1970 Fitch, The Architecture of The Well Tempered Environment (Review)
1970 Fitch, The Architecture of The Well Tempered Environment (Review)
1970 Fitch, The Architecture of The Well Tempered Environment (Review)
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blocks,occupiesthe
parks,and residential I do not wish to lose my franchiseas a trates on a single theme-the technologies
zoneof the rampartsandglaciswhichfor- criticalreviewer.I thereforecheckedthe of environmental control; but even more
merlyencircledthe innercity. A planning FrenchandEnglishtranslations whichfol- importantly, because of a conceptual mas-
competitionwasheldin I858;construction low the GermanIntroduction.(Transla- tery of the physicaltheory and engineering
continueduntil the outbreakof World tionsareusuallythe Achillesheelof archi- practicesinvolved. This has importantcon-
War I. The Ringthusdatesfromthe Vic- tecturalbooks.) They are free of errors, sequences for Banham's critical posture,
torian,ArtNouveau,andEdwardian peri- which indicatesunusualeditorialcare. I enabling him to avoid that endemic hazard
ods. Itsmajorpublicbuildingsincludethe then went over the 525 picturesagain, of architecturalcriticism-"the tendency
GothicRevivalVotive Churchand City checkingthem againstother books and to offer definitivejudgements on the basis
Hall, the GreekRevivalParliament,and callinguponmy own memoriesof walking solely of visual inspection" (p. 264). (He
the Opera, University,Museumof Art on the Ring every schoolday for twelve might well have been even more specific:
History, Museum of Natural History, years.I foundthatNo.183is anawkwardly on the basis of visual inspection of photo-
BurgTheater,Academyof FineArts,Pal- foreshortened view of the strikingGoethe graphic facsimile alone.) He is concerned
aceofJustice,StockExchange,Museumof monument. with tracing out the esthetic consequences
ArtsandCrafts,ConcertHall,ImperialPal- It would thusappearthatWagner-Rie- of the environmental technologies which
aceandothersinvariousstylesof Neo-Ren- ger and her associateshave produceda made modern architecturehabitable,rather
aissanceandNeo-Baroque. These"revival" 99.8%perfectbookof architectural history. than with the structural advances which
labelsare, of course,quite obsolete.The JOHN MAASS made it so photogenic.
buildingsof the Ringhave,in fact,a style City of Philadelphia The technologies are: heating, cooling
of theirown.Theyaremonumentsof what and ventilating, artificialillumination, and
we call the VictorianAge (the Queen acoustics.Generallyspeaking, the effective
reigned I837-1901) and what the Austrians of The
ReynerBanham,The Architecture manipulation of these environmental fac-
call the Francisco-Josephinian
Age (the Chicago:The
Environment,
Well-Tempered tors awaited the appearance of reliable
Emperor reigned 1848-1916). The present University of Chicago Press,1969, 295 pp., sourcesof energy and of mechanicalprime
book regardsthemas monumentsof His- illus., $I5.00. movers. It is possible to cite earlierisolated
torismuswhichis besttranslated as"eclecti- buildings which made some ingenious ex-
cism."A few buildingsof the Ring,nota- Consideringthe author'spastwork and ploitation of suchnaturalphenomenaas the
bly the Secessionby Olbrich,anartgallery present reputation,this is a surprising gravity circulation of heated air or water.
of 1898,and the PostalSavingsBankby book: smallin size, limitedin scope and But it was not until the mid-nineteenth
Otto Wagner,designedin 1903,are out- specializedin subjectmatter,and-except century that such technologies became
sidethe eclectictradition. for a sometimespolemicalintroduction- reallypracticablewith the appearance,first,
Thebookdoesnot onlypresentthesefa- verymatter-of-fact in tone.Nonetheless,it of piped illuminating gas and steam-pow-
mous publicbuildingsbut many palatial is a mostsignificantpieceof work. An art ered pump and fan; and subsequently, of
residencesand apartmenthouses which historian'sexplorationof the architecture the electric dynamo and power grid and
have hardlybeen studiedbefore.Most of of the last century,it dispenseswith the electric motor and incandescentlight bulb.
