Architecture as Drawing

Author(s): Alberto Perez-Gomez

Source: JAE, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Winter, 1982), pp. 2-7
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424613
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 ARCHITECTURE
AS DRAWING

LI J r i RZo. 6,
L pi,tqFtatUpMftditt
Wdtum uwd~ut cMn1'f
fiwnM t,te di Srimatc,
v<tcchb. L fuwtt/fu
bexch'ells re fifcc itl m, inqxt
B,, Is Cbiefa di San Pietro in reMtoriofnx-
AlbertoPerez-Gomez studiedarchitecture
in During theRenaissance, architecture becamea
ri di Rn-.L4 pfntf"fet
nete, accm Sco
dsldefl
4 t,d "
l'oprt"
bif
ln
vftccbt.
veccbid.Qlxef4 parst di te aditnque cefi *rdlri Bra-
L prseL fegu/te C, dino ains tlqis con quttro ca. Mexicoandreceiveda Ph.D.inHistoryand liberalartbecauseit wasperceived to be an
tPclette x lhigoli. La prtre D, cortikl. La pnrt E, I vxo tempiettojlqxals fecfftrte itrf-.
t SrtMmtt. tLe uFHteedeiqilkix
ti d,itereran -o. Dclle?
se
legnteui
piidrfufaformanefle
frt di qxitfA pur4nota
cSt-
dico?9lo*xCin,S,
TheoryfromtheUniversity
of Essex,England. activityoftheintellect,
akinto geometry and
f/sermete io I bo f/it per 'imnti ri dellla qaie tfrcbatctto fipotr Heis currently
anAssociateProfessor of mathematics. Disegnowasa "graceful pre-
at theUniversity
Architecture of Houston.His ordering of thelinesand-angles, conceived in
bookArchitecture
andtheCrisisof Modern themind."6 "Image" entailedimitation(mimesis),
Science(MITPress)willappearinJuly,1983. thought, andconception, andwasusuallyasso-
ciatedwiththenewlydiscovered powersof man
Thedistancebetweenarchitectural drawing as a magus.7The"image" wasthearchitec-
andbuilding hasalwaysbeenopaqueand turalidea(from theroot1I, to see) inthe
ambiguous. Indeed,much of theconfusion strictetymological sense,implying "look,"
facedbycontemporary architectsandeducators "semblance," and"form." The"image" was
seemsto be linkedto a misunderstanding of alsoanalogous inderivation
andoriginal sense
drawingas a toolof reduction.Thisarticleis an to "species"(from spec-ere,to behold), which
attemptto cast somelightuponthisproblem, alludesto theoriginalperception ofthea priori
examininghistoricalevidencethatwillleadto orderof reality.Thusthearchitect usedimages
a discussionof prevalent which
prejudices to embody a transcendental,abstract(geomet-
hamper ourperception of modern architecture's rical)order,inaccordance withthetraditional
truepotential. Aristotelian of places.
hierarchy
Vitruvius understooddrawing, at best,as a Whilethetraditional a primeaval
builder, poet
minor partof thepractice of architecture,
while (fromtheGreek poesis,to make),madehis
"theory" explained"theproductions of archi- thoughts intobuildingthroughtheimplementa-
tectureontheprinciples of proportion."1
Alberti, tionof anoperational geometry(intheoriginal
as weknow,wasthefirstto distinguish between senseof givinghuman dimensions to external
designandstructure as thetwoconstituent theRenaissance
reality), architectarticulated
TheplanofBramante's inthecourtyard
Tempietto ofS. Pietro
inMontorio,
in Rome.
