organic architecture thesis

ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT by BRIAN L. POWELL, B.S.

A THESIS IN ARCHITECTURE Subi iitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfmment of the Requirements for the Degree of

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE

Approved

cyiãi rp^SDn, p^ l[\é>^ornm1 ttee

Accepted

Dean of the Graduãte /Síéhool/ December, 1995

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Robert Coombs, Dr. Michael Jones, and Dr. Rumiko Handa, for their patience with me, as well as their imput into my work. I would like to thank my parents for their insistence that I fínish, although they thought I was not listening. Last I would like to thank various authors, primarily fíction, whose writings steered me toward an organic conception of architecture as well as an appreciation of John Keats.

u

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ii

LIST OF TABLES

v

LIST OF FIGURES

vi

CHAPTER L

INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS

1

Thesis Statement

1

Description of Thesis

2

IL

INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE

m.

A SHORT HISTORY OF ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE

5 19

Infroduction

19

European Romantic Movement

19

The Gothic Novel

23

Augustiis Welby Pugin (1812-1852)

25

The Gothic Revival

26

John Ruskin (1819-1852)

26

Eugéne Emmanuel VioIIet-Ie-Duc (1814-1879)

28

Art Nouveau

30

American Transcendentalism

32

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johan Wolfgang Goethe Organic Architects

33 35

ui

IV, V.

Louis H. SuIIivan (1856-1924)

35

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)

38

Hugo Hãring (1882-1958)

43

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)

48

ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

65

PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

73

A Cenfral Library for EIIis County, Texas VI.

73

THE PROJECT

82

Introduction

82

Project Statement

82

The Design Approach

82

The Site

83

The Program

84

The Entry

85

The Rare Book Room

86

The Stacks

86

The Music Room and Periodicals

87

Art Gallery

87

Book Processing

87

The Adminisfration

88

The Auditorium

88

Bathrooms

88 iv

The Formal Expression

89

Stmcture

90

The Overall View of the Design Factors

91

Description of EIIis County

94

Waxahachie, Texas

94

Historical Description

94

Surrounding Areas

95

Physical Characteristics

95

The Movie Industry

96

Historic District

96

REFERENCES

97

APPENDIX A.. PROGRAMMING

103

B. WRIGHT'S FROBELLAN EDUCATION

123

LIST OF TABLES

A.l

Summary of the Net Square Feet

103

A.2

Statistícal Facts About EIIis County

104

A.3

Summary of Required Spaced

105

A.4

Summary of the Reading Room

106

A.5

Summary of the Entry

107

A.6

Summary of the Stacks

108

A.7

Summary of the Music Room

109

A.8

Summary of the Art Room

110

A.9

Summary of the Periodical Room

111

A. 10 Summary of the Rare Book Room

112

A. 11 Summary of the Adminisfration

113

A. 12 Summary of the Projectíon Room

114

A.13 Summary of the Book Processing

115

A. 14 Summary of the Rest Rooms

116

A. 15 Summary of the Maintenance Points

117

A.16 Equipment

118

A.17 Required Foot Candles

119

VI

LIST OF FIGURES

3.1 Art Nouveau's Use of Iron

57

3.2 Merchants National Bank by Louis H. Sullivan

58

3.3 Falling Water

59

3.4 Plans by Mies van Der Rohe and Hugo Hãring

60

3.5 Farm at Garkau by Hugo Håring

61

3.6 Stockholm Library by Gunnar Asplund

62

3.7 Lecture Hall in the Viipuri Library

63

3.8 Aalto's Office

64

5.1 Plan at Ground Level

74

5.2 Plan at the Second Floor

75

5.3 North Elevation

76

5.4 South Elevation

77

5.5 East Elevation

78

5.6 West Elevation

79

5.7 View from the North East

80

5.8 Interior View

81

6.1 General Design Information

93

A. 1 Circulation Diagram

121

A.2 Vertical Organization

122

A.3 Site Context

122

vn

CHAPTERI INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS

Thesis Statement FoIIowers of organic architecture can be divided into two groups, those that have classical sympathies, and those that have gothic. This is in reference to the origins of organic architecture in the nineteenth century rivalry between the gothic revival movement and the neoclassical. Organic architecture grew from the rationalist philosophies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Eugené Emmanuel VioIIet-le-Duc and John Ruskin were the primary influences on Frank LLoyd Wright, who could be called the fírst organic architect. He said that organic form grows its own stmcture out of conditions as a plant grows out of the soil.' While most of his writings about architecture relied on similar metaphors to convey his meaning, his architecture followed a strict logic which is not conveyed in his writing. One particular critic understood this when he said, "In this sense the laws of organic planning fínd their continuation and completion in the extemal stmcture; and the manifold arrangement of parts, the lively grouping of building masses, are to be viewed as a result of the inner logic of design, and not as a brilliant showpiece of a deliberately picturesque building."^ This thesis involves an exploration of four approaches to organic architecture. It became apparent that architects vsath classical sympathies, such as Alvar Aalto, have had ' Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Llovd Wright versus America: the 1930's. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: theMITPress, 1990), 67.

2 more success in designing within the urban environment than those architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright^, who were sympathetic to the relatively "modem" teachmgs of Ruskin and VioUet-Ie-Duc. The term "modem" is used to highlight the historical position of these two architects, who were seeking to replace Neoclassical architecture with an architecture that was appropriate to their time. That was one of Wright's goals. Aalto was able to incorporate many influences into his architecture. This thesis is based on the following two hypotheses: (1) Despite Wright's antithapy toward cities, the urban environment is appropriate for organic architecture." (2) Organic architecture both influences and reflects the organic nature of the urban environment. The written thesis wiU be informed and supported by the design exploration of a library for EIIis County, Texas.

Description of Thesis This thesis is arranged in two parts: the theoretical exploration, and the design project. This format allows the author to demonstiate his understanding of architecture in both graphic and written forms. This is necessary because architecture is both a physical manipulation of spatial environments and an abstract intellectual exercise. A building is quite literally a permanent part of the lives of people, and it becomes important for the architect to recognize both the basic needs as well as the higher needs of people. Basic needs can be met by simply erecting the most convenient stmcture and ^ Mark Alden Branch, "Organic Architecture: ABreedApart." Progressive Architecture, June 1992, 68. "ftid

3 fumishing it with what is at hand. The architect is also concemed with higher needs, usually addressing issues of beauty. As the actual art isjionverbal, careful graphic representation of the building is necessary as the most economical means for exploring architectural hypothesis.^ The written part of this thesis concems the clarification of the concepts that drive design decisions. The theoretical exploration includes a review of the works and design methods of Louis H. SuIIivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Hugo Hãring, and the major influences on their careers. Each architect has a different approach to organic form and philosophy. Some built in urban environments and others did not. This review will reveal the influences that either hindered or helped the creation of organic form within the urban environment. The author's design exploration is situated in a small scale urban enviromnent. The vehicle is a library for EIIis County, Texas. The site is in Waxahachie, Texas, a small city southeast of Dallas. It is thirty-five minutes by automobile and forty-fíve minutes from Fort Worth.^ The majority of the urban buildings in Waxahachie were built before the tum of the century. The city has been slowly growing over the past few years, due in

^ An actual building is the ideal medium for any architectural exploration. This was an attitude adopted by Mies van Der Rohe who believed that architecture began with the materials of a building not a piece of paper. Although Mies does not fall under the umbrella of organic architecture, he was also heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. Peter Blake, The Master Builders: Le Corbusier. Mies van Der Rohe, Frank Llovd Wright, (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1976), 169-195. ^ Time is based on the use of Interstate Highway 35, at 55 m.p.h. Commuters from Waxahachie to Dallas and Ft. Worth wiU be more concemed with how long it will take to arrive at their destinations. The range of human tiavel has been extended so much that time has become a more relevant measure of distance than miles.

4 part to the people commuting to the larger metiopolitan areas to work, Waxahachie appeals to many people as a place to live. A large number of the population are retirees, who are very active both in civic and private forums. There is one small accredited four year college in the town, the South Westem Assembly of God CoUege. Waxahachie has attracted several medium sized industrial plants and still has a broad agricultural industry. This site is chosen because it is an example of penturbia, which is the new direction of urban development in the United States.^

^ Jack Lessinger, Ph.D., Penturbia (Seattle, Washington: SocioEconomics, Inc, 1990), 1.

CHAPTERfl INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE "Organic form grows its own stmcture out of conditions as a plant grows out of the soil."* This statement is a metaphor that Frank Lloyd Wright used to define organic architecture.' This is a process of design that develops a unique building from its initial character and its site using organic form to create an effect on the user of the building. Organic forms are not imitated from nature; but the organic architect does emulate the natural processes of growth and erosion that create organic form. Examples of these processes include, geological erosion, geological accretion, plant and animal growth. They are known through direct observation by the architect, or through examining the observations of scientists. If a building has been designed from the inside out, it is organic'" The architect has emulated the evolutionary responses of organic entities to their environment." Organic form follows logically from the design and avoids becoming merely an exercise in picturesque building. The term "initial character" refers to the program of a building and to the materials chosen. Wright, Aalto, and Hãring gave an equal emphasis to both in their work.'^ These ^Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright versus America: the 1930's, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: tiie MIT Press, 1990), 67. ^U id. '"Branch, "A Breed Apart." " Geological phenomenon have been included under the term organic based on the explorations of Alvar Aalto and Reima PietiIIã, both of whom have used a large amount of geological imagery in their work.

6 architects are connected to the Functionalist movement as participants or in Wright's case forerurmer. This connection suggests that the requirements of a building contain at least a part the character of a building. If possible, materials were often decided on before a form was given to the building, weaving their characteristics into the early stages of design.'^ Wright was especially fond of doing this. This has an important implication for the use of materials. An organic architecture develops form in a way that is analogous to biological growth,'" requiring the architect to design a building from the specifíc requirements of both the program and the site.'^ In fact, an organic architect will state that a building is grown out of the site.'^ This is a very literal description of the design process of organic architecture." The organic architect takes the environmental stimulants of the site and adapts the basic aspects of the building accordingly, while respecting the nature of the materials that are chosen. The materials play the role of genetic pattems in the building by suggesting a possible range of responses to the site. Different materials have distinct properties in terms of both visual appearance and constmction methods. Masonry, wood, steel and concrete follow

"Chapterm,pp 37-55. "Ibid. '" Stanley Abercrombie, Architecture as Art: An Esthetic Analvsis, (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1984), 102. '^ Branch, "A Breed Apart." '^ A building is grovm from the site as opposed to being fitted to the site. Ibid. " Ibid. This is very similar to statements made by Frank Lloyd Wright about how he designed a building.

