Blog 1 Semper, Ruskin, and Viollet-le-Duc

This blog is a reflection of the work and theories of Gottfried Semper, John Ruskin, and Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, three architects of the 19^th century. Each had distinct ideas towards architecture and different views of how architecture should evolve heading towards the future. This blog aims to reveal each architects theories and work and provide an explanation of how they relate and differ.

            Gottfried Semper was born in 1803 and was influential towards developing modern architecture. He strove to develop a complete list of architectural styles and forms and to determine how the different styles relate. In his attempt to organize the styles of architecture he developed four categories that all buildings had. These categories were

·      Hearth

·      Substructure/Platform

·      Roof

·      Enclosure

            With his four divisions of built form Semper created the theory behind the curtain wall, which was elemental in modern architecture. In his explanation of what consisted of the roof, Semper stated it was the over head canopy and the structure needed to hold it up which did not necessarily mean there needed to be load-bearing walls. This is the reason Enclosure is a separate category from Roof because it does not support it.

            Semper applied his forward thinking theories in his most famous building the Semper Opera located in Dresden, Germany. Although he had four separate categories for creating a building, they became a single developed building when combined in order to eliminate indication as to how it was built.

http://www.greatrail.com/media/7804153/Dresden-Semper-Opera-House-1-c-Dresden-Werbung-und-Tourismus-540300.jpg

            Although Semper worked at the same time as Ruskin and Viollet-le-Duc, his work and theories did not really concur or conflict with their work and theories. It was merely a separate type of thinking. Ruskin and Viollet-le-Duc were closely related however through their opposite positions towards architecture.

            John Ruskin was born in 1819 and although he was the youngest of the three architects in this blog, he was the most past-looking architect of the three. Ruskin was a strong proponent of Gothic architecture. He liked Gothic architecture because of the craft put into the building. According the Ruskin, a building was great if it had an excess of ornamentation. The hand detail in a building from the men who created it gave the building its greatness. Ruskin despised the use of iron in a building because he saw it as a lack of craft. It was machine-made and therefore lacked the quality of being handmade.

            Eugene Viollet-le-Duc was born in 1814. Like John Ruskin, Viollet-le-Duc’s fascination was with Gothic architecture but for completely different reasons. Viollet-le-Duc liked Gothic architecture because of the rationality in its form. The structure reflected the needed support necessary to create the building. Also in opposition with Ruskin was Viollet-le-Duc’s position on the use of iron. Viollet-le-Duc saw iron as an important material to integrate into architecture. He thought iron was important because he believed that buildings should use the most current technologies to reflect the times that they were built in. Conversely Ruskin thought the most important feature of a building was its age. This belief leads into Ruskin’s stance on the topic of conservation vs. restoration. Because Ruskin saw importance in the age of a building, he strongly believed in the conservation of a building rather than restoration. He thought that if original materials were replaced that important parts of a buildings history and connection to the past were forever lost. On the other side of the argument is Viollet-le-Duc. He thought restoration of a building was important in order to bring it up to times and perhaps improve the building or bring it to a standard that couldn’t have been previously achieved. One example of this is Notre Dame Cathedral where he added a third tower to it during the restoration.

 

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/images/paris/notre-dame-cathedral/resized/IMG_2690p.jpg