Montorio,
Rome.Serlioreproduced
Serlio thisoriginal
this
reproduced "idea"inhis
'Idea"in
original his partsof architecture.2Theopening pagesof thenecessarily "abstractlanguage" of walls,
treatise
Architettura
etProspettiva
(1519), inspiteofthefact DeReAedificatoria contend thatdesigncon- openings, andcolumnsinarchitectural drawing,
thatonlythecentral
structure
(E)wasactually built. sists "ina rightandexactadapting andjoining bymeansof plans(ichnographia), elevations
together thelinesandangleswhichcompose (orthographia),andprofilesorsections.In
andformthefaceof thebuilding."3 Therole defining theurban contextandits institutions
of designwas"toappoint to theedificeandall through "images," thearchitect
enhanced the
its partstheirproperplaces,determinate traditionalsense ofplace,addingmeanings
number, justproportion andbeautiful order."4 thatspoketo manabouthimself,abouta new
Design,however, wasinAlberti's mind"insep- understanding of lifeas valuable
experience,
arablefrommatter", so thatdrawing wasper- beyond medieval determinism,butthatwas
ceivedas theembodiment of architectural
ideas, neverincontradiction to,ordefied,theorder
distinctfromperspectives thatrepresented (in of Creation.
painting),therealityof a building.5
Renaissance architecturaldrawing wasper-
ceivedas a symbolic intentionto befulfilled
inthebuilding,whileremaining anautonomous
realmof expression.Hence,thebuilding, i.e.,
meaning givenintheimmediacy of embodied
perception,wasalwaysacceptedas primary.
Insteadof dictating
a set of instructions
that
wereto be actualizedbyimplementing neutral
technologicalprocesses,thearchitect,still
a builder,
primarily knewthatthe"distance"
betweenideaandmatter, betweendesignand
wouldbe reconciled
construction, through his
owninvolvement inbuilding. InFilarete's
 tt ro SJtr O 0. 14

forexample,
Trattato, Platonicovertones as a neutral
collection
ofinformationforits
the
notwithstanding, architectwaswellaware construction.
Theroadwascertainlyopenfor
thatthebuilding
wouldchangeinthecourseof thetransformation
ofthebuilder
intoaneffi-
andthatit couldbe enriched
construction, and cientdesigner,
capableofcontrolling
practice
evenimproved.8Theprimacy of synesthetic, through methods
prescriptive andprecise draw-
embodiedperception wasrecognized. Nothing ings.Butthetransformation
didnothappen
canreplacethemeaning a
of experiencing overnight.
Perhapsmoreimportantly,
this
building,
regardlessof howsophisticated the historical
evidenceshowsthattheperception
of a building
reduction intoothermediums oftheoryas method,andofdrawing as itstool
mightappear.Phenomenological psychology ofreduction,
shouldnotbetakenforgranted.
teachesus thatsuchembodied experienceis Only modernarchitects
afterDurandhave
thegroundforallotherperception of meaning. assumed sucha roleofdrawingas primary
andunquestionable.
InLaPraticadellaPerspettiva (1569),Daniele
Barbaro, thephilosopher andmathematician, Toward theendofthe18thcentury Gaspard
friendandpatron of Palladio, madesomeinter- Monge developed hisdescriptivegeometry,
estingcomments aboutVitruvius's architectural which became a basicdisciplineofDurand's
"ideas." Barbaro emphatically disagreed with school,theEcolePolytechnique. Theproblem
theclaimthatlinearperspective (perspectiva ofdescribing anobject throughitsprojections
alongwithplan(ichnographia)
artificialis), and onthreeplaneshadbeena concern ofarchi-
elevation (orthographia), wasoneof thearchi- tectsbefore Monge, buttheinvention of
tecturalideasreferred to byVitruvius inthe descriptivegeometry wasmore thana systema-
secondchapter of his BookOne.9Theinter- tizationofknown methods.Descriptive geometry
pretation of Vitruvius's sciographia remains opened thewayfora functionalization ofthe
problematic, andthemostsensiblecommenta- "lived world,"i.e.,fortheinception ofnon- ,crr?
torsandtranslators of thetexthavealways Euclidean geometries. Itbecame aneffective
struggled withthepassage.10 Itis clearthat instrument ofpower, andanabsolutely essential
Vitruvius wasnotreferring to linearperspective, toolofprecision during theIndustrialRevolu- B Serlio'sillustration
fora perspective
construction.
