Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Architectural Studies | Foundations.Positions.Words, İstanbul, Türkiye, 19 - 21 Mayıs 2023, sa.72, ss.215-240
In his book ‘German Architectural Theory and the Search for Modern Identity’, Mitchell Schwarzer dwells on nineteenth-century modern German thought by defining it as “open-ended and heterogeneous”, though neglected. Understanding the conceptual distinctions and transitions within this productive intellectual heterogeneity that still resonates with contemporary theory is significant. Accordingly, this text presents a brief reflection on the ways of architectural thinking and representing in nineteenth-century German architectural thought. Existing between the productive tensions of contrasting ideas, nineteenth-century German thought marks significant concepts in the axis of Tektonik theory. One such concept is Vorbilderbewegung, meaning “the modeling movement”. As part of this movement, classrooms consisting of “teaching collections”, which preserved and displayed original drawings and plaster casts of antiquity as Vorbilder (models) to learn from, were established in many architecture schools. These collections of fragments of historical models and survey books allowed architects and artists to nourish interpretive cycles of creation. This can be regarded as a physical statement, which marks a transitory point learned from the limits of historical models to generate possibilities for inventions. Another significant concept found in nineteenth- century German thought is Bildungsgesetze, meaning “the laws of formation/generation”. This concept is based on Friedrich Heinzerling’s theories on architectural making, which are presented in his article Die Bildungsgesetze der Formen in der Architektur (The laws of generation/formation of architectural forms). The abstract drawings in this article emphasize the geometrical formation of the transition of parts, proposing a controlled multiplicity in terms of architectural form. To understand the transition, this research looks into two words derived from “Bild (image, form)” in different printed works, in terms of the representation of architectural elements. The first focus is drawings from the book Vorbilder für Fabrikanten und Handwerker [(Models for manufacturers and craftsmen]) by Peter Wilhelm Beuth and Karl Friedrich Schinkel, from the early 19thnineteenth-century. The book includes a detailed and precise survey of specific historical models including transitional architectural elements as catalog of ornaments. The second focus is Friedrich Heinzerling’s article from the late 19th nineteenth century. Die Bildungsgesetze der Formen in der Architektur (Generation/Formation laws of architectural forms), which presents an almost contemporary methodology by defining Vermittlungsglied and Trennungsglied (mediation and separation elements). The abstract drawings emphasize the geometrical formation of the transition of parts. The difference between Vorbilder as frozen images and Bildungsgesetze as multiple forms correlate an overlooked but timeless knowledge of dialectics of architectural making.