Comparing Apples to Onions
At the age of only 27, Colin Rowe established himself as a respected architectural historian and theorist when he published 'Mathematics of the Perfect Villa'. What distinguished him from traditional comparisons of architectural style was Rowe's vision to look past strictly stylistic features of the buildings. Rowe broke the buildings down into mathematical relations and found stark similarities between two structures from completely different eras.
I believe that this kind of non-physical comparisons can be applied on a societal scale, and that architecture can speak on the economics, environmental, and psychological opinions of the time that the building is built. The physical traits of a building such as the materials used, reflect the financial status of the area, with financial districts in major cities using expensive, flashy materials, versus rural America using wood which is a cheap, abundant resource in the country.
Rowe proved that architectural style was just the first layer of the architectural comparison onion. And that the more layers you peel back, the more and more a piece of architecture can tell you about how people lived and thought.
There are a lot of hidden details and layers of buildings that are uncovered and reflected on that tell a lot about the time and place they were constructed. Buildings really are a relic of their time. I have never considered the mathematical qualities of buildings and how their calculations could be linked to earlier (or later) building design. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'm most impressed by Rowe's analysis as they do not read as post-rationalizing a project, or assigning rules to an existing building. It's interesting that he is able to apply his deep knowledge of architectural history and theory to diagram over these significant projects. Rowe argues for the importance of theory and where it permeates across our daily experience.
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