Entry Twelve: Reflection

These past twelve weeks have certainly been a big learning curve and I genuinely feel like my brain has been expanding week on week. I have had many a lightbulb moment along this process whilst being given the task of taking on these difficult texts. I have found some readings more gripping than others but have found great interest in each one of these stimulating texts and have definitely learnt something different and developed my own thoughts and opinions on architecture, society and human nature.

It has been difficult to keep up with the texts as they take on specific hurdles each time and I felt as if I 'unlocked' different parts of the text each time I came back to reread which was often days/weeks after the initial reading. I am also learning techniques to be able to get into the right headspace for taking on the readings and being able to extract information, critique and form my own opinions alongside a busy 30hr working week.

Goethe's Faust- 'The Tragedy of Development' was definitely a big turning point for me, I had to reread it about two or three times and sleep on it before I could start to critique it properly. I liked how it was broken down into three sections to show the different stages of Faust's development and the problems he and the other characters faced at each 'stage' of development. I saw many links between this text and others; reluctance of society to change ('The Fountainhead'), what happens when we develop ('A Case for Working with Your Hands- Matthew Crawford), the opposition faced from 'the establishment' and 'traditions' ('The Foutainhead' again, 'Howl') and the problems faced when development consumes everything and power and greed leads the way ('The Rational Case for Panic', 'Tin Lizzie' from the U.S.A trilogy).

It has been difficult jumping between different writing styles, different eras, different societies within and between the texts but I am so happy I've overcome these difficulties and come out the other side a much more confident reader and 'critiquer' (new word). I'd been out of practice from this kind of written work for a while and now feel compelled to continue to blog and to try to set aside reading time within my weekly schedule.

Entry Eleven: The Fountainhead

'The Fountainhead' is an American film released in 1949, based on the novel (1943) by Ayn Rand who also wrote the screenplay adaption. Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript before the novel was eventually published and there were certainly mixed reviews once published. The word 'bizarre' comes to mind when first faced with watching this film. I'd not come across the film before but had been pre-warned that this was what I could expect. My initial impression of the film was that it was a purposely badly acted, awkward, slapstick comedy which very openly addresses the flaws in 'the establishment' and conventionalism.

The main focus for me in this film is Howard Roark, a leading character in the storyline. At the beginning, he is told in architecture school that the best architecture must copy the past rather than innovate and improve. Roark is an individualistic architect who won't conform to architectural conventions and mediocricy. Unlike Peter Keating, a character who chooses to conform to convention as an architect in order to develop within society. Roark turns down job roles in order to stick to his morals and struggles to find anyone to work for with the same vision as him. Roark's lover, Dominique Francon is a very odd character, her belief is that non-conformity has no chance of survival so she both helps and undermines his work.  Roark wants to introduce new materials and architectural forms and develop modern architecture but is constantly faced with opposition and a reluctance to move away from traditions, from 'what has always been'. This theme has been common in many of the texts we've addressed over this semester, including Faust.

Entry Ten: U.S.A - John Dos Passos

The U.S.A trilogy is an analysis of American culture and capitalism in the first couple of decades of the 19th Century and written in the 30s. The trilogy is written as a merging of fact and fiction and the three stories we were asked to read were of a biographical type.
I really enjoyed this type of writing and the overall structure of the three stories we were asked to read: they all came from a poor farmer background, did great things and made a name for themselves and then returned back and died within modest surroundings similar to where they first started out.

Passos makes a commentary on the efforts of ordinary folk from modest backgrounds to survive within the cutthroat world of business and the deteriorating effect it has upon them throughout their experiences of war, economic inequality and economic boom. He envisages America as split between the exploited and the exploiters.

The first text, 'Tin Lizzie' is written about Henry Ford. He was born on a farm in Michigan, his father was an Irish/English immigrant and his mother was the child of Belgian immigrants. Ford had always been obsessed with machinery, he got a job as an apprentice machinist in Detroit and eventually worked his way up to a Chief engineer of Edison Illuminating Company and then helped to form Henry Ford Company and was the Chief Engineer. Ford developed the assembly line and the conveyor belt in order to speed up production lines in the factory and produced the first affordable automobile in America. His plant in Detroit, Michigan became the largest factory in the world and by 1929, more than 26 million cars were registered in the USA. Due to lowering the satisfaction of his workers through producing the assembly line, he increased wages as compensation, which increased morale and also in turn production times. This is discussed in one of my previous blogs 'The Case for Working With Your Hands' where all craftsmanship is taken out of the job roles, satisfaction is taken away and the lack of craft knowledge needed in these roles lead to workers being part of 'the machine' and easily replaceable. He retreats to his father's farm in his final years and dies at the age of 83.