areexcellentphotographs
the illustrations conventionalart historicalpreoccupation Thus Banham's survey covers almost
specially taken for this volume; they in- with stylisticorigins,influences,andattri- preciselythe last one hundredyears. He ac-
cludemanyviews of magnificentinteriors butions.It is concerned,instead,with sub- cepts the proposition-first advanced by
andfascinating details.Thesenew pictures surfacetechnologicaldevelopments whose this reviewer in Architecture and The Esthet-
have been wisely supplemented by hand- consequences were often literallyinvisible ics of Plenty (New York, I96I)-that the
some nineteenth-century photographsof andwhoseoriginsaremoreoftenfoundin new epoch in environmental management
buildingsandstreetscapes. The colorplates cataloguesandpatentapplications thanthe was accurately forecast by the American
-almost all of interiors-are dazzling scholarlyliteratureof architectural history. publication, in 1869, of CatharineBeech-
imagesof splendorin marble,stucco,fres- In thissense,Banham'snew book is in the er's model house, with its extraordinary
co, mosaic,metal,and glass.Few readers Giedeon tradition. He recognizes this, heating and ventilating system, its com-
can have any conceptionof the printing though he is at some painsto denigrate plete indoor plumbing system, its gas light-
craftsmanship whichproducedthebrilliant MechanizationTakes Command.Instead of ing, and its compartmentalized kitchen.
reproductionsof these exceptionallyde- havingbeen"anauthoritative andconclu- Banham's account covers many buildings
tailedcolorphotographs.The picturesare sivestatement" he feelsthatit is actually"a and personalitiestotally missing from the
accompanied by a substantialtext of over tentativebeginningof a fieldof studythat conventional histories of modern architec-
200pages.Thenotesontheillustrations pro- opened almost infinite opportunitiesfor ture (e.g., the Royal Victoria Hospital in
videbothhistorical dataandsomekeenfor- furtherresearch. . . it has been neither Belfast; Willis Havilland Carrier, the
malanalysesin thebestGermanicmanner. glossed,criticized,annotated,extendedor American air-conditioning pioneer), as
On the evidence of this introductory demolished.'Giedeon',one is told, 'hasn't well as uncovering overlooked environ-
volumeand the announcedprogram,Die left muchto be said'. . . thispresentbook mental featuresof many famous buildings
WienerRingstrasse is a monumentalwork representsa tiny fractionof whatGiedeon (e.g., the air-handlingsystem of Wright's
It should
of relevanthistoricalscholarship. left unsaid"(p. 15). Larkin Building or the advanced artificial
be of outstandingvalueandinterestto all Banham'sbook does representan ad- illuminationof early housesby Neutra and
seriousstudentsof nineteenth-century ar- vance over Giedeon'spioneeringwork. Schindler). In following the trail of this
chitectureandcivilization. Thisis partlydueto the factthatit concen- evolutionary process, Banham shuttles
PerceptualSystems(New York, 1966), for structures,house plans, other secularbuild- throughout the volume is applicable to
the clearestexposition to date of man's ex- ings, and earthworks and moats. This last larger and more complex monuments as
periential relationship with his environ- category, together with the greater con- well. Each of the parts is, of course, more
ment. cern for village patternsand development, extensive and more detailed, but the pat-
JAMES MARSTON FITCH indicates a newer interest in this series of tern of investigation and descriptionis the
ColumbiaUniversity studies, which have in the past tended to same. Based on thorough examination of
concentrate more on individual architec- documents, drawings, and secondary
tural monuments. sources,as well as on-site investigation (all
Royal Commission on Historical Monu- The actualinventory of each of the par- monuments in the volume were personally
ments, England, An Inventoryof Historical ishesbegins with a brief introduction, then inspected by the staff), it is a detailed his-
Monumentsin theCountyof Cambridge, Vol. passeson to church architecture,which in torical and architecturalsurvey.
