Classical Architecture: Three Fallacies by Robert Adam

classicism has been wronged although its longevity proves people still want classical buildings three fallacies about style relevance and authenticity are used to justify the hostility it receives from the profession in Europe the Americas the Antipodes and even India you can't get away from classical architecture it's been around for two thousand years and has had an unbroken run in Europe for five hundred years classical forms are so deeply lodged in our collective subconscious that every time an architect designs a building with a row of columns square or round and puts a beam over them there seems to be something classical about it some contemporary architects like Eric Harry say this is deliberate whilst others like David Chipperfield claim it isn't classicism can even be attributed to its antagonists Robert venturi claims that Mies van der Rohe was a classicist and architectural historian Colin Rowe famously linked the Corbusier's houses with Palladio's villas for all this 60 years of anti traditional architectural education have created a profession largely ignorant of the history and vocabulary of classical architecture although they don't know much about them few architects will condemn great buildings of the past to give their designs some sort of classical pedigree architects sometimes claim they've used classical proportions often of dubious provenance or have drawn inspiration from the abstract qualities of a classical building when dealing with literal new classical designs there's however little sympathy and they're frequently attacked as being pastiches or not of our time justifying this hostility and fuelled by ignorance Architects entertained three common fallacies about classical architecture the first fallacy is that classicism is just one style while there is a common ancestry in ancient Greece and Rome the differences between the Renaissance Baroque Rococo and early twentieth century Swedish graced styles to name only the most obvious are profound and very visible use types have moved from temples to churches huts to palaces and offices to airports following the single style fallacy is the idea that classicism inevitably represents some distasteful political regime that corresponds with one period in its history as such as the variety flexibility and ability of the type that it has in its time been used to express democracy in the USA autocracy in Nazi Germany civic pride in the 19th century paganism in antiquity Christianity from the Renaissance onwards and much more besides now to the surprise of many the traditional construction of the source of classical design turns out to be the most sustainable the second fallacy is that due to its antiquity and origins in ancient building technology classicism simply doesn't belong in the modern world but this can only be claimed if you have some determinist Irie of what the modern world ought to be classical architecture is a part of the modern world it continues to be widely demanded and supplied both well and badly around the world it's never been limited to one form of construction the ancient Greeks imitated would the Romans not only added the arch and the dome but made brick structures look like marble Renaissance domes introduced tension members and the Industrial Revolution cast-iron early skyscrapers were classical and glass walls date back to the 16th century now to the surprise of many the traditional construction at the source of classical design turns out to be the most sustainable the idea of obsolescence often leads to a comparison with dead languages usually Latin as any linguist will tell you however a language is only dead if no one uses it most architects may have abandoned it but in the wider world the classical language is alive and well the overwhelming desire for traditional and classical houses has been established beyond doubt and the sale of classical cast stone plaster moldings and the plastic details regardless of how well they're produced continues apace these things mean something to those who want them research would be required to find out what this might be but we can be fairly sure it's not an association with a Greek Dorian tribe or animal sacrifice in all languages meanings change but this doesn't mean the language has died in fact it is exactly this quality that gives languages their richness and complexity the third fallacy is that it's no longer possible to build proper classical buildings due to a lack of skills or the expense of decoration in the first place the skills are available and modern technology helps to deliver what was once complicated and labor-intensive classical buildings need be no more or less expensive than any building in the second place and most significantly a lack of design practice has led to the idea that classicism is only the application of decoration and the more of it the better in fact classical design is as much about what's emitted as what's included due to its complete familiarity when decoration is stripped away there still and the lingering impression that it could be put back this gives classical design great flexibility but it can also lead people to believe that buildings such as Foster and partners carried are dated 1993 in nimes France classical when they're not this ambiguity is evidence of the underlying persistence of the classical ideal which should be exploited rather than ignored the architectural establishment often freezes out the few practicing classicists or locks them away safely in a box marked reproduction for their part too many classicists see modernity as the enemy neither attitude is healthy a public desire for both the benefits of modernity and the death of tradition is commonplace a liberal profession should accept and even combine the energy of invention and the wisdom of classicism the creative potential is enormous classical architect professor Robert Adam is a director of Adam architecture in Winchester England

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Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 12 2016