The second text, ‘The Bitter Drink’ is based upon the life of Thorstein Veblen who grew up on his family's farm as one of twelve children in Wisconsin to Norwegian-American immigrant parents. His family's farm, amongst other similar settlements were referred to as 'little Norways' due to their deep-rooted traditions and culture. The Norway people believed that only farming or preaching was the calling of an honest man.
Thorstein hated the backbreaking chores around the farm (so did Henry Ford- 'Tin Lizzie') and much preferred reading. 

He left home and got a good education but came back and turned down a couple of job offers and instead read and discussed philosophy with his father, he was not a 'yes' man and was very resentful of 'the system'. He was an economist, socialist and critic of capitalism. In Veblen's best known book, 'The Theory of the Leisure Class' he writes about his idea 'conspicuous consumption' which is the spending of money on and acquiring of luxury goods to publicly display economic power in order to attain or maintain a given social status. I find this particularly interesting to note as it is certainly the case today, made very obvious through the use of instagram and Facebook alike- the use of objects or experiences to prove social status and worth and to gain approval. This I think has a very negative impact on our society and is just one of the negative impacts of capitalism.

He died alone in very modest surroundings and left a note to ask that no tombstone be made to commemorate him, only that he would like to be cremated and thrown into a sea or river.

The last text, ‘The Architect’ is written about Frank Lloyd Wright. He was born in a farming town in Wisconsin. This is a short text where he tries to push past architectural convention and develop ways of using new materials and new technology to push architecture forwards to where it hasn't been before. 

They all work hard to move into a different part of society in which they first started but they get more than they wanted and their desires and dreams don't live up to their initial expectations even though they all have great accomplishments between them. Passos shows us how capitalism, society and convention can have a deteriorating snowball affect on once great ideas and great people. The passages are essentially about making it big and then losing it all. I would very much like to carry on reading parts of this doorstop sized book when I have some more time to do so in the Summer. 

Entry Nine: Parody - Evelyn Waugh's 'Decline and Fall'

Evelyn Waugh's 'Decline and Fall' is a parody set in the twenties in England and Wales and was published in 1928 by the English author. The novel is a piece of satire which comments on the divisions in social classes, social conventions of the time and human behavior to name a few of the themes.

The chapter we have read refers to the grand Tudor country home of Margot Beste-Chetwynde called ‘King’s Thursday’ and describes how everyone in the county marveled at its magnificence. Waugh refers to the country home and how it had retained all its historic features, and has been kept exactly how it was originally intended for the last three centuries;
“unmodified by any of the succeeding fashions that fell upon domestic architecture. No wing had been added, no window filled in…”

King’s Thursday had been recognised as ‘the finest piece of domestic Tudor in England’ by some of the ‘high society’ who regularly visited for parties. They were in complete admiration of the ‘unspoilt’ Tudor home. However, it had long been ‘unsuited to modern requirements’ due to its only intention being to restore which also meant it had avoided any updates from plumber or engineer. It was barely possible to live there with less than twenty servants.
Margot Beste-Chetwynde had bought the home after it had been empty for two years and commissioned Professor Silenus (I definitely see an implication of the word ‘silliness’ here due to his obscure remarks and odd mannerisms) as her Architect, who attracted her attention through the rejected design for a chewing-gum factory.
When the neighbours find out the house is to be knocked down and rebuilt they are up in arms about it.
Silenus tells a reporter “The problem with architecture as I see it is the problem of all art – the elimination of the human element from the consideration of form…. All ill comes from man.” For the modern architect – humans are very separated.

In terms of modernism I think Waugh comments on social resistance to change. It is not possible to accommodate to ‘how life was’ forever. There are connections here to what was spoken about in my blog of Goethe’s Faust- things have to change but there will always be opposition to it.

Entry Eight: Colin Rowe - 'Mathematics of the Ideal Villa' (1947)

Colin Rowe’s essay on The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa was first published in the Architectural Review in 1947. Rowe was an architectural historian and critic. Within this particular essay he compares the works of Palladio and Le Corbusier.

Colin Rowe begins his essay with a quote from Sir Christopher Wren about the idea of beauty being either natural or customary where; natural beauty is from geometry consisting of uniformity, equality and proportion, and customary beauty is down to familiarity to something, which is not in itself lovely. Wren describes geometrical figures as being ‘naturally more beautiful than irregular ones’ as well as perpendicular and horizontal as being the ‘only two beautiful positions of straight lines’.

