ENVIRONMENT by BRIAN L. POWELL, B.S. A THESIS IN ARCHITECTURE
Subi iitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in
Partial F u l f m m e n t of the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Approved
cyiãi rp^SDn, p^ l[\é>^ornm1 t t e e
Accepted
Dean of the Graduãte /Síéhool/
I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Robert Coombs, Dr. Michael Jones, and Dr. Rumiko Handa, for their patience with me, as well as their imput into my work. I would like to thank my parents for their insistence that I fínish, although they thought I was not listening. Last I would like to thank various authors, primarily fíction, whose writings steered me toward an organic conception of architecture as well as an appreciation of John Keats.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
LIST OF TABLES v
LIST OF FIGURES vi CHAPTER
L INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS 1
Thesis Statement 1 Description of Thesis 2 IL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE 5
m. A SHORT HISTORY OF ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE 19
Infroduction 19 European Romantic Movement 19
The Gothic Novel 23 Augustiis Welby Pugin (1812-1852) 25
The Gothic Revival 26 John Ruskin (1819-1852) 26
Eugéne Emmanuel VioIIet-Ie-Duc (1814-1879) 28
Art Nouveau 30 American Transcendentalism 32
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johan Wolfgang Goethe 33
Organic Architects 35
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) 38 Hugo Hãring (1882-1958) 43 Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) 48
IV, ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT 65
V. PROJECT DOCUMENTATION 73 A Cenfral Library for EIIis County, Texas 73
VI. THE PROJECT 82 Introduction 82
Project Statement 82 The Design Approach 82
The Site 83 The Program 84
The Entry 85 The Rare Book Room 86
The Stacks 86 The Music Room and Periodicals 87
Art Gallery 87 Book Processing 87 The Adminisfration 88 The Auditorium 88 Bathrooms 88 iv
Stmcture 90
The Overall View of the Design Factors 91
Description of EIIis County 94 Waxahachie, Texas 94 Historical Description 94 Surrounding Areas 95 Physical Characteristics 95 The Movie Industry 96 Historic District 96
REFERENCES 97 APPENDIX
A.. PROGRAMMING 103 B. WRIGHT'S FROBELLAN EDUCATION 123
A.l Summary of the Net Square Feet 103
A.2 Statistícal Facts About EIIis County 104 A.3 Summary of Required Spaced 105
A.4 Summary of the Reading Room 106
A.5 Summary of the Entry 107 A.6 Summary of the Stacks 108 A.7 Summary of the Music Room 109 A.8 Summary of the Art Room 110 A.9 Summary of the Periodical Room 111 A. 10 Summary of the Rare Book Room 112 A. 11 Summary of the Adminisfration 113 A. 12 Summary of the Projectíon Room 114 A.13 Summary of the Book Processing 115 A. 14 Summary of the Rest Rooms 116 A. 15 Summary of the Maintenance Points 117
A.16 Equipment 118 A.17 Required Foot Candles 119
3.1 Art Nouveau's Use of Iron 57 3.2 Merchants National Bank by Louis H. Sullivan 58
3.3 Falling Water 59 3.4 Plans by Mies van Der Rohe and Hugo Hãring 60
3.5 Farm at Garkau by Hugo Håring 61 3.6 Stockholm Library by Gunnar Asplund 62 3.7 Lecture Hall in the Viipuri Library 63
3.8 Aalto's Office 64 5.1 Plan at Ground Level 74
5.2 Plan at the Second Floor 75
5.3 North Elevation 76 5.4 South Elevation 77 5.5 East Elevation 78 5.6 West Elevation 79 5.7 View from the North East 80
5.8 Interior View 81 6.1 General Design Information 93
A. 1 Circulation Diagram 121 A.2 Vertical Organization 122
A.3 Site Context 122
INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS
Thesis Statement
FoIIowers of organic architecture can be divided into two groups, those that have classical sympathies, and those that have gothic. This is in reference to the origins of organic architecture in the nineteenth century rivalry between the gothic revival movement and the neoclassical. Organic architecture grew from the rationalist philosophies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Eugené Emmanuel
VioIIet-le-Duc and John Ruskin were the primary influences on Frank LLoyd Wright, who could be called the fírst organic architect. He said that organic form grows its own stmcture out of conditions as a plant grows out of the soil.' While most of his writings about architecture relied on similar metaphors to convey his meaning, his architecture followed a strict logic which is not conveyed in his writing. One particular critic understood this when he said, "In this sense the laws of organic planning fínd their continuation and completion in the extemal stmcture; and the manifold arrangement of parts, the lively grouping of building masses, are to be viewed as a result of the inner logic of design, and not as a brilliant showpiece of a deliberately picturesque building."^
This thesis involves an exploration of four approaches to organic architecture. It became apparent that architects vsath classical sympathies, such as Alvar Aalto, have had
' Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Llovd Wright versus America: the 1930's. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: theMITPress, 1990), 67.
more success in designing within the urban environment than those architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright^, who were sympathetic to the relatively "modem" teachmgs of Ruskin and VioUet-Ie-Duc. The term "modem" is used to highlight the historical position of these two architects, who were seeking to replace Neoclassical architecture with an architecture that was appropriate to their time. That was one of Wright's goals. Aalto was able to incorporate many influences into his architecture.
This thesis is based on the following two hypotheses: (1) Despite Wright's antithapy toward cities, the urban environment is appropriate for organic architecture." (2) Organic architecture both influences and reflects the organic nature of the urban environment. The written thesis wiU be informed and supported by the design exploration of a library for EIIis County, Texas.
Description of Thesis
This thesis is arranged in two parts: the theoretical exploration, and the design project. This format allows the author to demonstiate his understanding of architecture in both graphic and written forms. This is necessary because architecture is both a physical manipulation of spatial environments and an abstract intellectual exercise. A building is quite literally a permanent part of the lives of people, and it becomes important for the architect to recognize both the basic needs as well as the higher needs of people. Basic needs can be met by simply erecting the most convenient stmcture and
^ Mark Alden Branch, "Organic Architecture: ABreedApart." Progressive Architecture, June 1992, 68.
fumishing it with what is at hand. The architect is also concemed with higher needs, usually addressing issues of beauty. As the actual art isjionverbal, careful graphic representation of the building is necessary as the most economical means for exploring architectural hypothesis.^ The written part of this thesis concems the clarification of the concepts that drive design decisions.
The theoretical exploration includes a review of the works and design methods of Louis H. SuIIivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Hugo Hãring, and the major influences on their careers. Each architect has a different approach to organic form and philosophy. Some built in urban environments and others did not. This review will reveal the influences that either hindered or helped the creation of organic form within the urban environment.
The author's design exploration is situated in a small scale urban enviromnent. The vehicle is a library for EIIis County, Texas. The site is in Waxahachie, Texas, a small city southeast of Dallas. It is thirty-five minutes by automobile and forty-fíve minutes from Fort Worth.^ The majority of the urban buildings in Waxahachie were built before the tum of the century. The city has been slowly growing over the past few years, due in
^ An actual building is the ideal medium for any architectural exploration. This was an attitude adopted by Mies van Der Rohe who believed that architecture began with the materials of a building not a piece of paper. Although Mies does not fall under the umbrella of organic architecture, he was also heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. Peter Blake, The Master Builders: Le Corbusier. Mies van Der Rohe, Frank Llovd Wright, (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1976), 169-195.
