethod, by the
tivity.Because only thatwhich isnecessary can be useful, art, the do? inventive vocabulary, but most of all by the illusion that 'architecture
main of freedom, is,as itwere, useless. derives from volumes and that since all its effects have the same
In architecture, the separation of the fine arts and the practical arts source, it inevitably derives from nature', and 'that it is through
nature thatwe can grasp the poetry of architecture, that this iswhat
(technology) is not only difficult but virtually impossible. This is the
main reason why therewas a tendency to develop a form of architec? constitutes art'.31
tural representation which could be common to both art and science. The attempt to eliminate any dependence upon traditionwas charac?
Boullee's designs represent one of the first attempts to produce this teristic of the late eighteenth century and itwas accompanied inevi?
a norma?
kind of representation explicitly. In the introduction to his treatise he tably by a complementary attempt to find substitute for the
begins with a general admission that 'art in the true sense of theword tive role of tradition. In Boullee's architecture the normative role of
(art understood aesthetically) and science, these we believe have their tradition had been replaced by the normative role of character, not
place in architecture\24However, 'itmust be admitted', he says, 'that derived entirely from nature, as Boullee claimed, but also from his?
the beauty of art cannot be demonstrated like a mathematical truth; torical precedents.32
although this beauty is derived from nature, to sense it and apply it

fruitfully, certain qualities are necessary and nature is not very gen? The limits of representation
erous with them'.25What these qualities are we can understand by Character had a very ambiguous position in late eighteenth-century
bringing together some other statements inhis treatise: 'It is impossible architectural thinking. On the one hand, itwas related to the earlier
to create architectural imagery without a profound knowledge of tradition as a mode of being of architecture, on the other itwas al?
nature: the Poetry of architecture lies in natural effects.That iswhat ready seen as an abstract physiognomy which could be manipulated
makes architecture an art and that art sublime. Architectural imagery with great freedom. It is in the latter sense that character came very
is created when a project has a specific character which generates the close to the newly emerging meaning of style. Style is a term bor?
a
required impact.'26The 'required impact' is notion borrowed from rowed originally from rhetoric, and for a period itwas synonymous
contemporary sensualistic philosophy (Condillac), which Boullee with maniera, ordine and genre. Only during the eighteenth century
'Let us listen to a modern Philosopher who tells us, was it elevated to a new status as a formal characterization of awork,
acknowledges:
new meaning of style reflects the shift
"All our ideas, all our perceptions come to us via external objects. Ex? epoch, or whole tradition. The
ternal objects make different impressions on us according towhether from tradition,which was transcendental and given, to a human idea,
they are more or less analogous with the human organism."'27 A which is immanent and invented as an abstract concept.
more specific description of the relationship between architecture In 1801, A. W. Schlegel, speaking in his Berlin lectures about the
reduced to the status of an object and its experience appears in the relation of architecture to tradition, said that, since architectural
following comment: 'Let us consider an object. Our firstreaction is, works would appear to manifest none of the great and eternal ideas
of course, the result of how the object affects us. And what I call which nature instils into its creations, it follows that they must be
character is the effectof the object, which makes some kind of impres? a a not isolated
governed by human idea.33This is characteristic and
sion on us.'28 But ifthe poetry of architecture lies in natural effects, in of the time. The ending of the classical tradition was gener?
opinion
what does this poetry consist? As Boullee says, 'it lies in the art of ally felt and recognized. For instance,M. J. Peyre would say quite
creating perspectives through the effectof volumes. What causes the openly, 'We read Vitruvius without understanding him.' Viel de
effects of volumes? It is their mass. And so it is the mass of these Saint-Maux was even more radical: 'This book of Vitruvius would be
volumes that gives rise to our sensations.Without doubt. And it is the useful only on the island ofRobinson Crusoe.'34 However, the aware?
effect that they have on our senses that has enabled us to give them ap? ness seemed to persist that style could not be just an arbitrary human
propriate names and to distinguish massive forms from delicate ones, idea but that itmust possess at least some of the powers which tra?
etc. etc.'29More interesting even, in relation to my argument, is the dition once had. The generation of Friedrich Gilly, Karl Friedrich
following statement: Schinkel and Leo von Klenze still felt strongly that a contemporary
style should relate architecture to its past, should be a guiding prin?
Weary of themute sterilityof irregularvolumes, I proceeded to studyregular
volumes.What I firstnoted was their regularity,their symmetryand their ciple for future development and should therefore be normative. To
fulfil such conditions became increasingly difficult in a culture domi?
variety; and I perceived that thatwas what constituted their shape and their
form. What ismore, I realised that regularity alone had given man a clear con? nated by a newly emerging sense of history, known as historicism.
ception of the shapeof volumes, and so he gave thema definitionwhich, aswe For historicists, history is a field of unique events and epochs no
shall see, resultednot only fromtheirregularityand symmetrybut also from or ideas but only by the
their variety.30 longer related by the continuity of principles
of Each is seen as having its individual
continuity change. epoch
If architecture can be reduced to the configuration of volumes and character or stylewhich has the same value as that of any other epoch
their perception, then architectural order can be established merely or style. The growth of historicism was spurred by a desire for
by regularizing the relationships between particular shapes and their autonomy, independent judgement and a critical approach to the
a
experience. Such a method may be described as self-assuringprocess past. The lodestar was a vision of the future as the fulfilment of a lost
of self-consciousness. Architecture becomes, in that case, a source of perfection. In a more general sense, historicism belongs to the tra?
a
positive sensations, which in turn create regular order of architec? dition of conflict between Ancients and Moderns. Historicism in
tural forms. This is a circle inwhich sensualistic psychology and its architecture was a theoretical aim concerned with the present and
experimental possibilities aremade identicalwith aesthetics and could future rather than the past. This conclusion might be at odds with our
28 AA FILES 8

G.B. Piranesi:Capriccio with Triumphal Arch in theBackground
(courtesyofBenWeinreb).
E. L. Boullee:Design fora Lighthouse

(UffiziyFlorence).

