Details with molding would probably be one of the most important factors which the architecture of modernism abandoned in the domain of architectural forms. The other architectural forms which were thrown out by the modernist architecture might just as well easily be pointed out; for example, columns of five orders, cornices, vertical long windows, walls articulated in the classic manner, and load-bearing walls themselves. Molding is found however in the details of all these elements. Yet, the aim of this article is to treat the subject not as concrete forms, but as ideas. What are the factors abandoned by modernism, belonging in the domain of ideas and equivalent to molding in the domain of forms? An important one would be the idea that a work of architecture should clearly proclaim what it is, namely, its destination or its building type in a narrow sense. It might be also called """"architecture identity"". The idea has been called by various terms such as decor, bienséance, convenance and caractère. The architecture of modernism has, in fact, given the same expression to every type of building, and all the buildings appeared under box-like forms enveloped in white and smooth surfaces. Theaters, town halls, hospitals and houses, all presented an appearance of a white box. One could not therefore, understand the destination of a building at one glance alone. The phenomenon that every type of building has the same appearance seems to be seen only in the modernist age, that is, about in the second and third quarters of this centruy. In our days, often called post-modern, one has indeed a great regard for symbolic expressions of architectural forms by frequent employment of classical elements. The idea decor or caractère seems superficially to exist in the post-modern age. To give a familiar example, my children draw their house as always in the traditional shape of detached house with saddle roofs, although they have lived ever since their birth in an apartment house. Is the disappearance of the idea decor or caractère really a tendency peculiar to the modernist age? Why did modernism abandon the idea? Is caractère reviving or will it revive? To answer these questions is the final aim of this article. But before facing these difficult problems, we must trace briefly the history of the idea in order to show that it was used in any period and that it could be called eternally valid. This article will begin with a historical inquiry.
雑誌名
Journal of the Faculty of Letters, the University of Tokyo, Aesthetics
Caractère : a principal idea of architecture abandoned by modernism
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