organic architecture thesis
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thesisTRANSCRIPT
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 t tee
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 5
m. A SHORT HISTORY OF ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE 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 33
Organic Architects 35
ui
Louis H. SuIIivan (1856-1924) 35
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) 38
Hugo Hãring (1882-1958) 43
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) 48
IV, ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT 65
V. PROJECT DOCUMENTATION 73
A Cenfral Library for EIIis County, Texas 73
VI. 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 uncom-promising nature; (2) people as over nature, dominating, exploiting, and control-ling 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.
"f t id
^*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.
' ' f t id, 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
' ' f t id
* 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
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 id , 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.
' " f t id
'^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
'^ft id
'^^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.
57
Figure 3.1 Art Nouveau's Use of Iron
58
Figure 3.2 Merchants National Bank by Louis H. SuUivan
59
Figure3.3 FallingWater
60
CKOUND FIOOK rUM
/•^/<~'
Figure 3.4 Plans by Mies van der Rohe and Hugo Håring
61
Figure 3.5 Farm at Garkau by Hugo Håring
62
126. Plan. 1:400.
Figure 3.6 Stockolm Library by Gunnar Asplund
63
I
h M '
1 1 1 -. '^'^^ •''"•^,11, ^ T V * - ^ ' ^ - i , ""^V' /"^!^**^
/ '"'"Vv ^ \ / \ / ^ '^
í^ Í\NI>^' f ^ F ^ f H I " ^
1 1
" ^ - ^^
n
Figure 3.7 Lecture Hall in the Viipuri Library
64
Figure3.8 Aalto'sOffice
CHAPTERFV
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN AN
URBAN ENVIRONMENT
In the history of the United States there have been fíve major populatíon migrations.
The fírst occurred during the colonial period when the populatíon migrated from the
northem colonies to the sduthem colonies. The second occurred in the eighteenth
century when the populatíon moved to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. The third was
the westem migratíon of the nineteenfh century. The fourtíi was the move from the citíes
to suburbia. Today, the populatíon of the United States is in the middle of its fífth major
migration.'*" The suburbs are being abandoned for less hostíle environments,
imfortunately leaving behind those who are too poor to escape the crime and decay of the
suburbs that are driving the move to penturbia.'*^ Those who fled the cities during the
fourth migratíon brought the urban problems of crime, crowding, and poverty with them
into the suburbs. This is part of a general socio-economic view of society, which has an
important implication for organic architecture in the United States.
Penturbia is characterized by a planning effort involved at the community level, not
the planning of developers that occurred during the fourth migration. What is
emphasized in penturbia is the commimity's opportunity to confrol its own quality of lifc
The public now has more say in the use of private land than has been traditional in the
'*"Jack Lessinger, Ph.D., Penturbia, (Seattle, Washington: SocioEcononucs, Inc, 1990), 85.
'*^Penturbia is also the name of the fífth major American migration. It is ironic that crime and decay is what the fourth major migration was fleeing. Ibid., 15.
65
66
United States.'*^ Physically, however, buildings are still buildings, and when densely
packed in areas form the urban environment. People migrating to penturbia are
expecting the amenities of the tiaditional urban environment, especially the cultural
amenities.'" This is a reaction to the generally culturally barren suburbs. Penturbia is
expected to be a small scale urban environment. Organic architecture has fraditionally
looked upon the urban environment with a certain amount of disdain. This attitude has
resulted in most of the organic architecture having been designed for the mral
environment.'*^ The organic architect caimot afford to retain this attitude toward
penturbia because this is where the cultural attitudes of the twenty-first century are
forecast.'*' The organic architect must adapt to the new urban environment or be denied
work and influencc
There are reasons that organic architecture might not seem to be appropriate for
urban environments. The three major objections are: the urban environment is not
conducive to organic form;'*' building codes dampen the individuality of freer
expression;'^' and, fínally, there are too many constiaints, such as crowding, limited
'^For the architect, the major change that Penturbia will bring is a greater degree of planning in communities as opposed to suburban sprawl. Unstated, but definitely insinuated, is community contiol over aesthetic considerations which wiU affect organic architecturc Md., 239-243.
"^'n)id., 15.
'*^For a discussion, see chapter D, p., 40.
189 Lessenger, Penturbia, 48-54.
""MarkAIdenBranch, "Organic Architecture: ABreedApart," Progressive Archttectiire. June 1992,68 -72.
191 n)id.
