Building Blocks, Building Books, Building Rooms

Joseph Kennedy
2018 Thresholds  
Architecture has evolved beyond its physical constraints. Liberated from the restraints of stone, steel and concrete, it has mobilized itself with the support of printed books and websites that generate alternative markets for mass consumption in the public realm. In the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo proclaimed the death of architecture with the invention of the printing press. "Make no mistake about it, architecture is dead, dead beyond recall; killed by the printed book." 1 Symbols and
more » ... representational allegories embedded in the structural elements of temples, civic buildings and triumphal arches were once the primary source of information to an otherwise illiterate public. More recently, the printed book has adopted the role of shaping the popular understanding of history and culture. As the role of architecture in influencing public opinion became increasingly marginalized, architects turned to the printed book in order to disseminate their theories and ideas. Soon after the invention of the Gutenberg Press in 1450, Leon Battista Alberti released the first printed book of architecture, De Re Aedificatoria (1485), 2 a Renaissance treatise based largely on the ancient Roman work De Architectura by Vitruvius, 3 which followed it one year later in print. The canonical written works by Vignola, Palladio, Ruskin and Semper followed, influencing generations of future architects through their words rather than through their built work. Today, writing on architecture is more accessible than ever before thanks to the internet. By being detached from the physical presence of both building and book, however, architectural knowledge is at risk of being diluted. With the instant gratification available in a wide variety of digital interfaces, many seem content to derive an understanding of architectural space from the images in magazines and on computer screens. Although several degrees removed, the building elsewhere in the world maintains the ability to communicate with us, affecting our judgements and way of being.
doi:10.1162/thld_a_00046 fatcat:dtzp3t7a2vd6zge44w2fuwclxm