Common Ground: Towards an Architecture of Continuity

Author(s): Terry Wilson Vaughan

Source: Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) , Winter, 1987, Vol. 40, No. 2,
Jubilee Issue (Winter, 1987), pp. 82-84
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools
of Architecture, Inc.

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 Common Ground: Towards an
Architecture of Continuity

mn

Terry Wilson Vaughan is an architect and between building and site, between archi- edge. Most of those who founded the
Associate Professor of Architecture and tecture and other disciplines, in seeking Bauhaus were Fine Artists, and architec-
Chairperson of the Design of the Environ-an extroverted architecture which speaks ture was seen to be the culmination of a
ment Department at the University of beyond its own making. visual arts training. The Vorkurs was the
Pennsylvania preliminary design course first formed by
Some traditional methods of teaching Johannes Itten, a painter, and then taken
architecture perpetuate stagnant views of over by Moholy-Nagy and Josef Albers in
its relation to a constantly changing 1923. This course became identified as
world. I draw upon twelve years of experi- the "Bauhaus Method," the ultimate norm
ence teaching architecture at graduate for architectural education all over the
Few would disagree with Vitruvius' three and undergraduate levels and chairing a world. Despite the lack of a cultivation of
conditions of well-building: commodity,program in architecture and landscape to style, forms growing out of the Bauhaus
firmness and delight. However, it is rarediscuss two areas in particular in archi- philosophy became identifiable as the
that these abstractions of an architectural tectural education which have inhibited Bauhaus Style. With concurrent develop-
totality are equal participants in the cre- the development of a theoretical structurements in Cubism and Abstractionism, ele-
ative process. Rather, they often represent which might produce an architecture of ments of pure form became a formal rep-
three modes of criticism and three prov- continuity. The first refers to typical proj-ertoire. Phileban solids and mathematics
inces of thought. In the past, style was an ects given to the beginning student whichbecame symbolic of an industrial era.
integrator of these realms. Today, lackingplant the seeds for an object-oriented Moholy-Nagy defined space as the "rela-
consensus, a proliferation of styles accen-architecture, and which emphasize prod- tion between the position of bodies,"
tuates the divergence of intents, and uct over process in education. The sec- stressing a formal, object-oriented archi-
design strategies such as "functional," ond refers to a lack of theoretical dis- tecture. Despite concurrent alternative
"high tech," and "Post Modern" battle for course during the design process accom- space-positive viewpoints expressed in
supremacy, being what Geoffrey Scott panied by an emphasis on history of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies
might refer to as "fallacies of the theory rather than on theory of practice van der Rohe which linked building to site
impatiently concluding mind." and practice of theory. through spatial extension in plan and sec-
tion, it was the Bauhaus Method of teach-
Current research and criticism further In architectural education and hence in ing design which entered the schools of
emphasize the splintering of an architec- architectural practice, there is a predispo- architecture and influenced a generation
tural totality, as pragmatic, formal and sition towards perceiving buildings as of architects.
technical realms are investigated respec- objects in an undifferentiated space. The
tively by social scientists, phenomenolo- reasons for this are vast, rooted in the way Basic design exercises based on the Bau-
gists and engineers. There is little support we as children first perceive our environ- haus Method train students from the
for investigation into an integrative per- ment. The Modern Movement lent force to beginning of their education in the mak-
spective. We are in a world in which high this predisposition in ways I will only ing of abstract objects in space. The use
differentiation and emphasis on cognitive briefly outline here. As the Industrial Rev-of geometry as a generator of form rather
ways of knowing inhibit an understandingolution offered new construction materi- than ordering device definitely bypasses
of totalities. Increased knowledge has als and means of mass producing, Le Cor-the deeper meanings of architecture and
dramatically altered our world view and busier called for the creation of the "mass landscape and confuses order with
the contexts in which we build and has production spirit." He declared that the shapes. It encourages students to per-
caused architecture to be defined by plan proceeds from within to without, the ceive objects relative to formal categories
areas of specialization. Architecture the-exterior being the result of the interior. rather than as manifestations of higher
ory has remained insufficiently responsive The raising of buildings on pilotis and the presuppositions.
to the demands for intelligent action emphasis on the roof plane severed the
within these broader contexts. Theory has building from its immediate setting and To develop an alternative approach, it is
become strategy, characterized by con- underlined its importance as a sculpturalnecessary to reassert the appropriate
flicting prejudices and imprecise object in space. With the mass production meaning of the word "abstract." As an
terminology. spirit came the loss of the practice of uni-adjective, abstract means non-representa-
fying buildings and surroundings. Indus-tional or geometric. However, as a noun
Implicit in the word discipline is both or a verb, abstract means a concentration
trialized society believed it had the techni-
knowledge and action. It is in the realm cal of means to make anything anywhere, of essential qualities. An abstraction is a
action, i.e., practice maintained by recip- and buildings began to be conceived as representation of repeated acts of selec-
rocal forces of theory and criticism, that abstract decisions on ideal terrains. There tion and elimination supplemented by
our discipline suffers. Theory is an was a loss of environmental conscious- imagination and memory. Abstraction
abstraction of knowledge. It informs ness. An obsession with finding new exercises the thinking eye and teaches
action. Theory has not been sufficientlyforms for new materials became an empirical method. In practicing abstrac-
integrated into the education of the archi- obsession with the building as an object. tion, a student can see a direct connec-
tect nor has it sufficiently expanded its tion between what is experienced and
base of operation to be responsive to theThe Bauhaus, founded in 1917, proposed what can be imagined. Order is thus
explosion of knowledge. There is a need a revolutionary alternative to academic derived, not prescribed or considered to
to evolve an integrative theoretical struc- teaching, emphasizing craft and intuitivebe self-evident. "Abstract" as a process,
ture which turns to a common ground- sensibility over the acquisition of knowl- not a condition, is the beginning of envi-