Rowe makes a ‘diagrammatical comparison’ between Palladio’s 'Villa Foscari' (the Malcontenta), dating from the 16th Century, and Corbusier's 'Villa Garches', dating from the 1920s. He describes what he believes to be 'fundamental relationships' between the two. These include firstly comparisons with the geometric ratios and then a comparison of the structures, plan and so on.
He talks of a lot of mathematical 'coincidences' and some would argue that he is in fact distorting information to create evidence for his argument by plucking these thoughts out of the air.

Rowe goes on to say; ‘Development was, therefore, less a matter of innovation, than an extension of ideas already implicit.’ This implies that in architecture, we have been regurgitating the same ideas for decades in one way or the other. This is certainly true to a certain sense, I don't believe any form of 'design' is truly 'unique' as I believe everything we do has got to be influenced by our own experiences within society and our acquired knowledge and understanding of the world.

Entry Seven: The Production of Space - Henri Lefebvre

I found this text the most difficult to tackle and was so relieved to be reassured in the following class discussion that I was not alone in thinking that it was a difficult one to get your teeth into, a lot of rereading went on here!

Henri Lefebvre was a French Marxist philosopher and socialist. His work spanned over sixty years and he wrote more than sixty books and three hundred articles. He died in 1991, aged 90 years old.

Lefebvre takes on what has been described as 'word interrogation' in the chapter 'Social Space' from the book 'The Production of Space'. He talks about the differences between the words 'work' and 'product' are spoken about in this section and the concept of 'the production of space' where the word production has been a word were the meaning has been gradually lost over time.
The description of the product is something that is easily replaceable through replication whereas a work is something that is unique and therefore, irreplaceable.

When talking about 'Art' he describes how producing artworks with the intention of being sold, exchanged and so on, in fact takes away from the artwork and makes it instead a product. I think this is definitely the case when creating artwork for the subject 'Art & Design' at GCSE and A-Level stages, when producing artwork with the intention of fulfilling specific criteria to get me into the next stage of education. 'Works' should be created out of the beauty of creating a 'work', out of love and admiration of a type of craftwork, it is not something which can be mass produced.
This is just one first look of this text, it is a meaty text which I'm sure needs to be revisited many a time and I'm sure I will revisit this reading in the future.

Entry Six: Counterculture - Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl'

Howl by Allen Ginsburg is a poem published in 1956 about counterculture in 1950s America. The poem itself is split into three sections. There are themes of sexual liberation, experimentation with psychedelic drugs and anti-capitalism.

The poem is one of the most well-known poems to be associated with the writers of the ‘Beat Generation’ who explored these themes amongst others and greatly influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era throughout the 1950s.
Another contributor to great ‘Beat Generation’ literature is William S. Burroughs with his novel ‘Naked Lunch’ (1959). He is one of the authors mentioned in the footnote to Howl ‘holy Burroughs’ and both works ‘Naked Lunch’ and ‘Howl’ caused a lot of controversy at the time and were the centre of obscenity trials in America but the judge decided the poem was of ‘redeeming social importance’.

I.

The first section starts with,

‘I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness’

This section describes the experiences of the outcasts of society who don’t want to conform to the controlled and oppressive post-war (WWII) America. 

Ginsberg represents their experiences in graphic detail in what seems like an archaic mess of writing; in 'Notes Written on Finally Recording Howl' (1959), he describes how he let his innermost thoughts, feelings and experiences flow out in just one mad sitting;
"I thought I wouldn't write a poem, but just write what I wanted to without fear, let my imagination go, open secrecy, and scribble magic lines from my real mind--sum up my life--something I wouldn't be able to show anybody, write for my own soul's ear and a few other golden ears. So the first line of Howl, "I saw the best minds etc.," the whole first section, typed out madly in one afternoon".


I think in writing the poem this way, as if it was really for his eyes only, in sort of a therapeutic outburst, we really see the reality of his experiences.
This first section is by far the longest and we go through it with a good rhythm;

"I depended on the word "who" to keep the beat, a base to keep measure, return to and take off from again onto another streak of invention" (Notes Written on Finally Recording Howl).

II.

The second section talks about the figure 'Moloch'.

'Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!'

This can be interpreted as an evil demonic figure, or money or the establishment itself. It seems to be a cry out against conformism and capitalism.

III.

The last section talks of Carl Solomun in Rockland, (a psychiatric hospital) where he describes his solidarity with him.


Ginsberg gives a stark, personal and real voice to his experiences in the 1950s. It is a strong and evocative piece of writing which gives us a true insight into social experiences in post-World War II America.