Lost Architecture

Viollet le Duc, Ruskin, and Semper are all architects of the 19^th century trying to find a new architecture or a new style to call their own.  Each take their own unique approach, and in the process, contribute to the great theories in architecture.

Ruskin, a gothicist, took an emotional stance towards the progression of future architecture.  He believed in the human reaction towards design, that is to say Ruskin was interested in the pure aesthetics of a work.  His mind was narrowed down to the finite details of projects; although architecture was found in the details.  He believed in the handmade, the craftsmen, and those who had a talent to bring to the world.  The craftsmen who laboriously carved each detail were the true builders of great architecture.  With them, design would live and die.  Therefore, this shows that architecture is trying to break the class barrier and bring everyone to an even level.  The masses have the most influence to design and it is in their quality that the quality of architecture can be seen.  So while this may try to overcome a social issue of the time, Ruskin fails to move architecture forward by rejecting the new creation of his own time – steel.  He saw steel as a harsh and foreign material that would destroy architecture, because he believed in the representation of nature.  Steel, as he saw, played no harmony with the earth and eliminated anything beautiful in design while eliminating the passion, creativity, and skill of the craftsmen.  This rejection of new technologies would hinder Ruskin from progressing architecture and creating a new style in the 19^th century. 

Viollet le Duc, also a gothicist, took an almost mirrored approach to architecture.  Rational and strict, he analyzes the gothic style for what it does rather than its emotional characteristics or the skill that it takes to make.  He attempts to understand the gothic style from a functional point of view.  E.g. if an expansive hall is needed for a church, then structurally, the gothic style makes logical sense.  Side by side, the differences can be seen in the drawings of le-Duc and Ruskin.  The light and emotion is more than evident with Ruskin, while each supporting member and finite detail is carefully drawn out in the drawings by le-Duc.  

John Ruskin
(source:  http://25.media.tumblr.com)

Viollet-le-Duc
(source:  http://www.etsavega.net)

This structured way of thinking on architecture allowed le-Duc to escape emotion and allow new modern methods to influence his designs.  As steel is being produced, he is able to look at the material as a way to continue the expression of Gothic but in a new light.  le-Duc did not look at history as a guidebook for what should exist in his present but rather as a problem solving guide.  He could look at how people from the past expressed issues in their own society through architecture and use those methods for a new style.  For example, his lecture at Ecole de Beaux-Arts demonstrated that while the Greeks gave expression to the wonders of mythology so could the modern day give expression to the wonders of technology like steam and electricity.  He “must analyze the masterpieces of the past, reduce them to a process of argument, then apply the argument to his own problems.” (Summerson).  Therefore in his determination for finding a logical solution to architectural problems, he creates the Dictionnaire Raisonée.  This gives the architect not a handbook on design in the sense of aesthetics, but a list of pieces that can be assembled to form a work of art.  This really does prove opposite of Ruskin, because it puts the power of the design in the hands of one person, the architect, and out of the many, the craftsmen.  Now the architect can look at each readily made piece and assemble them for the function to which he desires. 

It should be noted that both Ruskin and le-Duc agreed on the manner in which these material were to be portrayed.  Whether hand-tooled or machine made, the material stood on its own.  It was not to be portrayed to be like that of another or hidden from view.  Thus the Seven Lamps and Seven Virtues were established to allow designers to understand the honesty in material.  This would follow through to the Arts and Crafts Movement and with the architect Semper.

Semper held the middle ground between Ruskin and le-Duc.  His unique scientific or mathematical approach attempted to analyze how architecture is created down to its most basic form while still understanding that architecture is of the people.  Semper was trying to solve a cultural issue but was doing it in a manner that it could be replicated for any space in time.  This is not to say one building in one location would work equally well in other.  Rather the approach he uses can be traveled across boundaries, because he sees architecture as “located…in the human mind” (Hvattum).  He takes architecture to a primitive state by saying the hearth, earthen work mound, woven enclosure, and wooden roof are what make up a society of people opposed to wonderers and drifters.  He also understands that it important to take into consideration the facts of a site or location for design while understanding the impacts of aesthetics.  These are combined in his calculation [ U=C(x,y,z,t,v,w…) ] so to understand that all of these components, not just some, must come together to complete an entire work of art that is complete and harmonious.  In this manner, style is able to evolve for any generation that should come to the forefront.  Each, given Semper’s design, should be able to analyze their own environment and establish a work that is needed for that location or function. 

Each of these architects, as previously mentioned, is trying to find a way to define themselves as a generation.  Ruskin appears to be a sort of architectural conservative and unwilling to budge from his passion for the craft, but it is not to say that craft of other sorts besides Gothic could come to define a new generation.  It appears Ruskin became too absorbed in Gothic to really explore new means of craft.  le-Duc offers the world the rational side of Ruskin by encouraging the intelligent designer to mold the work.  He really gives rise to modern architecture by challenging architects to think and ask “Why?” rather than replicate successes from the past.  Finally, Semper offers an approach to style based in simplicity.  By getting to the core of what is important in society, he is able to lay a foundation for new work to continue.