^ Time is based on the use of Interstate Highway 35, at 55 m.p.h. Commuters from Waxahachie to Dallas and Ft. Worth wiU be more concemed with how long it will take to arrive at their destinations. The range of human tiavel has been extended so much that time has become a more relevant measure of distance than miles.
part to the people commuting to the larger metiopolitan areas to work, Waxahachie appeals to many people as a place to live. A large number of the population are retirees, who are very active both in civic and private forums. There is one small accredited four year college in the town, the South Westem Assembly of God CoUege. Waxahachie has attracted several medium sized industrial plants and still has a broad agricultural
industry. This site is chosen because it is an example of penturbia, which is the new direction of urban development in the United States.^
^ Jack Lessinger, Ph.D., Penturbia (Seattle, Washington: SocioEconomics, Inc, 1990), 1.
INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE
"Organic form grows its own stmcture out of conditions as a plant grows out of the soil."* This statement is a metaphor that Frank Lloyd Wright used to define organic architecture.' This is a process of design that develops a unique building from its initial character and its site using organic form to create an effect on the user of the building. Organic forms are not imitated from nature; but the organic architect does emulate the natural processes of growth and erosion that create organic form. Examples of these processes include, geological erosion, geological accretion, plant and animal growth. They are known through direct observation by the architect, or through examining the observations of scientists. If a building has been designed from the inside out, it is organic'" The architect has emulated the evolutionary responses of organic entities to their environment." Organic form follows logically from the design and avoids becoming merely an exercise in picturesque building.
The term "initial character" refers to the program of a building and to the materials chosen. Wright, Aalto, and Hãring gave an equal emphasis to both in their work.'^ These
^Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright versus America: the 1930's, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: tiie MIT Press, 1990), 67.
^U id.
'"Branch, "A Breed Apart."
" Geological phenomenon have been included under the term organic based on the explorations of Alvar Aalto and Reima PietiIIã, both of whom have used a large amount of geological imagery in their work.
architects are connected to the Functionalist movement as participants or in Wright's case forerurmer. This connection suggests that the requirements of a building contain at least a part the character of a building. If possible, materials were often decided on before a form was given to the building, weaving their characteristics into the early stages of design.'^ Wright was especially fond of doing this.
This has an important implication for the use of materials. An organic architecture develops form in a way that is analogous to biological growth,'" requiring the architect to design a building from the specifíc requirements of both the program and the site.'^ In fact, an organic architect will state that a building is grown out of the site.'^ This is a very literal description of the design process of organic architecture." The organic architect takes the environmental stimulants of the site and adapts the basic aspects of the building accordingly, while respecting the nature of the materials that are chosen. The materials play the role of genetic pattems in the building by suggesting a possible range of responses to the site. Different materials have distinct properties in terms of both visual appearance and constmction methods. Masonry, wood, steel and concrete follow
"Chapterm,pp 37-55.
"Ibid.
'" Stanley Abercrombie, Architecture as Art: An Esthetic Analvsis, (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1984), 102.
'^ Branch, "A Breed Apart."
'^ A building is grovm from the site as opposed to being fitted to the site. Ibid.
" Ibid. This is very similar to statements made by Frank Lloyd Wright about how he
different sfruclural logic and serve as a basic pattem for the development of form in much the same way that DNA. cames the pattem for biological development. This issue has become confused by twentieth century technology in which brick can be hung on steel frames that usurps the bricks structural properties. The author speculates that such stmctures are hybrids and follow their own stmctural logic; they form an interesting direction in which to develop organic architecture. In organic architecture form will always demonstiate the characteristics of the materials used.'*
Organic architecture is a product over time of a certain cultural orientation to nature.'^ Three general orientations presented in Culture and Environment by Irwin Altman and Martin Chemers quoting anthropologist Florence Kluckhohn (1953) are; (1) people as subjugated to nature, living at the mercy of a powerful and uncom-promising nature; (2) people as over nature, dominating, exploiting, and control-ling the environment; and (3) people as an inherent part of nature, like animals, trees, and rivers, trying to live in harmony with the environment.^°
These three orientations were presented as a range of values rather than a comprehensive list. "Most cultures, especially technologically complex ones, are apt to have elements of all three perspectives embedded in their value systems, and so what we have presented should be taken as a highlighting of altemative perspectives, not a categorical
classification system."^' The fírst orientation, people as subjugated to nature, is
'*MalcoIm Quantrill, Alvar Aalto: A Critical Study, (New York: New Amsterdam Books, 1983), 1.
'^ Irwin Altman and Martin Chemers, Culture and Environment, (Monterey, Califomia: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1980), 15.
^^Uîid. ''n)id,24.
architecture is not an expression of a people that are subjugated to nature. Advanced technology, such as HVAC systems, reduce the influence of this orientation. The second orientation, people as above nature, has been the predominant orientation in westem cultures for the past two hundred years and results from 2,000 years of Judeo-Christian development and 200 years of the scientific/industiial revolution," This orientation holds the view that" humans are separate from nature, are superior to it, and have a right and even a responsibility to control, subjugate, and bend the environment in accordance with human needs."^^ The third orientation, people as a part of nature, is predominant among oriental cultures. It is entirely possible that Wright and SuIIivan were indirectly influenced by an oriental conception of the unity of man and nature; however, this influence would have come through American Transcendentalism, a philosophy that grew out of the view that people are above nature.
Orgemic architecture is an expression of a people who believe that it is their right to exploit nature. Two things can be inferred from this statement; one, the exploitation is towards a specific goal; and, two, that the goal is for the benefít of people. The primary goal of organic architecture is to better the human condition through a pedagogical agenda or through physical comfort and health.^"
^^Jbid.,24.
^'Uîid, 18.
^"^ Wright and SuIIivan emphasized the pedagogical approach to organic architecture, while Aalto and Hãring emphasized a physical approach to organic architecture. For a detailed discussion see pp., 34-43.
philosophy that began in the nineteenth centiiry." Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Wah Whitinan were the mam fígures in this philosophical movement.^'* They believed that Man had become estianged from Natiu-e, and that the role of the artist was to unite both into a natiiral union." The poem, "When the FuII Grown Poet Came," illusfrates this point.
When the fiill grown poet came,
Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all tts shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine, But out spake too the soul of man, proud, jealous and
unreconciled, Nay, he is mine alone;
Then the fiiU-grown poet stood between the two, and took each by the hand;
And today and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,
Which he will never release until he reconciles the two, And wholly and joyously blends them.^^
Art must come from this blending of man and nature, for it is in nature only that tmth and beauty are found.^' Man and Nature have powers of creation, and, as suggested in this
^^ Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. SuIIivan were both heavily influenced by this philosophy. For a detailed discussion see p. 37.