7 different sfruclural logic and serve as a basic pattem for the development of form in much the same way that DNA. cames the pattem for biological development. This issue has become confused by twentieth century technology in which brick can be hung on steel frames that usurps the bricks structural properties. The author speculates that such stmctures are hybrids and follow their own stmctural logic; they form an interesting direction in which to develop organic architecture. In organic architecture form will always demonstiate the characteristics of the materials used.'* Organic architecture is a product over time of a certain cultural orientation to nature.'^ Three general orientations presented in Culture and Environment by Irwin Altman and Martin Chemers quoting anthropologist Florence Kluckhohn (1953) are; (1) people as subjugated to nature, living at the mercy of a powerful and uncompromising nature; (2) people as over nature, dominating, exploiting, and controlling the environment; and (3) people as an inherent part of nature, like animals, trees, and rivers, trying to live in harmony with the environment.^° These three orientations were presented as a range of values rather than a comprehensive list. "Most cultures, especially technologically complex ones, are apt to have elements of all three perspectives embedded in their value systems, and so what we have presented should be taken as a highlighting of altemative perspectives, not a categorical classification system."^' The fírst orientation, people as subjugated to nature, is '*MalcoIm Quantrill, Alvar Aalto: A Critical Study, (New York: New Amsterdam Books, 1983), 1. '^ Irwin Altman and Martin Chemers, Culture and Environment, (Monterey, Califomia: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1980), 15. ^^Uîid. ''n)id,24.

predominant in cultures located in harsh climates such as found in deserts. Organic architecture is not an expression of a people that are subjugated to nature. Advanced technology, such as HVAC systems, reduce the influence of this orientation. The second orientation, people as above nature, has been the predominant orientation in westem cultures for the past two hundred years and results from 2,000 years of Judeo-Christian development and 200 years of the scientific/industiial revolution," This orientation holds the view that" humans are separate from nature, are superior to it, and have a right and even a responsibility to control, subjugate, and bend the environment in accordance with human needs."^^ The third orientation, people as a part of nature, is predominant among oriental cultures. It is entirely possible that Wright and SuIIivan were indirectly influenced by an oriental conception of the unity of man and nature; however, this influence would have come through American Transcendentalism, a philosophy that grew out of the view that people are above nature. Orgemic architecture is an expression of a people who believe that it is their right to exploit nature. Two things can be inferred from this statement; one, the exploitation is towards a specific goal; and, two, that the goal is for the benefít of people. The primary goal of organic architecture is to better the human condition through a pedagogical agenda or through physical comfort and health.^"

^^Jbid.,24. ^'Uîid, 18. ^"^ Wright and SuIIivan emphasized the pedagogical approach to organic architecture, while Aalto and Hãring emphasized a physical approach to organic architecture. For a detailed discussion see pp., 34-43.

One of organic architecture's origins was in American Transcendentalism, a philosophy that began in the nineteenth centiiry." Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Wah Whitinan were the mam fígures in this philosophical movement.^'* They believed that Man had become estianged from Natiu-e, and that the role of the artist was to unite both into a natiiral union." The poem, "When the FuII Grown Poet Came," illusfrates this point. When the fiill grown poet came, Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all tts shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine, But out spake too the soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled, Nay, he is mine alone; Then the fiiU-grown poet stood between the two, and took each by the hand; And today and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands, Which he will never release until he reconciles the two, And wholly and joyously blends them.^^ Art must come from this blending of man and nature, for it is in nature only that tmth and beauty are found.^' Man and Nature have powers of creation, and, as suggested in this ^^ Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. SuIIivan were both heavily influenced by this philosophy. For a detailed discussion see p. 37. 26

For a detailed discussion see p. 32.

^^ The author is not sure what the phrase "natural union" meant to the franscendentalists of the nineteenth century. A general reading of Krishan Kumar's book, Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modem Times, suggests that in the transcendentalist's view nature needed man to be complete as a descendant of the biblical Garden of Eden. The author has included this footnote in order to recognize that the religions of the US. have played a role in the development of organic architecture. There is enough material for a second thesis. ^* Walt Whitinan, Leaves of Grass: The 1892 Edition. (New York; Bantam Books, 1983), 435. ^^This is traceable to Rousseau's attitude toward nature as the source of all tmth and beauty. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, (ii,59) Quoted by Ronald Grimsley in The

10 poem, the poet is a creature of both. One interpretatíon is that the poet has undertaken the task of reconciliation of man and nature through the merging of science and art. Emerson believed that science and art were both explorations of different aspects of natuie which would one day merge.^° American Transcendentalism was a mystically based philosophy, with the assumption that Tmth is found by infrospection rather than by cataloguing measurable data.^' The Transcendentalists believed that it is possible that knowledge is found within Man through his intuition and confirmed by empirical means. American Transcendentalist philosophy believes that great men have a generic quality that is fransferred through the teaching process, which causes the ordinary man to achieve greatness.^^ The Transcendentalist's regarded architecture primarily as a teaching device, as they did with all of the arts.^^ Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. SuIIivan considered themselves to be great men. Wright considered his work to instmct the user and others in a more natural lifestyle. Narciso Menocal of SuIIivan : "The chief function of architecture would be to express

Philosophv of Rousseau (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 122. ^°Gustaf Van Cromphout, Emerson's Modemitv And The Example of Goethe (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1990), 25. ^' Nathaniel Kaplan and Thomas Katsaros, Origins of American Transcendentalism: In Philosophv and Mysticism (New Haven, Connecticut: CoIIege and University Press, 1975), 19. 32

Ibid., 334.

" Narciso Menocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis Sullivan. (Madison, Wisconsin: TheUniversity of WisconsinPress, 1981), 16.

11 philosophical concepts related only to what he [SuIIivan] considered to be the Iiighesl tmths of nature."^^ Both of these architects valued the artistic qualities of a bmlding over its practical qualities though this does not mean that they ignored practical concems. SuIIivan's theories were almost exclusively centered on the decorative aspects of architecture, ignoring, in his theoretical discussions, what he considered to be the craft of architecture. The craft of architecture refers to the constmction and also to what is known as programming. SuIIivan was quite capable of handling the craft of architecture, as noted by Dennis Allen Anderson and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner in "Adler and SuIIivan's Seattle Opera House Project."^^ For Wright and SuIIivan, the use of organic forms were attempts to instmct people in a more natural way of life. In the works of these architects, the message was benefícial to people through physical manifestations.^* Deism, an earlier philosophy that heavily mfluenced the early United States Republic, was precursor to American Transcendentalism. Although Deism was actually a theology, it was imprørtant because it presented an empirical basis for studying nature. Deism held

'* n)id, 16. ^^ This does not mean that Sullivan was only a decorator. His work in the Seattle Opera House indicates a mastery of the craft as well. It was only in SuIIivan's expression that the craft was regulated to framework, Dennis Allen Anderson and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, "Adler and SuIIivan's Seattle Opera House Project," Societv of Architectiiral Historians JoumaLXLVm, (September 1989): 223-231. ^^ For a detailed discussion see p. 37.

12 the belief that God created the universe according to certain unbreakable laws and does not physically intertere in this world through mystical means.^^ This was the essence of Deism, a theology and philosophy of the Enlightenment.^* The Deistic metaphor of the clockwork universe represents a particular view of cosmic order, one held by Sir Isaac Newton, John Bacon and John Lockc^' They visualized the universe as running like a perfect machine according to unbreakable laws, which at that time was embodied in the mechanical clock. These laws could be found only by a rational study of nature, an imperative study, for that was the only way to know God."" Deism in its purest state rejected any knowledge that was divinely inspired or acquired in any fashion other than through a rational empiricism. The religious makeup of the colonies in the United States was, at that time, was predominantly Calvinist. Divine revelation was a comerstone of Calvinism, which placed this Protestant movement at odds with pure Deism. Certain philosophers tried to reconcile the two different theologies, notably the Scottish commonsense philosophers"' who believed that

"This theology denies the existence of any source of mystical knowledge such as divine inspiration, messages from angels, and genius. Kerry S. Walters, Rational Infídels: The American Deists. (Durango, Colorado: Longwood Academic, 1992), 7. ^^Theology and philosophy at this point in time were essentially the same thing. In fact, the separation of church and state was not widely practiced until the late cighteenth century. Ibid., 7. ^' This is a metaphor that is commonly attributed to Sir Isaac Newton. Walters, Rational Infídels: The AmericanDeists, 16. 40

Uîid

"' Kerry S. Walters, The American Deists: Voices of Reason and Dissent in the Earlv Republic (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas,1992), 14.

13 the mmd possessed certain self evident mtuitive faculties by which knowledge could be appraised.'*^ They had more impact on Deism m the United States than Locke or Newton because their work was more acceptable to the colonist's religious sensibilities,''^ Because of these religious sensibilities, the United States was not as heavily influenced by a materialistic empiricism as Europe. In Europe, Deism led to a purely materialistic empiricism. The Modemist Movement of the early 1920s was grounded in this through the teachings of Eugene Emmanuel VioIIet-le-Duc There was a search for the natural laws that govemed architecturc'" Of course, this is a generalized statement. The Modemist Movement included a wide spectrum of philosophies; however, "the machine universe" became the dominant metaphor, which is similar to the clockwork universe. There were only a small number of modem architects who saw the laws in terms of an organism rather than a machine. Wright brought the idea of an organic architecture to Europe.''^ Aalto and Håring used organic forms as an altemative to the vogue for industrialized forms of the Modemist Movement. Aalto and Hãring were empiricists, and both claimed to be Functionalists. Any appeal to artistic sensibility had to have a quantifíable purpose. This led to a curious duality in the works of Aalto who would deny any artistic intent in his

42

Jbid., 16.