67
space, and the developer whose sole interest is in "the bottom line": a quick retum on his
investment.'^^ These objections were identifíed by a group of architects who are carrying
on the architectural explorations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bmce Goff.' ^
Wright's antithapy toward the city was cultural and was reflected in his approach to
design. He approached the organization of the plan with a homotopic design sensibility.
Demetri Porphyrios explains the senses of order known homotopia:
The necessity for homogeneity, a necessity the character of which is both constmctional and ethical, defíned the ordering sensibility par excellence of Modemism: homotopia. This is the kingdom of sameness; the region where the landscape is similar; the site where differences are put aside and expansive unities are established. Homotopias afford consolation; they favor continuity, familiarity and recurrence, becoming the untioubled regions where the mind can sfroll freely, always discovering little hidden clues alluding to the sameness of the
194
umverse.
One of the major themes of Wright was the re-establishment of the continuity of Man
vsåth Nature. Wright brought eveiything into a unifíed whole by the use of a single
geometric module as a regulating devicc This was applied to everything from the spatial
experiences down to the dinnerwarc This geometric module was as small as possible
and based on the material he was using. It was analogous to the biological cell. A
Wright building is a single organism evolving to meet the complex pattems and
stimulation found in the environment. This is tme both conceptually and physically. The
'^^Branch, "Organic Architecture: A Breed Apart," 68 -72.
''" Demetri Porphyrios, Heterotopia: A Studv in the Ordering Sensibilitv of Alvar Aalto, Architectural Monographs 4, Alvar Aaho, ed. David Dunster, (New York: Saint Martin'sPress, 1988),4.
68
author of this thesis believes tiiat Wright's approach to architechfre did not address the
issues of the urban environment in any signifícant way.'. *
There is evidence that Wright influenced the development of organic architecture in
northem Europe.'^^ Certainly Alvar Aalto was indirectly influenced by Wright through
the Functionalist movement. Organic architecture contínued to grow under the influence
of architects such as Hugo Håring and Alvar Aalto. Both of these architects called
themselves Functíonalists, were active in CIAM, and having denied artistic pretentions.
Organic architecture took on a philosophical materialism under these two architects.
This is not in reference to the use of building materials, although that is important. This
materialism is a rejection of any knowledge or ideas that cannot be measured and
quantifíed in some manner. Design could not be purely intuitívc ' ^ For example, Aalto
would approach a design by defíning all the social, economic, human, and technical
demands before defíning the appropriate psychological questions. After this complex
mix of information had been absorbed into his subconscious, he would forget the
problem for a while. His fírst drawings were by instinct. They were very absfract and
' ^His two most successful urban buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Morris Gift Shop in San Francisco succeed by ignoring the city. In the Morris Gift Shop, Wright effectively hides from the urban environment. In the Guggenheim, Wright ignores any question of context, imless he was intentionally contrasting his building. The word assumption is appropriate because this is based on one magazine article and not a review of Wright's work, which time and space did not permit. Branch, "Organic Architecture," 68-72.
' ^Hugo Hâring admitted a debt to Wright, however his work was markedly different from Wright's. Donald Leslie Johnson, Frank Llovd Wright versus America: the 1930's. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MTI Press, 1990), 241.
'"Malcolm Quantrill, Alvar Aalto: A Critical Studv. (New York: Schocken Books, 1983), 5.
69
childlike in which the main idea took shape, which the contradictory demands into
harmony.' * Intuition had gone from a source of knowledge in the work of Wright, for
example, to an organizer of knowledge in the work of Aalto.
Aalto is of particular importance to this thesis because he specifícally addressed
urban issues in his work.'^ He did not share Wright's antithapy toward the city. The city
is regarded very favorably in Finland, probably because there are not that many of them,
and the Industrial Revolution has not negatively tiansformed them. In addttion to his
cultural background, Aalto's education included leaming about the architecture of the
Italian Renaissance which was specifícally urban in naturc
The urban projects of Aalto fall into two categories, forest towns and urban design.
An example of the fírst would be Sãynâtsãlo which was closer to the present conditions
of penturbia than his urban work in Helsinki. Sâynâtsålo (1949-1952) was a planned
town; however, it was also a company town dependent on the timber industry. This
separates it from penturbia. *' Essentially, Såynâtsãlo was an insertion of an uiban center
into a forest.^"' Helsinki was a metropolis, the only one at that point in time, in which
Aalto was following the planning scheme established by Carl Ludwig Engle thus the
urban design projects, such as the Enso-Gutzett headquarters, were insertions into an
' * This description is quoted by Quantrill from a magazine interview with Alvar Aalto in Domus. The titie of the article is "Architettura e arte concreta" (The Trout and the Sfream). It is found in issue Nos. 223-225,1947, on pages 103-15. ftid.