26 For a detailed discussion see p. 32.
^^ The author is not sure what the phrase "natural union" meant to the franscendentalists of the nineteenth century. A general reading of Krishan Kumar's book, Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modem Times, suggests that in the transcendentalist's view nature needed man to be complete as a descendant of the biblical Garden of Eden. The author has included this footnote in order to recognize that the religions of the US. have played a role in the development of organic architecture. There is enough material for a second thesis.
^* Walt Whitinan, Leaves of Grass: The 1892 Edition. (New York; Bantam Books, 1983), 435.
^^This is traceable to Rousseau's attitude toward nature as the source of all tmth and beauty. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, (ii,59) Quoted by Ronald Grimsley in The
poem, the poet is a creature of both. One interpretatíon is that the poet has undertaken the task of reconciliation of man and nature through the merging of science and art. Emerson believed that science and art were both explorations of different aspects of
natuie which would one day merge.^°
American Transcendentalism was a mystically based philosophy, with the
assumption that Tmth is found by infrospection rather than by cataloguing measurable data.^' The Transcendentalists believed that it is possible that knowledge is found within Man through his intuition and confirmed by empirical means. American
Transcendentalist philosophy believes that great men have a generic quality that is fransferred through the teaching process, which causes the ordinary man to achieve greatness.^^ The Transcendentalist's regarded architecture primarily as a teaching device, as they did with all of the arts.^^
Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. SuIIivan considered themselves to be great men. Wright considered his work to instmct the user and others in a more natural lifestyle. Narciso Menocal of SuIIivan : "The chief function of architecture would be to express
Philosophv of Rousseau (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 122.
^°Gustaf Van Cromphout, Emerson's Modemitv And The Example of Goethe (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1990), 25.
^' Nathaniel Kaplan and Thomas Katsaros, Origins of American Transcendentalism: In Philosophv and Mysticism (New Haven, Connecticut: CoIIege and University Press, 1975), 19.
32 Ibid., 334.
" Narciso Menocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis Sullivan. (Madison, Wisconsin: TheUniversity of WisconsinPress, 1981), 16.
philosophical concepts related only to what he [SuIIivan] considered to be the Iiighesl tmths of nature."^^ Both of these architects valued the artistic qualities of a bmlding over its practical qualities though this does not mean that they ignored practical concems. SuIIivan's theories were almost exclusively centered on the decorative aspects of
architecture, ignoring, in his theoretical discussions, what he considered to be the craft of architecture. The craft of architecture refers to the constmction and also to what is known as programming. SuIIivan was quite capable of handling the craft of architecture, as noted by Dennis Allen Anderson and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner in "Adler and SuIIivan's Seattle Opera House Project."^^ For Wright and SuIIivan, the use of organic forms were attempts to instmct people in a more natural way of life. In the works of these architects, the message was benefícial to people through physical manifestations.^*
Deism, an earlier philosophy that heavily mfluenced the early United States Republic, was precursor to American Transcendentalism. Although Deism was actually a theology, it was imprørtant because it presented an empirical basis for studying nature. Deism held
'* n)id, 16.
^^ This does not mean that Sullivan was only a decorator. His work in the Seattle Opera House indicates a mastery of the craft as well. It was only in SuIIivan's expression that the craft was regulated to framework, Dennis Allen Anderson and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, "Adler and SuIIivan's Seattle Opera House Project," Societv of Architectiiral Historians JoumaLXLVm, (September 1989): 223-231.
the belief that God created the universe according to certain unbreakable laws and does not physically intertere in this world through mystical means.^^ This was the essence of Deism, a theology and philosophy of the Enlightenment.^*
The Deistic metaphor of the clockwork universe represents a particular view of cosmic order, one held by Sir Isaac Newton, John Bacon and John Lockc^' They visualized the universe as running like a perfect machine according to unbreakable laws, which at that time was embodied in the mechanical clock. These laws could be found only by a rational study of nature, an imperative study, for that was the only way to know God."" Deism in its purest state rejected any knowledge that was divinely inspired or acquired in any fashion other than through a rational empiricism. The religious makeup of the colonies in the United States was, at that time, was predominantly Calvinist. Divine revelation was a comerstone of Calvinism, which placed this Protestant movement at odds with pure Deism. Certain philosophers tried to reconcile the two different theologies, notably the Scottish commonsense philosophers"' who believed that
"This theology denies the existence of any source of mystical knowledge such as divine inspiration, messages from angels, and genius. Kerry S. Walters, Rational Infídels: The American Deists. (Durango, Colorado: Longwood Academic, 1992), 7.
^^Theology and philosophy at this point in time were essentially the same thing. In fact, the separation of church and state was not widely practiced until the late cighteenth century. Ibid., 7.
^' This is a metaphor that is commonly attributed to Sir Isaac Newton. Walters, Rational Infídels: The AmericanDeists, 16.
40 Uîid
"' Kerry S. Walters, The American Deists: Voices of Reason and Dissent in the Earlv Republic (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas,1992), 14.
the mmd possessed certain self evident mtuitive faculties by which knowledge could be appraised.'*^ They had more impact on Deism m the United States than Locke or Newton because their work was more acceptable to the colonist's religious sensibilities,''^
Because of these religious sensibilities, the United States was not as heavily influenced by a materialistic empiricism as Europe.
In Europe, Deism led to a purely materialistic empiricism. The Modemist Movement of the early 1920s was grounded in this through the teachings of Eugene Emmanuel VioIIet-le-Duc There was a search for the natural laws that govemed architecturc'" Of course, this is a generalized statement. The Modemist Movement included a wide spectrum of philosophies; however, "the machine universe" became the dominant metaphor, which is similar to the clockwork universe. There were only a small number of modem architects who saw the laws in terms of an organism rather than a machine.
Wright brought the idea of an organic architecture to Europe.''^ Aalto and Håring used organic forms as an altemative to the vogue for industrialized forms of the Modemist Movement. Aalto and Hãring were empiricists, and both claimed to be
Functionalists. Any appeal to artistic sensibility had to have a quantifíable purpose. This led to a curious duality in the works of Aalto who would deny any artistic intent in his
42 Jbid., 16.
"^ The works of Bacon, Newton and Locke challenged the tenets of Calvinism too much for the majority of the colonists. They were scomed by most of the American clergy.
Jbid., 15.
''"Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Håring," Architectiu-al Review, vl71 (June 1982): 40-47. ''Chapterffl,43.
architecture. His work employed iconographic imagery and other references that appeals to the artistic sensibilities of people. He did not claim any artistic intent; however, Aalto did not object to people seeing artistic merit in his work. The artistic touch in his work met the psychological needs of the users of his buildings.
A quantifíable human need drove this version of organic architecture, Both Hugo Hãring and Alvar Aalto were rationalists who based their organic form on quantifíable phenomena. For Håring there was nothing as important as the physical requirements of a building.''^ Aalto had a humanistic stance, tempered by a concem for the psychological function of architecture. In both cases the architects took an empirical approach to form. Psychology allowed Aalto and Håring to justify historical references, metaphor, and other artistic elements as quantifíable architectural qualities.