"^ The works of Bacon, Newton and Locke challenged the tenets of Calvinism too much for the majority of the colonists. They were scomed by most of the American clergy. Jbid., 15. ''"Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Håring," Architectiu-al Review, vl71 (June 1982): 40-47. ''Chapterffl,43.

14 architecture. His work employed iconographic imagery and other references that appeals to the artistic sensibilities of people. He did not claim any artistic intent; however, Aalto did not object to people seeing artistic merit in his work. The artistic touch in his work met the psychological needs of the users of his buildings. A quantifíable human need drove this version of organic architecture, Both Hugo Hãring and Alvar Aalto were rationalists who based their organic form on quantifíable phenomena. For Håring there was nothing as important as the physical requirements of a building.''^ Aalto had a humanistic stance, tempered by a concem for the psychological function of architecture. In both cases the architects took an empirical approach to form. Psychology allowed Aalto and Håring to justify historical references, metaphor, and other artistic elements as quantifíable architectural qualities. Organic architecture was practiced in Europe during the late 1920s; however, it was not a major part of the Modemist Movement. Organic architecture was closely related to Functionalism, and was especially influenced by Moholy-Nagy and Hugo Håring.'*' There are three major concepts in the Modemist Movement that were rejected by organic architecture. The fírst is the machine model of universal order, which is a version of the

''Jones, "HugoHâring." ''SeeChapterlII, p. 54.

15 Enlightenment's clockwork universe. It was rejected in favor of a biological model. The second is the emphasis placed on mass society over the individual, The third is the exclusively physical defínition of function espoused by Hannes Meyers.''* The universe is visualized as an evolving organism by the organic architect, which has an effect on how order is viewed. Westem architecture has traditionally associated Euclidean geometry with order, especially demonsfrated in the gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. tt is tempting to suggest that organic architecture is a total break from the association of order and geometry. Such an assumption would be inaccurate, however. SuIIivan and Wright created geometric modules to represent growth tempered by Man's touch.''^ Hugo Håring used Euclidean geometry only when constmction costs resfrained him, although he was fully aware of the philosophical implications of Euclidean planning.^'^ Aalto combined orthogonal grids with intuitive organic forms in a deliberate dissolving of the grid. Pure geometry was not a part of these architects' work, and platonic volumes were never the ultimate forms of a building. In organic architecture, geometric forms, such as plan and volume, are associated with human constmction, and signify the relationship of man and nature in a particular work. For example, Wright's strict contiol of the geometric module can be interpreted as placing people into the role

"^Hannes Meyers proposed that there was no art in architecture and that all architectural problems could be solved by inductive reasoning. He was the polar opposite of Hugo Hãring. Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Hãring," Architectural Review. 1982, V. 171 no. 1022,40-47. "'Wright used a geomefric description of crystalline growth. See Appendix A. '"Jones, "HugoHâring."

16 of caretaker, while Aalto's casual attitude towards geometry can be mterpreted as a comment on how to cooperate with nature. Organic architects produce a great deal of individualized work. SuUivan, Wright, Hãring, and Aalto are not connected by the appearance of their buildings, other than organic imagery. The approaches of these architects toward design are similar Rather than classify their works by a catalogue of building parts, the approaches to organic architecture need to be classifíed. In this study, the selection is limited to Wright, SuIIivan, Håring and AaUo, though there is no obvious formal pattem m their works. If the personal attitudes toward the designs of SuIIivan, Wright, Hãring and Aalto are used to classify organic architects then a pattem emerges.^' There exists in organic architecture two groups of attitudes, empirical and intuitive. The empirical attitude came from Goethe and VioIIet-Ie-Duc, both of whom advocated an empirical approach to art. Goethe believed that art and science were one and the same exploration of nature, making the assumption that Tmth can be found in the measurable qualities of nature either through science or art. In this version of organic architecture it is required that there be quantifíable reason for the use of form. For example, Aalto used psychology as a justification for much of his organic form. Håring used the physical function almost exclusively. Aalto and Håring have replaced the mysticism of SuIIivan and Wright with psychology. According to the empirical attitude, the primary purpose of the architect's work was its use in everyday life. AII decisions conceming its design had to be informed by empirical knowledge. " Branch, Mark Alden, "Organic Architecture: ABreedApart," Progressive Architecturc June 1992, 70.

17 On the other hand, an intuitive based organic architecture assumes that certain ideas are inherent in all people and the presence of those ideas can be confírmed by empirical research. The architecture of both Wright and SuIIivan was mtended to inform society, and the promotion of architectural ideas of more importance to them than the physical comfort of their building. Organic form was justifíed on the basis of the pedagogical ambitions to teach people to live in harmony with nature, as long as nature was subject to peoplc These are the two different approaches to organic architecture, Their difference lies in the justifícation that architects use in order to meaningfully employ organic form. In both cases, the architects conclude organic models for architectural form are more beneficial for people than Euclidean or machine models. The organic model for form must not be taken too literally when the underlying pnnciples are used to create architectural form. Architectural form should never be predetermined. When Aalto fried to create building types the attempt was highly modifíed by circumstances, such as program, cost and sitc Architectural form is always affected by its environment. This includes context, though the typical defínition is usually too limiting for the organic architect. Context, a literary term, often implies that the historical and iconographic makeup of the area are more important than the actual physical location. As organic architecture is very site specifíc the use of the word "context" becomes a distraction. The term "environment" is more correct. In both cases, architectural form affects the soul and mind. In both cases harmony with nature is the ultimate goal.

18 Organic design is a romantic approach to architecturc Even in the works of the rationalists there exists attempts at communicating through the mtuition, Aalto referred to this as meeting the psychological needs of people. Invariably, this attempt is misunderstood as mere expressionistic tendencies of the architect, though the author is not sure if this is an entirely incorrect assumption. However, there is a difference between an expressionistic architect and an organic architect. The organic architect builds more often because the need of the presence of an actual environment is a vital part of his work. The expressionist does not build much because the ideas of the expressionist can exist independently of sitc

CHAPTER III A SHORT HISTORY OF ORGANIC ARCFQTECTURE

Introduction Organic architecture was a product of the Industrial Revolution. It was a response to the conditions found in these industrialized cultures; but, it was not a rejection of industrialization. Frank Lloyd Wright stated: "The machine is an engine of emancipation or enslavement, according to the human direction and control given it, for it is unable to control iíself "^^ Organic architecturc is concemed with the direction of progress. This concem is fírst seen in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and is not an original thought of organic architects. This chapter discusses the major influences in the development of organic architecture and demonsfrates its place in the history of twentieth century architecturc

European Romantic Movement The European Romantic movement occurred between 1760 and 1820, a time of major historic changes in the European cultures. The materialistic philosophy of Deism was beginning to take hold of intellectual circles in Europc Deism was technically a theology, but during that period of history there was very little difference between philosophy and theology in the Westem World. As Adam Smith published The Wealth "AquotefromanarticIebyFrankLIoyd Wright. Frederick Gutheim, ed. Inthe Cause of Architecture Frank Llovd Wright: Wright's Historic Essays for Architectural Record 1908-1952, (New York; Architechual Record Books, 1987), 131. 19

20 ofNations, the French revolution began, followed by the American Revolution. The philosopher Goethe was active in Germany, Darwin was beginning to develop his theory of evolution, the Industrial Revolution was expanding, and the authority of classicism was being challenged." The latter was not exclusively an architectural phenomenon, but occurred in literature, in paintings, and in music, which suggests that there was a general shift in the thinking of the population. The awareness of society as an organism was begiiming to take hold in the eighteenth century.^" This means that people were no longer viewing progress as a recaptimng of an ideal state but as an evolution toward perfection or at least a higher existencc The begiiming of this challenge to classical authority began a long time before the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It took place in the context of French neoclassicism approximately a century before the European romantic movement. In the seventeenth century, Claude Perrault began questioning the fraditional view of proportions as laid down by Vitmvuis.^' Specifícally, the assumption that musical harmonies applied to architectural proportions would guarantee beauty was challenged.^^ Joseph Rywert illustrates the nature of this challenge quoting Descartes writing to Mersennc Descartes '^ The subject of classicism is much more complicated than the author realized at the beginning of this thesis, and apparently the classical architecture serves as a uniíying set of elements for a large and diverse period of westem history. See Joseph Rywert, The First Modems: The Architects of the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, Massachusetts: TheMITPress, 1987). '" Marilyn Butler, Romantics. Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background 1760-1830 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 178. 55

Rywert, The First Modems. 33.

^^ Alberto Pérez-Gômez, Architecture and the Crisis of Modem Sciencc (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1983), 31.

21 said that "...were a dog whipped fíve to six times to the sound of a violin, he would no doubt howl and run away whenever he heard its music."" This questioning lead Perrault to conduct an empirical study of the proportions of past masters. The results of this study suggested that this classical assumption lacked basis, and brought into question the validity of the classical defínition of beauty.^* Perrault redefíned beauty by distinguishing between two different types of beauty, the positive and arbitiary.^^ "Positive" can be taken to mean beauty that is native to the building and "arbitiary" can be taken to mean beauty that is subjective, or that which people have tiained themselves to likc This was the beginning of the Enlightenment, at least in architecture. The European Romantic Movement, which followed the Enlightenment, was a reaction against the materialistic dogma of the Enlightenment, although empirical exploration was never abandoned. There were two general trains of thought in the late nineteenth century. One assumed that only an empirical study of nature could reveal tmth and the other eissumed that an empirical study of nature would veriíy tmth which could be found within peoplc One will invariably discover the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher who lived in the eighteenth century, in anything dealing with the European Romantic Movement. He was primarily a social philosopher, and his theories on aesthetics were tied to the development of human morals. In Emile, Rousseau described his opinion conceming the source of beauty. "The good is only the beautiful in action. "Rywert, The First Modems, 35. 'Mbid ''Ibid,36.

