The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein.The recent renewed interest in Wittgenstein's architecture (the publication of Paul Wijdeveld's book Ludwig Wittgenstein, Architect, and the exhibition and symposium held in Cambridge last November) has prompted Academy Editions to bring out a new edition of this book, which was originally published in 1973. Bernhard Leitner was instrumental in saving from demolition Demolition is the opposite of construction: the tearing-down of buildings and other structures. It contrasts with deconstruction, which is the taking down of a building while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use. the now-famous house in Vienna that Wittgenstein designed for his sister in the 1920s. Leitner's aim was to document the building rather than to offer any critical appraisal Noun 1. critical appraisal - an appraisal based on careful analytical evaluation critical analysis appraisal, assessment - the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth of its architecture, about which opinions differ. Colin St John Wilson Sir Colin Alexander St John ("Sandy") Wilson, FRIBA, RA, (14 March 1922 – 14 May 2007) was a British architect, lecturer and author. He spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned to be built in Bloomsbury and now , for example, places Wittgenstein firmly in the amateur category and compares the house unfavourably with the work of near contemporaries such as Adolf Loos Noun 1. Adolf Loos - Austrian architect (1870-1933) Loos . The house was Wittgenstein's only completed building, and he seems to have shown little interest in any further development of his architectural skills. Nevertheless, Leitner's Black and white photographs, though intended merely as an objective record, succeed in conveying the haunting haunt·ing adj. Continually recurring to the mind; unforgettable: a haunting melody. haunt beauty of an austere aus·tere adj. aus·ter·er, aus·ter·est 1. Severe or stern in disposition or appearance; somber and grave: the austere figure of a Puritan minister. 2. but extremely refined composition. The form of the building is analysed in some detail with the help of contemporary plans and sections, as well as re-drawn studies of the main spaces. At least as interesting for the historian, however, are the excerpts from the family recollections of Hermine Wittgenstein, written in the early 1940s. From them we gain some insight into Wittgenstein's state of mind at the time he was designing the building. We learn, for example, that he was obsessed ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. with 'correct' proportion, even to the extent of adjusting the ceiling height of one of the main rooms by three centimetres after the building was practically complete. 'Everything was important,' Hermine tells us, 'except money and time.' Whether the house should be regarded as 'built philosophy' is doubtful, but many a professional architect will sympathise with the psychological plight of a man possessed by his own creation. COLIN DAVIES |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion