Built upon Love: Architectural Longing after Ethics and Aesthetics

260 Pages·2008·2.38 MB·English

by  Alberto Perez-Gomez

architecture
Alberto Pérez-Gómez is Saidye Rosner Bronfman Professor “Builtupon Loveadds yetanother footnote to Plato,more specifically to the Symposium.Butwhata Built upon Love
ofthe History of Architecture atMcGill University.He is the footnote itis! Informed by an extraordinary understanding of both the history of building and the
alberto pérez-gómez Architectural Longing after Ethics and Aesthetics
author of Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science (MIT history of ideas,itreminds us that,to the extentthatarchitecture allows itself to be ruled by the
Alberto Pérez-Gómez
Press,1983) and (with Louise Pelletier) Architecural material and political realities of our technological world,itloses sightof the bittersweetlove that
Representation and the Perspective Hinge(MIT Press,1997). alone can ground both the ethics and the poetics of architecture.”
The forced polarity between form and function in con-
Karsten Harries,Professor of Philosophy,Yale University
siderations of architecture—opposing artto social inter-
ests,ethics to poetic expression—obscures the deep
“In Builtupon Love,Pérez-Gómez traces the mythological and historical role of erosand philiain the
connections between ethical and poetical values in
making and experiencing of architecture.He shows convincingly and poetically thatarchitecture
architectural tradition.Architecture,writes Alberto
arises notfrom utility and reason,practicality and technique,butfrom the desire to sensualize and
Pérez-Gómez,has been and mustcontinue to be built
poeticize the human condition.His erudite narrative helps us understand the essence of architectural
upon love.Modernity has rightly rejected pastarchitec-
pleasure and its origins in the longing for beauty.This book is an importantantidote to today’s over-
tural excesses,but,Pérez-Gómez argues,the materialis-
intellectualized theories of architecture,alienated from life,and to the formalistand self-centered
tic and technological alternatives itproposes do not
architecture of our time.”
answer satisfactorily the complex desire thatdefines
p
Juhani Pallasmaa,architect,former Professor of Architecture,Helsinki University of Technology, é
humanity.True architecture is concerned with far more
r
and author of The Eyes of the Skin:Architecture and the Senses e
z than fashionable form,affordable homes,and sustain-
-
g
able development;itresponds to a desire for an elo-
ó
“Alberto Pérez-Gómez is one of thatrare and endangered species—the Renaissance intellectual who m quentplace to dwell—one thatlovingly provides a sense
can draw deeply from the wells of ancientwisdom while critically engaging with the modern human- e
z of order resonantwith our dreams.In Builtupon Love
istsciences.This book is testimony to a brilliantimagination in action,treading a daring tightrope
Pérez-Gómez uncovers the relationship between love
between the competing demands of ethics and poetics.”
and architecturein order tofind the points of contact
RichardKearney,Charles Seelig Professor in Philosophy,Boston College,and Visiting Professor of
between poetics and ethics—between the architect’s
Philosophy,University College Dublin
wish to design a beautiful world and architecture’s
imperative to provide a better place for society.
“In this book,as in Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science,Pérez-Gómez rewrites the history of B
Eros,as firstimagined by the early lyric poets of clas-
u
architecture.His aim is notto replace reason with desire;instead,itis to show the insufficiency of the
sical Greece,is the invisible force atthe rootof our
i
former and the unacknowledged importance of the latter for the making of good architecture.While l
t capacity to create and comprehend the poetic image.
showing the links between desire,friendship,and responsibility in human affairs,he unveils the ways u Pérez-Gómez examines the nature of architectural form
architecture builds culture by giving material and spatial definition to those relationships. His learn- p
in the lightof eros,seduction,and the tradition of the
o
ing is deep,his writing is passionate,and his message is profoundly humane.”
n poetic imagein Western architecture.He charts the ethi-
Built upon Love
David Leatherbarrow,University of Pennsylvania
cal dimension ofarchitecture,tracing the connections
L
o between philia—the love of friends thatentails mutual
v
responsibility among equals—and architectural pro-
e
The MIT Press
gram.He explores the position of architecture atthe
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
limits of language and discusses the analogical lan-
architectural longing
Cambridge,Massachusetts 02142
guage of philia in modernistarchitectural theory.Finally,
http://mitpress.mit.edu after ethics and aesthetics he uncovers connections between ethics and poetics,
describing a contemporary practice of architecture under
0-262-16238-5
the sign of love,incorporating both eros and philia.
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Built upon Love