Organic architecture was practiced in Europe during the late 1920s; however, it was not a major part of the Modemist Movement. Organic architecture was closely related to Functionalism, and was especially influenced by Moholy-Nagy and Hugo Håring.'*' There are three major concepts in the Modemist Movement that were rejected by organic architecture. The fírst is the machine model of universal order, which is a version of the
''Jones, "HugoHâring." ''SeeChapterlII, p. 54.
Enlightenment's clockwork universe. It was rejected in favor of a biological model. The second is the emphasis placed on mass society over the individual, The third is the exclusively physical defínition of function espoused by Hannes Meyers.''*
The universe is visualized as an evolving organism by the organic architect, which has an effect on how order is viewed. Westem architecture has traditionally associated Euclidean geometry with order, especially demonsfrated in the gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. tt is tempting to suggest that organic architecture is a total break from the association of order and geometry. Such an assumption would be inaccurate, however. SuIIivan and Wright created geometric modules to represent growth tempered by Man's touch.''^ Hugo Håring used Euclidean geometry only when constmction costs resfrained him, although he was fully aware of the philosophical implications of Euclidean
planning.^'^ Aalto combined orthogonal grids with intuitive organic forms in a deliberate dissolving of the grid. Pure geometry was not a part of these architects' work, and platonic volumes were never the ultimate forms of a building. In organic architecture, geometric forms, such as plan and volume, are associated with human constmction, and signify the relationship of man and nature in a particular work. For example, Wright's strict contiol of the geometric module can be interpreted as placing people into the role
"^Hannes Meyers proposed that there was no art in architecture and that all architectural problems could be solved by inductive reasoning. He was the polar opposite of Hugo Hãring. Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Hãring," Architectural Review. 1982, V. 171 no. 1022,40-47.
"'Wright used a geomefric description of crystalline growth. See Appendix A. '"Jones, "HugoHâring."
of caretaker, while Aalto's casual attitude towards geometry can be mterpreted as a comment on how to cooperate with nature.
Organic architects produce a great deal of individualized work. SuUivan, Wright, Hãring, and Aalto are not connected by the appearance of their buildings, other than organic imagery. The approaches of these architects toward design are similar Rather than classify their works by a catalogue of building parts, the approaches to organic architecture need to be classifíed. In this study, the selection is limited to Wright, SuIIivan, Håring and AaUo, though there is no obvious formal pattem m their works. If the personal attitudes toward the designs of SuIIivan, Wright, Hãring and Aalto are used to classify organic architects then a pattem emerges.^' There exists in organic
architecture two groups of attitudes, empirical and intuitive.
The empirical attitude came from Goethe and VioIIet-Ie-Duc, both of whom advocated an empirical approach to art. Goethe believed that art and science were one and the same exploration of nature, making the assumption that Tmth can be found in the measurable qualities of nature either through science or art. In this version of organic architecture it is required that there be quantifíable reason for the use of form. For example, Aalto used psychology as a justification for much of his organic form. Håring used the physical function almost exclusively. Aalto and Håring have replaced the mysticism of SuIIivan and Wright with psychology. According to the empirical attitude, the primary purpose of the architect's work was its use in everyday life. AII decisions conceming its design had to be informed by empirical knowledge.
" Branch, Mark Alden, "Organic Architecture: ABreedApart," Progressive Architecturc June 1992, 70.
On the other hand, an intuitive based organic architecture assumes that certain ideas are inherent in all people and the presence of those ideas can be confírmed by empirical research. The architecture of both Wright and SuIIivan was mtended to inform society, and the promotion of architectural ideas of more importance to them than the physical comfort of their building. Organic form was justifíed on the basis of the pedagogical ambitions to teach people to live in harmony with nature, as long as nature was subject to peoplc
These are the two different approaches to organic architecture, Their difference lies in the justifícation that architects use in order to meaningfully employ organic form. In both cases, the architects conclude organic models for architectural form are more beneficial for people than Euclidean or machine models. The organic model for form must not be taken too literally when the underlying pnnciples are used to create
architectural form. Architectural form should never be predetermined. When Aalto fried to create building types the attempt was highly modifíed by circumstances, such as
program, cost and sitc Architectural form is always affected by its environment. This includes context, though the typical defínition is usually too limiting for the organic architect. Context, a literary term, often implies that the historical and iconographic makeup of the area are more important than the actual physical location. As organic architecture is very site specifíc the use of the word "context" becomes a distraction. The term "environment" is more correct. In both cases, architectural form affects the soul and mind. In both cases harmony with nature is the ultimate goal.
Organic design is a romantic approach to architecturc Even in the works of the rationalists there exists attempts at communicating through the mtuition, Aalto referred to this as meeting the psychological needs of people. Invariably, this attempt is
misunderstood as mere expressionistic tendencies of the architect, though the author is not sure if this is an entirely incorrect assumption. However, there is a difference between an expressionistic architect and an organic architect. The organic architect builds more often because the need of the presence of an actual environment is a vital part of his work. The expressionist does not build much because the ideas of the expressionist can exist independently of sitc
A SHORT HISTORY OF ORGANIC ARCFQTECTURE
Introduction
Organic architecture was a product of the Industrial Revolution. It was a response to the conditions found in these industrialized cultures; but, it was not a rejection of
industrialization. Frank Lloyd Wright stated: "The machine is an engine of emancipation or enslavement, according to the human direction and control given it, for it is unable to control iíself "^^ Organic architecturc is concemed with the direction of progress. This concem is fírst seen in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and is not an original thought of organic architects. This chapter discusses the major influences in the
development of organic architecture and demonsfrates its place in the history of twentieth century architecturc
European Romantic Movement
The European Romantic movement occurred between 1760 and 1820, a time of major historic changes in the European cultures. The materialistic philosophy of Deism was beginning to take hold of intellectual circles in Europc Deism was technically a theology, but during that period of history there was very little difference between philosophy and theology in the Westem World. As Adam Smith published The Wealth
"AquotefromanarticIebyFrankLIoyd Wright. Frederick Gutheim, ed. Inthe Cause of Architecture Frank Llovd Wright: Wright's Historic Essays for Architectural Record 1908-1952, (New York; Architechual Record Books, 1987), 131.
ofNations, the French revolution began, followed by the American Revolution. The philosopher Goethe was active in Germany, Darwin was beginning to develop his theory of evolution, the Industrial Revolution was expanding, and the authority of classicism was being challenged." The latter was not exclusively an architectural phenomenon, but occurred in literature, in paintings, and in music, which suggests that there was a general shift in the thinking of the population. The awareness of society as an organism was begiiming to take hold in the eighteenth century.^" This means that people were no longer viewing progress as a recaptimng of an ideal state but as an evolution toward perfection or at least a higher existencc
The begiiming of this challenge to classical authority began a long time before the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It took place in the context of French neoclassicism approximately a century before the European romantic movement. In the seventeenth century, Claude Perrault began questioning the fraditional view of proportions as laid down by Vitmvuis.^' Specifícally, the assumption that musical harmonies applied to architectural proportions would guarantee beauty was challenged.^^ Joseph Rywert illustrates the nature of this challenge quoting Descartes writing to Mersennc Descartes
'^ The subject of classicism is much more complicated than the author realized at the beginning of this thesis, and apparently the classical architecture serves as a uniíying set of elements for a large and diverse period of westem history. See Joseph Rywert, The First Modems: The Architects of the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, Massachusetts: TheMITPress, 1987).
