Thinking Through Twentieth-Century Architecture

Thinking Through Twentieth-Century Architecture connects the practice of architecture with its recent history and its theoretical origins – those philosophical ideas that lay behind modernism and its aftermath. By analyzing in straightforward and jargon-free language the genesis of modernism and the complex reactions to it, the book clarifies a continuing debate. It has been specifically written to connect issues of theory, history and contemporary practice and to allow students to make these connections easily. This is a history of twentieth-century architecture, written with close critical attention to the theories that lie behind the works described. Importantly, unlike other historical accounts, it does not take sides and urge the reader to identify with one strand of thinking or style of architecture at the expense of others, but it presents a dispassionate view, with persuasive arguments on behalf of different positions. It pursues the history of European and American architecture chronologically, but the history is interwoven with the philosophical ideas that informed both writers and architects and are essential for its understanding. The book is relevant to current issues of contemporary practice and education, showing that philosophical issues are fundamental and those relating to design decisions never go away. It includes 200 illustrations and will appeal to all those interested in twentieth-century architecture and to architectural students.

Introduction 1. A philosophical framework Introduction 1.1 Logic 1.2 Epistemology 1.3 Ethics 1.4 Aesthetics 1.5 Metaphysics 1.6 Three broad metaphysical distinctions: Idealism 1.7 Three broad metaphysical distinctions: Scepticism or Nominalism 1.8 Three broad metaphysical distinctions: Pragmatism 1.9 The Enlightenment split 1.10 Implications for architectural education and practice 2. Origins of Modernism – the European picture Introduction 2.1 Mechanisation 2.2 The problem of the city 2.3 The cultural issue of a modern style 2.4 Respect for the past 2.5 Moral criteria 2.6 Art Nouveau as a first manifestation of Modernism 2.7 Aesthetics, ethics and politics: some broader questions 3. Fin de siècle Vienna as a paradigm of Modernism Introduction 3.1 Historical and cultural background 3.2 Sitte and Wagner: two views of the city 3.3 Politics and philosophical thinking 3.4 Literature and psychology 3.5 Music 3.6 Furniture and painting 3.7 Architecture: Wagner and Loos 3.8 Relevance 4. The Modernist Canon: the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and CIAM Introduction 4.1 Gropius and the Bauhaus 4.2 Gropius’s later career 4.3 Le Corbusier 4.4 The inherited problem of the city 4.5 CIAM’s solution to the problems of the city 4.6 Functional and formal disciplines 4.7 A first critique: decorated diagrams 4.8 The campus as a CIAM city 4.9 Philosophy and politics: the Bauhaus in its German context 4.10 Conflicted positions in Le Corbusier 5. Positive Scepticism: Alvar Aalto as an alternative modernist Introduction 5.1 The Finnish context 5.2 Neo-classical beginnings 5.3 Paimio, Villa Mairea and Aalto’s own house 5.4 Baker house, some of the post-war brick buildings and Finlandia Hall 5.5 Some underlying themes 5.6 The philosophical nature of Aalto’s scepticism 6. Ideals and their representation: Louis Kahn Introduction 6.1 Education and early work 6.2 Yale Art Gallery extension and Trenton Community Centre 6.3 Richards Research laboratory 6.4 Rochester Unitarian church 6.5 Salk laboratories 6.6 Phillips Exeter Academy 6.7 Kimbell Museum and Mellon Gallery for British Art 6.8 Kahn’s primary concerns, strengths and weaknesses 7. Humanizing Modernism: Team Ten and the Dutch Introduction 7.1 Say leaf, say tree 7.2 Ralph Erskine – a Swedish member of Team Ten 7.3 British contributors to Team Ten 7.4 Aldo van Eyck 7.5 Herman Hertzberger 7.6 The architectural contribution of Team Ten 7.7 The philosophical context of the Team Ten critique 8. Postmodernism: Irony and Inclusiveness Introduction 8.1 Venturi’s critique 8.2 Mother’s House and a Lutyens precedent 8.3 Ducks and decorated sheds 8.4 Irony as the only truthful response to twentieth-century conditions 8.5 Michael Graves and a referential architecture 9. The typological critique Introduction 9.1 No describable public space 9.2 Un-nameable objects 9.3 Absence of hierarchy 9.4 Architectural typology 9.5 The argument for typology in the twentieth century 9.6 Aldo Rossi 9.7 The slide into historical pastiche 9.8 A Kantian apologist for the classical tradition and pragmatist responses 9.9 Legacy 10. Conflicting existential ideals Introduction 10.1 Some consequences of the destruction of a post-Kantian world-view 10.2 Embracing the conditions of a changed world: Rem Koolhaas 10.3 Embracing the conditions of a changed world: Bernard Tschumi 10.4 Resisting the conditions of a changed world: a phenomenological critique 10.5 Architectural interpretations of a phenomenological position 10.6 Understanding history from a phenomenological perspective 11. Conclusions – 21st century hindsight Introduction 11.1 Twentieth-century post-Enlightenment thinking 11.2 Critical perspectives from the twenty-first century: racial inclusivity 11.3 Critical perspectives from the twenty-first century: gender inclusivity 11.4 Critical perspectives from the twenty-first century: sustainability 11.5 Implications in the search for a language of form 11.6 Some architects and writers on architecture who accept its contingent nature 11.7 Further implications for architectural education 11.8 A Humean position Acknowledgements Select bibliography Index

Nicholas Ray, currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool, practised and taught at Cambridge for more than 40 years, where he is an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College. Previous publications include monographs on Alvar Aalto and Rafael Moneo and co-authored books and articles with Christian Illies, a German philosopher.