Running head: GENRE ANALYSIS 1

Genre Analysis

The Beauty of Architectural Design

Allen William Smith

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Dr. Vierra

July 16, 2018

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Abstract

Genre is a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a distinct style,

form, or content. There are many genres is music, country, classical, rock, and heavy metal.

Music tells a story with a certain elegance and grace in some cases, not unlike writing or

architecture and design. Writing requires a flow and elegance to keep the audience interested.

This paper will answer what architecture is and the purpose of the two genres. The purpose of

genre analysis is to you understand the importance of genre and discourse community. This

paper will show the different ways each genre provides the information to the audience. In this

writing, the architect that I will be giving insight to in my monograph is Otto Wagner, an

Austrian architect and planner from Vienna, Austria and the architect in my video is

Vito Acconci, an architect and designer from Brooklyn, NY. Modern Architecture, A Guidebook

for His Students to This Field of Art, by Otto Wagner, (1988) is a monograph that details the

architect, style, construction, and the practice of art. A video genre is a method of relaying

information through audio and visual means. The Future of Architecture and Design by Vito

Acconci, (2012) relays visual information about his designs and structures. The expectations of

this paper is to show the beauty of architecture and design of two periods and in two different

ways that turn cities and landscapes into art. This paper will give insight to their architectural life

through the genres of monograph and video. This paper will show how genre affects the research

of architecture. The two genres differ from each other in the information given, the way the

information is given and received, the audience, and structure.

Audience

Although the genres are different and each appealing to a certain audience, both genres

could attract interests of multiple groups of audiences. The audience for monograph are

discourse communities for the architecture field who are studying the field of architecture and
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design. The expectation is to write the information about these two genres in a manner that will

keep the audience interested in the material and gain knowledge from both of them. The

monograph adheres more to a scholarly audience researching and learning about the field of

architecture. The video genre caters to a global audience that simply enjoy the art of buildings

and landscapes and possibly students in the field of architecture and design. How is the

information projected to the people for both genres? Which genre is more beneficial? The

monograph describes the persona of the architect. According to Wagner, “The lifelong training

of the architect, the responsibility connected with his creative work, the great difficulties

opposing the realization of his buildings, an unfortunately all too frequent envy, and the diversity

of views among colleagues invariably cover a path of life with thorns.” (p. 61). This passage

shows the determination and passion that Otto Wagner regarded for his field of architecture.

Always striving to be the best, to design structures that were one of a kind, and when he did, his

colleagues would envy his work because they had not had the imagination nor the creative mind

that equaled Otto Wagner. According to the architect in the video, Vito Acconci, “Our first goal

is not to build, but to design a space, a condition to surprise us,” (7:19).

Structure

The distinct difference of the two genres is that monograph is researched from a book and

video genre is view from an electronic devise that supports video. The monograph is a simpler

way to research information due to having chapter references, appendixes, and textual

emendations. The video genre is pleasing to watch and listen to and has time stamps, but, you

need to remember the reference at the time stamp it was located in the video or keep clicking

each spot in the video until you find what you wanted to go back over. Architecture is the

creative process behind buildings, houses, and other structural development. Design is
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the purpose, planning, or intention that exists or is thought to exist behind an action, fact, or

material object. Design ties into almost everything that we do. This assignment requires design in

that we write about the actions and facts associated with our two genres.

It is the belief that the architects from both genres were very passionate about their field,

but the architect in the video genre became an architect due to the passion drawn from his

original field of poetry, his surroundings, and people's movement within a space, (0:40). My

video genre is twenty-one minutes and six seconds long and provides an array of visual and

audio information. The video is narrated by Vito Acconci. Acconci who was a poet, artist, and

architect.

Rhetorical Issues

The similarity of the two genres is that they speak on architecture and design. The

differences of the two genres stem from the path of the architects as far as the objects that

inspired them. The passion and enthusiasm of the architect in the video genre was more

interesting in the fact that perhaps it was a sort of documentary about the architect as well

as architecture itself.

Ethos applies to the monograph genre due to the professional credibility of Otto Wagner

having three editions of his writings on architecture published by The Getty Center for the

History of Art and the Humanities in Santa Monica, CA. The works that give credibility to Otto

Wagner are illustrated, (p. 166-177). Some of the works include: Pavilions at Karlsplatz, Otto

Wagner Church, Austrian Postal Savings Bank, and City Railway Stations.

Ethos applies to the video genre because the professional credibility and portfolio

displayed throughout the video sequence lays claim to his works. Vito Acconci turned

to architecture in the 1980's. He had been commissioned throughout the world for

his architecture. Acconci has built structures such as 9:49, D.A.P. Bookstore in Brooklyn, New
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York, (9:49), Strasbourg Plaza in France, (10:32), Mur Island in Graz, Austria, which is

a floating pavilion built in the River Mur, with a café, theatre, and playground, (10:53), and

Museum Idea in Perm, Russia, (13:22).

Pathos applies to the video genre in a way that while watching the video, there is a sort of

macabre. According to Vito Acconci, the use of video was a way to "watch us as we are

watching him." While viewing this video, there are many emotions relayed by Vito Acconci such

as surprise, aw, and hope in the future of our surroundings. Acconci speaks of music being an

inspiration to him in his design process, (4:59). This architect truly had the environment and

people in mind in his designs.

Logos applies to the video genre because of the practicality of the Vito Acconci's designs,

(7:36). Acconci proposed a new street light system for New York that would be thinner light

posts with multiple arms holding different lights that would be used at different times, (16:12).

He was working on a plan for a new umbrella that was called the "Umbruffla," which would give

the wearer hands free ability while being protected from the elements, (18:33).

Pathos and Logos apply simultaneously in that according to Harry F. Mallgrave, Editor,

wrote, “Wagner was meticulous in his editing of the later editions.” (p. x). In the introduction,

Otto Wagner is described as a youthful vanguard, (p. 1). One anonymous critic of Wagner’s

book branded its author “an artistic experimentalist, a show-off addicted to originality, a

worshiper of an affected, brutal, Gallic architectural materialism,” (p. 1).

Conclusion

After this writing on genre analysis, it is very interesting how knowledgeable one can

become in any topic, but this topic of architecture was very interesting. The statement was made

that this writing would determine which genre would be more beneficial. That is a difficult
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statement to say which genre is more beneficial due to what the expectations of each audience

would be. Since monograph adheres primarily to a scholarly audience, this genre would be a

more beneficial genre for the professional field and students of architecture. The video genre

appears to be beneficial to a “global” audience and perhaps students and scholars.

The most beneficial genre in this analysis truly depends on the audience and the purpose

of research or enjoyment.
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References

Vice (Director). (2012). [Video file] Retrieved

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlAHWyqIWII

Wagner, O. (1988). Modern architecture: A guidebook for his students to this field of art. Santa

Monica, CA: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1988.