The discussion on “purposive intentions” in this chapter is part
of Frankl’s broader discourse on the methodology for architectural
analysis taking into consideration social functions as well as spatial, visual,
and corporeal form. Frankl explains the social effects of experiencing architecture by
identifying buildings’ social functions (“purposive intentions”) and
attributing the building program with a significant cultural role. The “intention”
of the building program, therefore, is according to Frankl at the foundation of
the architectural and social traditions of a given culture. And as buildings
assume the function of "molded theaters of human activities," the
human activities (social interaction) they are designed to embody (expressed in
the building program) become the essential elements in determining their
"life" and in providing tools for the interpretation of their
meaning.
Frankl attempted to include human intention (and activities) in
the study of architecture, where the history of the building program becomes part
of cultural history providing a bridge between "art and life." According
to Frankl, the interpretation of social interactions occurring in buildings parallels
to the reading of a painting’s iconology.
And human activities, because they are the architectural program’s most
essential elements, are to be used for the reading of a building’s iconology. Such
iconology in architecture, therefore, is culturally dependent, and inexorably changes
along with changes in society and it is lost with changes in building use.
The “purposive intention,” Frankl explains, consists in “the
practical and material certainty of purpose that determines the building
program and hence the spatial form.” The “purpose” of the building program, according
to Frankl, together with other functional characteristics of the building (such
as construction and architectural features specific of a particular building
type), provides the means for its understanding in special cultural or historic
circumstances.[1] Determined
by two overlapping networks that are respectively the "soul" and the
"mind" of the building program, the "purpose" determines
the movement throughout space and gives the space its meaning. It forms the
fixed arena for groups’ interaction prescribed in the building program by
determining the logic of circulation, the actions and their specific duration.[2]
Frankl categorizes the concept of architectural “purposive
intention” by observing its variation within four chronological phases
historically significant in the emergence and development of architectural
building programs. He attempts to exemplify throughout the cultural
changes happening within these four phases, the cultural history and
significance of the “purposive intention;” in order to discern the most
important bridges connecting the dead spatial forms with contemporary patterns
of life and to show that these patterns are different in each phase. He explains
the significance of the cultural characteristics of each phase in the shaping
of the building program of secular and religious architecture, and the
influence of ideologies and belief in the emergence of divergent attitudes
towards the conception of architectural space and styles. According to Frankl,
the type of decorative elements in secular buildings, as well as their
organization of space and forms has developed accordingly to the specific
cultural influences of each phase. And it is exemplified in secular and religious
architecture by the distinct and sometime contrasting interactions between the
sacred, the patron, and the individual, making secular buildings into places of
distinguished social activities, shaped and directed by the two overlapping
functional networks.
[1] In situations when the program is hard to
understand because of cultural or historic circumstances-buildings typical of
other cultures or used for functions different from those for which they were
originally planned.
[2] The two networks
determining the "purpose" of the building are generated by the
sequence of spaces made up of centerlines and points and in the position and
arrangements of furnishing and presence or absence of decorations.
No comments:
Post a Comment