'^Malcolm Quantiill, Alvar Aalto: A Critical Studv. (New York: Schocken Books, 1983), 99.
2'^Quantiill, AlyarAalto, 129.
^"^'lbid.
70
established "built mileux."^"^ In botíi cases Aalto's approach to design employed a
heterotopical design sensibility. Porphyrios defínes heteropia as "that ordering sensibility
with the curious privilege of discriminating independent coherences, while sustaining a
cohesion between the parts only by default and through spatial adjacency."^"^ Alvar
Aalto did not employ a strict geomefric ordering in his architecturc He had no apparent
overriding geometry (in fact he used several different geometric organizations in the
same plan or will place a free form space next to a geometrically ordered space). His
volumetric and sensual compositions exhibit the same anarchistic quality. ''" His
buildings were unifíed by a common skin, but order was not always represented by
geometric means. The program did not provide any representation of functional utility in
the Functionalist sensc^"^ He was concemed with expressing the differences between
conflicting functions and the resulting boundaries.^'* Order was achieved by the path that
connected these conflicting spaces. This organization was a framework for Aalto's
appeal to the primal Finnish memory. Malcolm Quantrill states that an Aalto building
was a mapping out "of the tertain that connects man not only witii accessible nature but
202 Quantrill quoting a phrase used by Aalto. Ibid., 241.
^"^Demetri Porphyrios, Heterotopia: A Studv in the Ordering Sensibilitv of Alvar Aalto, Architectural Monographs 4 Alvar Aalto, ed. David Dunster, (New York: Saint Martin'sPress, 1988), 15.
204 Anarchistic is used in the political sense that there is order with no mling power.
° This is also a concem of the Italian Renaissance from which Aalto drew much of his inspiration. Raija-Liisa Heinonen, "Some Asj ects of 1920's Classicism and the Emergence of Functionalism in Finland," Architectiiral Monographs 4 Alvar Aalto. ed. David Dunster, (New York: Saint Martin's Press, 1988), 22.
^"*Demetri Porphyrios, "Heterotopia: A Study in the Ordering Sensibility of the Workof Alvar Aalto," 10.
71
also v^th the primeval mysteries of his environmental memories."^"^ This was achieved
in part through an iconographic representation of natiire such as the forest rhythms in
Finlandia Hall or the Lappland Museum roof, which was evocative of snow covered hills.
Quantrill's interpretation indicates that Aalto was concemed wdth something unique to
architecture, environmental memory, a way in which people remember space by using
sight, sound, smell, and touch. Environment, meaning that which surrounds, is applied
equally to natural and buih spaces. Aalto used the urban architectural approach of the
Italian Renaissance in this manner, translating specifíc spaces into his organic stylc^"*
The author believes that Aalto's version of organic architecture is one of the most
appropriate for designing in the urban environment for the following reasons. While the
urban environment is not a rich source of organic form, Aalto's approach circumvents this
in several ways. There is no seeking of a continuity between Nature and the built
environment and, in fact, Aalto explores the difference in much the same way that he
does the differences between fimctions.^*'^ Form is drawn from the environmental
memoiy not from the sitc^"* This includes nature and "urban fragments." The latter are
the classical and Renaissance examples that Aalto leamed at the Technical University
and on sketch trips.^"
'^^ Malcolm Quantrill, Alvar Aalto: A Critical Study, (New York: Schocken Books, 1983), 239.
^'^Quantrill, AIvarAalto. 239.
^'^Groak, "Notes on Interpreting Aalto," 99.
^'"ftid.
