I've been wondering what the greats have had to say about this. I've come across the FLW definition but havnt found Le Corbusier, Kahn, Johnson, Mies, etc, etc if anyone has any quotes or anything it would be great to see them. ill post franks here.
its NOT that i don't care what people think on the topic. its just a different topic.. im curious what the old timers had to say on the topic.. so please post any quotes you find interesting!!
Frank Lloyd Wright wrote:
"What is architecture anyway? Is it the vast collection of the various buildings which have been built to please the varying taste of the various lords of mankind? I think not.
"No, I know that architecture is life; or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived. So architecture I know to be a Great Spirit....
"Architecture is that great living creative spirit which from generation to generation, from age to age, proceeds, persists, creates, according to the nature of man, and his circumstances as they change. That is really architecture."
shaner, I like this idea for a thread. Seems like a good resource if we get enough entries (that are not smart-assed comments, that is). But my memory for quotes is terrible and my books are all (still) packed away.
What was Kahn's thing about "...the masterful play of volumes brought together in light..." or something like that? Someone else here help me here, please.
Dan Hoffman said "Architecture exists at the intersection between two elliptical orbits: the bright star of science, and the dark star of philosophy". Again, I'm paraphrasing.
Adolf Loos:
“If we find a mound in the forest, six foot long and three foot wide, formed into a pyramid shape by a shovel, we become serious and something within us says, ‘Someone lies buried here.’ This is architecture.”
kahn was inspired by the eastern thoughts at the time... he was questioned by a guru after a lecture "why architecture?" kahn said "architecture is..."
accord with eastern thoughts, once u define something, u destroy the nature of the thing.
architect.ed, that is usually the definition I pull out on occasions like this. I think Loos is tying the idea of architecture to a set of fundamental symbols relating to humanity - nature and human intervention, sanctity, signification of life and death, memory, the marking of an event or a piece of time.
And the act is rather simple, the 'built evidence' is simple, but it is profound and it has meaning. Typical to Loos is an interest in the lack of adornment - there is no cross, or urn mentioned - the form itself is all.
It is reasonably hard to relate this on first appearances with say a mega building by OMA, but a building by Zumthor or Olgiatti is an easier comparison.
I think some of the ideas of Mircea Eliade are useful in understanding how eveyday and commonplace designs, practices, acts, methods are part of a long lineage of sanctifying space. The sanctification or meaning has gone, but the ritual remains.
I think it might be a mistake to reduce Loos's definition to a structural philosophy like Eliade, but I will say it is hard to ignore the connection.
More important,though, is that it acknowledges some very basic things about the world architecture brings into appearance: the scale and dimensions of the human body, that existence is a temporary condition , and that materials have a nature that cannot be ignored (the dirst finds its way to a pyramid shape)
These things exist outside whatever meaning, or ritual, that we may (or may not) assign to them.
Aug 29, 07 11:26 am ·
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what is architecture(not an opinion tread)
I've been wondering what the greats have had to say about this. I've come across the FLW definition but havnt found Le Corbusier, Kahn, Johnson, Mies, etc, etc if anyone has any quotes or anything it would be great to see them. ill post franks here.
its NOT that i don't care what people think on the topic. its just a different topic.. im curious what the old timers had to say on the topic.. so please post any quotes you find interesting!!
Frank Lloyd Wright wrote:
"What is architecture anyway? Is it the vast collection of the various buildings which have been built to please the varying taste of the various lords of mankind? I think not.
"No, I know that architecture is life; or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived. So architecture I know to be a Great Spirit....
"Architecture is that great living creative spirit which from generation to generation, from age to age, proceeds, persists, creates, according to the nature of man, and his circumstances as they change. That is really architecture."
*buzz* I see an opinion in that post.
When is a definition of architecture not an opinion?
in my opinion, the definition of architecture is not an opinion.
shaner, I like this idea for a thread. Seems like a good resource if we get enough entries (that are not smart-assed comments, that is). But my memory for quotes is terrible and my books are all (still) packed away.
What was Kahn's thing about "...the masterful play of volumes brought together in light..." or something like that? Someone else here help me here, please.
Dan Hoffman said "Architecture exists at the intersection between two elliptical orbits: the bright star of science, and the dark star of philosophy". Again, I'm paraphrasing.
Adolf Loos:
“If we find a mound in the forest, six foot long and three foot wide, formed into a pyramid shape by a shovel, we become serious and something within us says, ‘Someone lies buried here.’ This is architecture.”
Something about architecture and death?
one of famous kahn phrase - "architecture is..."
kahn was inspired by the eastern thoughts at the time... he was questioned by a guru after a lecture "why architecture?" kahn said "architecture is..."
accord with eastern thoughts, once u define something, u destroy the nature of the thing.
aspect.. thanks. i like that..
it almost makes sense.. you know when you use a word so much it almost seems to loose meaning to you.
Alright, i will play nice.
architect.ed, that is usually the definition I pull out on occasions like this. I think Loos is tying the idea of architecture to a set of fundamental symbols relating to humanity - nature and human intervention, sanctity, signification of life and death, memory, the marking of an event or a piece of time.
And the act is rather simple, the 'built evidence' is simple, but it is profound and it has meaning. Typical to Loos is an interest in the lack of adornment - there is no cross, or urn mentioned - the form itself is all.
It is reasonably hard to relate this on first appearances with say a mega building by OMA, but a building by Zumthor or Olgiatti is an easier comparison.
I think some of the ideas of Mircea Eliade are useful in understanding how eveyday and commonplace designs, practices, acts, methods are part of a long lineage of sanctifying space. The sanctification or meaning has gone, but the ritual remains.
I think it might be a mistake to reduce Loos's definition to a structural philosophy like Eliade, but I will say it is hard to ignore the connection.
More important,though, is that it acknowledges some very basic things about the world architecture brings into appearance: the scale and dimensions of the human body, that existence is a temporary condition , and that materials have a nature that cannot be ignored (the dirst finds its way to a pyramid shape)
These things exist outside whatever meaning, or ritual, that we may (or may not) assign to them.
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