use theGreek and theRoman directly,
current understanding of historicism, which we tend to regard as nos? totallymeaningless; we cannot
talgia and revival of the past. However, such an understanding is an il? but must, for that purpose, create forourselves what ismeaningful.'42
lusion and altogether erroneous. Schinkel found the inspiration and justification for such a step in the
The problem of architectural historicism coincides with the prob? Early Christian interpretation ofRoman architecture:
We have seen already that style represents a conflict be?
lem of style.35
For thenew orientationof architectureof thiskind theMiddle Ages give us a
tween normative idea and historicity, between the idea as an ahistori hint.At that time the lifeofChristian religionwas generallymore powerful,
cal element of tradition and the individuality and wholeness of an and this power was also expressed in art. We must take up this power of
formertimesand, under the influenceof theprinciples of beauty,which we
epoch. The only way historicism can resolve this conflict is by elim?
have inheritedfrompagan antiquity,we must develop itfurtherand bring it
inating the normative idea altogether and proclaiming its own his? to fulfilment.43
torical relativity as the norm. In such a situation, the architect be?
comes the source of reference, of continuity and meaning, in fact the The polarity of classical (Greek) and medieval (Gothic) styleswas
sole legislator of his art. an important theme around 1800, but itwas never taken to the point
To emancipate architecture from the fettersof tradition was a task that it could be used as amethod of invention. Schinkel was probably
of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and the the firstto accept the classical style as thesis, theGothic as antithesis,
architect-genius was supposed to achieve nothing less than that.How, and the present as a synthesis (principles well known to all German
at the beginning of the nineteenth century, an architect himself saw Romantics), and to develop these as a consistent dialectic of invention
his position can be illustrated by the following statement: which could be extended to thewhole of history:
*
Classicism appears as a
style of lies', for
men are
only regarded
as
serving Ifone could preserve the spiritualprinciple ofGreek architecture,bring it to
-
truth or as being sincere when they
are
creating something new; wherever terms with the conditions of our own
epoch which also includes the har?
they feel wholly

sure of themselves their condition must be regarded as sus? monious synthesisof the best from all the periods in between - then one
pect, for then theyknow somethingabsolutely,which means thatsomething could find perhaps the most genuine answer to our talk. This, however, re?
that is already there is only merely being re-exploited,and repetitivelyre quires
a
genius, which
no one can attain
by striving, but which heaven im?
applied.36 parts to the fortunate without their being aware of it.44
The creation of a new stylewas seen from the very beginning as an The genius, with his inspiration and abilities, isnow considered a suf?
analytical and theoretical problem and not as a reverie about some ficient substitute for a historical process, and perhaps more because he
past, idealworld. In a littlepamphlet provocatively called Tn welchem has the advantage of a perspective view inwhich all historical epochs
Style sollen wir bauen?' (In which style should we build?), Heinrich become contemporary. Formulations such as 'die harmonische Ver?
H?bsch, the disciple of Friedrich Weinbrenner, says quite explicitly, schmelzung des Besten aus allen Zwischenzeiten' (the harmonious
'Style in architecture should be created through reflection.'37And, he synthesis of the best from all the previous periods) bring Schinkel's
further explains, this is a sign of maturity and a step towards the full dialectical thinking close to that of Legrand and Durand. However,
emancipation of architecture which must 'result not from the past a fundamental difference.
despite all possible analogies, there is
but from the present condition of genuine building elements'.38 Schinkel's vision of architectural style as an accomplished synthesis is
The importance of reflection and a theoretical foundation for the situated in the future, at the end of a long period of historical develop?
creation of a new style has been justified by the logic of historical ment. In the text accompanying his project for a mausoleum for
development: Queen Louise, he wrote, 'Everyone should be inspired to create for
We no live in the age of unconscious and spontaneous
himself an image of the future, by virtue of which his being will be
longer creation,
orders came into existence, but in the age elevated to a higher plane and move towards a perfect state.'45
through which earlier architectural
of thinking, research and self-conscious reflection. For the solution of the With the normative idea of architecture situated in the future, the
mentioned task, itwould be appropriate to understand the conditionswhich transcendental meaning of tradition was transformed into an imma?
did and stilldo influencethearchitectureof differentcountries.39 nent form of eschatology, inotherwords, into a project which depends
This text appeared in the programme of a competition for the inven? entirely on human memory and will. Nothing illustrates this better
tion of a new style, sponsored byMaximilian II, theKing of Bavaria. than the importance given at the time to the architectural monument.
The competition was the result of a long discussion and correspon? In the new cultural conditions, the monument was regarded as a
dence with such illustrious personalities as Schinkel, Klenze, the recollection of the past and a reminder for the future; and in that sense
philosopher Schelling, the historian Ranke, and many others. Some itwas also the residuum of the historical continuity of architectural
a
of the comments illustratewell the intention of the programme. The meaning. But it should be emphasized that themeaning of monu?
firstcomes from theKing himself,who says, 'It is important forme to ment was only an aesthetic meaning, because themonument was only
awork of art understood
have the best possible knowledge of the future, towards which I can aesthetically. In Schinkel's own words, 'the
aim in the present.'40The second comment is also general but has more monument belongs to all times and therefore should be established in
specific architectural implications: 'We live in the age of inventions. the sphere of the fine arts'.46And again, in a different context, he
Why should not an architect also sit down and invent a new architec? wrote, 'thework of art, if it isnot in some way amonument, isnot a
tural style?'41The idea of a competition for the creation of a new style work of art at all'.47
is rather unusual, but it seems even more so once we realize that the The subtlety of Schinkel's reasoning illustrateswell the agonizing
programme was based almost entirely on the recommendations of struggle to preserve the specificity, order and meaning of architecture
- its - in a situation dominated more and more
Schinkel, and in facton the core of his own architectural philosophy. poetic qualities by
For Schinkel the idea of stylewas directly related to creative inven? science. Unlike Boullee and others, forwhom the scientific and aes?
tion, or, as he preferred to call it, to a 'stuffenreihe entwicklung' thetic sides of architecture were still separate domains, Schinkel saw
(gradual development). The architecture of the past was, in his view, them as one: how to design useful and truthful buildings and, at the
an same time,make them beautiful.What makes the problem difficult is,
'abgeschlo?enes historisches' (closed historical) reality. The past
can be recovered only through radical reinterpretation,
providing first, the separation of aesthetic reality from anything that isuseful, a
that the intention was to create 'ein wahrhaft historisches Werk' (a dogma formulated during the eighteenth century, and, secondly, the
true historical work), which means a work truly belonging to one's monopoly of science over everything that belongs to the sphere of
own time: 'The architecture of paganism is from our point of view -
necessity mostly function,materials and construction. In one of his
30 AA FILES 8