22 that the one is intimately connected with the other and that they both have a common source in well ordered nature."^'' Unlike his contemporaries, Rousseau was not an empiricist, although he had the background to be onc^' His philosophy was infrospectivc Tmth was found in one's own self rather than measured and quantifíed in the lab of the scientist.^^ This placed Rousseau in a curious positíon in the eighteenth century in that he did not believe that science would provide the answers to everything. "Rousseau, striking deeper still, maintained that the cuU of intellectual progress is incompatible vÁth man's tme nature, and he feared that it would ultimately destroy what is specifícally human in our species."" Rousseau was not against progress itself, but against the way in which progress was being implemented, and specifícally in the large city. "Man, Rousseau thought, was intended by nature to live in sparsely populated mral societies, not in vast aggregations where the individual is socialized out of existencc"^ Rousseau equated the decay of moral values with the excessive veneration of science and with the overcrowded

**" Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, (ii, 59) Quoted by Ronald Grimsley in The Philosophv of Rousseau (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 122. 61

He was a chemist before becoming a philosopher. Ibid.

^^ The Tmth as is used here is the order found in naturc Rousseau believed that the empirical methods of people such as Deirdrot left much out of the order of naturc Such order, as Rousseau saw it, could be found only by introspection. Mark J. Temmer, Art and the Influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Chapel HiII, North Carolina; The University of North Carolina Press, 1973), 93. 63

Uîid, 3.

^F.C. Green, Rousseau and the Idea of Progress (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1950: reissued 1978.), 17.

23 industrial cities.^^ He influenced the American movements known as Unitarianism and American Transcendentalism which had a profound influence on Louis H. Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's work formed a major part of the basis for the social stmcture of the United States of America and for the romantic movement in the nineteenth century.

The Gothic Novel The literary arts were the primary means of communicating ideas before electronic communication took its place in the twentieth century. The gothic novel is a part of the European romantic movement and was a major change in English literaturc As a gem-e it is very difficult to defíne, or at least to fínd an agreement among literary critics and historians as to the exact defmition of the gothic novel. The gothic novel was developed as a popular literature in the late 1800s and was designed to appeal to a mass audiencc Frankenstein. written by Mary Shelly in 1818, and Ivanhoc by Sir Walter Scott in 1820, are two of the more famous works produced by this gemc Some critics include Moby Dick, by Herman Melvile, and The Scarlet letter, by Nathaniel Hawthom, as examples of the artist tianscending the gothic stylc The gothic novel was very popular among English speaking nations. As it included many descriptions of gothic architecture it placed such architecture before the public. The gothic novel was one of the fírst instances of a major shift in the arts from a private pationage system of support to a commercial system aimed at generating income for the author and publishers, This entailed selling a large volume of books to the middle "'lbid, 13.

24 class, thus the content had to appeal to a common ground among readers. For more ideological reasons, the early part of the Enlightenment attempted to "reach Everyman [that is every reader] through universally accessible modes."^ It was not until the European Romantic Movement that this successfully happened. Around 1820, the time that the burgeoning printing technology made books accessible to the general public, literary artists were exploring the use of private descriptions to communicate with the general public Literature became more infroverted in nature, at the time the written word was becoming more accessible to the public, especially in England.^^ The gothic novel is an exploration of the interior, or soul, of the subject. At its lowest level, comparable to the current romance novels, soap operas and horror movies, the gothic novel appealed to a mass audience through tts sentiment or its shock valuc At the highest level, the gothic novel was an exploration of a character's emotional response to fantastic or supematural events.^* Besides developing a public taste for gothic architecture through its description of gothic buildings, the gothic novel also cultivated the public taste for expressiveness. The novel thus served as a reflection of and an influence on public tastc Art had become a way of looking at the wormy state of mankind as a whole, rather than a discrete reflection of the aristocracy.

^^Butler. Romantics Rebels and Reactionaries, 182. ^'Ybid. ^^Horace Walpole wrote what some consider to be the first gothic novel, The Castle ofOtranto. Horace Walpole also designed "Strawberry Hill," one of the fírst gothic revival buildings in England. G.R. Thompson, "Romanticism and the Gothic Tradition," G.R. Thompson, ed., The Gothic Imagination: Essavs in Dark Romanticism. (Pullman,Washington: Washington State University Press, 1974), 4.

25 Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852) Augustus Welby Pugin was an architect that designed almost exclusively in an archaeologically correct gothic stylc Pugin was one of the major forerunners of the gothic revival movement and of the Modem Movement.

In Tme Principles Pugin

wrote: All omament should consist of enrichment of the essential constmction of the building. In pure architecture the smallest details should have a meaning or serve a purposc Constmction should vary with the materials employed. The extemal and intemal appearance of an edifíce should be illustrative of, and in accordance with, the purpose for which it is destined.^' These are the tme principles to which the title refers to, and a basis of the twentieth century Modem movement and organic architecturc Two other points made in Tme Principles, although neither were stated as a principle concemed local and national styles, where traditional forms should be respected because of climate and cultural conditions and quality must include social values. Pugin was an advocate of the archeological accurate copying of the thirteenth century gothic style, but he ran into the problem of archeological reconstmction.^'* The influence of Augustus Welby Pugin on the works of John Ruskin and the gothic revival is exceptional^' 69

Phoebe Stanton, Pugin (New York: The Viking Press, 1971), 81.

^''This is an interesting subject in itself Archeologists, for the most part, piece together a past without having all of the necessary information availablc Insights into the past often depend on the background, personality, culture and imagination of the archeologist. The science is not as random as this sounds, and the interpretation of the available clues is done through a rigorous methodology. The archeologist vÁl\ interpret the clues under the influence of his or her, period of time, which, in the author's opinion, makes archeology very a valuable subject for architect's to study and understand how forms relate to people across timc ^' This is said with some irony as the author has ran across several substantial accounts of Ruskin having plagiarized Pugin, but that is a bit involved for this thesis.

26 Gothic Revival The first building of the gothic revival was Horace Walpole's house, Sfrawberry HiII. Coincidentally, Walpole was also one ofthe first authors ofthe gothic novel The gothic revival was a conscious attempt to fínd a non-classical foundation for a modem architecturc A multitude of reasons exists for the rejection of classicism in favor of the gothic revival.^^ Among them are the rise of nationalism, the introduction of iron and glass that did not fít into the neoclassical use of materials, the introduction of new technologies, and the destmctive pace of the industrial revolution. The Gothic Revival had, at least in England, a sfrong religious and moral tone set by Augustus Welby Pugin and John Ruskin, Catholic and Protestant respectively. In France, Eugéne Emmanuel VioIIet-Ie-Duc, an agnostic, emphasized social considerations over the moral. The comparison of Ruskin and VioIIet-le-Duc reveal two separate directions of this movement. John Ruskin hated the direction taken by the modem world, and wanted a retum to the simpler age idealized by the thirteenth century. VioIIet-Ie-Duc was a visionary who believed that the implementation of gothic principles would ease life for people and should even form the basis for a modem architecture.

JohnRuskin (1819-1900) John Ruskin built very little architecture, which is ironic considering the amount of influence he has had over architecturc He was a proponent of the Gothic Revival ^^ This was by no means a unanimous event and there was quite a battle of styles between the eclectics, the neoclassicists and the gothic revivalists. The conflict continued into the modem movement. Two relevant examples cited in section on Hugo Hãring is his argument with Le Corbusier and Mies van Der Rohe over form. Jones, "HugoHâring."

27 movement in England, a preservatiomst, and an architectural critic; however, Ruskin did not have a formal education in architecture, but in the areas of literature and landscape painting." As a result of the latter, John Ruskin developed a sensitivity to the qualities of color and texture that was unusual in Victorian England,^" and he valued the expressive and picturesque qualities of architecture over functional and rational qualities. "...Ruskin consistently discusses a building as something to be seen rather than to be used."^^ The poetry of Wordsworth, whose work John Ruskin greatly admired, also reinforced Ruskin's view of architecture as a part of the landscape.^^ According to Michael W. Brooks, [John Ruskin's] architectural education proceeded in fíts and starts, but always in one direction: from a water colorist's interest in architecture as a subordinate part of a landscape to his eventual advocacy of building that would eventually capture the qualities of nature in the curve of their arches and the mass of their walls." Kristine Ottesen Garrisen points out in her book, Ruskin on Architecturc that John Ruskin had a lack of interest in mass, proportion and especially stmcturc'* This may have resulted in Ruskin's separation of the craft of building from the art of architecture, by which he meant the omamentation of key points such as walls, capitals and so forth. ^' He was a watercolorist, Michael W. Brooks, John Ruskin and Victorian Architecturc (London: Rutgers University Press, 1987), 1. '"ftid, 1. "n)id,9. '^lbid.,4. "ftid ^*Kristine Ottesen Garrigan, Ruskin on Architecture: His Thought and Influence (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1973), 67.

28 Ruskin preferred an architecture of effects over an architecture of form. Ruskin hated the direction that the nineteenth century was heading and called stiongly for the use of handicrafts and tiaditíonal materials in architecture, excluding modem materials, such as iron, from consideration in his theories. The Arts and Craft movement was a development of the Gothic Revival in England and was heavily influenced by John Ruskin. It emphasized the craft aspect of architecture, and discouraged the use of omament. The result was a simple well-built architecture that respected local custom and materials. In the United States, a similar development occurred in the Shaker traditions, and as a matter of survival on the frontier.