'" Marilyn Butler, Romantics. Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background 1760-1830 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 178.
55
Rywert, The First Modems. 33.
^^ Alberto Pérez-Gômez, Architecture and the Crisis of Modem Sciencc (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1983), 31.
said that "...were a dog whipped fíve to six times to the sound of a violin, he would no doubt howl and run away whenever he heard its music."" This questioning lead Perrault
to conduct an empirical study of the proportions of past masters. The results of this study suggested that this classical assumption lacked basis, and brought into question the validity of the classical defínition of beauty.^* Perrault redefíned beauty by
distinguishing between two different types of beauty, the positive and arbitiary.^^ "Positive" can be taken to mean beauty that is native to the building and "arbitiary" can be taken to mean beauty that is subjective, or that which people have tiained themselves to likc This was the beginning of the Enlightenment, at least in architecture. The European Romantic Movement, which followed the Enlightenment, was a reaction against the materialistic dogma of the Enlightenment, although empirical exploration was never abandoned. There were two general trains of thought in the late nineteenth
century. One assumed that only an empirical study of nature could reveal tmth and the other eissumed that an empirical study of nature would veriíy tmth which could be found within peoplc
One will invariably discover the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French
philosopher who lived in the eighteenth century, in anything dealing with the European Romantic Movement. He was primarily a social philosopher, and his theories on
aesthetics were tied to the development of human morals. In Emile, Rousseau described his opinion conceming the source of beauty. "The good is only the beautiful in action.
"Rywert, The First Modems, 35. 'Mbid
that the one is intimately connected with the other and that they both have a common source in well ordered nature."^'' Unlike his contemporaries, Rousseau was not an empiricist, although he had the background to be onc^' His philosophy was
infrospectivc Tmth was found in one's own self rather than measured and quantifíed in the lab of the scientist.^^ This placed Rousseau in a curious positíon in the eighteenth century in that he did not believe that science would provide the answers to everything. "Rousseau, striking deeper still, maintained that the cuU of intellectual progress is incompatible vÁth man's tme nature, and he feared that it would ultimately destroy what is specifícally human in our species.""
Rousseau was not against progress itself, but against the way in which progress was being implemented, and specifícally in the large city. "Man, Rousseau thought, was intended by nature to live in sparsely populated mral societies, not in vast aggregations where the individual is socialized out of existencc"^ Rousseau equated the decay of moral values with the excessive veneration of science and with the overcrowded
**" Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, (ii, 59) Quoted by Ronald Grimsley in The Philosophv of Rousseau (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 122.
61
He was a chemist before becoming a philosopher. Ibid.
^^ The Tmth as is used here is the order found in naturc Rousseau believed that the empirical methods of people such as Deirdrot left much out of the order of naturc Such order, as Rousseau saw it, could be found only by introspection. Mark J. Temmer, Art and the Influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Chapel HiII, North Carolina; The University of North Carolina Press, 1973), 93.
63 Uîid, 3.
^F.C. Green, Rousseau and the Idea of Progress (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1950: reissued 1978.), 17.
industrial cities.^^ He influenced the American movements known as Unitarianism and American Transcendentalism which had a profound influence on Louis H. Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's work formed a major part of the basis for the social stmcture of the United States of America and for the romantic movement in the nineteenth century.
The Gothic Novel
The literary arts were the primary means of communicating ideas before electronic communication took its place in the twentieth century. The gothic novel is a part of the European romantic movement and was a major change in English literaturc As a gem-e it is very difficult to defíne, or at least to fínd an agreement among literary critics and historians as to the exact defmition of the gothic novel. The gothic novel was developed as a popular literature in the late 1800s and was designed to appeal to a mass audiencc Frankenstein. written by Mary Shelly in 1818, and Ivanhoc by Sir Walter Scott in 1820, are two of the more famous works produced by this gemc Some critics include Moby Dick, by Herman Melvile, and The Scarlet letter, by Nathaniel Hawthom, as examples of the artist tianscending the gothic stylc The gothic novel was very popular among English speaking nations. As it included many descriptions of gothic architecture it placed such architecture before the public.
The gothic novel was one of the fírst instances of a major shift in the arts from a private pationage system of support to a commercial system aimed at generating income for the author and publishers, This entailed selling a large volume of books to the middle
class, thus the content had to appeal to a common ground among readers. For more ideological reasons, the early part of the Enlightenment attempted to "reach Everyman [that is every reader] through universally accessible modes."^ It was not until the European Romantic Movement that this successfully happened. Around 1820, the time that the burgeoning printing technology made books accessible to the general public, literary artists were exploring the use of private descriptions to communicate with the general public Literature became more infroverted in nature, at the time the written word was becoming more accessible to the public, especially in England.^^
The gothic novel is an exploration of the interior, or soul, of the subject. At its lowest level, comparable to the current romance novels, soap operas and horror movies, the gothic novel appealed to a mass audience through tts sentiment or its shock valuc At the highest level, the gothic novel was an exploration of a character's emotional response to fantastic or supematural events.^* Besides developing a public taste for gothic
architecture through its description of gothic buildings, the gothic novel also cultivated the public taste for expressiveness. The novel thus served as a reflection of and an influence on public tastc Art had become a way of looking at the wormy state of mankind as a whole, rather than a discrete reflection of the aristocracy.
^^Butler. Romantics Rebels and Reactionaries, 182.
^'Ybid.
^^Horace Walpole wrote what some consider to be the first gothic novel, The Castle ofOtranto. Horace Walpole also designed "Strawberry Hill," one of the fírst gothic revival buildings in England. G.R. Thompson, "Romanticism and the Gothic Tradition," G.R. Thompson, ed., The Gothic Imagination: Essavs in Dark Romanticism.
Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852)
Augustus Welby Pugin was an architect that designed almost exclusively in an archaeologically correct gothic stylc Pugin was one of the major forerunners of the gothic revival movement and of the Modem Movement. In Tme Principles Pugin wrote:
All omament should consist of enrichment of the essential constmction of the building. In pure architecture the smallest details should have a meaning or serve a purposc Constmction should vary with the materials employed. The extemal and intemal appearance of an edifíce should be illustrative of, and in accordance with, the purpose for which it is destined.^'
These are the tme principles to which the title refers to, and a basis of the twentieth century Modem movement and organic architecturc Two other points made in Tme Principles, although neither were stated as a principle concemed local and national styles, where traditional forms should be respected because of climate and cultural conditions and quality must include social values. Pugin was an advocate of the
archeological accurate copying of the thirteenth century gothic style, but he ran into the problem of archeological reconstmction.^'* The influence of Augustus Welby Pugin on the works of John Ruskin and the gothic revival is exceptional^'
69
Phoebe Stanton, Pugin (New York: The Viking Press, 1971), 81.