B^^fc^SKL^^?'^HÊ^^HB^^^^^^H iiHR&Sb^^HHKhK^^^^HI^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
HHP "^^^BSiSHBHIHI^^^^^^^^^^Î
K F. Schinkel:Ancient Hill Town, 1805

Museen Preu?ischerKulturbesitz,West Berlin.Photo:J?rgP. Anders).
(Nationalgalerie,Staatliche
^''
H^H|^^HH^H|H^HI^ÊijS^; I ^^^Â I I
f^l^^HiHHHB^^^H^^P"^|^îgA A^^^^^HH H
'
^spw*' ill ^^^^^^^^^?vl
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^îH^sPiisn^^^^^^^^H
K F. Schinkel:Gothic Church by theSea, 1816
(Nationalgalerie,Staatliche
Museen Preu?ischerKulturbesitz,West Berlin.Photo:J?rgP.Anders).
31

more definitive statements, Schinkel says that 'architecture is con? The purpose ofmy argument has been to show how confusing and
struction. In architecture everything must be true, any disguise or illusory is themodern situation; how art, a revelation of the truth of
concealment of construction is an error. The proper task is to create reality preserved in the symbolic representation, differs from aesthetic
every part of construction
" beautifully and in accordance with its representation, created and experienced as a source of pleasant sen?
character. In theword beautiful'' is thewhole history,whole nature, sation; and finally, how similar is aesthetic reality to the reality of
and whole sense of relationship.'48 science and modern technology. The affinitybetween science, tech?
This last sentence brings us back to the phenomenon ofmonumen was in this
nology and aesthetics isof particular importance because it
was movements have
tality. Itwas through monumentality, Schinkel believed, that it sphere that modern architecture emerged. Whole
to transcend the relativity of useful and material tasks been formed around programmes based upon ambiguous and often
possible
towards beauty, which was then capable of representing thewhole of confused aesthetic ideas which obscure rather than clarify questions
a as to the goal of architecture and the nature of function, form, beauty
history, nature and the sense of relationships. This is beauty of
monuments, highly sublimated and remote, which no longer rep? or
meaning.52
resent the normative tradition but only an aesthetic idea - the nor? In comparison with the early nineteenth century, the architectural
mative idea in thememory of a genius. Schinkel himself described the situation in the twentieth century ismore intricate.Despite the ap?
beauty of monumental architecture as 'a higher form of beauty, parent richness of individual ideas and experiences, the ground upon
which does not excite sensuality inappropriate to human dignity, but which a normative idea or principle could be established became nar?
shows a sensuality of a higher order penetrated by intellect, inwhich rower. Apart from a few abstract principles, often borrowed from
the divine aspect of earthly form can and must share'.49 contemporary science or technology, the ground consisted largely of
The ambiguity which we so often sense before the late neo-classical that experience which the avant-garde preferred to describe as 'inner
or early historicist buildings can be attributed to a large extent, I be? necessity'. What such a necessity was can be illustrated by a typical
lieve, to the fact that architectural physiognomy and meaning have declaration, that of August Endell, a leading member of theGerman
been transformed into an abstract form of spiritualitywhich, in the Art Nouveau: 'we are not only at the beginning of a new stylistic
end, has become identical with the results of scientific formalization. phase, but at the same time on the threshold of the development of a
What ismost disturbing in thiswhole process is the possibility of con? completely new art. An artwith formswhich signify nothing, rep?
even more the pos? resent nothing and remind us of nothing, which arouse our souls as
fusing spiritual with instrumental meaning, but
sibility of replacing architectural reality as a whole by aesthetic or deeply and as strongly asmusic has always been able to do.'53
scientific fiction and, by manipulating the fiction, believing thatwe The notion of architectural form, emancipated from all explicit
aremanipulating or even creating reality itself.This is a situation Eric references, coincides, not surprisingly,with the development ofmod?
a ern music and with the development of non-figurative painting. We
Voegelin describes very aptly as 'magic operations in dream world'.
Such a situation is characteristic not only of eclecticism but also of do not need to follow in detail the arguments which sustained the
all modern forms of classicism which, contrary to any claims, are in works ofMalevitch, Kandinsky orMondrian in order to understand
fact pale memories and distant echoes of early nineteenth-century the nature of the new visual order and to recognize the characteristics
monumentalism. Schinkel himself never reached such a level of free? of aesthetic representation in the following description:
dom in his buildings or in his projects. However, in some of his writ? the idea of innerbalance and perfection ismuch more meaningfulwhen ap?
ings he anticipated quite clearly the development of architectural plied to the art of painting, for instance,thanwhen applied to architecture,
es? which is prevented from achieving this innerbalance by itsdependence on
thinking, and in particular the close relationship which would be thedualism of necessity and beauty.Architecture is a balancing of purely ar?
tablished between aesthetics and science (technology). In one of his
chitectural and utilitarian factors, and any evaluation of it from an aesthetic
later texts, he wrote 'that he had arrived at the point in architecture of view must this compromise ... in
point presuppose Purity of expression
where the genuine artistic element occupies a place in this artwhich architecture can
only be increased when the aesthetic and utilitarian factors
otherwise is, and remains, a scientific craft; that at this point, as al? come to resemble each other as closely as possible, thusmaking it less
to them in relation to the other.54
ways in the fine arts, the nature of the real doctrine is difficult and necessary adjust
must, in the end, be reduced to the cultivation of feelings.'50 The adjustment here refers to a creative process inwhich the aesthetic
This statement illustrates how strong was the belief, in the early and technological concerns are identical.
nineteenth century, in the omnipotence of art, but also how difficult We have been too influenced by the romantic distinction between
itwas to see the difference between art and a purely aesthetic appreci? usefulness and beauty to realize thatmodern architecture, likemost
ation of form.For Semper, who stood halfway between German Ideal? modern art, ismoving in the same direction as modern technology.
ism and Positivism, the art, 'das K?nstliche', of architecture was no Nietzsche was among the fewwho understood that this is in fact the
more than the result of the emancipation of form from material most significant aspect ofmodern art.Writing at a timewhen architec?
a ture and art had achieved almost complete autonomy, Nietzsche had
necessity. In his famous 'Stoffwechsel' thesis, Semper formulated
in the to be no difficulty in
theory of architectural symbolism which symbol appears identifyingthemwith the freecreativewill of the artist.
a sublimation and formal representation of material conditions and Will was for him a natural forcewhich penetrated theworld at large
the conditions of necessity. If the building or awork of art is aesthet? but was most intimately related to our own existence and was there?
a fore an innermost nerve of life: 'becoming more beautiful is the ex?
ically successful, then itrepresents only itselfas pure form.51
pression of a victorious will, of increased co-ordination, of a harmon?
Representation, thewill to power and nihilism ising of all the strong desires of an infallibly perpendicular stress.
The identity between art, aesthetics, and pure form created an illusion Logical and geometrical simplification is a consequence of an en?
that the conflict between art and science (technology) had been hancement of
strength.'55
resolved. Itwas taken for granted that aesthetic representation was Nietzsche challenged the established dogma of aesthetics as pleasure
the essence of art and had a universal validity.Works of engineering - when he said, 'pleasure and displeasure are mere consequences, mere
the Eiffel Tower, theDelage automobile, which Le Corbusier com? - what man wants is an increase of
epiphenomena power. Pleasure or
as Duchamp's ready-mades or the
pared with the Parthenon, as well displeasure follow from the striving after that.'56 Speaking about the
structures ofMies van der Rohe - are even today discussed, without grand style,which he considered to be the highest possible achieve?
ment inmodern art and the nearest equivalent to what the classical
qualification, asworks of art.
32 AA FILES 8

