The Truth of Architectural Matter Anne-Catrin Schultz, PhD Assistant Professor
The investigation of what’s the matter in architecture at any particular time has kept numerous architects, historians and theorists occupied. Etymology relates matter to the Latin word materia, meaning substance from which something is made but also meaning subject of a discourse and lastly, mother, going to the root of things [1]. Physical matter in architecture points to construction materials united with the site. The applied material palette defines the materiality of a building. Architectural matter, at the same time, is linked to physical form and immaterial narrative of a building, to structure, enclosure and ornament equally. The truth of the matter in architecture has a lot to do with the ideas that are at the core of the design process. This essay will explore three ways of approaching the origins of architectural materiality and truth. First, Gottfried Semper traces the development of architectural tectonics, analyzing the relationship between materiality and craft. For Semper, the textile arts are essential; they are at the root of all architecture, dating from a time when spaces were created by sticks and woven enclosures. His analysis of historic architecture and its evolution further traces the translation from fabric to other materials while formal parameters of the textile beginnings are maintained. Second, John Ruskin suggests the abstracted line of the surface of a “glacier on a spur of the Aiguille de Blaitière Mountain in France” [2] as a meaningful form for architectural ornament and as a metaphor to use as the basis of truthful decoration. According to Ruskin, nature provides the forms that bring harmony and balance to architectural detail. Finally, Peter Zumthor states his approach: “When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material.” [3]
beginning of building coincides with the beginning of textiles. The wall is the architectural element that formally represents and makes visible enclosed space as such, absolutely, as it were, without reference to secondary concepts. […] The transition for plaiting branches to plaiting bast for similar domestic purposes was natural and easy. Next came the invention of weaving: first with grass stalks or natural plant fibers, later with spun threads made from vegetable or animal stuffs. The diversity of natural color in the stalks soon led to their use in alternating arrangements, resulting in the pattern. […] Scaffolds that served to hold, secure, or support this spatial enclosure had nothing directly to do with space or the division of space. They were foreign to the original architectural idea and were never form-determining elements to start with [4].
The Truth in Textile: Gottfried Semper The German architect and theorist Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) was convinced that the origins of architecture are to be found in the textile arts and that formal treatment of architectural elements is defined by those origins, independent of the material used. Architecture began with the woven branch or reed, which was replaced by woven yarn, a carpet spanning between sticks forming a structure. The carpet would be replaced by other materials over time, but the patterns related to the mechanics of the carpet and how it was held up would remain obvious in how the architectural surfaces were treated. In his encyclopedic work about the relationship of materials, form and craft, The Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics, Semper explains the evolutionary nature of architecture, the changes in material and where the formal language started: early buildings were structures erected from wooden branches and poles covered in woven sticks, grass and later fabric: It may be that climatic influences and other circumstances suffice to explain this cultural-historical phenomenon, and that the normal, universally valid course of civilization cannot necessarily be deduced from this, but it is certain that the
^ Gotfried Semper Knot (Top left). Different types of lace (Top right). Floor in the pronaos in the Temple of Olumpian Zeus (Bottom)