Jubilee 1987 JAE 40/2

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 El3

ronmental consciousness; it is as well the conditions for well-building are one theory, technology and cultural value. The
design process, inverted. example, which assumes stylistic agree- modern counterpart, the diagram, hasn't
ment as the basis for cultural meaning. the collective meaning of that of its prede-
The child-psychologist Jean Piaget dis- Morris' "Theory of Signs," incorporating cessor. It reduces and oversimplifies
covered that Euclidean space is not pragmatics, syntactics, semantics, has design criteria because of its inability to
known a priori, but rather is learned become the basis for a theoretical posi- speak beyond the desires of its maker.
through concrete operations. A child's tion in architecture which requires mean- The diagram is not part of a coherent
first understanding of space is not Euclid- ing to be an integral part of all dimen- theoretical construct.
ean but topological, based on relations sions. Norberg-Schulz wrote extensively
such as proximity, separation, succession, on an integrative theory of architecture The analytic studies of building types,
closure and continuity. Norberg-Schulz in incorporating task, form, technics and now an inevitable part of an architectural
Intentions in Architecture wrote of the semantics, essentially adding "meaning" education, are dangerous because the
non-Euclidean character of phenomenal to the Vitruvian conditions. analytic mode thus becomes the predomi-
space. By combining in beginning design nant means of understanding and com-
exercises both phenomenological percep- The danger attached to the very necessarymunicating architecture. This risks the
tion of space and also abstraction as a task of defining the dimensions of an degeneration of the design process into a
design process, the teaching of space canarchitectural totality is that incomplete formalistic play, falling back on precodi-
precede the teaching of objects, empha- theories gather around a single dimen- fied abstractions and offering nothing
sizing the importance of context, which sion, reducing architecture to one of the new, because these are exercises which
psychologists stress is essential to the dimensions we employ for its description.separate form and meaning. Further, they
understanding of objects. Another danger is that a theoretical posi-contain no judgment or relevant
tion may confuse influences on form withconclusion.
We might begin by designing in the land- formal language. In this instance, the lan-
scape, for there all the principles of archi-guage of architecture becomes a theory At present, analytical and empirical ways
tecture lie mute, but discernible. The of architecture, exclusive of social and of knowing are not given equal emphasis.
landscape through its processes teaches environmental concerns, not having Notations to describe the qualitative pres-
integration, as here form and process are within it the charge nor the capacity to ence of architecture (spatial character,
inseparable. Landscape is space, topolog- relate works to cultural and natural con- image, values) are undeveloped or nonex-
ical in nature, consisting of subtle, com- texts. Norberg-Schulz spoke also of the istent in the process of experiencing and
plex non-Euclidean orders. Here, spatial danger of stressing one semiotic dimen- communicating architecture. Therefore
sensibility is sharpened and environmen- sion over the others, leading to the empiricism rarely participates in the for-
tal consciousness is awakened. In this extremes of isolationism or contextual- mulation of designs in an explicit way.
way, designing in context is practiced ism, both of which challenge the integrity Norberg-Schulz in Intentions in Architec-
from the very beginning of an architec- of architecture as a discipline. ture stressed the need for non-descriptive
tural education. Geometry becomes a symbol systems which could relieve the
means of describing phenomena found In in architecture schools, the disjunction of
one-sidedness of the analytical ways of
nature, thus reinstating its symbolic the teaching of theory and the teachingknowing.
of It is essential that empiricism
potential. Understanding architecture as practice trains students in an architecture
participate in the formulation of design,
space breaks down the boundaries which speaks to itself, in which there is for it is the empirical connections which
between building and site, between archi- insufficient correspondence between link theory and practice.
tecture and related disciplines. It is the form and meaning and a failure to link
beginning of an architecture of continuity. knowledge and action. Students are Architectural programs for studio prob-
Designing within natural and social con- trained in descriptive theory and learn lems give a narrow definition of building
texts from the start emphasizes space about prescriptive theory. The confusiontask and usually are not subject to redefi-
over object and also process over prod- of description and prescription inhibits nition or expansion of purpose during the
uct. This is also the beginning of a theo- the evolution of a vital architecture. design studio. Thus, in the Le Corbusier
retical position. mode, the plan proceeds from within to
Architecture is recorded and represented without, in the form of functional dia-
The development of a holistic and inte- in a fragmented way. Courses in art his- grams. These are then instilled with geo-
grated theory is essential to the vitality tory emphasize single images of build- metric order which is magically translated
and integrity of our discipline. However, ings, usually outside of the social, cul- into an architectural language. Mean-
theory is largely taught in a descriptive tural, technological forces which pro- while, the student is receiving criticism
mode or in a historic mode rather than as duced them. Architectural journals which, because of a lack of relevant nota-
an inseparable participant in the practice emphasize the framed and isolated views. tion to describe intent, is directed at the
of architecture. As a result, students' criti- The xerox machine lends force to the ten- circumstances of formal intention. It is in
cal faculties remain undeveloped. Theory dency to perceive architecture as a collec-
the design process that theory and prac-
is a systemized abstraction of knowledge tion of images rather than as an tice work in concert, but design process is
which informs and prescribes action. Its integrative process. the most oblique participant in the educa-
ultimate value lies in its prescriptive capa- tion of the architect, at best either over-
bility. Over time, relevant theories have During the turn of the century at the Ecole
simplified or subject to mystique. The les-
incorporated several dimensions of a pre- des Beaux-Arts, the parti codified formalson of integrating theory and practice is
sumed architectural totality. Vitruvian agreement, expressing at once history, imparted to the student in an implicit and