Hubert Robert:
The Finding of theLaoco?n,
1773 (VirginiaMuseum ofFineA rts).
K. F. Schinkel: 'Perspective
Viewfrom
theAuditorium intotheStage,with
theRepresentationof theDecoration
Installedfor theInauguralPrologue,
in theRoyal Theatrefor Berlin \
fromArchitektonischenEntw?rfen, 1853.
33

stylewas in the past, Nietzsche had this to say about the relation of degree and not in principle. Here I should perhaps emphasize that
the artist's will to power and form: 'This style has this in common what today is still erroneously described as periods of historicism,
or less explicit forms
with great passion, that it disdains to please; that it forgets to per? 'modernity', and 'post-modernity' are only more
- of the same beliefs,more or less explicitly articulated iconographies.
suade; that itcommands; that itwills To become master of the chaos
one is; to compel one's chaos to become form: to become logical, From an ontological point of view, the difference between particu?
- lar iconographies is less important than the overall architectural
simple, unambiguous; mathematics, law that is the grand ambition
here!57 InNietzsche's understanding, the intrinsic quality of style is order. Inmy earlier discussion, I tried to demonstrate that the order of
- not an modern architecture had been established on a deep and cultivated
beauty objective beauty which belongs to thework of art,
but a subjective experience of harmony, reconciliation and power. sense of identityof the individual artist and on his creative will within
Here he touches on the deep motives beneath the process of adjust? the accepted relativity of history, seen as a process which had not thus
ment of aesthetics and technology, as well as the motive sustaining farbeen interruptedor, in principle, changed. The conventional under?
er?
modern art in general. '"Beauty" is for the artist something outside standing of modernity as a rejection of historicism is therefore
all orders of rank, because in beauty opposites are tamed; the highest roneous. Modernity is only a step towards a more radical form of
sign of power, namely power over opposites; moreover, without

ten? historicism. What appears to be a pronounced difference in architec?
sion: - that violence is no longer needed; that everything follows, tural style, order or content is only a difference in the degree of con?
- that iswhat fidence which determines to what extent history and historical
obeys, so easily and so pleasantly delights the artist's
will to
power.'58
'material' is accepted or ignored.
The affinitybetween aesthetics and technology and their common In the contemporary situation, phenomena such as 'post-modernism'
ground in thewill to power may explain, or at least help
us the better illustrate a new level of confidence which can be explained through
to understand, the nature ofmany modern phenomena which remain critical understanding of several false assumptions, regarded as truth
otherwise incomprehensible. An example which comes at once to and used as such with indiscriminate freedom. Itwill be sufficient for
mind is the so-called 'classical' architecture of the totalitarian regimes. the purpose of my argument to identify only themost important of
This is an explicitly aesthetic phenomenon, yet itmakes serious and these: historicism taken for history, aestheticism taken for symbolic
sometimes persuasive claims to symbolic meaning, while at the same meaning, individual style taken for participation in tradition, and in?
time it can be used as an instrument for themanipulation of history. I dividual creativity taken for architectural order. It is characteristic
am obviously not referringhere to an external manipulation - in that that usually most of the assumptions appear in the form of instruments
sense almost anything can be manipulated - but to the intrinsicquality and 'materials', as reified order, historical quotations, iconic signs, or
of architecture itself,to itsconstituent principles. stylistic features.Where this has taken place the contemporary archi?
Before we turn to contemporary architecture and to post? tect becomes the ideal artist, described by Nietzsche as a man 'who
modernism, which is the latest and so far themost accomplished ex? has once again become master of "material" - master of truth! and
ample of the formalization of architectural meaning, I should men? whenever man rejoices, he is always the same in his rejoicing: he re?
tion the dilemma of content in aesthetic representation. In previous joices as an artist, he enjoys himself as power, he enjoys the lie as his
references to aesthetic phenomena, I have called them 'formal'. And form of power.'61
yet we have often encountered examples which quite clearly do have The lie as a form of power refers to the reality ofmodern art,which
content.What kind of content? This is themost difficult aswell as the became a form of truth in itself,and also for theworld - 'theworld as
most confused question in modern art. Nietzsche understood the a work of art that gives birth to itself'.62This universality of artistic
depth of the question when he wrote, 'One is

