Tectonic memoirs: the epistemological parameters of tectonic theories of architecture

Architecture;Tectonics;Philosophy

Rizzuto, Anthony P. ; Architecture

University:Georgia Institute of Technology

Department:Architecture

关键词: Architecture;    Tectonics;    Philosophy;   

Others  :  https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/1853/39567/1/RIZZUTO_ANTHONY_P_201005_PHD.pdf

美国|英语

来源: SMARTech Repository

【 摘 要 】

The purpose of architectural theory is to provide a paradigm, or episteme, from whichone can address contemporary design issues within the broader cultural context. Itcomprises any written system of architecture and may be either partial or comprehensive,but it must encompass a framework of cognitive categories that inevitably provide criteriafor judgment. If not explicitly stated, it nevertheless implies an epistemology, asubstructure for architectural knowledge.Previous studies of tectonics have tended to treat it as an autonomous architecturaldiscourse, focusing on an individual writer and theory, or on a thematic concern such asthe relationship between ontology and representation. This study approaches tectonicsdifferently, relating it to the broader shifts within the discourses of architecture andphilosophy, thereby sanctioning a more synergistic, as opposed to autonomous,examination. In exploring the epistemological parameters of tectonics theories in theWest it isolates three major periods in its development: Classical Tectonics- derived fromancient philosophy, Rational Tectonics- emerging from the epistemology of science andPoetic Tectonics- developed out of concerns raised by the German Counter-Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement. At each stage in its development tectonicshas served to provide key principles that collectively constitute its ground.The study reveals that Poetic Tectonics was a reaction against the duality of mind andabstract rationalism- so central to Cartesian thought and the epistemology of science- andits impact on architectural thought. In response Poetic Tectonics while accepting the keyprinciples of Rational Tectonics sought to redirect it along the philosophical lines of the2German Enlightenment and Romanticism while also re-presencing the ethicalsubstructure of Classical Tectonics.This study recognizes that through the course of time, the epistemology upon whichcultures are formed have and will continue to change and as they do new tectonic theorieswill need to be negotiated; rendering tectonics in a continual state of 'becoming'. If thereis to be a conclusion it lies in the fact that in its historical persistence and continuitytectonics represents a tradition within Western architecture on par with the likes of theVitruvian, Organic and Functionalist.