Eugêne Emmanuel Viollet-Ie-Duc (1814-1879) Eugéne Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was one of the most influential theoreticians in architecturc He was a noted authority on gothic architecture and had a particular interest in the architecture of the 1300s.'^ As a theoretician, he was a rationalist who saw that the principles of gothic architecture were more applicable to the nineteenth century than the classical principles of the EcoIe-des-Beaux Arts. It was from the gothic principles that VioUet-le-Duc formulated a new theory of architecture that addressed materials such as iron and glass and the programmatic requirements of the new technologies.*" He was an advocate of rational design. ^'VioIIet-le-Duc was one of the fírst restorers of French gothic architecturc Martin Bressani, "Notes on VioIIet-Ie-Duc's Philosophy of History: Dialectics and Technology," The Societv of Architectural Historians Joumal. 48, No. 4,327-350. ^^* VioIIet-le-Duc was also the father of the current preservationist movement, along with Ruskin. Actually Ruskin was a preservationist and Viollet-Ie-Duc was a restorer of gothic cathedrals. Viollet-Ie-Duc's preservation methodologies have become very

29 According to VioIett-le-Duc, there were three points that marked a rational design, They are function determines form,*' sti^ctural honesty,^^ and the guiding concept of honest simplicity.*^ VioIIet-Ie-Duc's theories had an influence on Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis H. SuIIivan, particulariy the point about subordinating all decoration to the guiding concept.^ VioIIet-le-Duc's influence over the Functionalist movement is undeniablc Violett-Ie-Duc's view of history is important, but to discuss this one must touch on his religious views. He stated, "It is as ridiculous to pretend that there is a god as tt is impertinent to maintain that there is not."*^ That is a statement of an agnostic, and as one he was free to accept evolution as a viable theory of organic development. During the nineteenth century, religion was still a dominant force in intellectual circles. Of particular importance to this paper is Violett-le-Duc's view of histoiy as an evolutionary process instead of the biblical view,*^ in which himians were advancing toward

controversial in the twentieth century. Bressani, "Notes on Viollet-Ie-Duc's Philosophy of History: Dialectics and Technology." *' M. F. Heam, ed, The Architectural Theory of Violett-le-Duc: Readings and Commentarv. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990), 182. *'n>id, 187. ''ftid, 192. 84

Ibid., 209.

*^ VioUet-le-Duc quoted by Nikolaus Pevsner, Some Architectural Writers of the Nineteenth Centurv. (Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1972), 209, "^Bressani, "Notes on VioIIet-Ie-Duc's Philosophy of History: Dialectics and Technology."

30 períection, rather than the biblical view of people's fall from perfection,^' As he viewed technology as an aspect of this evolutionary process, and it was easy for him to accept new building technologies and materials, such as iron and glass. Violett-le-Duc espoused a regional approach to architecture, and admired some vemacular traditions for their development of rational stmcture based on local materials, and for their harmony v^th local climate, topography, and culturc^^ M. F. Heam comments on Violett-Ie-Duc's use of techniques from other times and cultures: When the form or technique of one tradition fíts the cultural and physical context of another, it can be appropriated to great advantage-as in the case of the Romans and vaulting. But in a fully rational procedure, if the borrowed element works better than a local custom then the custom itself could be dropped and the philosophy of the local tradition could continue unabated along another line of formal development.*^ Viollet-Ie-Duc did not restrict the use of vemacular architecture to a local area. This becomes an important idea in the work of Alvar Aalto, especially after his trips to Italy.

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau was heavily influenced by the writings of Viollet-Le-Duc, especially in the effort to create a national stylc^" This movement, which lasted approximately from 1895 to 1905, was a theoretical offspring of the British Arts and Crafts movement.^' It ''ftid *^ Heam, The Archttectural Theorv of VioIett-le-Duc. 184. 89

Ibid,201.

^ Kenneth Frampton, Modem Architecture a Critical History. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 64. ^' Tim Benton, "Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau," ed. Frank Russell, Art Nouveau Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1979), 15.

31 was an attempt in Europe to create a new "style" of archttecture that did not rely on classical form or theory,^^ but relied on nature and materials for its formal expression. Its treatment of iron as a sinuous material created an orgamc effect in its decoration, though the building organization was classical in most cases.^^ The exception to this was Antonio Gaudi's work in which organic forms were based on Gaudi's own imagination and his Catalonian culture, and his exploration of Gothic stmcturc His design methodology used models almost exclusively, and even in his stmctural calculations he used wire models with weights to determine the resulting force vectors. Gaudi's columns, for example, follow the tme direction of vectors. Taking into account Gaudi's symbolism he was as much a sculptor as he was an architect. He is unique in the history of architecture. In Belgium, Victor Horta followed the same goal as Gaudi the establishment of a modem national stylc In the Hotel Tâssel, Horta used the iron in a manner that offset the mass of the stonc** The iron is sfretched in an imitation of plant forms, which foreshadows the organic practice of "growing" a building. The building itself was conceived along the rationalist principles of VioIIet-Le-Duc, but the lace quality of the iron is much more than decoration;'' it anticipates Wright's concept of the nature of materials by exploiting the tensile nature of steel.

'^lbid •^Mbid ^ The name is misleading to those that speak no Belgium. The English equivalent is "townhousc" Ibid. 95

Jbid.

32 Hector Guimard was probably the most outspoken architect of the Art Nouveau Movement. In his theories, he sfressed the need for omament to demonsfrate the nature of the materials used.^^ Guimard drew his imagery from the fairy tales, and legends of Francc The organic nature of his work was due to his interpretation of the nature of materials, and not to an imitation of natural forms.^' This emphasis on the nature of materials is a part of Art Nouveau theory and it influenced Alvar Aaho through the teachings of Arimas Lindgren.

American Transcendentalism In the United States of America, the reaction to Diesm was the American Transcendentalist Movement, The writers of this movement were extolling the virtues of nature and reintroducing a legacy of mysticism inherited from the original British colonists. The divine revelation of Calvinism and the intuitive knowledge of American Transcendentalism are related approaches to Tmth. In summary, American transcendentalism is a native philosophy which borrowed widely from other cultures....At the base of transcendentalism is a mystical rather than a rational approach to understanding the mysteries of the universe. As a form of intuitive idealism derived especially from Plato and the Neo-PIatonists, franscendentalism affirms an organic growth principle in opposition to the idea of a world as a perfected mechanism operating through God's preestablished natural law. Since the source of ultimate knowledge can be directly known through one's intuition, transcendentalism extolled ideas QQ

over expenencc ^^ David Dunster, ed., Architectural Monographs 2, GiIIian Naylor, "Hector Guimard-Romantic Rationalist?," (New York; Rizzoli Intemational Publications, 1978), 12, '^lbid ^*NathanieI Kaplan and Thomas Katsaros, Origins of American Transcendentalism: In Philosophv and Mvsticism (New Haven, Connecticut: CoIIege and University Press,

33 Both Louis H. SuIIivan and Frank Lloyd Wright were influenced heavily by Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, the three major fígures in American Transcendentalism. The American Transcendentalist movement was an offshoot of European romanticism, but was combined with other philosophies from European, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures to create a uniquely American philosophy.'^' German philosophies also played a large role in the development of American Transcendentalism, especially through the mystic philosophers and, most importantly, Johan Wolfgang Goethc The American Transcendentalist movement was more heavily grounded in nature than the European romantic movement, and tried to combine science and poetry into a single art. While American Transcendentalism was a romantic movement, it did not look to the historical past as the European romantics looked toward the medieval period. American Transcendentalism looked at nature, which abounded in the frontier. As a result, at least among organic architects, technology became neither the savior of the human race nor the enslaver, but as an extension of Man. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johan Wolfgang Goethe German philosophy and literature had a heavy influence on the United States from 1820 to 1850. '^ Among the artists and philosophers that Goethe strongly affected, Ralph Waldo Emerson was the most influential in the development of Transcendentalism and the artistic development of the nineteenth century. Johan Wolfgang Goethe said that 1975), 19. ^'^lbid, 19. "'^Gustaf Van Cromphout, Emerson's Modemity and the Example of Goethe (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1990), 1.

34 natiu-e itself is the "infínite and etemal tmth." Goethe did not view nature as an abstiaction but as a physical reality. He was both a naturalist and a poet. He sought to combine both science and poetry. Emerson was not a naturalist, although he wanted to be onc "" Emerson advocated a fusion of science and poetry, as Goethe did so before him. Emerson said in his lecture, "Works and Days," We do not listen with the best regard to the verses of a man who is only a poet, nor to his problems if he is only an algebraist; but, if a man is at once acquainted with the geometrical foundations of things and with their festal splendor, his poetry is exact and his arithmetic musical."'"^ Art for Emerson was best if grounded in an empirical reality, the reality of naturc Both Goethe and Emerson found it impossible to tieat art separately from nature, although they did not tieat art as an imitation of nature in the neoclassical sensc'"^ The artist should emulate nature by grasping the idea that she was trying to develop, and to reproduce the formal development of that idea. This was a dynamic process, which was similar to Darwin's theory of evoIution.'°" Goethe was influenced by his years of study in botany and anatomy, which heavily influenced his aesthetic theories.'*'^ Emerson, at least in his aesthetic theory, followed Goethe's theories. '"' In 1832, Emerson retired from the ministry and a year later had resolved to become a naturalist after visiting the Muséum d'Histoire Naturale in Paris. He had experienced a stiange sympathy with naturc Ibid., 24. '°']bid.,25. '"Mbid, 57-58. "*" The concept of evolution, as laid down by Darwin, is very familiar to the reader, but very revolutionary at the time it was published in The Origin of Species. 105

Cromphout, Enunerson's Modemitv and the Example of Goethe. 57-58.

35 Beginning with SuIIivan in Ihe United Siates, organic architeclure began to develop from the theones of Emerson and the poetry of Walt Whitman. The European continent was the site of a second line of reasoning which did not have the sfrong influence of American transcendentalism and its mysticism. European organic architecture developed from the empirical philosophies of the Enlightenment.

Organic Architects Louis H. SuIIivan (1856-1924) The opinion expressed by Narciso G. Menocal in his book, Architecture as Nature. that Louis H. Sullivan was an omamentalist who favored the adomment of key points in a building""' is worth looking at, if only to clarify the actual nature of Sullivan's work. This opinion of Menocal has some basis, but the implication that Sullivan was not an architect, is both unfair and inaccuratc Conunon to all his [Louis H. SuIIivan] periods was the Ruskinian idea that architecture consisted exclusively of the articulation of surfaces and the decoration of key points. Stenciled omamentation; reliefs in plaster, terra cotta, and cast iron; clusters of organic motifs placed on capitals and other prominent places, stmctural members attached to facades and becoming constituents of anthropomorphic programs; and later, tapestry brick and stained glass-these in his opinion were suffícient components for achieving his aesthetic purposes.'"^ This was a common nineteenth-century attitude and was more dependent upon a fradition of building craft than modem attitudes allow. Menocal devotes most of his book to the

"'^NarcisoMenocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis SuIIivan (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of WisconsinPress, 1981), xvii. 107

n)id, 148.