Built upon Love
Architectural Longing after Ethics and Aesthetics
Alberto Pérez-Gómez
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or informa-
tion storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or
sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected]
or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cam-
bridge, MA 02142.
This book was set in Sabon by Graphic Composition, Inc., and was printed and
bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pérez-Gómez, Alberto, 1949–
Built upon love : architectural longing after ethics and aesthetics / Alberto Pérez-
Gómez.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-262-16238-5 (hc : alk. paper)
1. Architecture—Aesthetics. 2. Architecture—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Love.
I. Title.
NA2500.P455 2006
720.1—dc22
2005056164
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Opening conversation 1
Introduction: Architecture and Human Desire 3
Historical origins of ero¯sand philia 7
I Ero¯s, Seduction, and the Poetic Image in Architecture: Form 9
1 Eros and Creation 11
Opening conversation 11
Primordial Eros 12
Eros as creative power in classical philosophy 14
Renaissance incorporations 16
Modern transformations 20
Orphic Eros in late modernity 25
Inspiration in contemporary praxis 28
2 Eros and Limits 31
Opening conversation 31
Eros, spacing, and joints 32
Erotic space and the origins of Western culture 36
Erotic architectural space in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili 39
Cho¯raas erotic space 44
Renaissance incorporations 51
Modern transformations 56
Ero¯sand time 65
vi Contents
3 Eros and the Poetic Image 69
Opening conversation 69
Origins 71
Marsilio Ficino and the poetic image in the Renaissance 73
The poetic image in Renaissance theory 79
Modern transformations 81
The poetic image in modernity 94
From Lequeu to Duchamp 101
Frederick Kiesler’s endless architecture 104
Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum 105
The poetic image in the contemporary world 107
Interlude: Ero¯s, Philia,and Agape¯ 111
Ero¯sand recognition 111
Philia,ethics, and communion 118
Philia, ero¯s,andagape¯ 120
II Philia, Compassion, and the Ethical Dimension of Architecture:
Program 123
Opening conversation 123
4 Philia, Ritual, and Decorum 125
Origins 125
From decorumto character 133
5 Architecture at the Limits of Language 137
Opening conversation 137
Language and architecture 139
Architecture as language 143
6 The Language of Philiain Architectural Theory 147
Vitruvian theory 147
The sequel 153
7 A Tale of Two Brothers: Jean-Louis and Charles-François Viel 167
The poetic architecture of Jean-Louis Viel 168
The political architecture of Charles-François Viel 173
Interweavings 184
Contents vii
8 Poetry and Meaning from within a (Western) Architectural
Tradition 187
Opening conversation 187
Architecture from within 187
Architecture as poetic writing 192
Architecture as critical poem 196
9 The Ethical Image in Architecture 203
Opening conversation 203
Hermeneutics and ethical intentions 204
On endless desire 211
Notes 215
Index 243

Acknowledgments
This book brings together voices from multiple disciplines and times. It is
a multilayered story that has been constructed over many years. I am there-
fore deeply grateful to my colleagues and students, both locally and inter-
nationally, for the many conversations that I have often translated into my
own concerns. I am fortunate to work in the academic context of the grad-
uate program in History and Theory of Architecture at McGill University
in Montreal, where seminars with students and guests constantly bring
“erotic” knowledge alive in often marvelous and unexpected ways.
Along the way, the book acknowledges its many (and profound) debts
to architectural writers and philosophers. While less obvious, the voices
and works of three dear colleagues were particularly important. Dalibor
Vesely and Karsten Harries on the poetics and ethics of architecture were
pivotal points of departure. Juhani Pallasmaa’s “generative” theory ad-
dressing specific architectural topics was a constant source of inspiration.
Assisting on research, Marc Neveu and Carolinne Dionne read sec-
tions of this work and provided criticism. Lian Chang and Christina Con-
tandriopoulos contributed bibliographical work under the auspices of the
Institut de Recherche en Histoire de l’Architecture. My colleague Stephen
Parcell from Dalhousie University read the manuscript with great care,
raised important questions, and edited the language. His suggestions on
content and style were invaluable. I am deeply grateful for his uncondi-
tional help.
My wife and colleague Louise Pelletier also read the manuscript and
made insightful comments, providing much-needed dialogue throughout
the long process of writing.
The resources of both the Rare Books and Special Collections Library
at McGill University and the library of the Canadian Centre for Architec-
ture were important for this project. I would like to thank the staff of both
institutions for their support.