^''This is an interesting subject in itself Archeologists, for the most part, piece together a past without having all of the necessary information availablc Insights into the past often depend on the background, personality, culture and imagination of the archeologist. The science is not as random as this sounds, and the interpretation of the available clues is done through a rigorous methodology. The archeologist vÁl\ interpret the clues under the influence of his or her, period of time, which, in the author's opinion, makes archeology very a valuable subject for architect's to study and understand how forms relate to people across timc
^' This is said with some irony as the author has ran across several substantial accounts of Ruskin having plagiarized Pugin, but that is a bit involved for this thesis.
Gothic Revival
The first building of the gothic revival was Horace Walpole's house, Sfrawberry HiII. Coincidentally, Walpole was also one ofthe first authors ofthe gothic novel The gothic revival was a conscious attempt to fínd a non-classical foundation for a modem
architecturc A multitude of reasons exists for the rejection of classicism in favor of the gothic revival.^^ Among them are the rise of nationalism, the introduction of iron and glass that did not fít into the neoclassical use of materials, the introduction of new technologies, and the destmctive pace of the industrial revolution. The Gothic Revival had, at least in England, a sfrong religious and moral tone set by Augustus Welby Pugin and John Ruskin, Catholic and Protestant respectively. In France, Eugéne Emmanuel VioIIet-Ie-Duc, an agnostic, emphasized social considerations over the moral. The comparison of Ruskin and VioIIet-le-Duc reveal two separate directions of this
movement. John Ruskin hated the direction taken by the modem world, and wanted a retum to the simpler age idealized by the thirteenth century. VioIIet-Ie-Duc was a visionary who believed that the implementation of gothic principles would ease life for people and should even form the basis for a modem architecture.
JohnRuskin (1819-1900)
John Ruskin built very little architecture, which is ironic considering the amount of influence he has had over architecturc He was a proponent of the Gothic Revival
^^ This was by no means a unanimous event and there was quite a battle of styles between the eclectics, the neoclassicists and the gothic revivalists. The conflict
continued into the modem movement. Two relevant examples cited in section on Hugo Hãring is his argument with Le Corbusier and Mies van Der Rohe over form. Jones, "HugoHâring."
movement in England, a preservatiomst, and an architectural critic; however, Ruskin did not have a formal education in architecture, but in the areas of literature and landscape painting." As a result of the latter, John Ruskin developed a sensitivity to the qualities of color and texture that was unusual in Victorian England,^" and he valued the expressive and picturesque qualities of architecture over functional and rational qualities. "...Ruskin consistently discusses a building as something to be seen rather than to be used."^^ The poetry of Wordsworth, whose work John Ruskin greatly admired, also reinforced Ruskin's view of architecture as a part of the landscape.^^ According to Michael W. Brooks,
[John Ruskin's] architectural education proceeded in fíts and starts, but always in one direction: from a water colorist's interest in architecture as a subordinate part of a landscape to his eventual advocacy of building that would eventually capture the qualities of nature in the curve of their arches and the mass of their walls."
Kristine Ottesen Garrisen points out in her book, Ruskin on Architecturc that John Ruskin had a lack of interest in mass, proportion and especially stmcturc'* This may have resulted in Ruskin's separation of the craft of building from the art of architecture, by which he meant the omamentation of key points such as walls, capitals and so forth.
^' He was a watercolorist, Michael W. Brooks, John Ruskin and Victorian Architecturc (London: Rutgers University Press, 1987), 1.
'"ftid, 1. " n ) i d , 9 .
'^lbid.,4.
" f t i d
^*Kristine Ottesen Garrigan, Ruskin on Architecture: His Thought and Influence (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1973), 67.
Ruskin preferred an architecture of effects over an architecture of form. Ruskin hated the direction that the nineteenth century was heading and called stiongly for the use of handicrafts and tiaditíonal materials in architecture, excluding modem materials, such as iron, from consideration in his theories.
The Arts and Craft movement was a development of the Gothic Revival in England and was heavily influenced by John Ruskin. It emphasized the craft aspect of
architecture, and discouraged the use of omament. The result was a simple well-built architecture that respected local custom and materials. In the United States, a similar development occurred in the Shaker traditions, and as a matter of survival on the frontier.
Eugêne Emmanuel Viollet-Ie-Duc (1814-1879)
Eugéne Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was one of the most influential theoreticians in architecturc He was a noted authority on gothic architecture and had a particular
interest in the architecture of the 1300s.'^ As a theoretician, he was a rationalist who saw that the principles of gothic architecture were more applicable to the nineteenth century than the classical principles of the EcoIe-des-Beaux Arts. It was from the gothic
principles that VioUet-le-Duc formulated a new theory of architecture that addressed materials such as iron and glass and the programmatic requirements of the new technologies.*" He was an advocate of rational design.
^'VioIIet-le-Duc was one of the fírst restorers of French gothic architecturc Martin Bressani, "Notes on VioIIet-Ie-Duc's Philosophy of History: Dialectics and Technology," The Societv of Architectural Historians Joumal. 48, No. 4,327-350.
^^* VioIIet-le-Duc was also the father of the current preservationist movement, along with Ruskin. Actually Ruskin was a preservationist and Viollet-Ie-Duc was a restorer of gothic cathedrals. Viollet-Ie-Duc's preservation methodologies have become very
According to VioIett-le-Duc, there were three points that marked a rational design, They are function determines form,*' sti^ctural honesty,^^ and the guiding concept of honest simplicity.*^ VioIIet-Ie-Duc's theories had an influence on Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. SuIIivan, particulariy the point about subordinating all decoration to the guiding concept.^ VioIIet-le-Duc's influence over the Functionalist movement is undeniablc
Violett-Ie-Duc's view of history is important, but to discuss this one must touch on his religious views. He stated, "It is as ridiculous to pretend that there is a god as tt is impertinent to maintain that there is not."*^ That is a statement of an agnostic, and as one he was free to accept evolution as a viable theory of organic development. During the nineteenth century, religion was still a dominant force in intellectual circles. Of particular importance to this paper is Violett-le-Duc's view of histoiy as an evolutionary process instead of the biblical view,*^ in which himians were advancing toward
controversial in the twentieth century. Bressani, "Notes on Viollet-Ie-Duc's Philosophy of History: Dialectics and Technology."
*' M. F. Heam, ed, The Architectural Theory of Violett-le-Duc: Readings and Commentarv. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
1990), 182. *'n>id, 187. ' ' f t i d , 192.
84
Ibid., 209.
*^ VioUet-le-Duc quoted by Nikolaus Pevsner, Some Architectural Writers of the Nineteenth Centurv. (Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1972), 209,
"^Bressani, "Notes on VioIIet-Ie-Duc's Philosophy of History: Dialectics and Technology."
períection, rather than the biblical view of people's fall from perfection,^' As he viewed technology as an aspect of this evolutionary process, and it was easy for him to accept new building technologies and materials, such as iron and glass.
