It's interesting to think of architecture as 'a consistent form of presentation' (Anton Springer). Namely, art that doesn't move or change, at least not usually. As well, architecture is referred to not as fine arts but as building art, art that is not free. Schmarsow complains of architecture that lacks natural relation to the observer, and thinks of the artwork in the early 1900's as commonplace shelters instead of works of art. It would be interesting to think what he thought of architecture today in 2014. What would he think of the Experience Music Project in Seattle, or the towers in Shanghai, or the Atrium in Brussels, or the 'bullet' in London.
"What is truly essential can only start in the mind of the artist and end in the mind of the observer." (283). This quote relates to all art including architecture, as a building starts as an idea on paper and becomes a real life form of art in our eyes upon completion.
I like how Schmarsow points out that the creators of architecture today are taking from works of the past and expanding on those foundations. "Almost all works derivative and traditional and hardly ever in an original state" (284). Then he goes on to compare the architecture styles of churches to supreme court buildings to libraries to Eskimo's igloos to the Caribbean beach hut. I like how he raises the question of, is it art or is it shelter? I like how he states that the most primitive of buildings belong to the evolutionary history of art as much as the 'Reichstag' (285). This is because one element that is essential in one is also present in the other.
In the case of the argument of architecture being art, I like how Schmarsow points out that the technical and diverse elements that go into the construction of a building is no different than the technical and diverse elements that go into an orchestra. The structural articulation is an execution of the art form and a means of presentation (285).
'The one essential feature is the enclosure of space, the human need for protection agains the hardships of the external world" (286). So this begs what I think is the main question the article poses: Is architecture art or shelter?
Our sense of sight, sense of space, and spacial imagination creates our spacial creation, or 'the creatures of space' (Raumgestalterin). Math and architecture are 'sisters' in the arts.
Architecture is a testament to the human intellect and desire for organization, as lines become walls and roofs and our spatial imagination takes form. Therefore, one function of art is to promote order and organization according to this article. Architecture equals the science of space explorers, explaining the ideal forms of the human intuition of space (288).
"Spatial creation never detaches itself from the subject but always implies a relationship with the observer and creator. Every spatial creation is first and foremost the enclosing of a subject" (288). Thus architecture is different that all other forms of art in that it always encloses some amount of space. Therefore, there are two parts to architecture, the observing from without (outside) and the observing from within.
"Art creates emanations of ideal entities" (289). We can imagine ourselves physically inside a building or what it looks like, but until we enter we do not know what the inside holds for the viewer on the outside. Thus art creates emanations of entities or ideas and thoughts for the viewer to imagine what is on the inside, what spatial constructs await us upon entering.
"Wherever in buildings the dimension of depth dominates the interior space, this becomes the defining characteristic of the building" (290).
I read this as the main room of a building is the biggest and holds the most space and therefore is the most important. It becomes the focal point or subject matter of the building, much like my photographs have a subject and focal point.
"Space must be filled with a life of its own if it is to satisfy us and make us happy" (291) Thus, 'emotional representation of the concepts of force and load transfer our own feelings of movement directly to the static spatial form, making spatial art the most varied relation to juan experience and to human life on earth" (291-292).
Architecture becomes one with the viewer as the viewer absorbs the spatial constructs of a building, and interacts with the viewer by giving the viewer a feeling such as cramped or tight, open or airy, simple or complex, etc. Thus we understand the how a work of architecture was formed by understanding the space from within by viewing the spatial constructs.
Architecture has many facets. Urban planning and development such as roads, agriculture, city construction, gardening are all part of the hand of architecture (294). It's funny that when the world was less developed architecturally humans longed for organization and structure, and shunned the natural environment. Now that the world has been paved over and constructed on multiple times over, humans crave for the natural mountains, rivers, ravines, and valleys that are yet to be untouched by the human hand.
'The history of architecture is the history of the sense of space,' and thus the 'history of worldviews' (296). If you look at buildings across famous cities and famous ruins of the world, you can see what a culture held valuable to their beliefs and thoughts at the time. From synagogues to temples to monuments and statues, architecture plays an immense role in our lives, and I definitely consider it art.
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