Histreatise,
butrather to a perception of thebuilding's tion.Theoriginal architectural
ideaswere Architetturaet Prospettiva wasthefirstbookonarchi-
(-1519),
tecturaltheoryto includea chapteronperspective.
totalityindepth,a viewwhichreconciled the transformed intouniversal projectionsthat
internalandexternal orders,theplanandthe couldthen,andonlythen,beperceived as
elevation.Vitruvius hadpositedhisthree reductionsofbuildings, creatingtheillusionof
"ideas"as themeansof expression of archi- drawing as a neutraltoolthatcommunicates
tecturalorderordisposition, andBarbaro unambiguous likescientific
information, prose.
contended thatsciographia shouldnotbe Don't weeventodaysee architectural educators
misunderstood as scenographia, orstage standinfront ofprojectsina review andignore
design,whichwasthetrueprovince of perspec- architectural ideas,pretendinginstead to
tive.Instead, he proposed adding thesectionor criticize
"buildings,"assuming thatit is pos-
to theplanandto theelevation
profile that sibleto predicttheirobjectivemeaning?14
hadbeenrecommended byVitruvius.
Althoughseeminglyreacting
against the"engi-
Forthemostpart,17thcentury architects neers" oftheEcolePolytechnique,professors
continued to distinguishbetweenarchitecture, andstudents attheEcoledesBeaux Arts
whichdepended upongeometrical operations regardeddrawingas animplicit
manifestation
andcombinations, andperspective, whichacted ofdescriptive
geometry.Thisunderstanding
as a toolof illusionism.1Perhaps onlyinthe hasalways beentakenforgrantedandmakes
early18thcentury treatiseof Ferdinando Galli- fora crucial
andextremelycomplex problem.
Bibienawasthetaskof thearchitect identified Thedepth andextension
ofitsramifications
withthatofthestagedesigner.12 Theambiguity canbegrasped byremarkingitsconnection
concerning theuse of perspective as a means towhatEdmund Husserldescribed as the
to embody anarchitecturalintention is ex- crisisofEuropean andtotheincep-
science,15
tremelyrevealing. DuringtheRenaissance tionofnon-Euclideangeometriesintheearly
drawing couldbe moreorless precise,making 19thcentury. Cylindrical
anamorphosis of S. Francis,fromF. Niceron's
Q
sometimes use of toolslikegridsorscales,13 Curious
Perspective (1638),showingthe use of geometrical
butthedrawing wasevidently notperceived as as a toolof illusionism.
perspective
a "picture" of thebuilding,
as its reduction,or
 :

Euclidean geometry, as bothOrtega y Gasset

andCassirer havepointed out,restsupon
intuition.16Itis "precise" becauseits origins
,~~
areimprecise, becauseits lawsresideinthe
*
;i'
'
./
; i.~
realmof experience. Thesubstitution of a
purely opticalrealityfortheprimary synesthetic
realityof ourbeingintheworld(i.e.,thesubsti-
*.,. b ': F-^."
8 .M '"',(_
tutionofperspectiva naturalis,theEuclidean
".?* ! lawsof optics,forperspectiva
.
-r
'1 ':
.....
--- ,'1.
havestartedduring
artificialis)
theRenaissance,
may
butwas
notfullyaccomplished untilVictorPoncelet,
,.,;r.
...:', ; drawing onMonge's work,wrotehistreatiseon
_~..
,N^ r\
-i~~~~~~~~~~~~ projective geometry in1822.ForEuclideach
-
;tT^x-
|-. r,.. _ "figure" hadits ownproperties andwasper-
-.^
i-:'.^ l^i^ ceivedas irreducible. Geometry worked pre-
^
?^..^:^.~;;;'4 ciselybecauseparallel linesnevermet.17
Evenduring the"Ageof Reason," theembodied,
j-' *,.!?t~ , i'~ . ~ -'~. ~ '?: ' - tactileperception of a transcendental Nature
~~~~~~~~~~?.
