Ideas That
Shaped Buildings
by Fil Hearn
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003
312 pp., illus. 121 b/w. Paper, $18.95
ISBN: 0-262-58227-9.
Reviewed by Rob Harle (Australia)
recluse@lis.net.au
The title
of this book, Ideas That Shaped Buildings,
is somewhat of a misnomer, and the write-up
on the back cover does little to rectify
this. A title such as Ideas That Shaped
Buildings in Western Culture: (with
a subtitle) An Investigation of Written
Theoretical Treatises on Architectural
Theory would have been far more accurate.
Why be so pedantic about titles? Because
readers pay good money for books, and
only after they get part way into this
text do they realise the book is not what
they wanted.
The book deals only with Western
architecture from ancient Rome to the
present, and it investigates only, written
treatises on architectural theory. These
include manuscripts prior to Guttenberg
and printed works after. Hearn certainly
acknowledges that all buildings are underpinned
by theory of some sort, but he pays scant
attention to great buildings that were
based on such theories that may have been
transmitted orally or through other non-written
means. "Indeed, in some cases the buildings
themselves serve as nonverbal representations
of theory" (p. 19). One would hope so!
Just for the moment I will ask the reader
to "suspend disbelief" and imagine that
the title is something like I have suggested.
This being the case, we have a detailed,
scholarly exploration of ideas and theoretical
concepts that shaped the Western-built
environment of the last two millennium.
Hearn develops a new take on the
formulation of a coherent theory of Western
architecture. The book is a valuable resource
for students, architects, and tertiary
level art-history teachers. However, there
is no index? I found this omission extremely
frustrating when trying to quickly access
various areas of importance. There are
two pages at the end of the book with
a title Indexthis section
simply lists the names of the so-called
greats of western architecture: Frank
Lloyd Wright, Vitruvius, Le Corbusier,
Alberti, Ruskin et al. I dragged out one
of my old student textbooks, Architecture
Through The Ages to compare: Its index
spans some 25 pages with thousands upon
thousands of entries. This omission of
an index is a serious oversight if the
book is intended for student readership.
The book is divided into four parts: Part
OneUnderpinnings (Relevant to All
Theory). Part TwoConventions (Theory
before 1800). Part ThreePrinciples
(Theory from 1800 to 1965). Part FourConvolutions
(Theory since 1965). The work is presented
systematically and analyses the theoretical
concepts of architecture and their development
through time. It is well illustrated with
numerous black and white photographs and
drawings.
Let us now "unsuspend our disbelief".
This book makes no mention of non- Western
buildings, save a reference in Viollet-le-Ducs
treatise to bamboo structural concepts
in Asia and, of course, Frank Lloyd Wrights
debt to Japanese aesthetics. Even considering
the possibility of publishers space-restrictions,
not to at least acknowledge some of the
masterpieces of architecture of other
cultures is an unforgivable and insular
lacuna.
Asian buildings, some with associated
complete cities, such as those of Borabador
and Angkor Wat, Mayan temples, and the
Egyptian pyramids are just a few of the
buildings that employed sophisticated
structural techniques and complex design
philosophy based upon profound theory.
Specifically, theories developed through
religious and spiritual insights and over
aeons of observation of the heavens and
cyclic passage of time through solstices,
equinoxes, moon phases, and so on. Buildings
of ancient Chinese and more modern Islamic
cultures are based on theory just as are
their Western counterparts. Without a
thorough investigation, how can we assume
that these theories were not written down?
Quoting from the back cover, "[H]e constructs
an intellectual armature on which virtually
any architectural concept, past or present,
can be positioned", this is at best highly
contentious and, at worst, simply nonsense.
It is ridiculous to make such a claim
when the theoretical basis regarding half
of the worlds architecture is not
represented (nor known to the author?),
for example, Islamic buildings. Their
building design and theory cannot be separated
from their spiritual culture and belief
systems. Further, the new Genetic Architectures
(see Leonardo Reviews, January
2004) challenge almost everything we understand
about buildings. These are not the morphed,
computer stretched buildings of Gehry
(p. 331) but totally new design possibilities
never before attempted.
In sum, for those looking for a fresh,
detailed exploration of the theories behind
Western architecture, and if you
do not mind the absence of an index, then
this book will provide an informative
and useful read and reference source.