^"ftid
72
Building codes often dampen the individuality of expression, especially in cities
attempting to achieve a certain atmosphere through their control of the architectural
design process. Public influence on form is expected to increase in intensity, especially
in penturbia, although this will affect most areas. However, Aalto and Hãring have
demonsfrated that organic architecture is capable of absorbing fraditional techniques and
forms. AIso, given the empirical background of Aalto's organic architecture, he
demonstrates that building codes ensure a standard for a minimum level of human care
and so are necessary. While the built environment has many outside influences on form
for homotopical ordering, Aalto's heterotopical sensibility thrives on the existance of
many conflicting ideas and orders from which excellent architecture can ensuc
CHAPTERV
PROJECT DOCUMENTATION
A Central Library for EIIis Countv Texas
The photographs in this chapter demonstrate an organic design for a library in an
urban setting. Figure 4.7 indicates that this interpretation is occurring within an urban
environment. The floor plans (Figures 4.1 and 4.2) indicate a resistance to the rectilinear
boundaries of an urban sitc This tension creates a boundary, which is marked by the
large concrete columns. This boundary serves as a fransition from the rectilinear order of
the surrounding buildings into the organic ordering of the library. '
' For fiirther discussion, see Chapter VI, pp.88-93.
73
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CHAPTERVI
THE PROJECT
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the building program and to show how the
fíndings elucidated in Chapters I-IV of the thesis apply to the project. 213
Project Statement
A hypothetical situation has been set up in which the Ellis County Commissioner's
Court has commissioned a public library building for downtown Waxahachie, Te)tas.
The building will eventually serve as the main library for a coimty wide system as well as
Waxahachie. The proximity of the project to the county courthouse indicates that this
new building will be a civic monument in keeping with the public nature of its
surroundings.
The Design Approach
From this defínition arrived at in Chapter I, organic architecture is a process of design
that develops a unique building from its initial character and its location using organic
forms to create a positive effect on the user of the building.^'" In order for a building to
qualify as organic the following questions must be answered affirmatively. Does the site
play an important role in the building's form? ' Are all of the parts of a building working
' See Appendix C for the programmatic requirements.
^'"For fiirther discussion see pp. 1-12.
82
83
rationally as a whole?^" Is the formal expression obviously based on natixral form.^"
This building design analysis is presented in three parts: The Site, The Program, and The
Formal Expression.
The Site
The site is dense enough to qualify the new building as an infíU project. The city has
determined that the height of any new building in the immediate area of the County
Courthouse must be lower in order to keep the courthouse as the visual landmark
building for the city. '* This defínes a rough rectilinear volume in which the building
may be built. Brick, concrete, copper, and wood are the four materials chosen for the
exterior composition. Red brick was chosen because of its human scale, because it is a
common material, and because the color matches the red sandstone of the County
Courthousc The entry of the building is to be placed so that it relates visually and
physically to the County Courthouse to the north. By placing the entry of directly off the
21S For further discussion see Chapter I, pp. 5-13.
' The Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth is the standard the author has in mind for the fírst question. This is drawn from the woric of Professor Antoniadies of the University of Texas at Arlington. He would not consider the formal appearance of organic architecture important in defíning organic architecture; however, the research índicated that appearance was an tmportant consideration to all four of the architects reviewed. Anthony C. Antoniadies, Architecture and AUied Design: An Environmental Design Perspective. 2nd ed., (Dubuque, lowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1986), 44.
^''The term natural is used instead of biological or organic because it lin ts by implication the range of formal expression to interpretations of living organisms. Aalto and Wright both used geological forms in their work, and although the design project does not depend totally on geological expression, it cannot be excluded from this thesis.
218 See Chapter FV, p. 93.
84
city square tiie libraiy recognizes the importance of the County Courthousc The
proximity of the library's entry to the Ellis County museum is appropriate given the
cultural signifícance of the two building, both preserving history. However, nothing
more should be read into the relationship between the museum and the libraiy.
The Program
In this design, two approaches to order have been considered, homotopia and
heterotopia.^'^ Heterotopia is explored in this thesis project. This ordering approach is in
conflict with the use of geometry, or grid, as the overall formal regulating devise, but tt is
not in conflict with the basic principles of the rational plan as laid down by
Viollet-le-Duc. Those principles, familiar to most architects, are; (1) fimction
determines form, " (2) stmctural honesty,^' and (3) aguidingconceptofhonest
simplicity.^^ It is not reasonable to associate organic architecture with an irrational
expressionism. The approach to programming is the same as that foimd in the
Functionalist movement of the early Twentieth Century. ^^ The ftmctions are arraigned
in a reasonable maimer; however, the relationships between them are based on the
interaction of the differences in the functions. In the work of Aalto a solid wall indicates
219 For ftirther discussion, see Chapter III pp., 47.
^ °M. F. Heam. ed.. The Architectiiral Theorv of Violett-Ie-Duc: Readings and Commentary, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1990), 182.