'~' - ~'-C-y
.
n^ ',. . ~",,.^n
hadprimacy overvisualreduction orperspec-
_." r/ ":.~ '' :'"~l
" tivismas a sourceof truthandmeaning.
~
.i r: "
< i t w
J_
\

.,--
"~: 'j~ '! ~ Whenperspective hadlostits symbolic content
,,l !:!
, ' -.,; . '): . -' -?- to becomethe"truth of reality,"
thearchitects
". . ... 0;wf;_11L' ' -.-. ~' ttT i . X 1'. I' ^i*-t, , of theEnlightenment
the Baroque
abandoned it as an"idea:"
vistagavewayto theEnglish
'' ' . - ?
~
!-?l
L'-':.o~ .'..,,,.-. ,'~' %,4 ,.
garden.Almosta century later,Ponceletused
-,-- 1".:~s %\':'
X .---:5-:'
perspective theoryto refutethepostulate of
, :: ,:. .. -, parallellinesandgivegeometry
of algebra."18Ponceletdeclared
the"generality
that
systemsof parallel andconverging lineswere
identical,andthatthelivedworldwashomolo-
gouswiththe infinite geometrical universe of
homogeneous space.'9ThusallEuclidean
figureslosttheirspecificityandtheworld(i.e.,
its geometry) wasreduced to a formal system
of transformations.
Themodern beliefthatdrawing is simplya
reduction of a buildinghas,therefore, enormous
implications. Descriptivegeometry build-
made
ingsciencepossible.Forthefirsttimethe
architect wasableto dictateto a masonor
carpenter a seriesof operations through work-
Sectionof Guarini's
churchof S. Lorenzo
inTurin,fromhis ingdrawings orprecisedetaildesigns,without
|
treatiseArchitettura
Civile(1737).Guarini's
architecture having to be involved inthe"craft" of "building"
depended onthecombination of Euclidean
figuresforits beauty itself.20Thisis, of course,a preconditionof
andits stability. methods of productioninarchitec-
contemporary
tureandcivilengineering. Butthismodern
prejudice is alsosharedbymostarchitects
whoregard designas obliquely relatedto art.
Durand wasthefirstto advocate themethods
of descriptivegeometry inarchitectural
design.
Inhis lecturesat theEcolePolytechnique, he
declared thatnobuilding couldfailto please
as longas it fulfilled
inanefficientandeco-
nomicmanner thepragmatic requirementsfor Therejection of reductionism inarchitecture I st",'."' l\! T.EMPlI.F. lPF. V'E'TA A K('l.

shelter.Thisamounted to a denialof symbolic mustbringabouta recognition of thevalueof I :-. .

Ie l.;t ..; U' #;c;.
,.:.t

orderas thecruxof architecture.

ForDurand, theoreticalprojectsas drawing (ormodel):
thebuilding hadto providemaximum pleasure projectswhich,bydefinition, questionthe
withminimum means.InhisPr6cis,mythand of
possibility theirexecution in a prosaicworld.
metaphysical concernswereexcluded from Priorto Piranesi,Boull6eandLedoux, this
architectural
theory,andarchitecture becamea notionof a theoreticalproject wouldnothave
gameof formal combinationsfacilitatedbythe madesense.During the18thcentury, reason
gridof his "mechanism of composition.'21 becamepowerful butneverexcluded myth.The
Thus,designwas,inessence,a logicdevoidof naturalphilosophy of Newton, prototypeof all
absolutemeaning, inwhichonlythesyntaxof knowledge, wasultimately motivated bythe
stylecouldbe controlledbyreason. of therevelation
possibility of Godthrough a
betterunderstanding of Hisworks.23 Art,poetry,
Modern "professionalarchitects" havetaken andsciencetherefore, werenotcontradictory.
