Description

• Title:
  Style and Meaning in Architecture (Gaudi, Gehry, Libeskind)
• Creator:
  Małecka, Anna
• Description:
  The paper discusses the problem o f meaning in architecture and its relation to style. First, Roman Ingarden’s aesthetic theory is referred to. It is concluded that the architectonic object can be considered a valuable realisation in the sphere o f art only if it combines artistic values with so-called “metaphysical qualities”, i.e. symbolic reference to the ultimate reality. This artistic and metaphysical mission o f architecture is fulfilled primarily by the medieval cathedral regarded as “imitation o f the cathedral that is in heaven”. The beauty o f church based on harmonic proportion symbolises God’s perfection. The main part o f the paper is devoted to discussion o f three original architects: Antonio Gaudi, the representative o f modernism, and postmodern deconstructivists: Frank O. Gehry and Daniel Libeskind. The work o f the “divine architect” Antonio Gaudi is considered as a revival o f gothic tradition, embodied in eclectic and highly decorative style, with its characteristic organicist elements. For Gaudi, architecture consists in the following o f natural principles, thus pointing to God as the creator o f nature. Frank O. Gehry, on the other hand, dismantles and reconstructs architectural forms in a new and shocking way, introducing contrast with the environment. His works may be regarded a purely formal game, thus indicating the decline of meaningful culture. They are considered as Baudrillard’s simulacra, pointing only at themselves. The other o f analysed deconstructivists, Daniel Libeskind, reintroduces the idea o f architecture as a domain o f deeper meanings. His best known masterpiece, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, provides the visitors with an opportunity o f symbolic participation in suffering o f Jews, which is the purpose achieved by architectural means. His works are characterized by a lack o f one univocal meaning; and are open to ever new involvement o f the subject, who is to constitute the meaning within their own aesthetic experience, in the discourse between history and the present.
• Object availability:
  free access
• Date:
  2008.12.31
• Type:
  info:eu-repo/semantics/article;
  info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
• Language:
  Polish
• Source:
  Stylistyka; Vol. 17 (2008): Znaczenie i styl; 41-48;
  Stylistyka; Tom 17 (2008): Znaczenie i styl; 41-48;
  2545-1669;
  1230-2287
• Format:
  application/pdf
• Publisher:
  Instytut Językoznawstwa Uniwersytetu Opolskiego
• Relation: https://czasopisma.uni.opole.pl/index.php/s/article/view/3644/3105
• Subject:
  meaning of architecture;
  symbolism in architecture;
  postmodernism in architecture;
  deconstructivism in architecture;
  Gaudi;
  Gehry;
  Libeskind
• Identifier: https://czasopisma.uni.opole.pl/index.php/s/article/view/3644
• Data provider:
  Platforma Czasopism Uniwersytetu Opolskiego
• Can I use it?:
  seek permission
• Type:
  text