Organic architecture
Organic architecture. C20 term used in so many ways it is virtually meaningless. Organic suggests organization formed as if by some natural process, so organic architecture may mean governed in its evolution by natural factors rather than by an imposed predetermined plan. F. L. Wright, taking his cue from Sullivan, who insisted form and function should be one, suggested that the relationship of parts to the whole, and the special relationship of parts, whole, and site, whereby a sense of natural growth was given, constituted organic architecture. Häring proposed that architecture implied a search, allowing forms to develop during the searching, and that the very discovery of forms was associated with harmony in nature. Aalto rejected the determination of form by geometrical means, used natural materials in unusual ways (not always successfully), and claimed to respond to the qualities of the sites. Scharoun's buildings have also been claimed as ‘organic’ because their design-treatment was not unlike that practised by Häring. Curved reinforced-concrete shell-structures and tent-shapes (e.g. the work of Frei Otto) have been perceived as organic, while there are those who would claim the use of natural materials, especially those indigenous to an area, leads to organic buildings. ‘Organic architecture’ also seems to imply the opposite of rational, geometrical architecture, and is probably associated with intuition, irregularity, and a blurring of the man-made artefact with what is natural. The work of Makovecz has been described as ‘Organic’, probably because it is difficult to see where rocks, earth, and plants end and structure begins in some of the designs, while Kroll's buildings, evolving slowly as they are required, and altered by their users, have been labelled ‘Organic’. More recently, with the evolution of so-called Zoömorphic architecture, and explorations concerned with biomorphic forms, the term has acquired further associations.
Bibliography
Dvorszky (ed.) (1991);
D. Gans & Kuz (eds.) (2003);
Jencks (1988);
Lampugnani (ed.) (1988);
D. Pearson (2001);
Portoghesi (2000);
Powers (1999a);
Ree (2000);
Wright (1970);
Zevi (1950)
More From encyclopedia.com
Louis Isadore Kahn , Louis I. Kahn
Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) was one of the most significant and influential American architects from the 1950s until his death. His work… Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov , Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov
Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov (1890-1974) was one of the Russian avant-garde's most prolific and internationally ce… Eero Saarinen , Saarinen, Eero
Personal
Born August 20, 1910, in Kirkkonummi, Finland; immigrated to the United States, naturalized citizen, 1940; died of a brain tu… Henry-russell Hitchcock , Hitchcock, Henry-Russell (1903–87). American architectural critic and historian. In 1929 he published Modern Architecture, the first English-language… Peter Eisenman , Peter D. Eisenman
The American architect Peter D. Eisenman (born 1932) studied and made formal use of concepts from other fields—linguistics, philoso… Robert Venturi , Beginning in the 1960s American architect Robert Venturi (born 1925) spearheaded the "Post-Modern" revolt against the simplicity and pure functionali…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
Organic architecture