36 analysis of the omamentation done by SuIIivan, a justifíable approach to understanding this architect. The fírst part of Sullivan's career was as the partner of Dankmar Adler. Adler was a stmctural, mechanical and acoustical engineer who hired SuUivan because he felt that his own artistic sensibilities were inadequate to achieve the quality he wanted for his commissions.'°* Sullivan was to design facades and omamentation. "•' The context in which Sullivan was designing them was in the design of the early skyscrapers, a building type which still today requires a team of engineers and architects to design. Although Adler did design much of the technical details, SuIIivan was not restricted to facade design or omamentation.'"' "Since one of Sullivan's primary interests was to reveal as transcendentalist as possible a program on the exterior of buildings, his work within the partnership could not have been better suited to his vocation."'" This is not the attitude of a mere decorator, but of an architect concemed with the entire building. During the second part of his career, SuIIivan "designed""^ on his own, which indicates that he was capable of "designing" as the term is interpreted by Menocal. The actions of SuUivan in

'°'n)id.,43. '""ftid '""Dennis Alan Anderson and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, "Adler and Sullivan's Seattle Opera House Project," Joumal of The Societv of Architectural Historians 48 (September 1989)223-231. "'lbid "^Designed is used in the modem sense to distinguish his activity from that of the work he did in the offíce of Dankmar Adler. It is unfair assume that twentieth century attitudes toward design apply to a nineteenth century practice or that SuIIivan was any less than an architect.

37 the design of the Seattle Opera House as documented in the Joumal of The Societv of Architectural Historians"^ indicate that he had a larger role m the design process and included responsibility for the technical aspects of the design."" David S. Andrew, in his book, Louis Sullivan and the Polemics of Modem Architecturc recognizes that SuIIivan was an architect, but downplays the role of organic conceptions in his work preferring, to point out how SuIIivan's theories were weak, rather than how they applied to his works. This in is a disservice to the architect."^ It raises the question of what Louis SuIIivan actually meant when he said that form follows function, It is obvious that he did not intend the meaning given later by the Functionalist movement, more accurately stated that ftmction and environment determines form. SuIIivan's interpretation of "form follows function" would be that the needs of the people involved must be met before the architecture can be involved."^ For SuIIivan, architecture was a high art that demonsfrated tmth or, as Menocal states, "The chief function of architecture would be to express philosophical concepts related only to what he considered to be the highest tmths ofnaturc""^ Sullivan's work is organic, but not in the sense that the entire building uses organic stmcture, form or

"^ Anderson and Ochsner, "Adler and Sullivan's Seattle Opera House Project," 223-231. 114

Md.

"^David S. Andrew, Louis SuIIivan and the Polemics of Modem Architecture: The Present Against the Past. (Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1985), 58-74. "'lbid "^ Menocal, Architecture as Nature: The Transcendentalist Idea of Louis SuIIivan . 16.

38 rhythms. His work does employ an interpretation of Man's relationship to Nature in the omamentation. (1) Sullivan used a principle of design, for his omamental elements, in which he would make organic forms, usually plant like, issue from a system of sfraight or curved lines or any other geometric combination thereof SuIIivan considered the correlation of geometry and the organic to be the basis of nature's way of composition and thus has a transcendental quality."* SuIIivan considered architecture to be a teaching device from which people could leam how to commune with nature and thus achieve perfection. To quote Sullivan, "The vital purpose and signifícance of art is that of attuning its rhythmic song ... to the rhythms of nature as these are interpreted by the sympathetic soul.""^

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) The education of Frank Lloyd Wright as an architect was largely informal, His experiences with nature on his uncle's farm, Wright's apprenticeship to Lyman Silsbee and later to Louis Sullivan formed the majority of his architectural education, with a brief two year tenure in collegc'^*' SuIIivan's influence on Wright was considerable, as acknowledged by Wright. Perhaps the most important contribution of SuIIivan to Wright's architecture is Sullivan's organic theory which Wright applied to his entire oeuvrc Lyman Silsbee, while not outstandingly brilliant, did infroduce Wright to a "*n)id.,31. "'ftid., 14. '^" Wright spent less than two years at the University of Wisconsin. Peter Blake, The Master Builders: Le Corbusier. Mies van Der Rohc Frank Lloyd Wright (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1976), 290-294.

39 picturesque architecture instead of the classical style which dominated in the Untted States at the tum of the century. Silsbee practiced in the Shingle Style, which used an open plan, surface treatment, and the massing and features of the Queen Aime Stylc'^' Wright's early education in the Froebel Kindergarten system, however, played an important role in Wright's work and in his way of visualizing space (Appendix B). The following is Vincent Scully Jr.'s interpretation of what Frank Lloyd Wright meant by Organic architecturc He [Wright] dearly believed that, when a building built by men to serve a specifícally human purpose not only celebrated that purpose in its visible forms but became an integrated stmcture as well, it then took on the character of an organism which existed according to its own complete and balanced laws....This is what Wright meant by "Organic."'^^ In Frank Lloyd Wright, ScuUy had discusses how Wright could not accept the separation of man from nature that is implied in classical architecturc'^^ For Wright nature was the great teacher whose lessons could only be approached by the architect while the classicist regarded nature as something to be perfected or tamed. Wright was heavily influenced by the American Transcendentalist Movement, and believed that people have a need to harmonize with naturc''" He attempted to accomplish this through his architecture by the emulation of the natural stmcture of the site. This resulted in an architecture in which the boundary between the natural site and '^' Spiro Kostof, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 652. '^^ Vincent ScuIIy Jr., Frank Llovd Wright. (New York: George Braziller, Inc, 1960), 13. ' " f t i d , 12. '^"For fiirther discussion, see Appendix B.

40 the building are conceptually and physically ambiguous. The building becomes a part of a specific site. The attitude of harmonizing with nature is also present in neoclassical theoiy, but that expression of architecture has a clear distinction between the natural site and the building. The neoclassical architect sought to employ universal principles, such as proportions based on harmonic laws, that would allow architecture to harmonize with nature on any site. This leads one to assume that perhaps organic architecture differs from other movements in approach rather than in the goals. The distinction between organic archttecture and the neoclassical architecture of the nineteenth century is rather involved. The obvious difference is that Wright believed that architecture was site specifíc and that the building should be a physical part of the site. This included using proportions, rhythms, locally obtained materials, forms and spatial composition. Examples include Taliesin East, Taliesin West, and Falling Water. The neoclassical architect, hypothetically as talented as Wright, would not ignore the site, but the relationship of the project to the natural site would be very different. A natural harmony would be achieved through a proportioning system based on harmonics, the golden section, or some system regarded as universally in harmony wdth nature and a variation on Euclidean geometry. The building would be sited according to views, winds, and would generally respond to the site in a physical manner, but aesthetically the building would not depend on the site, at least in theory. Donald Leslie Johnson states the approach of Wright in his book, Frank Llovd Wright versus America: the I930's. Wright had said that an "organic form grows its own stmcture out of conditions as a plant grows out of the soil: both unfold similarly." Historian and contemporary observer Walter Curt Behrendt elaborated the analogy in

41 support of Wright's cause: "In this sense the laws of organic planning fínd their continuation and completion in the extemal stmcture; and the manifold arraignment of parts, the lively grouping of building masses, are to be viewed as a result of the inner logic of design, and not as a brilliant showpiece of a deliberately picturesque building." As for Wright's building, one should "avoid speaking of'composition' at all, since no less a man as Goethe has condemned this expression, in nature as well as in art, as degrading."...Goethe had said that "organs do not compose themselves as already previously fínished, they develop themselves together and out of one another, to an existence which necessarily takes part in the wholc"'^^ In Wright's conception of organic architecture, a building and its site were to be a part of each otiier reflecting in the man made stmcturc While ScuIIy's interpretation of Wright is valid, it does not acknowledge that the integration of a building with nature was one of the prime objectives of Wright's archttecturc Behrendt described the Gale house which Wright declared was the "progenitor for Falling Water."'^^ "The horizontal slabs boldly projected, that new motive which has been most imitated in modem buildings; in these widely overhanging eaves, spreading themselves canopy-Iike over terraces and balconies, there seems to be plant-like existence translated into architectural form."'^^ The allusions to natural forms in Wright's buildings are not accidents nor are they imposed by the observer. Wright integrated the site and building through a geometric emulation of the rhythms and pattems of surrounding environment,'^* but Wright's conception of the geometry was derived from crystallography instead of Euclidean abstraction.'^'

'^' Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright versus America: the 1930's (Cambridge, Massachusetts: the MIT Press, 1990), 67. "'n)id,81. '^^ftid '^^Scullv. Frank Llovd Wright, 12. '^^For a detailed discussion, see Appendix B.

42 Wright was not able to do this successfully in urban settings. Buildings, such as the Morris Gift Shop, or the Guggenheim, became introverted or amounted to a protest of the city. Wright shared Jean-Jacques Rousseau's belief that people were not meant to live in metropolitan areas but in a more mral setting. Broadacre City is a good example of Wright's view of the ideal situation for living, which is strikingly similar to the modem suburb. The performance of Wright in the city and his vision of man's social arrangement has other major influences than Rousseau, Thoreau and the Transcendentalist Movement. The United States is historically anti-urban. The reasons for this are numerous, but the following are among the major ones.'^° The majority of European settlers on the east coast of the United States of America consisted of people escaping intolerable conditions or were sent to American penal colonies. Religious fanatics, such as the Puritans, suffering persecution in Europe, associated the city with the powers that were responsible for their persecution. The colonial representatives of the monarchy and the merchants, those that would benefít the most from continued British mle, were located in the colonial cities thus fiirther associating the city with the monarchy. The main industries, aside from ship building, were agricultural. During the civil war, the Union Army introduced the concept of the city, and its civilian population, as a military target during Sherman's march. Southem cities were torched in a line from the Vicksburg, Louisiana to Atlanta, Georgia. During W.W.II, the atomic bomb demonstiated how vulnerable cities were in twentieth century warfarc Wright's antithapy toward the city

'^^Krishan Kumar, Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modem Times, (Oxford, U.K.: Basil BlackweU,Ltd 1987), 316.