an artist at the cost of truth is a new phenomenon. We know that,with the emancipation of
thatwhich all non-artists call "form" as content, as "matter art from the normative power of tradition, the truth of art was
regarding
itself".With that of course, one belongs to an inverted world; for cen?
seriously undermined. The truthof the historical styles of the last
henceforth content becomes something merely formal - our life tury could not, in the end, survive, even with themost elaborate of
included.'59 arguments. However, as artmoved away from tradition, italso moved
The transformation of content into 'formal' content is the equiv? closer to theworld of science and technology and their truth,which,
alent of transforming transcendental into immanent meaning. Tran? as we have already seen, is instrumental and closely linked to the
scendental meaning is embodied in symbolic representation, inwhich nature of power. This alliance of art with instrumental truth is
we can participate, while immanent meaning is embodied in formal manifested in the orientation of modern art towards invention, ex?
representation, which we can experience and possess. As a result, 'for? periment, construction, originality and novelty. As a result, the new
mal content' is the aesthetic equivalent of the original transcendental artistic truthhas become a truth created indefiance of tradition. It has
meaning. In order to avoid a long excursus into philosophy, I prefer become a product of inventivewill which, having no particular boun?
to use an explicit illustration. After the death of his wife, Camille, in daries, can be imposed upon reality as awhole.63
1879,Claude Monet related the following experience to a friend: The impossibility of reconciling such a vision of artwith the cultural
When he contemplatedCamille at daybreak on her deathbed, he noticed - in reality of the twentieth century has leftmodern art in a curious pos?
- ition, half-way between truth and fiction (lie). This dilemma is exemp?
spiteof all his grief thathis eyes perceivedmore than anythingelse thedif?
ferentcolorations of her young face.Even before he decided to record her lified in Picasso's famous remark, 'we all know that art is not truth.
likenessfor the last time,his painter's instincthad seen the blue, yellow and Art is a lie thatmakes us realise truth, at least the truth that is given us
grey tonalities cast by death.With horror he felthimself a prisoner of his to understand. The artistmust know how to convince others of the
visual and compared his lot to an animal which turns a millstone.60
experiences truthfulness of his lies ... From the point of view of art, there are no
The dissolution of content in aesthetic experience isnot necessarily a concrete or abstract forms, but only formswhich are more or less
simple event. There is a residuum of transcendental meaning in the convincing lies. That those lies are necessary to our mental selves is
background of one's own experience which can endow
even abstract beyond any doubt, as it is through them thatwe form our aesthetic
forms with a semblance of symbolic meaning, and thus support a view of life.'64
belief thatwhat ismerely an aesthetic representation is also a symbolic The uncertainty which surrounds the nature of truth,65and by im?
one. Such beliefs have played an important role inEuropean architec? plication the normative value of modern art, is clearly felt in the cur?
ture from the beginning of historicism, and they have changed only in rent architectural debate. It has become impossible to grasp the truth
34 AA FILES 8

Albert Speer:
Entrancefacade ofprincipal rostrum,
Nuremberg
Zeppelin landing-field,
from Neue Deutsche Baukunst,
editedbyAlbert Speer,1943.
TerryFarrellPartnership:
TV-AM Headquarters,
London, 1983
(photo:R ichardBryant).
35

of that architecture produced under the name of 'rationalism', 'post? Notes
modernism', 'enlightened' or 'radical eclecticism', to say nothing of 1. By 'abstract formalization' I understand the process inwhich a dialogue between
theirnormative value. Can anyone be blamed? During the past two factual reality and its representation is replaced by amonologue of a purely formal
decades, serious and often impressive attempts have been made to representation. For a more detailed discussion, seeM. Dufrenne, 'Formalisme lo
et formalisme esthetique', inEsthetique etPhilosophie (Paris, 1967), pp. 113-29;
understand at least the conditions of truth, i.e. the foundation and gique
also, Jean Ladriere, 'Les limites de la formalisation', in Logique et Connaissance
meaning of design. What has been achieved? Nostalgia for the pre (Paris,1967).
Scientifique
industrial city, a vernacular vision of eighteenth-century classicism, a 2. Harmonices Mundi, TV. 1, inJoannis Kepleri Astronomi Opera Omnia, edited by C.
reversion to late eighteenth-century monumentalism, a typological Frisch
(Frankfurt-on-Main, 1858), V, p.219: 'rationes creandorum corporum
explanation of character, and, on a different plane, indiscriminate mathematicus Deo coaeternas fuisse Deumque animam et mentem esse super
excellenter, animas vero humanas esse Dei creatoris imagines, etiam in essentialibus
borrowing from history. This listof achievements could be extended, suo modo, id sciunt christiani';
but the resultwould not change; itwould remain, inmost cases, prob? quoted inW. Pauli, 'The Influence of Archetypal
Ideas on the Scientific Theories of Kepler', in Jung and Pauli, The Interpretation of
lematic.What makes itproblematic is the belief that the renewal of ar? Nature and thePsyche (London, 1955), p. 164.
chitecture is possible through an arbitrary and instrumentalmanipu? 3. J. L. N. Durand, Recueil etparallele des edifices de tout genre, anciens etmodernes, re
lation of iconography, or through principles borrowed from a period marquablespar leur beaute, par leurgrandeur ou par leur singularite, etdessinesur une
of history already in the throes of crisis and riddled with contradic? memeechelle, VIII (Paris, 1799/1800).
4. R. Descartes, 'Discourse on Method', part V, in The Philosophical Works ofDes?
tions fromwhich we ourselves have not yet emerged.66 If such a situ?
cartes, translated by E. S. Haldane (Cambridge University Press, 1982), vol.1, p. 106.
ation is accepted uncritically, it creates an ideal ground for dogma? 5. The experimental reconciliation of the mathematically structured project of pos?
tism, because it is in the nature of uncritical thinking not to accept a sible reality and empirical-factual reality is a subtle imaginative operation inwhich
genuine dialogue with the past or with the present. Under such con?
the distance between the ideal and the factual is eliminated by mathematical rep?
resentation. The nature of the experimental reality of modern science is discussed
ditions, the truth of architecture is amatter of private opinion and its
in great detail by E. Husserl in The Crisis ofEuropean Sciences and Transcendental
instrumental power.
Phenomenology: An Introduction toPhenomenological Philosophy, translated by D.
The possibility of interpreting not only the nature but also the Carr (Northwestern University Press, 1970), pp.21-60; A. Koyre, Metaphysics and
truth of architectural representation in the instrumental manner Measurement (London, 1968), pp.44-89; and M. Heidegger, 'The Modern Math?
brings my argument to its conclusion, and at the same time to its