forgranted Durand's understanding of "design" Alldisciplineswereenvisioned againstthe
as reduction.Consequently, theycontinue to sameepistemological horizon dependent ona
createmuteanduninteresting functional build- beliefina harmonious, rationalcosmos,re-
ings.Onefollowsfromtheother:themeansare vealedto manthrough theperception of Nature.
notneutral. Whatis inessential, infact,is
whether thematerial skinof a building is gothic, AfterDurand, thereconciliation betweenform
classical,a m6lange of styles,ora denialof andcontentbecametheparadigmatic problem
styles.TheBeauxArtstradition wasas rooted forarchitectsconcerned withmeaning. Abso-
infunctionalismas the Bauhaus, if oneunder- of anyonestylewasquestioned
lutevalidity
standsfunctionalism as a reductionistic andarchitecture wasreduced to its pragmatic
attitude,
whereby architecture is thefunction function,thatis, themaking of material
of a combinationof variables,i.e.,themathe- commodities. Thearchitect wasthusforcedto I A typicalplatefromA. Desgodetz'sLes EdificesAntiquesde
matizationof human needsandvalues.22 This choosebetweenartandscience,betweenthe Rome(1682)illustrating "idea"of a
thefullarchitectural
issueis moreprofound than"post-modern" falseextreme of anabsoluteobjectivity Roman building.
architectsseemto suspect.Andalthough the (universalmathematical reason)orthatof an
beliefina one-to-one correspondence between absolutesubjectivity (personalpoeticmyth).
thedrawing andthebuilding is ludicrous, con- Thehistory of Western architecture inthelast
fusionhasprevailed. twohundred years is thus a description of how
architectshavetriedto cometo termswith
Thetruearchitect's concernformeaning cannot thisissue.Clearly, anarchitecture gnaweddown
beproperly embodied ina drawing whose to its bones,onethatspeaksonlyabouttech-
explicitorimplicitroleis thereduction or nologicalprocessandnotabouthuman values
"picture" of a building.Drawing mustserveas hasoftenbeendeemedunacceptable, byboth
theexpression of a symbolic intention inthe architectsandsocietyat large.True,architects
formof architectural ideas.Becauseveryfew haveoftenadded"referential" ornament to
architects inthelasttwohundred yearshave theirbuildings,trying to make their utilitarian
madetheirownbuildings, the importance of anddeterministic structures more"human,'
drawing has beenemphasized. Architects have butthesuccessof suchbuildings hasbeen,at
beeneitherunableto builda symbolic order, best,partial:witnessthe irreconcilable contra-
orhaveintentionally avoided building because dictionsevidentfromLabrouste's Biblioteque
a)theydidnotcomprehend theirprimordial role Ste.Genevieve to post-modernism. Ifthesolu-
as makersof a symbolic order,hencetheir tionis nottheabstractorderof technology, it is
willingness to acceptthe irrelevant taskof alsonotembellishment.
fillingtheworldwithsterileandinhuman struc-
turesdictatedbyconsumerism oreconomics; Meaning, we mustremember, is giveninper-
andb)becausesocietyis apparently notinter- ception;it is nota product of "association."
estedina symbolic order.Individuals seem Phenomenological studieshaveshownthat
capableof postponing adinfinitum theirpress- meaning orsolelyan intellectual
is notprimarily
ingexistential problems, livinginsteadunder construct.24 Architectureis anorderthat
the illusionof absoluterationality,without addressesourambiguous, finite,human reality,
sightof objectives, andfocusingonlyonthe it is notmerelya vehicleforscientific"truths."
efficiencyof means.
