Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture
    Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture
    Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture
    Ebook211 pages53 minutes

    Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture

    By Henry Plummer

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Shaker buildings have long been admired for their simplicity of design and sturdy craftsmanship, with form always following function. Over the years, their distinctive physical characteristics have invited as much study as imitation. Their clean, unadorned lines have been said to reflect core Shaker beliefs such as honesty, integrity, purity, and perfection. In this book, Henry Plummer focuses on the use of natural light in Shaker architecture, noting that Shaker builders manipulated light not only for practical reasons of illumination but also to sculpt a deliberately spiritual, visual presence within their space. Stillness and Light celebrates this subtly beautiful aspect of Shaker innovation and construction, captured in more than 100 stunning photographs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIndiana University Press
    Release dateAug 11, 2009
    ISBN9780253007780
    Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture

    Related to Stillness and Light

    Related ebooks

    Architecture For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Language Of Modernism And The Sense Of Tradition

      Feb 4, 2022

      Architecture is the constructing a place in which users can remain in a meaningful way. As most architecture is placed in a communal living environment (or natural environment), such as a city or town, it implies relationships between public and priv

      10 min read

    • Article

      Two views: Japanese Kōgei

      Aug 1, 2017

      Two views: Japanese Kōgei
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Woman’s Place

      Feb 6, 2022

      A Woman’s Place
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Simple Message: Balance, Renewal And Equity

      May 8, 2022

      Penning this foreword to conclude my year as National President, I am trying to look forward without reflecting too much on what we have achieved. At the time of writing, floodwaters are ravaging the east coast of Australia, we are still interrupted

      3 min read

    • Article

      Back To Bauhaus

      May 26, 2019

      Back To Bauhaus
      1 min read

    • Article

      Immaterial Worlds

      May 6, 2019

      Immaterial Worlds
      5 min read

    • Article

      Designing for Density

      Mar 23, 2020

      Designing for Density
      4 min read

    • Article

      Creating Conversations

      Mar 27, 2020

      Creating Conversations
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book

      Oct 8, 2020

      Book
      3 min read

    • Article

      Fresh Finds

      Sep 26, 2021

      Fresh Finds
      2 min read

    • Article

      Best roofscape

      Jan 6, 2022

      Best roofscape
      2 min read

    • Article

      Diamante Brilliante

      Jun 20, 2023

      Diamante Brilliante
      3 min read

    • Article

      Village Life

      Dec 2, 2019

      Village Life
      3 min read

    • Article

      Architecture In Context

      Nov 23, 2020

      Architecture In Context
      1 min read

    • Article

      Ezra Stoller

      Mar 10, 2020

      Ezra Stoller
      4 min read

    • Article

      Small House, Big Heart

      Apr 13, 2022

      Small House, Big Heart
      3 min read

    • Article

      Design: Building on Country

      Aug 29, 2021

      Alison Page and Paul Memmott have written this timely and powerful book as part of a First Knowledges series, edited by Margo Kneale, which brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors in an act of reconciliation. Design: Building on Country

      3 min read

    • Article

      Editor’s Letter

      Mar 10, 2022

      Editor’s Letter
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Stillness and Light

    3/5

    5 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Stillness and Light - Henry Plummer

      been.

      INTRODUCTION SHAKER LIGHT ~ BUILDING A STATE OF GRACE

      The magnificent craftsmanship of the Shakers, who for two centuries were America's most successful utopian society, gave visible form to a firm belief that usefulness and holiness are one and the same. There was no separation between practical and sacred values in this evangelical sect, which reached its height in 1840 with nearly six thousand members in eighteen communities, set in rural and isolated locations from Maine to Kentucky.¹ Perhaps the purest expression of their unique way of living, in which down-to-earth common sense is permeated with rigorous faith, is the exquisite functional beauty of their architecture. A twofold striving for perfection, epitomized in the Shaker maxim, put your hands to work and your hearts to God, was manifested in everything they built—from a door to a window, a stair to a railing, a wall to a roof. Underlying this double vision was a desire to live in two different worlds—spiritual and natural—at the same time, and with equal intensity, for as Shakers believed, heaven and earth are threads of one loom.²

      Beyond its solid outer form, as simple and handsome as it is, Shaker architecture displays another, more elusive dimension where utility and theology merge—a pragmatic, yet also sublime treatment of natural light. Although Shakers themselves were reticent about explaining this preoccupation, their buildings exhibit a love and care for managing light that is unique in American architecture.³ This mastery ranged from maximizing the penetration of daylight into buildings, to ethereal effects of atmosphere conducive to the spiritual life, suggesting architectural concerns that go well beyond the physical world.

      While good natural lighting was beneficial for everyday tasks, such as working and cleaning, the other, undoubtedly more profound source of Shaker passion for natural light was religious. Despite a contemporary bias toward emphasizing the material culture and social mores of Shakers, it must be kept in mind that Shaker ambitions were, at their core, divine rather than material or social.⁴ Spirit rather than matter was of the essence. The appealing images of Shaker forms that meet our rational eyes today—superbly crafted boxes and chairs, walls and cabinets, floors and stairs—belie a far deeper purpose, and spiritual intent, which has nothing to do with material aesthetics or adoration. Modeling their ways after Christ, Shakers were engaged, rather, in a constant attempt to cast off possessions and become free of objects, stripping away the artificial wrappings of worldly culture, in order to get back to an ultimate state of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1