43 was a result of Rousseau's influence on Transcendentalism, and it was defínitely reinforced by history and current events. That does not necessarily exclude organic architecture from being relevant to the urban environment. An interpretation of Wright's architecture suggests that his defínttion of organic architecture concems the integration of a building, in which form is derived from function, with the natural environment of the site. If the transcendentalist interpretation is applied to Wright's architecture, then his architecture, like Louis H. Sullivan's, assumes a teaching role in the lives of peoplc Through a building's total harmony with nature, Wright hoped to franscend the limitations of his art and enlighten people in the ways of a healthy natural lifc

HugoHãring (1882-1958) Hugo Hãring began his architectural education in 1898 at the Technical University in Stuttgart. Peter Blundell Jones suggests that Theodor Fischer was the major influence on Hãring's education and notes that Fischer was a talented and sensitive historicist architect who was comfortable in both neogothic and neoclassical styles.'^' According to Jones, there was a lively discussion at this school among the staff about the battle of the styles, between Gothic Revival and Neoclassicism. This polarity became a comerstone in Hãring's theory of architecture which he later redefíned as geometry versus organic"^ Hâring had a strong sympathy towards the gothic revival position'" which would '^' Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Hãring," The Architectural Review, vl71, no.l022, June 1982, 40-47. '^^Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Håring," 40-47.

44 normally suggest that his view of art would be mtrospective and "romantic," such as was SuUivan's and Wright's work. Hãring admitted a debt to Wright,'^ but he used an empirical approach to design as opposed to Wright's pedagogical approach to design. Hãring began his practice in Beriin in 1921. By 1923, he was sharing an offîce wath Mies van Der Rohc Both architects were active in the avant-garde though they had an obvious fundamental difference in each other's approach to architectural design.

To

quote Peter Blundel Jones: Mies later recalled arguments with Håring about flexibility: Hãring had insisted on designing a special place for each activity while he, Mies, believed in providing generous rooms which people could use as they liked.'^^ Hâring is usually found in books on expressionists, although Jones points out that he had nothing to do with such events in Berlin before 1921.'^* He was to be an important figure in the formation of the Intemational Congress of Architects, otherwise known as CIAM'" DuringthereignofHitler, HãringstayedinGermany. After W.WII Hâring was branded a collaborator and never regained his position as a leader of architecturc'^* Hãring considered architecture to be in the same class as industrial art. The utilitarian aspect of it was his primary concem, and the role of the architect was to fínd the proper

133

Ibid.

'^Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Llovd Wright versus America; the 1930's (Cambridge, Massachusetts: the MIT Press, 1990), 241. '''Tbid. ''"Jbid. '^^Hugo Hãring's name appears on the La Sarraz Declaration of 1928. '^^Peter Blundel Jones, "Hugo Hâring."

45 form for the object which in the architect's case was a specifíc building. As Hãring stated: In nature there is no independent problem of appearance; hence there is nothing in opposition to the forms dictated by fítness of purposc This occurs only among mankind. The essential problem of applied art is clearly that of appearancc'^' He was in complete agreement with Le Corbusier and the Functionalists of the 1920s about the importance of the programming of a building.'"° It was in the way that an appropriate image was given to the building that Hãring differed from Le Corbusier. For Håring, architecture was divided into two parts. The word "organwerk" is used by Hâring to describe "the task of developing the architectural organism."'"' The word "gestaltwork" is used by him to describe the fínding of an adequate architectural expression or imagc'"^ Hãring asserts that there are specifíc, elemental forms for different fimctions, which are best expressed in objects that are derived from purely utilitarian considerations.'"^ His comparisons of architecture to nature implies a relationship to the environment in which the form is developed by the architect in a manner reminiscent of evolution.

"''Hugo Hâring "Formulations Towards A Reorientation Of The Applied Arts," Ulrich Conrads, ed., Programs and Manifestos on Twentieth Century Architecture, (Cambridge, Massachusetts; The MIT Press, 1970), 103. '"° Jurgen Joedicke," Haering at Garkau," The Architectural Review, May 1960, 313-318. '"'lbid '"^lbid 143

Hãring, "Formulations Towards A Reorientation of the Applied Arts."

46 According to Hãring, forms created purely for the purposes of expression are subject to human cognition and change with the intellectual positions of peoplc Forms that are created purely for utilitarian purposes achieve their tme nature and do not change at the whims of human intellect.'"" This is very similar to Perrault's division of beauty into the positive and the arbifrary.'"^ It would not be unreasonable to assume that Hãring's goals are very similar to Perrault's, that is the establishment of the tme appearance of architecturc Håring's late houses, whose organic conception is regulated by a geometric system due to constmction limitations, demonsfrate the dialogue between Hãring's ideas and their execution. While this architect is relatively obscure today, Haring was important enough in the formative days of CIAM to debate Le Corbusier over the direction that architecture should takc '"^ Hãring was opposed to the use of geometric forms such as Le Corbusier was applying in 1928. There was also one fundamental difference in his attitude toward ftmction. Hãring saw the relationships of a building's functions as a system of movements instead of a collection of activities. Although each function had its own shape, which Hâring believed was ideally organic, they were never considered separately.'"' As for integrating the building with nature, this needs to be seen in the

'"" Joedicke," Haering at Garkau." '"^ Joseph Rywert, The First Modems; The Architects of the Eighteenth Century, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1987), 36. 146

Jbid.

'"^Hugo Hãring "Formulations Towards A Reorientation Of The Applied Arts," Ulrich Conrads, ed., Programs and Manifestoes on Twentieth Century Architecturc (Cambridge, Massachusetts; TheMITPress, 1970), 103.

47 framework of functions. Hâring was not afraid to use traditional materials or methods in his building, which gave him a regionalist appearance; but, Hâring would not have hesitated to use another more suitable form if it functioned better. The reasoning behind Hâring's acceptance of traditional forms and materials is that the evolution of building had produced particular forms in response to the local conditions. '"^ As Haring said, "...functional forms arise naturally and, so to speak, anonymously..."'"^ Hãring was never as concemed as Wright about the integration of a building into its site. Perhaps this was due to the type of anthropomorphism found in his theory, not as representative of the human body but as an extension of it.'^° Haring advocated the idea that the function should generate form. This is seen in the farm at Garkau, which Haring designed in 1923-24. At Garkau, he achieved what most Functionalists were falling short of, he combined expression with a building that actually functioned well (Figure 3.2).'^' The farm at Garkau atfracted attention from dairy farmers and architects around the world as late as the 1960's and stands as a testimony to the talent of this architect.'^^ He resurfaces every few years as new architects discover his work and theory. '"^This is a conclusion drawn from the Garkau project which used fraditional brick, painted wood and a lamella roof, a type of form that had been used in Germany since the nineteenth century. It is supported by the quote referenced in footnote 42. Jurgen Joedicke, "Haering at Garkau," The Architectural Review, May 1960, 313-318. Jones, "HugoHãring." 149

Joedicke, "Haering at Garkau."

''°Hugo Hãring, "The House as an Organic Stmcture," Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Centurv architecture, 126. '^'Jones, "Hãring."

48 Hâring approached architecture as an applied art m which the building became an extension of the human body, a type of architectiiral organ, The movement of people that was generated by the specifíc tasks m a building drove his creation of form. This movement of people was the event that united separate functions into a single entity and determined the tme form of a building. Any form not determined by the building, that is any form determined by any reason not related to the building, was considered to be alien to the project and to human lifc Traditional materials, customs, and history of the site were considered to be an organic part of the site since they had evolved there. Hâring viewed architecture as a craft that approached tme form through a process of evolution. It was the role of the artist to find this form, allowing for variations due to circumstances such as climate, changes in materials, or technology.

AIvarAalto( 1898-1976) Alvar Aalto was educated in the Department of Architecture at the Helsinki Institute of Technology, which he attended from 1916 to 1921. During the early-twentieth century, under the École des Beaux Arts education paradigm, Neoclassicism was the accepted style to every student of architecture in Europc Aalto received this training, but was also introduced to the current developments of Art Nouveau and the Finnish movement for a culturally distinctive architecture, National Romanticism.'^^ The head of

152

ftid.

'^^National Romanticism was a movement in Finland that sought to establish a national style of architecture using traditional Finnish building techniques and materials as a basis for modem design. Hvittrask is one of the better examples of this stylc Vib Udsen, ed., "Hvitttrãsk," Living Architecturc 1986, No. 5, 62-67.

49 the school was Gustaf Nystrôm, a respected Neoclassicist who guided the department in that direction, His influence on Aalto was second hand, because he died before Aalto could take a course from him.'^" Aalto's infroduction to architecture was received from Usko Nystrôm (1861-1925), who frained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was an idiosyncratic person with drawing skills that bordered on the supematural. He fraveled through France measuring the floors of the cathedrals with his feet, the dimensions of which he knew to a small fraction of an inch. He believed that gothic cathedrals held mathematical tmths hidden m their dimensions. A more signifícant eccentricity was his mania for unique design solutions. For example, he designed a flue for his hat so that the smoke from his pipe would not collect under the brim. When Aalto began his education, Usko Nystrôm was in charge of the younger students. His teaching responsibilities included architectural history from antiquity to medieval; basic design; and beginning drafting. His history courses rarely got past the Greek and Roman architecture because of a passion for Egyptian architecturc It would be more correct to say a passion for the archaeologist's interpretation of Egyptian Architecture because he never went therc Usko Nystrôm introduced Aalto to Art Nouveau, the style that Nystrôm used in his own practicc Gôran Schildt suggests that the influence of this man was more in his attitude than in any particular teaching.'^^ Aramas Lindgren, Aalto's next teacher, is much more interesting in terms of connections. Considering the small size of Finland, it is not too surprising that he taught '^"Gôran Schildt. Alvar Aalto; The Eariv Years, (NewYork: Rizzoli, 1984), 79. '^^ Schildt. Alvar Aalto; The Earlv Years, 69.