'^'ftid, 187.
' ' 'ftid., 192.
^^'Jurgen Joedicke, " Haering at Garkau," The Architectural Review. May 1960, 313-318.
85
that the function contained requires a separation from light or sound, the stiucture being a
separate entity. ^^ Where such separation is not desirable the wall is dissolved by wood
screens or fenestration. The elevation of an Aalto building can be read by this freatinent
of materials. The interaction of any function with the adjacent ftmction, or exterior, will
determine the freatment of the wall and the area next to the wall. The project is ordered
by the sensual attributes of architecturc This is applied to the thesis project.
There is a point to be made about this approach to the conception of organic
architecture that is very different that of Wright.^* Wright conceived his buildings as a
single organism, even to the point of comparing the materials with biological cells. ^^
Aalto conceived his buildings as a community of ftmctions. Thus each area of an Aalto
plan has its own character.
The Entry
The placement of the entry is a gesture toward the Coimty Courthouse . From this
point one must arrive at the circulation desk and then arrive at the bibliography and
reference area. The desired effect is to cause infrospection in the user. This is an attempt
to fínd the innate tmths within all people. This is achieved by guiding the user through a
cave-like space which ends at the circulation desk, thus creating a sense of arrival. The
^ * Stmcture is expressed when it dæs not need to be hidden.
^ * Wright is the most familiar organic architect to the architects of the United States of America, and the differentiation needs to be madc
226 See Chapter fl, pp. 35-40.
86
cave image is a reference to both the primal past and to the birth experience and thus to
the memory of leaming and growth epitomized in the knowledge contained in books.
The Rare Book Room
The rare book room is a separate entity from the rest of the library because of the
necessity for security and maintenance concems. tt also creates (if designed well) a
visible sense of value. It is freated as a solid object in the plan with the wall dissolving at
the point of entry. This treatment reflects the emphasis on the function of preservation
and signals the unique nature of the books contained within.
The Stacks
The stacks are placed on a separate stmctural system from the building envelope in
order to minimize vibrations. The opportunity to celebrate the stacks fimction within the
building naturally occurred as a result of this decision. They will need fíre protection,
artifícial and diffused natural lightíng and humidity confrol. This separation of the stacks
from the other fimctions suggests the warehouse as the appropriate building type on
which to model the libraiy. The similarity ejrtends to the use of the shelving arrangement
as a mnemonic device for retrieving a particular object. The main difference between the
function of a library and the fimction of a warehouse is in the volimie of people who will
be served.
87
The Music Room and Periodicals
The music room and periodicals are combined in area to present an image of the
library as a place for more than books. tt also provides a cenfral location for attendants
on the lower levels. Music and periodical back issues use a CD-ROM storage system and
can use the same room. The shelving requirements the periodicals call for a lower shelf
height than the stacks. This is the area with the most potential for usc It will also house
the video collection. This area should be positioned in a prominent area of the plan.
Art Gallery
Art gallery areas are not well defíned in the library profession. Art can be stored as
slide libraries, racks of prints, actual display areas, or CD ROM use areas. Exhibits by
local artists are among the type of civic gestures that the EIIis County Commissioners
could use to sell bonds for the project. Combined with a slide library or CD ROM
display, this area would be an effícient way in which to bring art into public life, and a
focal point for local educational opportunities.
Book Processing
Book processing is the technical area of the library. It functions like a factory which
should be reflected in the layout. This is a physically critical area because of the
increasing reliance on interlibrary loans and the future needs of a countywdde system.
88
The Adminisfration
There are two parts to the adminisfration, the Library staff and the County staff. The
county staff will probably move out as the county system grows, thus providing space for
the library staff as it grows.
The Auditorium
The auditorium wiU need to function separately from the library at need, thus
secondary enfrances away from the courtyard. Uses envisioned would be graduations,
lectures, concerts, plays, townhall meetings, and any other civic meeting. The
auditorium terminates the path through the library, becoming a symbolic voice for the
memories of the library.
Bathrooms
For a total number of 716 occupants the minimum U.B.C.. requirements.
A. Men:
6 lavatories,
5 urinals,
4 waterclosets;
B. Women:
9 waterclosets,
6 lavatories.
Primaiy design factors are ventilation and sound isolation. Their importance is
directly related to their functions.
