anything by
Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Peter Behrens, and more recently Richard Rogers (met him once, took me on an architectural tour of the Embankment - lovely man, very clever)
there's very little architecture I don't like, except anything pastiche or false, i hate that. In ancient works I'm particularly fond of Assyrian/Babylonian/Persian styles, Egyptrian of course, Greek and Roman go without saying, esp the works of Anthemius of Tralles. Indian and Chinese are cool too, and Japanese architecture and design just makes me weep with it's simplicity and functionality. What a fortunate people to be born with an inherent sense of aesthetic.
Not a big fan of the Gothic styles, despite the workmanship and effort that went into it; it's still medieval and fussy compared to the splendiferousness of the Renaissance. Firenze is a little piece of God's mind made manifest on Earth in the form of the most sublime architecture ever produced.
I'm rather ambivalent to the Baroque. it doesn't do much for me except notably for Wren, Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor (a very strange man) In scale i think it's wonderful, English Baroque with its emphasis on scale rather than effect is essentially neo-classical, and Versailles in plan impresses me, but the over-wrought baroque of Italy, Spain, Germany and France doesn't do a great deal for me. It's too much, my functionalist tastes recoil at such riotous decoration and form. Having said that, i was once driving through S Germany and came past Wurzburg at dawn and the morning sun lit up the rose marble and stone that the town is largely made of quite beautifully
Islamic architecture really turns me on. the forms are massive and simple but provide fantastic large areas for continuous non-figurative decoration. beautiful geometries and harmonies reflect the architectonic hierarchical world-view of islamic culture. I feel much the same about Byzantine architecture, it manages to be rationalist and sensuous at the same time.
19th century aping of classical and gothic traditions leaves me cold. the idea that every English village should have a gothic church, whether it originally had one or not? pooh off. chocolate box architecture and false false false. thank God for the International Style and the dranatic use of reinforced concrete, which swept all that rubbish away! Admiration also for Constructivist/Suprematist design in the early Soviet Union, esp the Monumant to the 3rd International by El Lissitsky. Tony Garnier's Cité Industrielle was a fascinating project also and he did actually build some of it in and around Lyons (but it did form a big part of my MA work so maybe I'm a bit biased there)
as for now? I don't really "dig" the Post-Modern *style* it's just eclectic pastiche nonsense for immediate visual effect. Purism is what we want back in architecture, simple forms dedicated to their purpose
*FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION* burn it into your hearts and minds, my friends.
oh congrats! you chose my favouritest subject ever!
Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/10/2004 3:53:42 AM
Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/10/2004 3:54:46 AM