 Theparadox hereis thatarchitecture,
bydefini- Thetechnological world-viewcaneasilydeny
tion,is bothabstract, anda mimesisof a trans- thenecessityof architectureas a symbolic
cendental Butmodern
reality. manhasgenerally order.Buthuman realityis ambiguous.Irrespec-
deniedmythandpoetryas theprimordial reve- tiveof howlongmodern manmaywishto post-
Wehavebecomeinsensitive
lationof reality. ponecomingto termswithBeing,withthe
FIG. 1.2 IC FIG. 1.2.1d
andblind,preferring thelogicalexplanation of meaning of hisexistence,andregardless of
sciencesimplybecauseit is thesourceoftech- howlonghe maywishto concealemptiness
nological power.Durand, forone,ridiculedthe withtheillusionof progress,he mustultimately
traditionalconceptof thecolumn as thebodyof confronthis limits:thedilemma of hisfinite
man,pointing outthatit wasnothing morethan lifeandhis powerto embody The
divinity.
a cylinderof matter.Ourmodern worldis super- perceptionof meaning remainsuniversal,and
FroIG.1.2.1e Fro. 1.2.1f
anddeterministic,
ficiallyrational embodying man'shumanity endures throughthecrisis.
technological utopia; noplacefor
it constitutes Whatthenmustthearchitect's attitude be?
humanity. Ourcitiesrepresent chaosrather than
n Theorthogonal planesandquadrants of descriptive
geometry
whichallowfora reductionof three-dimensional order,our structures freedom
restrict rather Traditionally,theabstractEuclidean orderput
realityintoa
systemof coordinatesandtheirmanipulationindependently thanenhanceit. forward bythearchitect possessedaninter-
fromintuition,
fromR.G.Robertson's Descriptive
Geometry subjective dimension. Today, however, abstrac-
(bycourtesyof SirIssacPitmanandSonsLtd.). Inviewof allthisit is crucialto recognize the tioninartis oftenidentified withhermetic,
roleof drawing as theembodiment of architec- solipsisticintentions. Although it is truethat
turalideas.Ina manner of speaking, particularly evennumbers (theepitomeof the ideal)are
afterDurand, thedrawing is thearchitecture, necessarily "colored," andthatmostspecific
a priviledged vehicleforexpressing architec- phenomena aretakeninperception withina
turalintentions: intentionsthatarepoeticin framework of categories, inthelasttwohun-
a profound sense,as poesis,as
traditional dredyearsarchitects concerned withmeaning
symbolmaking. Sucharchitectural drawings havehadto taketo theextremes. Thisis,
-. 1 i!r!2ir ii j! IEad T;:;11 , !
'k,
11-aiIEX;,
mayassumethecharacter of poeticimages indeed,a condition derived fromthecrisisitself,
It,
. T -"!-
C T generated bya metaphor, bya program that andcarrieswithit thedangersimplied inexces-
-.. -1-
I embodies anunderstanding of dwelling, like siveabstraction (artforartists,excessive
IltlWffl La^ JohnHejduk's forVenice.Ortheymay criticism ratherthanpoetry) orinits
tl projects originality,
L.... .,1 criticizearchitecturalideasandtheabstract denial(artforsociety,excessivereferentiality,
' communication rather thanpoetry). Thetradi-
- L I rr . i 1 l jiit 4 elementsof architecture (e.g.,plans,sections,
A+
'r :r=-f a , elevations, Thisis thepointof
orprojections). tionalmiddle ground wherethe idealandthe
DanielLibeskind's Micromegas. Theperception real,the intellectual andthebodilyarticulations
Ir.,I.":
L I lri a,_ of suchtheoretical projects as self-referential werereconciled, seemstodayincapable of
canonlyoccurif therealityof architecture past being the source and originof architectural
andpresentis assumedto bethebanalre- symbolic intentions. Manis eithertoo insensi-
Precisshowingthegridof his "mechanism
a PlatefromDurand's
materialism thatI tiveortoohumane.
andhis methodof combinations.
of composition" ductionism andpragmatic
havecriticized.
