The Effects of Architecture on Society

1911 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of architecture in society

Architecture and the built environment
Buildings reflect the values and ideas of society within periods. The role of architecture in shaping society and vice versa largely depends on the period in question and who or what affects first. The Enlightenment, and the subsequent period the Post-Enlightenment, reflect the biggest change for current ideas regarding architecture and society and current theories. At the same time, individual identities and understanding of society, progress and truth all follow a similar evolving path. It is during this dramatic shift in thinking that the role of architecture to society and the idea of progress and truth becomes a more complex relationship. How this relationship works and its implications is based on the theory that there is a direct link between the two. One cannot develop without the other. Who leads whom and to what extent they influence each other is evident in architectural trends and pioneering works by architects such as Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry amongst others.
To understand if and how architecture has had an influence on the way people think and act in the past is an important aspect of questioning architecture’s influence today. Bentham’s Panopticon, and his ideas of surveillance, power, and discipline, have been examined and discussed by a wide variety of people including Foucault. Foucault’s main focus was on the exercise of power in its different forms and the control exercised through its architecture. An interesting view raised by Foucault in his study of the Panopticon is that liberation or oppression is not manifested in architecture by itself. This does not mean that they cannot be made part of it. ‘Positive effects’ could occur when the ‘liberating intentio...

... middle of paper ...

...ccessed April 26, 2014. http://UWA.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=254441.
Nero, Irene, "Computers, Cladding, and Curves: The Techno-Morphism of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain" PhD diss., Florida State University, 2004. Accessed April 26, 2014. http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3568&context=etd.
Schwartz, Frederic, ed. Mother’s House: the evolution of vanna venturi’s house in chestnut hill. New York: Rizzoli International Publications Inc, 1992.
Vidler, Anthony. The writing of the walls: Architectural theory in the late enlightenment. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1987.
Wiley, Norbert. "The Post-Modern Self: A Retrospective." Society 49, no. 4 (July, 2012): 328-332. Accessed April 20, 2014. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12115-012-9556-6. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1022373336?accountid=14681.

Show More
Related

  • The Influence of Frank Lloyd Wright on Frank Gehry in the Design of his Own House

    2675 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many of Frank Gehry’s early works reflect a refined manipulation of shapes and structures, whereby many of his buildings present distorted shapes or apparent structures. From the Guggenheim museum to the Walt Disney concert hall, Frank Gehry’s architecture is close to none. He cleverly plays with shapes and geometries. In this essay, I shall start with a brief analysis of Gehry’s house and the influences in the design of the house. I shall then analyze the extent to which Frank Lloyd Wright has inspired and influenced Gehry in the design of his house through a comparison with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Jacob’s house.

    Read More

  • The 1893 World’s Fair

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hunt, William Dudley Jr. “Beaux Arts, Ecole Des.” Hunt Encyclopedia of American Architecture, 1980 ed.

    Read More

  • Mies Van Der Rhoes and Paul Rudolph

    2349 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is the new decade after the end of world war two and modernism is a well-established practice. Its pioneers and spearheads are prevalent figures looming over the new architects and designers who are trying to make their mark in the shadows of such historically influential people. With new technologies and materials emerging from the world wars the next era of modernism had started to evolved, bringing with it philosophies and ideas which seemed far removed from those of the pioneers of modernism “What emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s was an expanding synthesis of questions utterly removed from the confident statements of the pioneers.”(Spade 1971,10) Two significant buildings were designed in the 50's, both of them for educational institutes and to house students of architecture, there were both designed in completely different styles and methods. The first is Ludwig Mies van der Rohes' Crown Hall, finished in 1956 and designed as a part of a campus master plan for the Illinois Institute of technology in Chicago. Mies' design for Crown Hall is one of his most realised expressio...

    Read More

  • The Importance of Kenwood House

    2443 Words  | 5 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Bolton, Arthur T. The architecture of Robert & James Adam. London, Country Life. 1922.

    Read More

  • The Interactions of Nationalism and Building Style

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    (Image taken from Tranchtenberg, Marvin, Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity. Second Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc. New Jersey: 2002.)

    Read More

  • The Extent to Which World War I Influenced the Dada Artistic Movement

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rowland, Kurt F. A History of the Modern Movement: Art Architecture Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1973. 142. Print.