89
The Formal Expre.ssinn
This building is a collection of images related to each other. The actual relationship
is unimportant except tfiat they need to be classifíed in order to make sensc^" The
images are cave forms, a bridge, water, a theater, certain anthropomorphic associations, a
warehouse, and urban images. They are meant to be linked into a story by people
experiencing tiie building. What the stoiy is should be a personal matier. The order in
which the images are seen is as follows:
1. The cave image is seen at the entry to the libraiy. Along this part of the path
images of the human body are present. Some are seen as bones in the cave
openings for light, and others are only seen in plan view.
2. The bridge is seen after emerging from the cavc The arching of the bridge
suggests water.
3. The stacks are seen almost at the same time as the bridgc
4. The cave image is repeated in the library entiy into the theater.
5. The water is seen in the theater cavc
6. The theater is the destination of the user, although the stacks and reading
areas are altemate choices.
^ ^ In this case it is a model of how the human mind works. The cave is embedded in the primal memories of human ancestors and the subconscious memory of birth. The bridge carries the traveler over water, whose sound represents the subconscious which never sleeps. The theater represents dreams. The anthropomorphic associations represent the role the body plays in thought. The warehouse represents the tiained memory. The urban imagery represents the connection to the people that influence us. This is not the only explanation for the images; however, it is the way that the author of the thesis chose to organize these images. If this was not a master's thesis, then the need to disclose the actual relationships of the images would not exist. Such ignorance on the part of the pafrons would allow people to think about the images in their own way, which is much more stimulating than actually knowing what the author had in mind.
90
While this project is based on the work of Alvar Aalto, there is one strong influence from
the works of Wright and Sullivan. The building is designed to teach its users through a
collection of images arranged in such a way to several narratives conceming the organic
pattems of lifc The joumey into the library will parallel the joumey through life.
Stmcture
The type of stmcture chosen was presfressed concrete which is capable of the long
spans preferred in libraries. The large articulated columns show an inclination towards
classical form and serve as a boundary between the library and its environment in a
manner similar to the use of columns in the Parthenon. In the ground floor plan the only
place in which the library spills beyond the large columns is at the entry and receiving
dock. ^* The library is reaches out to invite people in.
The sfrategy for placing interior colunms that support the floors depends on how each
space needs to be articulated. The building is imifíed by large articulated colunms and
the roof A regular grid would suppress the identities of each ftmction, but to no purpose
in that unity has already been achieved. FoUowing the approach of Alvar Aalto, the
differences of the functions are explored.
228 See Chapter IV.
91
The Overall View of the Design Factors
The major concems of the librarian are the confrol of resources, such as books, and
the attraction of the public into the library. A square floor plan has been designated by
librarians as the optimum shape for a library because of its influence on the legibility of
the stacks, but many authors acknowledge that pafrons usually fínd this shape boring. ^^
Attempts to organize the stacks using anything but a grid have, from the librarians point
of view, failed for two reasons; the diffículty of organizing a large volume of books, and
because the square shape generally has less non-usable spacc The large amount of
volumes involved in this project is suffícient to eliminate any radial or fan shaped
organization of the stacks. The use of split levels or anything that blocks the site lines of
the library employees wiU increase the amount of people needed to ensure security for
both books and patrons. These concems are balanced with the benefíts gained by such
design decisions. The librarians influencing the arrangement of the library are analytical,
well researched and can be perceived to intmde upon the fraditional role of the architect.
Their emphasis is on efficiency from the librarian's point of view, which is
understandablc Such concems are mttigated by several factors, the most powerfiil of
which is the site. It is not square and there is not enough room for a single level building.
The presence of people and businesses around the site is a more subtle influence, but is
infínitely more important. Retail frade, the county govemment, banking, entertainment,
and tourism atfract people to the town square of Waxahachie, which makes it an ideal
location for a public institution such as this library. In order to become a part of the
^'Godfrey Thompson, Planning and Desien of Librar/ Buildings. (New York: Nichols Publishing, 1978), 5.
92
square, this must emphasize the effect on the public's experience rather than the
administrator's ease.
The architect has a moral obligation to provide a space that is healthy and pleasant."°
This involves the careful considerations of lighting, acoustics and ventilation as well as
aesthetic explorations. The craft of building has to be mastered as well as the art of
building. Miscellaneous information about the requirements of a library are listed in
Figure 6.1.