Thearchitect seemscondemned to makeeither
TheVitruvian "ideas"cannotbe implemented poetic(perhaps romantic) drawings orcritical
as
today theyif had always been anonymous (perhaps senseless) ones.The risk is thepro-
projections ina conceptual space,as ifdescrip- duction of eitherscreaming, anexcessive
tivegeometry andourperspective worldhad dependence oncontext(theembodied worldof
always existed. Nor canthe modern architect man), and an unwarranted faith in the possibility
denythepowerof abstraction orignoretheend of meaning-in-the-world, orbabbling, anexces-
of thetraditional world.Thisparadoxical power siveindependence fromcontextandanunwar-
hasledthemodern "architect" to aneffective ranted faithintheimpossibility of meaningless
technological domination of building, to irrele- abstraction. When a romantic or surreal project
vantformal manipulations andto cityplanning. is imagined intheworld, oftenits intended
Nonetheless, ourrationality is alsopartof our meaning is lost.Does"collage" makesense in
humanity, as wellas the paradigm of modern our contradictory urban environments? Is poetry,
art:thenecessarymeansforrevealing a truly infact,stillpossibleafterHiroshima? Isn't
modern architecture. metaphor anachronistic or,at best,irrelevant
nowthattheultimate referential ground, the
cosmos,hasbeeneliminated? Bythesame
token,a drawing aboutideasrunstheriskof
 Notes Additional
SuggestedReadings

a hermetic likemuchserial 1 Vitruvius Pollio(Marcus) TheTenBooksonArchitecture of Merleau-Ponty

JohnThePhilosophy
Bannan, Hartcourt,
becoming language, DoverPublications 1967.
musicorabstractpainting,
whichis removed (NewYork) 1960,P.5. BraceandWorld
(NewYork)
2 Alberti,LeoneBattistaDeReAedificatoria Tiranti(London)
fromtheprimary fromthe
realmof experience, 1955,P.2. Gadamer,
Hans-Georg Reasonin theAgeof ScienceMITPress
sharedworldinwhichmeaning is grounded. 3 Ibid. Mass.)1981.
(Cambridge,
4 Ibid.
of suchboundaries, thesetwoalter- 5 Compare De ReAedificatoria withAlberti's OnPaintingand A Documentary
Holt,Elizabeth Historyof ArtDoubleday(New
Regardless OnSculpture 1972. York)1957,vol.3. Thisvolumecontainstranslated
excerpts
nativesseemto betheonlywayof making (London)
6 Alberti,DeReAedificatoria, P.2. fromthe primarysourcesquotedinthe article.
architecture. Ironically,thesearethevery 7 See, forexample, Agrippa Cornelius De OccultaPhilosophia
alternatives explored bymodern art,butwhich (Antwerp) 1531. ArtandGeometry
Ivins,William 1964.
Dover(NewYork)
areseldomunderstood byarchitects. By 8 Averlino, Antonio (IIFilarete)Tratatto diArchitettura II
thestatusquoof thearchitectural 9 Polifilo(Milan) 1972,P.504. Martin
Heidegger, BasicWritings andRow(NewYork)
Harper
accepting Barbaro, DanieleLaPraticadellaPerspettiva Arnaldo Forni 1977,chaptersVI,VIIandVIII.
practitioner andthe "reality" of drawing as a (SalaBolognese) 1980,PP.129-130.
referential tool,onerejectsarchitecture's place 10 See, forexample,FabioCalvoRavennate's manuscript, Maurice
Merleau-Ponty, ThePrimacyof Perception
Northwestern
as a primordial cultural institution,as the printedin Vitruvio e Raffaello Officina Edizioni (Rome)1975, University 1964,chapters2 and5.
Press(Evanston)
embodiment of a pre-intellectual orderwhose 11 PP.78-79. Maurice
Sense andNon-SenseNorthwestern
See Guarini, Guarino Architettura CivileIIPolifilo(Milan) Merleau-Ponty,
taskis nothing moreandnothing less thanthe 1968,P.242 ft. Thefirsteditionof thisworkwas published University 1964,chapters1 and4.
Press(Evanston)
perpetuation of cultureandits coherence. inTurin, 1737.