Jubilee 1987 JAE 40/2

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fragmentary way, and the connection the indicated a fundamental shift from clo-
student makes to his or her own design sure to continuity in architectural space
process is left to chance. Thus, students and world view. Unity of form is no longer
are expected to formulate their own that to which nothing can be added or
theory of practice from the rather distant taken away. Order is open and indetermi-
sources of criticism and history of theory. nate, unity referring to connectivity: of
space to place, or form to human value.
Unity of theory and practice will evolve Le Corbusier in Vers une Architecture
from a unity of logic and empiricism and wrote:
an inquiry into design process as a unifier
of these realms. In an architectural educa-"style is a unity of principle animating all
the work of an epoch, the result of a state
tion, the study of architectural history, the
use of architectural notation, the means of mind which has its own character. Our
of inquiry, and the definition of purpose epoch is fixing its own style day by day. It
should reflect this unity. An operative is there under our eyes. Eyes which do
theory must be accepting of changing not see."
interpretations of meaning and intentions.
It should indicate possibilities rather than
determine solutions.

Traditional points of departure in begin-

ning design exercises are based on
abstract ideals or on fragmentary aspects
of technics or planning, separating issues
of image and performance. Thus, cre-
dence is lent to a disjunctive and frag-
mented theoretical construct. Studio proj-
ects should be conceived as multivalent
totalities, not fragments, especially at the
beginning design level. These projects
should form the focus for exercise and
debate relating to the practice of the ver-
bal-visual translations (perception, con-
ception, expression, criticism) which form
a daily part of an architect's experience in
practice. In this context, the teaching
methods of desk crits and group review
must be seriously challenged, for they
presume agreement and bypass theoreti-
cal debate. Students ought actively to par-
ticipate in the definition of the discipline
of architecture by continuously engaging
in the theory of practice and the practice
of theory. The design process, in which
theory and practice operate in unison,
thus becomes an explicit part of a
student's architectural education.

In a world of constantly accelerating

change, connections between elements
are as important as the elements them-
selves. The architect works in constantly
shifting situations. Unable to know every-
thing, he or she must be able to abstract
that which bears a direct relationship to
the task at hand. More important than
assimilation of knowledge is an integra-
tive theoretical structure which can
inform action. With the advent of the
Modern Movement, formal language was
merely a byproduct of a more important
revolution in architectural space which

Jubilee 1987 JAE 40/2

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