The site has a great deal of influence. Zoning requires that no building may be higher
than the County Courthouse to ensure the dominance of the courthouse a symbol of
govemmental authority. On the site four existing buildings wiU remain, They are
signifícant, but only because they are a part of the historical urban environment. They
covering three quarters of the north side of the site and face the County Courthousc
230 Antoniadies, Architecture and Allied Design.
93
General Lighting Requirements 1. Either diffused natural or artifícial light 2. Task lighting will be needed on shelving 3. Natural light extends approximately twenty-fíve feet into the average open
plan 4. See Table C..3 for the illimiination requirements.
General HVAC System Requirements 1. Floor registers everywhere where possiblc 2. Vertical distribution used at stacks has potential for expression
Stacks 1. Shelving at height- 6'-6" maximum 2. Shelving grid -any range from 4 ' to 8' on center 6'-8", depending on desired
aisle width. 3. The standard shelf width is 2'-0". 4. The column size must not exceed the shelf width. 5. Computer terminals distributed at various points. 6. The fíre suppression system uses COj or equivalent gas, instead of water. 7. The children's coUection consists of approximately 20% of the total
collection, approximately 8,000 square feet. The preferred location would be in the reading room, so that parents can watch their children from a distancc
Seating measurements 1. The seatíng is estímated at one seat per 500 populatíon served for the entire
library. That equals 200 total seats for the library 2. One person at a table will require approîdmately 25 square feet 3. One person at a carrel wiU require 40 square feet 4. One person at a lounge chair wiU require 50 square feet. 5. At least 4' of width is required between tables and stacks.^ '
Figure 6.1 General Design Information
^" Aaron Cohen and Elaine Cohen, Designing and Space Planning for Libraries, (New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1979), in reference to the entíre book.
94
Description Of EIIis Countv
Waxahachie, Texas
Waxahachie is a small town about 35 miles outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth
metropolitan area. It is the seat of EIIis County. While a number of its residents do
commute to the D/FW area to work, the majority of the population live and work in the
town. The populatíon consists of a mix of actively retíred people, college students and
families. A major economic blow was delivered by the federal govemment when the
Super Conducting Super Collider project was abandoned. This is not a fatal blow. The
area is poised to receive the migration of people and industry as the information
revolution decentializes the corporate stmcture in the US. It is also a great place for
medium sized businesses and to livc There is still present a fairly large number of farms
surrounding the town. It is located in a belt of fertile black soil.
Historical Description
The earliest known inhabitants of what is now Ellis County were the Indians. The
area was a hunting ground for many Indian tribes because of the large number of buffalo
that grazed here. Kickapoo, Bidai, Anadarko and Waco were other tribes that hunted
here. Waxahachie is the Tonkawa word for buffalo or cow. Under Mexican mle, the
area known as Ellis County was divided into four land grants to Sterling C. Robertson,
Thomas J. Chambers, Raphael Pena, and Alejandro de la Garza. The Anglo grantees
were probably a part of the Mexican program to populate Tejas, which is now know as
Texas. The Texas Republic issued land a land grant in 1841 for Peters Colony in the
Northem half of the area and in 1843 C.F. Mercer was issued the southem part of the
95
area. EIIis County was created on December 20, 1849, from Robertson and Navarro
counties. In August of 1850, Waxahachie was established as the county seat. The fírst
Court House, a long cabin, was built in 1850. Two other Courthouses were erected in
1853 and 1874. The present Courthouse was built in 1894 and still is the political center
of the county. It was designed by J. Riely Gordon. ^^ Before the discovery of oil the area
was a center of cotton tiade and railroad freight. Until the 1930s tt was one of the more
affluent cities in the region.
Surrounding Areas
The surrounding residential architecture contains many examples of tum of the
century Victorian gingerbread houses. There are a few neoclassical examples present,
but the town is regionally famous for its gingerbread homes. The majority of the public
buildings are designed in the many variations of the neoclassical stylc
Physical Characteristics
See Appendix A, Table A.2 for details. The winters are mild in this part of the statc
In the summer, the temperature, which ranges from 80" F to lOO^F, and the humidity are
the primary concems of those living in this region. Sunlight during the summer can be
extiemely bright from late moming until sunset which makes glare an important
architectural concem. The area is highly used for govemment and private business. The
soil is extremely fertile in the area, and farming is still an imp^ortant industry.