ematical Science ofNature and theOrigin of a Critique of Pure Reason', inWhat is
- to a
beginning my comment on the paradoxical relation between the Thing (Chicago, 1967), pp.65-108.
6. E. Husserl, The Crisis, op. cit, p.51
production of architecture and our real intentions. The essence of this
7. M. Planck, in a lecture delivered at Leiden University on 9 December 1908,
paradox is our inability to see that an uncritical faith in symbolism, published as 'Die Einheit des physikalischen Weltbildes' in Physikalische Zeit?
historical reference,meaning, etc., could be, and very often is,only a schrift, 10 (1909), pp.62-75; quoted from Physical Reality, edited by S. Toulmin
disguised form of technological rationality. If this is not recognized, (Harper Torchbooks, 1970), p.21.
8. M.Plank,Toulmin,op.cit.,p.22.
the paradox is likely to take the form of a vicious circle inwhich only
9. W. Heisenberg, The Physicist's Conception ofNature (New York, 1958), p.53.
immanent values are taken into account.67As a consequence, anything
10. Architecture and art were originally seen as a unity of techne and poiesis (techne
that transcends the circle and might support our critical understand?
poietike), where technewas the dimension of revelatory knowledge and poiesis the
a
ing is considered to be either irrelevant or dubious.68 This is typical dimension of creativity and symbolic representation. During the seventeenth cen?
modern situation, identified already at the end of the last century as tury, the original unity was dissolved; techne became an independent body of in?
strumental (productive) knowledge and poiesis (symbolic representation) became a
nihilism.69
creation of aesthetic reality. The emancipation of techne from poiesis coincides with
In Nietzsche's interpretation, nihilism is directly linked with the the origin of modern science (technology) and of modern aesthetics; both have a
nature of immanent values, with the fact 'that the highest values common ground in art understood as techne-poietike. See E. Grassi, Kunst und
devaluate themselves', and that 'all the values by means of which we Mythos (Hamburg, 1957), as well as his Die Theorie des Sch?nen in der Antike (Du
have tried so far to render the world estimable for ourselves and Mont, Cologne, 1962).
which then proved inapplicable and therefore devalued theworld - all 11. 'Der Franzose Durand ist in seinen Paralleles und anderen Werken ?ber Ar?
chitektur der Sache vielleicht am n?chsten gekommen. Allein auch er verlor sein
these values are, psychologically considered, the results of certain ... Er verliert sich in Tabelen und Formeln, ordnet alles in
Ziel aus den Augen
perspectives of utility, designed tomaintain and increase human con? Reihen und bringt auf mechanischem Wege eine Art von Verbindung zwischen
structs of domination - and they have been falselyprojected into the den Dingen heraus, anstatt die organischen Gesetze zu zeigen, mittels deren sie in
essence of things.What we find here is still the hyperbolic naivete of Beziehung untereinander stehen.' G. Semper, Kleine Schriften (Berlin, 1884), p.262.
man: positing himself as the meaning and measure of the value of 12. G. Semper - ein Bild seines Lebens und Wirkens (Hans Semper, Berlin, 1880), p.3
(quotation originally inEnglish).

things.'70 13. 'Die Ubereinstimung einer Kunsterscheinung mit ihrer Entstehungsgeschichte
The fact that nihilism is a critical dimension of modern culture is mit allen Vorbedingungen und Umst?nden ihresWerdens.' G. Semper, Kleine
most often recognized only indirectly, through secondary phenomena Schriften, op. cit., p.402
such as alienation, meaninglessness, inauthenticity, etc. Our diffi? 14. A detailed discussion of such a possibility appeared in Semper's 'Entwurf eines
Systemes der vergleichenden Stillehre' (Project for the System of the Comparative
cultywith understanding the nature ofmodern nihilism isdirectly re?
lated to the general uncertainty about the nature of technologically Theory of Style). The problem of style isdiscussed in direct analogy with themath?
ematical formula Y=F (x, y, z, etc.), where x, y, z, etc., are external variable con?
oriented culture. In the sphere of architecture this ismanifested in the ditions, F stands for the internal and stable conditions, and Y is thework of art (ar?
aes?
ambiguous relationship between architecture, technology and chitecture). The discussion can be found in his Kleine Schriften, op. cit., p.267 et seq.
thetics,which has obscured the primary conflict of modern culture, 15. J.B. Fischer von Erlach, Entwurf einer historischen Architektur(Vienna, 1721).
16. Ibid., 1725 edition, published with English text, translated by T. Leliard in 1730 -
the conflict between symbolic and instrumental representation. This
preface.
conflict between two incompatible forms of representation ismost
17. 'Eine Flucht in die Unwirklichkeitssph?re des als "nur" Kunst deklarierten Bildes
probably themain source of our contemporary confusion and nihil? zerst?rt die Ganzheit der barocken Illusion.' H. Bauer, Rocaille (Berlin, 1962),
ism. It is difficult to believe that scientific and technological ration? P-72.
alities, or individual talent, experience and intuition, are sufficient of perspective illusion is a serious interference with the logic of
18. The discontinuity
the illusionistic world, which is constituted in the continuity between theworld of
means to understand the conditions under which architecture can be
the spectator and the world of representation. The ontological structure of this
practised as architecture and not asmerely a branch of technology or is the inevitable foundation of symbolic meaning. In the case of
continuity
aesthetics. That such conditions do exist, at least potentially, is a belief the symbolic meaning is reduced to a pictorial and secondary (aes?
discontinuity,
that Iwould like to qualify in the second part ofmy text.71 thetic) meaning of an experientially detached visual scene. For a more detailed in
36 AA FILES 8

