The first paragraph has been revised and the last paragraph added.
Vitruvius felt that architecture should exhibit firmitas, utilitas and venustas to be excellent; but this gives us very little to go on, even when solid, useful and beautiful becomes commodity, firmness and delight.Today it could mean structurally sound, physically accommodating and visually appealing, but the guidance becomes entirely dependent on personal reaction when the Roman style is simply assumed by Vitruvius in his definition. This omission has provided free license ever since, and the debate over style detracts from the total value Vitruvius was attempting to define.
"Vitruvius (c.75 - c.15 BCE) focused on the building rather than the profession in the first century BCE as he attempted to explain excellent architecture to Augustus. Alberti (1404-1472 CE) followed suit after a 1,500 year pause. Five hundred years later we are still asking the question from Augustus: What is excellent architecture? If the focus remains on the building, the answer will continue to be a variation of the Vitruvian response that excellence is a stable, habitable work of art. Architects will have to decide if this continues to be a satisfactory answer when our sustainable future depends on the shelter pattern and intensity constructed for growing populations. It is certainly a potential answer of limited scope; but it might help to begin by asking for a definition of the architectural profession. A collection of artists is a response that does not do justice to the skill set required after 2,000 years of invention.
I'd like to suggest that the architectural profession combines the inspiration of art, the logic of philosophy and the knowledge of accumulated research. In fact, this definition applies to all modern professions. Architecture, however, has used the logic of philosophy to extend its emphasis on the inspiration of art while ignoring the accumulation of independent knowledge. I agree that it has become a fine art, but wonder if this is the preferred emphasis given its continued search for a definition of excellence.
My guess is that architecture is searching for a body of knowledge it can call its own, for a measurement system to define a foundation for excellence and for a cataloguing system that can record success for refinement with logic over succeeding generations. The city design of urban form involves a mathematical pattern language capable of measuring, forecasting, evaluating and improving our physical, social, psychological and economic quality of life. It only defines the intensity of urban design options, however. It must be completed with sustainable building systems that contribute to stable, habitable and potential works of art in the shelter division of symbiotic cities. It represents a potential platform for the accumulation of knowledge that is needed to expand the Vitruvian definition of excellent architecture and its contribution to humanity. Architecture is not ready to redefine excellence, but it is ready to begin the work.
Progress has always begun with inspiration referred to as art by those who grasp the mystery involved. Logic has converted inspiration to knowledge that could be memorized across generations. Language and writing simply made it easier. In other words, talent cannot be memorized but inspiration can be used to build knowledge with logic when the goal is perceived.
At the present time, architecture is about art and logic. It borrows knowledge from specialties focused on building technology. This has caused architecture to remain focused on definitions similar to Vitruvius and Alberti; while the problem has expanded with sprawl to indicate that shelter must be guided by more than stable, habitable and artistic objectives. So it's a question of how logic will use inspiration to lead the profession toward knowledge that increases its public benefit. The answer will represent the profession's aspiration to excellence in a far more complicated world.
Vitruvius and Alberti are wonderful historic references, but it's time to move on to the city design of urban form as a new pattern language for architectural contribution and public value. It requires information that doesn't exist, knowledge that must be distilled and a skill set that must be expanded before we can improve on the ancient prescription for architectural excellence, and it can only begin with a new vision of the goal required.
We have traveled through the art of Lascaux, the logic of Thales, the knowledge of science and the inventions of industry but our tendency is to pigeon-hole events when they actually represent a progression of thought. In many ways, the solution to every architectural project represents a walk through this history, but it has not decided where it wants to go. When the goal is defined the definition of excellence will follow.
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Walter Hosack
Author
Walter M. Hosack
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