^^ Taken from " A Brief History of Ellis County" provided in a packet from the Waxahachie Chamber of Commercc
96
The Movie Industry
More than a dozen major productions have been fílmed here since "Bonnie & Clyde"
in 1967. Three of these movies, "Tender Mercies," "Places In The Heart," and "The Trip
to Bountiftil," have been recipients of academy awards. The movie industry often uses
this town in motion pictures set in the late nineteenth and eariy twentieth centuries. The
atmosphere in the town square and in the older neighborhoods is what has been cited
most. The actual movie sets on the site eliminate the "modem" images by covering the
buildings in false fronts, and by successftilly editing the fílm.
Historic District
The County Courthouse is a Texas historic landmark and the urban area is a historic
district. The buildings in this area were mostly built in the late 1800s up to the 1950s.
There is a considerable amount of public support for the preservation of the historical
atmosphere of this area. This town center is a group of actively used historic buildings.
There is a mijrture of commercial and govemmental agencies occupying the buildings;
therefore, there is signifícant remodeling activity which necessitates bringing the area up
to codc Reconstmction is confíned to the Courthouse itself
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APPENDDC A
PROGRAMMING
Table A. 1 Summary of the Net Square Feet
Areas Square Feet
Gross Area 60,974,00
15% Mechanical, walls and 9,146.1 Circulation
NetArea 9,146.1
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APPENDIX B
WRIGHT'S' FROBELIAN
EDUCATION
Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) was an eminent educator and a major influence on the
work of Wright. Wright repeatedly acknowledged the influence of this man's
educational system in his works which has made Friedrich Froebel the object of many
scholar's curiosity. The Joumal of the Societv of Architectural Historians contains an
article by Jeanne S. Rubin on the subject, written from an educator's point of view, titled,
"The Froebel-Wright Kindergarten Connection; A New Perspective." Rubin asserts in the
conclusion of the article that the kindergarten trained Wright "to see beyond appearances
and to think beyond the known,"^" The word kindergarten has a very different meaning
from the current usage of the word. Originally, kindergartens provided training through
all age levels from seven and a half years of age to the university level. "* Wright began
his education in this system at nine years of age which is within the range of starting ages
for most of the versions of this system. Froebel's system relied on the student discovering
what needed to be leamed instead of leading the student through rote memory.
Froebel was not originally an educator. His previous career was that of a
crystallographer and assistant to the distinguished scientist, Christian Samuel Weis, who
made some historic contributions to crystallography during Froebel's employment. This
"^ Jeanne S. Rubin, "The Froebel-Wright Kindergarten Connection: A New Perspective," Societyof Architectural Historians. Joumal vol. 38, march 1989, 24-37.
^^The Froebel kindergartens of ten differed in actual ages of the students. Ibid., 25.
123
124
association becomes important because "...Froebel's didactic materials, their prescribed
usage, and his educational philosophy derive largely from the science of
crystallography."^^^ Froebel had observed that the developmental processes of
everything, organic or inorganic, foUowed the same principle: the processes tend to
develop from within, maintaining a balance of the inner and outer forces.' ^ This is very
similar to one of the main themes of the European romantic movement, that a person's
ideas form the person as much as experience. The main thrust of the Froebelean system
was the stimulation of self motivation in the leaming process through lessons disguised
as play. It was assumed that as the student leamed how to see and think, the student
would discover natural laws on his own which would allow the student to apply them in
whatever fíeld that they chose to pursue. ^^ This suggests that the natural laws were
considered universal. Froebel stated that his kindergarten concept was based on the
following four natural laws, which he did not claim to have discovered:
...(1) Law of Unity, uniting all entities -fimctioning as wholes unto themselves-in their role as parts of larger and larger wholes extending toward the ultimate whole; (2) Law of Opposites, contrasting each entity with a complementary polarity; (3) Law of Development, developing each entity through a series of transformations-no matter how infinitesimal-from origin onward; (4) Law of Connections, connecting all developmental transformations along a continuum of time, all paired polarities along a continuum of contrast, and binding all parts to their respective wholes as well as to the
235 U id.
^^This is from the fírst edition of the Education of Man, published in 1826 in Germany. Rubin notes the similarity to Wright's formula for organic architecture. Ibid.
"'n>id.
125 ultimate whole. Froebel further ventured that these laws govemed the development of all matter, from the smallest particle to the cosmos, a theory then tentatively projected and now generally accepted. ^^
Rubin claims that these laws contain Wright's defínition of organic architecture, but it is
more likely that these "laws" are only one of the sources of Wright's organic architecture.
'lbid,30
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