Violett-le-Duc espoused a regional approach to architecture, and admired some vemacular traditions for their development of rational stmcture based on local materials, and for their harmony v^th local climate, topography, and culturc^^ M. F. Heam
comments on Violett-Ie-Duc's use of techniques from other times and cultures: When the form or technique of one tradition fíts the cultural and physical context of another, it can be appropriated to great advantage-as in the case of the Romans and vaulting. But in a fully rational procedure, if the borrowed element works better than a local custom then the custom itself could be dropped and the philosophy of the local tradition could continue unabated along another line of formal development.*^
Viollet-Ie-Duc did not restrict the use of vemacular architecture to a local area. This becomes an important idea in the work of Alvar Aalto, especially after his trips to Italy.
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau was heavily influenced by the writings of Viollet-Le-Duc, especially in the effort to create a national stylc^" This movement, which lasted approximately from
1895 to 1905, was a theoretical offspring of the British Arts and Crafts movement.^' It
' ' f t i d
*^ Heam, The Archttectural Theorv of VioIett-le-Duc. 184.
89 Ibid,201.
^ Kenneth Frampton, Modem Architecture a Critical History. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 64.
^' Tim Benton, "Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau," ed. Frank Russell, Art Nouveau Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1979), 15.
was an attempt in Europe to create a new "style" of archttecture that did not rely on
classical form or theory,^^ but relied on nature and materials for its formal expression. Its treatment of iron as a sinuous material created an orgamc effect in its decoration, though the building organization was classical in most cases.^^ The exception to this was
Antonio Gaudi's work in which organic forms were based on Gaudi's own imagination and his Catalonian culture, and his exploration of Gothic stmcturc His design
methodology used models almost exclusively, and even in his stmctural calculations he used wire models with weights to determine the resulting force vectors. Gaudi's columns, for example, follow the tme direction of vectors. Taking into account Gaudi's symbolism he was as much a sculptor as he was an architect. He is unique in the history of architecture.
In Belgium, Victor Horta followed the same goal as Gaudi the establishment of a modem national stylc In the Hotel Tâssel, Horta used the iron in a manner that offset the mass of the stonc** The iron is sfretched in an imitation of plant forms, which
foreshadows the organic practice of "growing" a building. The building itself was conceived along the rationalist principles of VioIIet-Le-Duc, but the lace quality of the iron is much more than decoration;'' it anticipates Wright's concept of the nature of materials by exploiting the tensile nature of steel.
'^lbid •^Mbid
^ The name is misleading to those that speak no Belgium. The English equivalent is
"townhousc" Ibid.
95
Hector Guimard was probably the most outspoken architect of the Art Nouveau Movement. In his theories, he sfressed the need for omament to demonsfrate the nature of the materials used.^^ Guimard drew his imagery from the fairy tales, and legends of Francc The organic nature of his work was due to his interpretation of the nature of materials, and not to an imitation of natural forms.^' This emphasis on the nature of materials is a part of Art Nouveau theory and it influenced Alvar Aaho through the teachings of Arimas Lindgren.
American Transcendentalism
In the United States of America, the reaction to Diesm was the American
Transcendentalist Movement, The writers of this movement were extolling the virtues of nature and reintroducing a legacy of mysticism inherited from the original British
colonists. The divine revelation of Calvinism and the intuitive knowledge of American Transcendentalism are related approaches to Tmth.
In summary, American transcendentalism is a native philosophy which borrowed widely from other cultures....At the base of transcendentalism is a mystical rather than a rational approach to understanding the mysteries of the universe. As a form of intuitive idealism derived especially from Plato and the Neo-PIatonists, franscendentalism affirms an organic growth principle in opposition to the idea of a world as a perfected mechanism operating through God's preestablished natural law. Since the source of ultimate knowledge can be directly known through one's intuition, transcendentalism extolled ideas
Q Q
over expenencc
^^ David Dunster, ed., Architectural Monographs 2, GiIIian Naylor, "Hector
Guimard-Romantic Rationalist?," (New York; Rizzoli Intemational Publications, 1978), 12,
'^lbid
^*NathanieI Kaplan and Thomas Katsaros, Origins of American Transcendentalism: In Philosophv and Mvsticism (New Haven, Connecticut: CoIIege and University Press,
Both Louis H. SuIIivan and Frank Lloyd Wright were influenced heavily by Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, the three major fígures in American
Transcendentalism. The American Transcendentalist movement was an offshoot of European romanticism, but was combined with other philosophies from European, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures to create a uniquely American philosophy.'^' German philosophies also played a large role in the development of American Transcendentalism, especially through the mystic philosophers and, most importantly, Johan Wolfgang Goethc The American Transcendentalist movement was more heavily grounded in nature than the European romantic movement, and tried to combine science and poetry into a single art. While American Transcendentalism was a romantic movement, it did not look to the historical past as the European romantics looked toward the medieval period. American Transcendentalism looked at nature, which abounded in the frontier. As a result, at least among organic architects, technology became neither the savior of the human race nor the enslaver, but as an extension of Man.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johan Wolfgang Goethe
German philosophy and literature had a heavy influence on the United States from 1820 to 1850. '^ Among the artists and philosophers that Goethe strongly affected, Ralph Waldo Emerson was the most influential in the development of Transcendentalism and the artistic development of the nineteenth century. Johan Wolfgang Goethe said that
1975), 19. ^'^lbid, 19.
"'^Gustaf Van Cromphout, Emerson's Modemity and the Example of Goethe (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1990), 1.
natiu-e itself is the "infínite and etemal tmth." Goethe did not view nature as an
abstiaction but as a physical reality. He was both a naturalist and a poet. He sought to combine both science and poetry.
Emerson was not a naturalist, although he wanted to be onc "" Emerson advocated a fusion of science and poetry, as Goethe did so before him. Emerson said in his lecture, "Works and Days,"
We do not listen with the best regard to the verses of a man who is only a poet, nor to his problems if he is only an algebraist; but, if a man is at once acquainted with the geometrical foundations of things and with their festal splendor, his poetry is exact and his arithmetic musical."'"^
Art for Emerson was best if grounded in an empirical reality, the reality of naturc Both Goethe and Emerson found it impossible to tieat art separately from nature, although they did not tieat art as an imitation of nature in the neoclassical sensc'"^ The artist should emulate nature by grasping the idea that she was trying to develop, and to
reproduce the formal development of that idea. This was a dynamic process, which was similar to Darwin's theory of evoIution.'°" Goethe was influenced by his years of study in botany and anatomy, which heavily influenced his aesthetic theories.'*'^ Emerson, at least in his aesthetic theory, followed Goethe's theories.
'"' In 1832, Emerson retired from the ministry and a year later had resolved to become a naturalist after visiting the Muséum d'Histoire Naturale in Paris. He had experienced a stiange sympathy with naturc Ibid., 24.
'°']bid.,25.
'"Mbid, 57-58.
"*" The concept of evolution, as laid down by Darwin, is very familiar to the reader, but very revolutionary at the time it was published in The Origin of Species.
