A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
On ’︁Sachlichkeit’: Some Additional Remarks on an Anglo‐German Encounter
This essay looks for the meanings of the word ‘Sachlichkeit’ in the writings of Hermann Muthesius, speaking firstly of ‘reasonable Sachlichkeit’ to denote the pragmatic objectivity which Muthesius saw reflected in English architecture and decorative arts; and, secondly, of an ‘almost scientific Sachlichkeit’ which manifests itself solely in ‘railway stations, exhibition halls, bridges, steamships, etc’. In the writings of Muthesius, ‘Sachlichkeit’ is thus a means to paraphrase any number of circumstances in any number of constellations, whenever these have an impact on the design of a house and its individualisation: from the properties of a lot to the qualities of the light, from the particular view to the formal qualities of an evocative landscape. It was no accident that Muthesius, in the introduction to his book, spoke of the house as an organism whose evolution could be apprehended through the history of the English house. For with his biological metaphor he clearly rooted the qualities of architecture in the discipline's interdependence with its environment. Therein lay the novelty of his methodology. Its scientific legitimacy derived from the historical and ethnographic research of its day. It found its expression in the notion of ‘Sachlichkeit’.
On ’︁Sachlichkeit’: Some Additional Remarks on an Anglo‐German Encounter
This essay looks for the meanings of the word ‘Sachlichkeit’ in the writings of Hermann Muthesius, speaking firstly of ‘reasonable Sachlichkeit’ to denote the pragmatic objectivity which Muthesius saw reflected in English architecture and decorative arts; and, secondly, of an ‘almost scientific Sachlichkeit’ which manifests itself solely in ‘railway stations, exhibition halls, bridges, steamships, etc’. In the writings of Muthesius, ‘Sachlichkeit’ is thus a means to paraphrase any number of circumstances in any number of constellations, whenever these have an impact on the design of a house and its individualisation: from the properties of a lot to the qualities of the light, from the particular view to the formal qualities of an evocative landscape. It was no accident that Muthesius, in the introduction to his book, spoke of the house as an organism whose evolution could be apprehended through the history of the English house. For with his biological metaphor he clearly rooted the qualities of architecture in the discipline's interdependence with its environment. Therein lay the novelty of his methodology. Its scientific legitimacy derived from the historical and ethnographic research of its day. It found its expression in the notion of ‘Sachlichkeit’.
On ’︁Sachlichkeit’: Some Additional Remarks on an Anglo‐German Encounter
Borden, Iain (editor) / Fraser, Murray (editor) / Penner, Barbara (editor) / Stalder, Laurent (author)
Forty Ways To Think About Architecture ; 174-179
2015-03-24
6 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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