50 Aalto in his fínal years of education. Lindgren was an important Finnish architect. He, Eliel Saarinen and Herman Gesellius, were business partners. The most famous works of that trio were The Finnish Pavilion for the World's Fair in Paris, the National Museum in Helsinki, and Hvittrask.'^^ The latter was their offíce and the jointly owned home of all threc Their partnership had broken up before Lindgren took the job at the Helsinki Institute of Technology. The breakup was over differences that had developed in their design interests, but they remained cordial. While Saarinen had moved into the Intemational Style, Lindgren's interest lay in the Finnish vemacular and Fiimish Romantic Nationalism.'" Lindgren was in charge of the older students. He covered the Renaissance to Modem periods. He introduced Aalto to Bmnelleschi, Alberti, Palladio, and traditional Finnish architecture. It was through Aramas Lindgren that Aalto developed a passion for the works of the Italian Renaissance which showed up in his mature works in various forms. This background is necessary to understand the historical sources of Aalto's work, but not his organic forms. Lindgren fiirthered Aalto's imderstanding of the ideas behind Art Nouveau which appealed to him.'^* Aalto liked to speak of these two professors in his old agc'^^ One of the stories that He told about Nystrôm was an accounts of Usko Nystrôm measuring the gothic cathedrals of France with his galoshes.'^" Gôran Schildt makes the comment that when '^^Their home and studio. ' " "Hvittrask," Per Nagel ed, Living Architecture, No. 5,1986, pg. 62. " ' Schildt, Alvar Aalto: The Eariv Years. 160.

"'n)id,79. "°n)id

51 Aalto really got into this stoi>, îie wouid have Nysíruin rneasunng tlie facades, "like a fly promenading on the wall.""'' 1 his type of exaggeration was a part of Aalto's personality that needs an explanation. Aalto was exceptionally extroverted, at home in any situation except when he was alone.'^^ According to Aaîto's son-in-Iaw, Yrjô Alanen, this exfroversion was a result of the deaíh of Aalío's biological mother during the early part of his lifc Aalto's relatíonship with his mother had been unusually closc The extroversion was a way of avoiding the pam of Aalto's loss. Both stayed with him.'*^ tt was very important for Aalto to always be at the center of attentíon and his stories were one of the ways that Aalto achieved this. They were almost always based on his memories, which does not mean they reflected an accurate portrait of past events. Aalto reworked his memones to ftt the social sttuation, much like he did with the forms of the Italian Renaissance in his architecturc Aalto's began his professional career as a neoclassical architect. Scandinavian Neoclassical archiíecture v/as not manifested in the same way as the movement was in Germany and Francc'" It was an innovative and vitai movement that drew on the Italian Renaissance for inspiration, but not formulas.'"^ The leading architect then in Scandinavia was Gunnar Asplund, and he had a profound effect on Alvar Aalto. Asplund was not totally bound by the mles of neoclassicism, and would carefully "^•ftid 162

SchUdt, The Early Years, 71.

'"ftid '^CIaus Caldenby and Olaf Huttin, .Asplund, (New York; Rizzoli, 1985), 19. '^^Ujid

52 consider each decision before committing himself to a design. This absence of rigidness lead more than once to the modifícation of Classical forms and mles to fít Swedish culture and climate, an approach often seen in Aalto's work. Asplund considered the essence of architecture to consist of three relationships: space and man, object and man, and nature and man.'^* These themes are found in all of his work.'" Such innovation is seen in his handling of the main stairs in his extension of the Law Courts in Gôtebor, Sweden. Tread height and riser depth is usually determined by the classic formula; 2(riser) + mn =25 inches.'^* Manipulated correctly this formula will provide a comfortable proportion for walking up and down stairs. Asplund varied the proportions in a manner which reduced comfort. In doing so, he let the user know that only a dignifíed pace was appropriate on the main stairs, thus calming any agitated spirits through that pacc'^'' This type of psychological manipulation would not have gone unnoticed by Aalto, and is seen in his own works. Asplund converted to the Intemational Style at the same time as Aalto. However, the building that marks this was completed before Aalto's own decided conversion with the Viipuri Library. The Stockholm library was originally designed in Asplund's neoclassical style and the building retained the massing of that stylc It had a rectilinear shape with a cylindrical reading room (Figure 3.3). The detailing was entirely Functionalist inspired, although his use of omament '^ftid '^^ftid '^^ Two other formulas can be used; riser (mn) = 72" to 75" and riser + run = 17" to 17.5". Francis D.K. Ching, Building Constmction lUustrated, (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1975), 9-4. '^^Caldenby and Huttin, Asplund, 19.

53 always carried some memory of neoclassicism, In a way, Gunnar Asplund was ready to receive the ideas of Functionalism, and his conversion was only a confírmation of what he already practiced. Asplund's attitude toward function was similar to that of the Functionalist Movement in that he believed in the careful consideration of functions and their rational ordering. This came more from Scandinavian culture than from an architectural concem for the relationship of form and function'™ As a friend and coUeague, Asplund provided Aalto with an example of classical architecturc This did not, however, give Aalto a design philosophy that would justify his organic architecture, At the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, Gunnar Asplund shocked the neoclassical circles by effectively rejecting the neoclassical style in the intemational spotlight and using the Functionalist style at the exhibit. Aalto visited this Exhibition and praised its devotion to the furthering of Functionalist ideology.'^' In addition to the triumph of the Functionalists, this exhibition was one of the highlights of the Soviet architectural movement known as Constmctivism. The news of Stalin's purges had not left Russia at that time and the Communist Republic was still the hope of those who were sick of capitalist excesses. Aalto was sympathetic to socialism and communism, although later developments in the United Soviet Socialist Republic distanced him from communism.'^^ One of the marks of the architectural movements of the Twentieth Century was their close association with social and political theories. The connection between

170

Caldenby and Huttin, Asplund, 20.

'^' Alvar Aalto, Sketches, Gôran Schildt ed., trans. by Stuarte Wrede, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MITPress, 1978), 15-18. 172

Schildt, The Eariv Years. 88.

54 Functionalist architecture and socialism or communism is well documented,'" Aalto was all in favor of the theory of Socialism, but was politically ambivalent. Schildt points out that there is evidence that Aalto leaned more towards anarchism than socialism. Aalto showed no other interest in anarchy than a well wom copy of Prince Peter Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist.'^" It is likely that he picked up the philosophy from the general atmosphere of socialism, which was deeply infiised with anarchist thought. This philosophy was predicated upon the organic nature of society. Anarchists believed that if people followed natural law then there would be order without the need for a leader. Individualism and freedom were valued above everything elsc The most important point is the anarchistic belief that in order for society to grow, the established systems had to be broken and rearranged to fít new needs.'^^ Aalto's combination of functions and his breaking of the established grid of neoclassical and Functionalist systems with organic form seem to reflect this attitude. Aalto's alignment with the Functionalist movement is of major signifícance in his use of natural forms. Aalto regarded himself as a Functionalist for the rest of his lifc There was something in his mindset that caused him to avoid any appearance of artistic intent in the presentation of his work. The Functionalist denial of historical forms is a rejection of the academic sfraightjacket rather than a rejection of history.'^^ This gave '"n)id,87. "" Schildt, The Eariv Years, 242. 175

Herbert Read, Anarchv and Order. (London; Faber & Faber. Ltd., 1954), 4.

'^^ As is seen in the sketch books of Le Corbusier, the denial is not one of history but rather of inappropriate solutions to modem problems. However, some of the more radical architects such as Hanens Meyer, have tried to deny all but the empirical

55 Aalto the opportunity to abandon classical vocabulary, as he did in his second version of the Viipuri library, without abandoning everything in the classical movement. At some point during the design of Viipuri, Aalto began using organic form. The fínal version contains the fírst use of such form. The lecture hall ceiling is the most famous example (Figure 3.4). Lázlô Moholy-Nagy provided Aalto with the necessary encouragement to begin usingorganicforms'" AaltoencounteredhimatameetingofCLAMaround 1928, They became good friends as well as coUeagues. Moholy- Nagy was not an architect, but an artist. He is remembered more for his contributions to photography than his role in the Bauhaus. He produced a general philosophy of design which sounds like a manifesto for both Alvar Aalto and Hugo Hâring. Clearly laid out at the beginning is the statement that in any design the ultimate goal is the good of humans was to be achieved by finding the biological basis of culture and making design sfrengthen this basis.'^* This was not only a challenge to fínd organic expression, but for better technical solutions also this was a call for an understanding of the principles of naturc Architecture was specifically addressed by Moholy-Nagy. He considered the experience of space as a psychological need, which has considerable implications for understanding Aalto's work.'^^ Moholy-Nagy called for architects to remove the conflict between the organic and the measurements of function as a basis for architecture in and attempt to reduce it to a series offormulas. WiUiamJ.R. Curtis. Modem Architecture: Since ;1900, (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc), 118-131,174-185. ' " Schildt, "Alvar Aalto; The Decisive Years," 221. ''«Ibid '^^Quantrill, The Environmental Memory, 60.

56 artifícial.'^" He believed that a kinetic manifestation of architectural space was necessary as opposed to the static, hierarchic spaces of the past.'*' Aalto understood the cultural value of representation found in classicism, as did most of the Functionalists. They all had similar education and opportunities to experience classical architecture fírst hand. Aalto's was inexperienced in the Finish fradition Industrial Revolution. He leamed the psychological importance of space from Asplund and Moholy-Nagy by example and by statement. He did reinterpret certain types of spaces, such as the Greco-Roman amphitheater form that serves as a courtyard in his office (Figure 3.5).'*^ He intended to use the courtyard as a lecture hall during warm weather for his apprentices. Aalto often used, what Malcolm Quantrill, calls urban fragments in his design work. These fragments are Aalto's memories of spaces that he found pleasant; however, these are not copies but emulations.'^

"^ Schildt, Alvar Aalto: The Decisive Years, 218. '*'Ibid,219. '«'n)id, 198. '^' bid.,227.

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