The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

HUMANIST Values

21a

of thwarted effort

or incipient

collapse. We have

looked

atthe building

and identifiedourselves

with

itsapparentstate.

Wehavetranscribed

ourselvesinto

terms

ofarchitecture.

But the

*

states

'

in

architecture with which

we

thus identify

ourselves need not

be actual. The

actual pressures ofa spire

are downward

;

yet no

onespeaksof a

'

sinking

'spire. Aspire,

whenwell

designed,

appears—as common

language testifies

—

tosoar. We identify

ourselves,notwith its

actual

downwardpressure,butitsapparent

upwardimpulse.

So,too,bythesameexcellent

—

^becauseunconscious

—

testimonyof

speech,arches

'

spring,'vistas

'

stretch,'

domes

'

swell,'Greektemples

are

*

calm,'andbaroque

facades

'restless.'

/The wholeofarchitecture is, in

fact,

unconsciouslyinvestedbyuswithhumanmove-

mentandhuman mood^

Here, then,isaprinciple

complementarytotheonejuststated./Wetranscribe

architectureintoterms

of

ourselves.

JThisis the humanismof architecture. The ten-

dencytoprojecttheimageofourfunctionsintocon-

creteformsisthebasis, forarchitecture,

ofcreative

I

.

..

'

11.

'

—

~™~-™~

—

design.\Thetendencytorecognise,inconcreteforms,

theimageofthosefunctionsisthetruebasis,inits

turn,ofcriticalappreciation.^

^

Thetheoryofaesthetichereimplied,

is,

needlesstosay,notnew.

Itwasfirstdeveloped

by

Lippstwentyyearsago,andsincethenhas

beenconstantlydiscussedandfrequentlymisunderstood.

InwhatfollowsIoweadebttomanysuggestivepointsinMr.