Michael Graves: Public Library,San JuanCapistrano,California, 1983
(photo:PhotoAcme).
CR. Cockerell:The Professor'sDream, 1849

(RoyalAcademy ofArts).

terpretation, see E. Stadler, 'Raumgestaltung im barocken Theater', inDie Kunst? liegt,
so m?chte man f?r die Aufgabe vielleicht das Geeigneteste gefunden haben;
formen des Barockzeitalters (Munich, 1956). dazu geh?rt aber freilich Genie, welches sich niemand erringen kann, sondern das
19. The key to this analogy is the free play of imagination inwhich an ideal reality is dem Begl?ckten von Himmel her unbewu?t zu Theil wird.'
established and used as an ordering vision (structure) of empirical phenomena. 45. Ibid., p.161: 'Ein jeder sollte darin gestimmt werden, sich Bilder der Zukunft zu
This is known in science as an 'imaginary experiment' and in art as 'inner design' schaffen, durch welche seinWesen erh?ht, und er zum Streben nach Vollendung
(disegno interno). It was the nature of the common'imaginative project' that gen?thigt w?rde.'
a 46. Goerd Peschken, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Lebenswerk, Das Architektonische Lehr?
brought eighteenth-century art, architecture and science into close affinity. The
a
possibility of creating modern aesthetics as science of artistic experience was con? buch (Munich-Berlin, 1979), p.27: 'Doch soll das Monument f?r alle Zeiten sein,
ceivable only in this imaginative project. deshalb imReich der sch?nen Kunst gegr?ndet.'
20. The principle of artistic disinterestedness, the essence of aesthetic experience, was 47. Schinkels Nachlass, op. cit., III, 350: 'Kunstwerk daher, wenn es nicht auf
irgend
first formulated by I. Kant in his Critique of Judgement (Berlin, 1790) and became eineWeise Monument istund sein will, istkein Kunstwerk.'
the foundation of themodern understanding of art,mostly owing to the influence 48. Lehrbuch, op. cit., p.115: 'Architectur istConstruction. In der Architectur mu?
of F. Schiller's Letters on theAesthetic Education ofMan (Berlin, 1793-5). alles wahr sein, jedes Maskiren, Verstecken der Construction ist ein Fehler. Die
21. H.-G. Gadamer, Truth and Method(NewYork, 1975), p.74. ist hier jeden Theil der Construction in seinem Charakter
eigentliche Aufgabe
22. Ibid.,p.78. sch?n auszubilden. In dem Worte 'Sch?n' liegt die ganze Geschichte, die ganze
23. Ibid.,p.75. Natur, das ganze Gef?hl f?rVerh?ltnisse.'
24. H. Rosenau, Boullee and Visionary Architecture (London, 1976), p.83, with the 49. Lehrbuch, op. cit., p.35: 'Die hohe Sch?nheit erregt nie eine der Menschen-W?rde
French text of Boullee's Treatise. widerstrebende Sinnlichkeit, sondern sie zeigt eine Sinnlichkeit h?herer Art vom
25. Ibid., p.33. Geiste durchdrungen, da? das G?ttliche der irdischen Form beiwohnen kann und
26. Ibid.,p.88. mu?.'
27. Ibid.,p.86. 50. Lehrbuch, op. cit., p.150: 'auf dem Punct in der Baukunst angekommen sei, wo das
28. Ibid.,p.89. eigentlich artistische Element seinen Platz in dieser Kunst einn?hme, die in allem
29. Ibid., p. 115. sei und bleibe; da? auf diesem Punkte,
?brigen ein wissenschaftliches Handwerk
30. Ibid.,p.86. wie ?berall in der sch?nen Kunst, das Wesen einer wirklichen Lehre schwer seyn
31. Ibid.,p.lll. m?sse und sich am Ende auf die Bildung des Gef?hls reducire'.
32. This is a characteristicillusion produced by an excessive preoccupation with the 51. See G. Semper, '?ber architektonische Symbole', inKleine Schriften (Berlin, 1884),
method of design, forgetting that aesthetic appearance and the reality of art are two p.292-304.
different things. The indebtedness of Boullee to the classical tradition and the use 52. The debates which took place in theWerkbund movement are a good illustration.
of Egyptian and Gothic elements in his architecture are too obvious
to need any 53. August Endell, 'The Beauty of Form and Decorative Art' (1897-8), in T. and C.
commentary. Here it ispossible to say again that 'what in truth ismerely a method Benton, Form and Function (London, 1975), p.21.
and the results of thatmethod isnow taken for real nature'(see Note 5). 54. J. J. P. Oud, 'Architecture and Standardisation inMass Construction' (1918), ibid.,
33. A. W. Schlegel, Kritische Schriften und Briefe (Stuttgart, 1963), II, p.140: 'Die Ar? p.117.
chitektur definieren wir als die Kunst sch?ner Formen an Gegenst?nden, welche 55. F. Nietzsche, The Will toPower, edited byW. Kaufmann, translated byW. Kauf?
ohne bestimmtes Vorbild in derNatur,freinach einer eigenen urspr?nglichen Idee mann and R. J. (New York, 1967), section 800.
Hollingdale
des menschlichen Geistes entworfen und ausgef?hrt werden. Da ihreWerke dem? 56. Ibid., section 702.
nach keinen von den gro?en ewigen Gedanken, welche die Natur ihren Sch?p? 57. Ibid., section 842.
fungen eindr?ckt, sichtbar machen, so mu? ein menschlicher Gedanke sie bestim? 58. Ibid., section 803.
men, d.h. siem??en auf einen Zweck gerichtet sein_' 59. Ibid., section 818.
34. J.M. Perouse de Montclos, E. L. Boullee (Paris, 1969), p.187: 'Ce livre de Vitruve ne 60. G. Clemenceau, Claude Monet (Paris, 1928), p. 19-20.
pourrait etre utile que dans File de Robinson.' 61. Will toPower, op. cit., section 853 (I).
35. Style became, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a key notion in art and in 62. Will toPower, op. cit., section 796.
art history and was related as much to historicism as itwas to the new 'aesthetic' 63. This intention played an important role in the programmes of Constructivism, De
understanding of art. It became the decisive link between art and history, known Stijl, Surrealism, etc., and their vision of the world as an apocalyptic transform?