12 Galli-Bibiena, Ferdinando L'Architettura CivileBenjamin Vycinas,VincentGreatness
andPhilosophy
Martinus
Nijhoff
Ourcollectiveillusionis a realitythatwetake Blom(NewYork) 1971.Firstpublished in Parma,1711. (TheHague)1966.
forgranted, a Platonic worlddevoidof mystical 13 Thisis clearinFilarete'streatiseandinsomeof Antonio
daSangallo's drawings forSt. Peter's.See Thoenes,Christof
connotations thatPlatohimselfwouldhave "St.Peter's:FirstSketches,"Daidalos5, (September
repudiated. Canrealitysimplybe ourtechnolog- 1982),P.81.
icalnon-sense? Thiswasthequestionalready 14 1discussthisextensivelyinArchitecture andtheCrisisof
addressed byPiranesi, Boull6e, andLedoux Modern Science,PartIV.
15 Husserl,Edmund TheCrisisof European Sciencesand
during the18thcentury. Particularly thetwo Transcendental Northwestern
Phenomenology University
French architects wereexplicitintheirrejection Press(Evanston) 1970;andL'Origine de la Geometrie
of mathematical reasonas thestructure of PressesUniversitaires de France(Paris)1974.
architectural theory.25 Betraying an authentic 16 Ortega y Gasset, Jose La IdeadePrincipio enLeibniz Revista
existential anguish, theystruggled to transform de Occidente (Madrid)
of Symbolic
1967,vol.I andCassirer,
FormsYaleUniversity
ErnstThe
Philosophy Press(New
theoryintoanexplicitmetaphysics thatex- Haven) 1972.vol.2, PartII.
plained themeaning of architecture through a 17 Evengeometricians foundit impossible to provethe limita-
poetic discourse. Their drawings constituted a tionsof Euclid'spostulateduring the 18thcentury. See
set of theoretical thattheyassumed Saccheri,G.Euclidesab omninaevo.Englishtranslation
projects (London) 1920.
to betruearchitecture, inopposition to their 18 Thebasicprinciple of Poncelet'sprojective geometry had
actualbuildings. Notsurprisingly, botharchi- beendiscovered inthe 17thcenturybyGirard Desargues.
tectsfeltthatarchitecture wasdeeplyakinto See his Oeuvres (Paris)1864.Desargues's workwas never
painting. Thusarchitecture becameprimarily the 19 understood byhis contemporaries.
Poncelet,Jean-Victor Traitedes Proprietes Projectives des
making of thedrawing (orthemodel), thesame Figures(Paris)1822.
poeticactthathasalwaysmagically revealed 20 Thisis veryclearin Rondelet,JeanTraiteTheorique et
thetruthof reality: a processsimilar to the Pratique delI'Artde Batir3 vols.(Paris)1830.
gnosticsearchfortruthbytheenlightened 21 Durand, Jacques-Nicolas-Louis Precisde Lecons
architect. Thetruearchitect mustpursueeither d'Architecture 2 vols.(Paris)1819.
of twoparallel alternatives inthehopeof find- 22 This understanding
teristicof modern
of functionalism
architecture
as anexclusivecharac-
is discussedextensively in
a
ing point of reconciliation: he must a
be born myforthcoming book.Toward the mid-19th centuryGottfried
gnosticora bornphenomenologist. Andwhen Semperwouldactuallyuse the analogyof an equation to
thearchitecture of themodern worldis built, illustratethe processof solvingan architectural problem.
it willbe (as it hasbeeninexceptional cases) 23 See Gay,PeterTheEnlightenment
Wildwood House(London)
AnInterpretation
1973,vol.2, PP.126-166.
2 vols.
founded the
upon convergence of these two 24 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice Phenomenology of Perception
perspectives: a futureoverlapping of poetry Routledge andKeganPaul(London) 1970,see especially
andcriticism.C partsI andII.
25 Boullee,Etienne-Louis Architecture. EssaisurI'ArtMiroirs
de L'Art (Paris)1968;andLedoux, Claude-Nicholas
L'Architecture Consideree sous le Rapport de L'Artdes
Moeurset de la Legislation vol.I (Paris)1804.