Semper, Ruskin, Le-Duc

The big names associated with modern architecture are the master designers of the 20th century: Mies Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright. They had new and progressive ideas about architecture, such as functionalism, taking forms from nature, and showing structural elements instead of hiding them. These branches of thought are often accredited to these designers, along with other modern architects, but these concepts were originally planted by 19th century designers from Europe; three of which were Viollet-Le-Duc, John Ruskin, and Gottfried Semper. These three designers and philosophers came up with the original ideas which created the modern movement as we know it today, but they all had their own opinions and differences.

If you showed Le-Duc, Ruskin, and Semper the same Gothic cathedral, they would have entirely different experiences of the building.

Le-Duc would focus on the tectonics and structure of the Gothic cathedral, explaining how the arches and the form of the building is the most rational method for a church. He would go on to say how he loved Gothic architecture because it functions so perfectly, letting light in the correct places, showing the structural components, and how it succeeded scientifically on being a great building.

Ruskin would also state his love for this Gothic cathedral, but he would focus not on the functionality, but instead the feeling and character of the space. He would explain his lamps of architecture to try and understand the cathedral, using feelings such as beauty, power, life, and sacrifice. He would marvel at the hand crafted embellishments of the exterior, and have great respect for the builders and craftsmen. And most of all, he would enjoy the age of the cathedral, because to him, the age and history of a building was one of the most important pieces.

Semper would first see the Gothic cathedral, and immediately look at the bigger picture. He would comprehend what the cathedral stands for as a symbol; which for him was hierarchy and authority of the Church. He would see the cathedral in terms of its sociological implications. If, on the other hand, he were to examine the gothic style further, he would hail the craft, the function, and the structural components of the cathedral.

These three different views on the same style of architecture reflect how Le-Duc, Ruskin, and Semper have different definitions of what architecture is. Le-Duc says that great architecture is how designer creates the most logical building with its materials. (And the materials could be anything, not just traditional ones) Ruskin says that great architecture relies in the hands of the designer and builder, to create something that not only functions, but is beautiful. He goes on to say that deciding the height and direction of a building is not architecture, but rather it is adding unnecessary features. Semper says that great architecture is a building that embodies socio-political values. These different outlooks on architecture eventually transform into what we consider modern architecture today.

One thing that Le-Duc, Ruskin, and Semper had in common was a system that they created to attempt to explain and understand architecture in ways never done before. Le-Duc once again focuses on rationality and functionality, using scientific means to try and classify and define architecture. In his writing, Dictionnare, he would categorize and explain every method of construction and style of architecture to better understand it. Semper also put an emphasis on functionality in his method of understand architecture. He created an algebraic formula that represented function, local crafts, religion, and personal influences. He also explained the basic functions that buildings should provide, which were: hearth, platform, roof, and enclose. Ruskin went in a different direction when explaining architecture, because he focused on feelings rather than functions. His writing, the Seven Lamps of Architecture, express sacrifice, truth, power, beauty, life, memory, and obedience. All of these writings were ways that designers attempted to explain architecture, but they vary differently.

One last major difference between these three was their opinions of time-frame in architecture. Ruskin was concerned with the past, loving historic forms and styles because of their history and beauty. He also disliked future advancements on building materials, such as steel and mechanized materials. He once explained his distaste for the Crystal Palace because its mechanized steel required no craftsmanship or thought. Le-Duc looked forward into the future, using new materials in interesting ways, such as combining steel and masonry in the same building, or changing the style of the city of Carcassonne because he felt it was better. Semper was somewhere between the past and the future, getting influence of structure and form from Greek temples, but at the same time utilizing those forms to create a new functional and social building, such as when he designed the Semper Opera House in Dresden with many classical styles of structure along the outside.