    Read More

  • Architecture And Architecture Of Frank Lloyd Wright And American Architecture

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In the Cause of Architecture” is an essay written by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908. In this work, Wright outlines many of his architectural values. This text goes into great detail about the philosophy behind Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture, as well as many important milestones in his life, such as working for Adler and Sullivan. This text is useful because it comes straight from Frank Lloyd Wright himself. It talks about many things important to his role as a notable American, such as his influences for his architecture and his architectural

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Robert Venturi's Non-Ideological Ideology

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    People are made of complexities and contradictions. Venturi recognized that buildings should be complex and complicated, too. He theorized and built buildings inspired by this principle, and succeeded because of his emphasis on individual experience and the interaction between humanity and architectural forms. In pursuit of this goal, his pluralist and revolutionary style of architecture embraced difference and ambiguity and rejected the rigid rules of modernism. While undoubtedly influenced by Venturi’s ideas, later postmodern architects failed to live up to his principles by forming their own inflexible rules and not concentrating on the human experience with buildings.

    Read More

  • Frank Lloyd Wright

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    Architecture, the practice of building design and its resulting products, customary usage refers only to those designs and structures that are culturally significant. Today the architecture must satisfy its intended uses, must be technically sound, and must convey beautiful meaning. But the best buildings are often so well constructed that they outlast their original use. They then survive not only as beautiful objects, but as documents of history of cultures, achievements in architecture that testify to the nature of the society that produced them. These achievements are never wholly the work of individuals. Architecture is a social art, yet Frank Lloyd Wright single handily changed the history of architecture. How did Frank Lloyd Wright change architecture?

    Read More

  • Modern vs. Postmodern Architecture

    1622 Words  | 4 Pages

    The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...

    Read More

  • Traditional vs. Modern Architecture in China

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the process of development of human society, architecture and culture are inseparable. Cuthbert (1985) indicates that architecture, with its unique art form, expresses the level of human culture in different historical stages, as well as the yearning towards the future. According to his article, it can be said that architecture has become one of the physical means for human to change the world and to conquer the nature. Consequently, architecture has been an important component of human civilization. Since 1980s when China started the opening and reforming policy, a variety of architectural ideas, schools and styles have sprung up. Accompanying with a momentum of...

    Read More

  • The Use of Traditional Styles in Contemporary Architecture

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abstract: Contemporary architects have a wide variety of sources to gain inspiration from, but this has not always been the case. How did modernism effect sources of inspiration? What did post-modernism do to liberate the choice of influences? Now that Contemporary architects have the freedom of choice, how are they using “traditional” styles and materials to inspire them? Even after modernism why are traditional styles still around?

    Read More

  • Architecture Essay

    2444 Words  | 5 Pages

    What is architecture? Is it the practice of designing or rather the art of designing buildings? Is architecture the necessity of shelter? If so, then when did humanity transcend living in caves and progress on to communal living as seen in the remains of Catalhoyuk? Humanity did not stop the progression of architecture at communal living; architecture continued to evolve to accommodate the ever increasing needs of humanity. Has architecture existed since the days that humanity resided in caves and simply evolved with humans to become the modern day building method? These questions and many more have been asked and debated for centuries, and as architects we study the arguments and ideals of the greatest of the host who have asked: what is architecture?

    Read More

  • Wright and Le Corbusier

    1861 Words  | 4 Pages

    Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are two very prominent names in the field of architecture. Both architects had different ideas concerning the relationship between humans and the environment. Their architectural styles were a reflection of how each could facilitate the person and the physical environment. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture and Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye helped define the progression that modern architecture was to take in the 20th Century. Both men are very fascinating and have strongly influenced my personal taste for modern architecture. Although Wright and Corbusier each had different views on how to design a house, they also had similar beliefs. This paper is a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s and Le Corbusier ‘s viewpoints exhibited through their two prominent houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.

    Read More

  • Vernacular Architecture

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    B. RUDOFSKY, 1905, architecture without architects, a short introduction to non pedigreed architecture, university of New Mexico press, Albuquerque, p. 40, 41 PEARSON, D. 2000, Earth to spirit, in search of natural architecture, Gaia books limited

    Read More

More about The Effects of Architecture on Society

Open Document