Compare and
contrast the methods developed and employed by Viollet le Duc, Ruskin, and
Semper in their search to establish a new architecture for the 19th c. Your
answer should highlight the outcomes or principle theories that resulted. (
Tip: Encyclopedia, Seven Lamps or Virtues, and Mathematical formulation of
style).
The
common factor between Viollet-le-Duc, Ruskin, and Semper is their interest in
gothic revival architecture and that they were all three social reformers. First,
lets break down these three architects beliefs on Gothic architecture. Semper designed works at all scales, from a baton for Richard
Wagner to major urban interventions. Ruskin
loved Gothic, but hated iron. And finally, Semper, who loved tectonics, but
hated Gothic and iron. Semper wrote extensively about the origins of architecture,
especially in his book The Four Elements
of Architecture from 1851, and he was one of the major figures in the
controversy surrounding the polychrome architectural style of ancient Greece. Viollet le Duc loved Gothic and iron. He was a
French architect and theorist, famous for his interpretive
"restorations" of medieval buildings. Born in Paris, he was a major
Gothic Revival architect. He was the architect hired to design the internal
structure of the Statue of Liberty.
Semper
did not see the necessity of technological innovations and did not incorporate
iron in his architectural theory. Later architects disagreed with this notion
and said he should incorporate these ideas, especially in his larger scale
applications for load-bearing structural purposes. Some people’s opinions were
that he lacked an appreciation for the Gothic style architecture and that he
did not appreciate Gothic’s shift of ornament to structure. Semper’s
theories revolves around his four categories of the built form (hearth,
substructure, the roof, and the enclosure). To Semper all architecture contains
these aspects in some way.
Ruskin’s
masterpiece is The Seven Lamps of
Architecture, which are the Lamp of Sacrifice, of Truth, of Power, of
Beauty, of Life, of Obedience, and of Memory. Ruskin was very adamant about
honesty in architecture, he wrote “Do not let us lie at all” this meaning that
materials needed to stay true to their nature. Arguing against painting faux
finishes and building faux supports, Ruskin also despised the use of machine
made ornamentation. He believed in the spirit of the carver and that the
craftsmanship is what makes a building. Although later he states that “The
dishonesty of the machine would cease, as soon as it became universally
practiced, of which universality there seems every likelihood in these days.”
He is essentially stating that once something becomes commonplace it is no
longer dishonest. Ruskin was criticized for his totally two-dimensional vaults.
However, he did view Gothic architecture as a way of life. He says
“Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life. It is the
sign of a state of progress and change.” He calls Gothic architecture "changefulness."
He talks about "the perpetual variety of every feature of a
building," and an "active rigidity; the peculiar energy which gives
tension to its movement." These are all quotes from "The Nature of
Gothic," a chapter in The Stones of Venice.
Viollet
le Duc, born
in 1814, is
very different from Ruskin and is generally seen as a structural rationalist.
On the one hand, he saved the Gothic from revivalism. For example, sheer
stylistic duplication, but on the other, he removed the flying buttress and
replaced it with the iron tension rod.
He was looked to be a 20th-century engineer; he started to diminish all
of the Gothic ribs. He reworked the cross vault into a space frame. With
Viollet-le-Duc, architecture shifts from a massive state towards a complex
state, a mixture of materials and a mixture of elements. It was the true
beginning of the modern joint, the joint as a technical problem. Before, the
joint was only an architectural problem. Suddenly we have this emergence of the
joint and the detail, simply because components are now made in a factory before
they arrive at the construction site, where they have to be assembled and
jointed. Obviously, Viollet le Duc won the hearts and minds of the modernists,
because his view of iron and the Gothic style is an industrialized one. In his
encyclopedia, Viollet-le-Duc argues that architecture is about reasoning, that
it must be analyzed. He rationalized every aspect of architecture, to him
“there is a reason for everything; geometry is paramount and ornament is
admitted with nice discretion.” Additionally, he believed that the intelligence
of the designer is more important than the craftsmen.
To conclude these three
architecture social reformers appreciated the beauty and form of gothic
architecture, although their methods are differing. Viollet-le-Duc rationalized
all aspects of the architecture. Ruskin believed in the importance of the craftsman.
Semper mathematically analyzed the architecture.