Beginning with SuIIivan in Ihe United Siates, organic architeclure began to develop from the theones of Emerson and the poetry of Walt Whitman. The European continent was the site of a second line of reasoning which did not have the sfrong influence of American transcendentalism and its mysticism. European organic architecture developed from the empirical philosophies of the Enlightenment.
Organic Architects Louis H. SuIIivan (1856-1924)
The opinion expressed by Narciso G. Menocal in his book, Architecture as Nature. that Louis H. Sullivan was an omamentalist who favored the adomment of key points in a building""' is worth looking at, if only to clarify the actual nature of Sullivan's work. This opinion of Menocal has some basis, but the implication that Sullivan was not an
architect, is both unfair and inaccuratc
Conunon to all his [Louis H. SuIIivan] periods was the Ruskinian idea that architecture consisted exclusively of the articulation of surfaces and the decoration of key points. Stenciled omamentation; reliefs in plaster, terra cotta, and cast iron; clusters of organic motifs placed on capitals and other prominent places, stmctural members attached to facades and becoming constituents of anthropomorphic programs; and later, tapestry brick and
stained glass-these in his opinion were suffícient components for achieving his aesthetic purposes.'"^
This was a common nineteenth-century attitude and was more dependent upon a fradition of building craft than modem attitudes allow. Menocal devotes most of his book to the
"'^NarcisoMenocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis SuIIivan (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of WisconsinPress, 1981), xvii.
analysis of the omamentation done by SuIIivan, a justifíable approach to understanding this architect.
The fírst part of Sullivan's career was as the partner of Dankmar Adler. Adler was a stmctural, mechanical and acoustical engineer who hired SuUivan because he felt that his own artistic sensibilities were inadequate to achieve the quality he wanted for his commissions.'°* Sullivan was to design facades and omamentation. "•' The context in which Sullivan was designing them was in the design of the early skyscrapers, a building type which still today requires a team of engineers and architects to design. Although Adler did design much of the technical details, SuIIivan was not restricted to facade design or omamentation.'"' "Since one of Sullivan's primary interests was to reveal as transcendentalist as possible a program on the exterior of buildings, his work within the partnership could not have been better suited to his vocation."'" This is not the attitude of a mere decorator, but of an architect concemed with the entire building. During the second part of his career, SuIIivan "designed""^ on his own, which indicates that he was capable of "designing" as the term is interpreted by Menocal. The actions of SuUivan in
'°'n)id.,43. '""ftid
'""Dennis Alan Anderson and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, "Adler and Sullivan's Seattle Opera House Project," Joumal of The Societv of Architectural Historians 48 (September 1989)223-231.
"'lbid
"^Designed is used in the modem sense to distinguish his activity from that of the work he did in the offíce of Dankmar Adler. It is unfair assume that twentieth century attitudes toward design apply to a nineteenth century practice or that SuIIivan was any less than an architect.
the design of the Seattle Opera House as documented in the Joumal of The Societv of Architectural Historians"^ indicate that he had a larger role m the design process and included responsibility for the technical aspects of the design.""
David S. Andrew, in his book, Louis Sullivan and the Polemics of Modem
Architecturc recognizes that SuIIivan was an architect, but downplays the role of organic conceptions in his work preferring, to point out how SuIIivan's theories were weak, rather than how they applied to his works. This in is a disservice to the architect."^ It raises the question of what Louis SuIIivan actually meant when he said that form follows function, It is obvious that he did not intend the meaning given later by the Functionalist
movement, more accurately stated that ftmction and environment determines form. SuIIivan's interpretation of "form follows function" would be that the needs of the people involved must be met before the architecture can be involved."^
For SuIIivan, architecture was a high art that demonsfrated tmth or, as Menocal states, "The chief function of architecture would be to express philosophical concepts related only to what he considered to be the highest tmths ofnaturc""^ Sullivan's work is organic, but not in the sense that the entire building uses organic stmcture, form or
"^ Anderson and Ochsner, "Adler and Sullivan's Seattle Opera House Project," 223-231.
114
Md.
"^David S. Andrew, Louis SuIIivan and the Polemics of Modem Architecture: The Present Against the Past. (Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1985), 58-74.
" ' l b i d
"^ Menocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis SuIIivan . 16.
rhythms. His work does employ an interpretation of Man's relationship to Nature in the omamentation. (1) Sullivan used a principle of design, for his omamental elements, in which he would make organic forms, usually plant like, issue from a system of sfraight or curved lines or any other geometric combination thereof SuIIivan considered the
correlation of geometry and the organic to be the basis of nature's way of composition and thus has a transcendental quality."* SuIIivan considered architecture to be a teaching device from which people could leam how to commune with nature and thus achieve perfection. To quote Sullivan, "The vital purpose and signifícance of art is that of attuning its rhythmic song ... to the rhythms of nature as these are interpreted by the sympathetic soul.""^
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
The education of Frank Lloyd Wright as an architect was largely informal, His experiences with nature on his uncle's farm, Wright's apprenticeship to Lyman Silsbee and later to Louis Sullivan formed the majority of his architectural education, with a brief two year tenure in collegc'^*' SuIIivan's influence on Wright was considerable, as
acknowledged by Wright. Perhaps the most important contribution of SuIIivan to Wright's architecture is Sullivan's organic theory which Wright applied to his entire oeuvrc Lyman Silsbee, while not outstandingly brilliant, did infroduce Wright to a
"*n)id.,31. "'ftid., 14.
'^" Wright spent less than two years at the University of Wisconsin. Peter Blake, The Master Builders: Le Corbusier. Mies van Der Rohc Frank Lloyd Wright (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1976), 290-294.
picturesque architecture instead of the classical style which dominated in the Untted States at the tum of the century. Silsbee practiced in the Shingle Style, which used an open plan, surface treatment, and the massing and features of the Queen Aime Stylc'^' Wright's early education in the Froebel Kindergarten system, however, played an important role in Wright's work and in his way of visualizing space (Appendix B).
The following is Vincent Scully Jr.'s interpretation of what Frank Lloyd Wright meant by Organic architecturc
He [Wright] dearly believed that, when a building built by men to serve a specifícally human purpose not only celebrated that purpose in its visible forms but became an integrated stmcture as well, it then took on the character of an organism which existed according to its own complete and balanced
laws....This is what Wright meant by "Organic."'^^
In Frank Lloyd Wright, ScuUy had discusses how Wright could not accept the separation of man from nature that is implied in classical architecturc'^^ For Wright nature was the great teacher whose lessons could only be approached by the architect while the classicist regarded nature as something to be perfected or tamed.
Wright was heavily influenced by the American Transcendentalist Movement, and believed that people have a need to harmonize with naturc''" He attempted to
accomplish this through his architecture by the emulation of the natural stmcture of the site. This resulted in an architecture in which the boundary between the natural site and
'^' Spiro Kostof, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 652.
'^^ Vincent ScuIIy Jr., Frank Llovd Wright. (New York: George Braziller, Inc, 1960), 13.
' " f t i d , 12.