better under itsGerman title as Stilgeschichte. For a more comprehensive discus? ation, pure plastic reality, the occultation of everyday reality, etc.
sion (and further bibliography), see F. Piel, 'Der historische
Stilbegriff und die 64. 'Picasso speaks', statement toMarius de Zoyas inThe Arts (New York, May 1923),
Geschichtlichkeit der Kunst', in Kunstgeschichte und Kunsttheorie im 19. j?hr pp.315-26, quoted inE. F. Fry, Cubism (London, 1966), p. 165.
hundert (Berlin, 1963), pp. 18-38. 65. By 'truth in a positive sense', I understand the capacity of thework of art (architec?
- the human situation - but
36. H. Sedlmayr,y4rr inCrisis (London, 1957), p.33. ture) to reveal the truth of existing reality also the
37. H. H?bsch, 'Inwelchem Style sollen wir bauen?' (Karlsruhe, 1828), p.2: 'Styl in der capacity to preserve it in the work as symbolic representation. In this sense, the
Architektur durch Reflexion erzeugen zu k?nnen.' nature of truth is almost identical with the classical understanding of poiesis and
38. Ibid., p.13: 'nicht aus einer fr?heren, sondern aus der gegenwartigen Beschaf? with Heidegger's understanding of truth in his 'Origin of theWork of Art' and
fenheit der nat?rlichen Bildungselemente hervorgehen'. 'The Question Concerning Technology', inM. Heidegger's Basic Writings (Lon?
39. E. Dr?eke, Der Maximilianstil (M?ander Verlag, 1981), p.99: 'Wir leben nicht don, 1978), pp.143,283.
mehr in der Zeit des unbewu?ten, naturnothwendigen Schaffens, durch welches 66. The crisis in the late eighteenth century towhich I refer has been discussed in detail
enstanden, sondern in einer Epoche des Denkens, et la Pensee Occidentale (Paris) VII (1976),
fr?her die Bauordnungen des by G. Gusdorf in Les Sciences Humaines
Forschens und der selbstbewu?ten Reflexion. Zur L?sung der besprochenen VIII(1978); E. Voegelin, From Enlightenment to Revolution (Duke University
es vielleicht hier am Ort seyn, auf die Momente hinzudeuten, welche Press, 1975); H. Sedlmayr, Die Revolution derModernen Kunst (Hamburg, 1958).
Aufgabe wird
auf die Architektur der verschiedenen L?nder eingewirkt und noch einwirken.' 67. Values established in the context of scienticism, historicism or aestheticism.
40. Ibid., p.37: 'Wichtig istmir die m?glichste Erkenntis der Zukunft wegen des mir in 68. Namely, the transcendental foundation of science, history and art.
der Gegenwart Anzustrebenden.' 69. F. Nietzsche, The Will toPower, preface, section 2: 'I describe what is coming, what
41. Ibid., p.25: 'Wir leben in dem Zeitalter der Erfindungen. Warum sollte sich nun can no come differently: the advent of nihilism. This history can be related
longer
nicht auch ein Architekt hinsetzen und einen neuen Baustil erfinden?' even now; for necessity itself is atwork here. This future speaks even now in a hun?
42. A. von Wolzogen, Aus Schinkels Nachlass (Berlin, 1862) IE, p.161: 'Die Architektur dred signs, this destiny announces itself everywhere; for thismusic of the future all
des Heidenthums istdaher in dieser Hinsicht ganz bedeutungslos f?r uns, wir k?n? ears are cocked even now. For some time now, our whole European culture has
nen Griechisches und R?misches nicht unmittelbar anwenden, sondern m??en been moving as toward a catastrophe, with a tortured tension that is growing from
uns das f?r diesen Zweck Bedeutsame selbst erschaffen.' decade to decade: restlessly, violently, headlong, like a river thatwants to reach the
43. Aus Schinkels Nachlass, op. cit., p.161: 'Zu dieser neuzuschaffenden Richtung der end, that no longer reflects, that is afraid to reflect.' (italics by Nietzsche)
Architektur dieser Art giebt uns das Mittelalter einen Fingerzeig. Damals, als die 70. Ibid., section 12(B).
christliche Religion in der Allgemeinheit noch kr?ftiger lebte, sprach sich dies 71. To be published in a future issue ofAA Files.
auch in der Kunst aus, und dies m??en wir aus jener Zeit aufnehmen und unter den
Einfl??en der Sch?nheits-prinzipien, welche das heidnische Altertum liefert,
weiter fortbilden und zu vollenden streben.'
44. Ibid., p.334: 'K?nnte man, altgriechische Baukunst in ihrem geistigen Princip
festhaltend, sie auf die Bedingungen unserer neuen Weltperiode erweitern, worin
zugleich die harmonische Verschmelzung des Besten aus allen Zwischenzeiten
38 A A FILES 8


Architecture and The Conflict of Representation

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ARCHITECTURE AND THE CONFLICT OF REPRESENTATION

Author(s): Dalibor Vesely

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/.N. L. Durand: Frontispiece,

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J.B. Fischervon Erlach:

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although this beauty is derived from nature, to sense it and apply it

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E. L. Boullee:Design fora Lighthouse

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they feel wholly

applied.36 parts to the fortunate without their being aware of it.44

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K F. Schinkel:Ancient Hill Town, 1805

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sign of power, namely power over opposites; moreover, without

depth of the question when he wrote, 'One is

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brings my argument to its conclusion, and at the same time to its

(quotation originally inEnglish).

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CR. Cockerell:The Professor'sDream, 1849

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