Visible structures

Abstract

All architecture is the interplay between structure, surface and ornament. Traditionally, ornament adorned structure thereby giving it its meaning. A society with its intellectual foundations resting in faith or the abstract emphasized the ornament over the structure. The growth of Rationalism and the substitution of the empirical for the abstract necessarily caused a reordering of ornament and structure. Enabled by technology, structure subsumed ornament. The new architecture was not designed as per canons, rather, new methods for design developed parallel to the technology which enabled its construction. The new architecture, supported by a load bearing skeletal structure represents a turning point in the history of building. The wall was dissolved and replaced by a skeletal structure. The structural members were not covered, rather, their exposure was a conscious act. They served to articulate the resulting architecture which was markedly spatial and expressive. Architecture was no longer confined by stylistic rules. New architecture reconciling realities of how it IS conceived and constructed finds meaning in and of itself. As a result, the conceiving and building of architecture factors into the architectural process. The reordering of the architectural elements of structure and ornament is indicative of the evolution of the intellectual process. Structure, made visible in architecture graphically represents the · thoughts, values and intents of its builders. Architecture in which structure subsumes ornament, is more reflective of the thoughts values and intents of its builders.