I: West Cambridgeshire, London: Her Maj- almost every case is dominated by a de- Here, as in the rest of the volume, we see
esty's Stationery Office, 1968, lxix+ 256 tailed discussionof the parish church. The the thoroughnessand the emphasison ac-
pp., 197 dwgs., 144 pls. $22.68. account is straight-forwardand objective, curacy and authenticitythat are, indeed, its
with no room for emotional responses.In- hallmarks.One could quibble with a few
In 1959 the Royal Commission on His- cluded are the fabric of the building, its points here and there, as, e.g., the identifi-
torical Monuments published its volume history, materials,and details, as well as a cation of the sculptorand woodcarver Sef-
on the monuments of the City of Cam- large range of fittings, describedalphabeti- ferin Alken or Alkin asJefferin,but on the
bridge; now, nine years later, it has fol- cally from bells to stoups, with extensive whole the facts are correct and well-docu-
lowed this with its survey of West Cam- listings of tombs and monuments. The sec- mented. If there are any objections, they
bridgeshire. Like the earlier volume, this ond major category is seculararchitecture, are to the lack of synthesis or summary,
one is a very fine example of the thorough, largely emphasizinghouses, though includ- even of individual entries, and to the dry-
accurate,and scholarly inventories under- ing inns, almhouses,gatehouses,mills, etc. ness of the presentation and the colorless
taken by this public body in England, es- These descriptionsare generallyquite brief, and impersonaltreatment (it is not exactly
pecially in recent years. Here, however, with the houses assignedto one of the plan bedside reading). But this is, after all, a ref-
there are no collegiate structures,nor, for types outlined in the general introduction, erence work, and, as such, like any good
that matter, are there any cathedrals or though some of the entriesare fairly exten- dictionary, it fulfills its purpose admirably.
great mansions-or at the most only one sive and a few (Wimpole Hall, especially) DAMIE STILLMAN
major country house. Perhaps the absence are describedin substantialdetail. The last Universityof Wisconsin-Milwaukee
of famous monuments emphasizes even major category is that of earthworks,
more the competence with which this which includeRoman and Saxon sites,later
work hasbeen done. A number of long and moats and castleremains,and the evidences Carl W. Condit, AmericanBuilding,Ma-
involved descriptions of major churches, of cultivationin the form of ridgesand fur- terialsandTechniquesfrom theBeginningof the
houses, and the like would tend to destroy rows. All told, every monument of any ColonialSettlementsto thePresent,Chicago:
the balance achieved in the volume and historical or architecturalsignificance be- University of Chicago Press, 1968, xiv
thus obscure the system which makes it a fore I850 is inventoried. The detailed sur- + 329 pp., II2 illus., $Io.
model of its kind. As it is, this study is ex- vey is augmented by a generous supply of
actly that, a paradigm,and, of course, a de- maps and plans-of the parishesand village This book is an excellent, concise histori-
finitive survey of the architecturalmonu- centers and of the churches and many of cal studyof a field oftechnological develop-
ments of the area. the secularstructuresand earthworks-and ment which, except for the author's own
This volume is devoted to the thirty- by a largenumber of excellentphotographs work, previously has been quite neglected.
seven parishes that comprise the western that illustrateall of the significant monu- Many volumes have been written about the
quadrant of Cambridgeshire, roughly a ments as well as points raisedin the intro- sociological and architectural aspects of
triangle lying to the west, northwest, and duction. Americanbuildings, but the developments
southwest of the universitytown. They are As indicated above, the greatestdetail is in civil and structuralengineering have re-
rural parishes,each with its parish church, lavished on the parishchurchesand on the mained almost unrecorded. The author,
in almost all cases medieval, a number of few larger secularstructures.Of these, the ProfessorCondit, has producedseveralsig-
small or medium-sized houses, and a vari- largest and most detailed attention is given nificant works on the development of the
ety of other relatively small monuments. to Wimpole Hall, where a seventeenth- skyscraperand the lengthy two volumes,
Scatteredthrough the areaare a few larger century core was enlarged,remodeled, and AmericanBuildingArt. He is without ques-
houses, only one of which, Wimpole Hall, redecoratedin the eighteenth century suc- tion the outstandingauthorityin this field.
is likely to be at all familiarto anyone out- cessively by James Gibbs, Henry Flitcroft, This shorterbook covers quite adequately
side the field of English architecture.But and Sir John Soane. If Wimpole Hall is and effectively the historicaldevelopment
each of these parisheshas been systemati- known at all, it is probably from the inter- of construction relating to buildings,
cally examined, inventoried, and reported. nal work by Soane in the early I790s, but bridges,anddams.The authorshows clearly
In addition, there is a general introduction the contributions of the others, plus such the interrelationbetween the development
to the area,which includesconsiderationof artistsas SirJames Thornhill, who painted of bridge structuresand the roof structures
natural topography and geology, village the chapel, are also highly significant.The of buildings, and these subjects are well
development, and building materials, as formula utilized in the discussion of this handled. But the problem of relating the
well as a generalizedsurvey of ecclesiastical house indicates that the pattern employed structuresof waterway control to the other