Bekleidung: Gottfried Semper and the textile technique as the origin of the spatial enclosure in architecture.

Authors

  • Óscar Rueda ETSA de Madrid, Escuela de Arquitectura de la UEM.
  • Maria José Pizarro ETSA de Madrid, Escuela de Arquitectura de la UEM.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5821/dc.25-26.2772

Keywords:

Semper, Bekleidung, Spatial enclosure, Textile, Dressing

Abstract

In the middle of the 19th century, Semper wrote The Principle of Dressing in the Art ofBuilding -Das Prinzip der Bekleidung in der Baukunst-, framed inside his greatest work, The style. With thistext, he established that the beginning of construction came from the textile techniques and,therefore, that the spatial enclosures in architecture and his decorative patterns came fromthis technique and it had been perpetuated along the history. The implications of this theorywould be extraordinary because Semper handed the protagonism to the spatial enclosure,breaking with a long tradition that gave prominence to the structure perpetuated in theclassical orders. He opened the door to new ways of understanding architecture envelope, thatassumed since then autonomy and the ability to transmit codes in the environment in the sameway that dressings and suits permitting it between the people. As well as to gain lightness andindependence from bearing and so allowing to incorporate new technologies and materialsmore consistent with the changing times. Gottfried Semper laid the foundation for a newarchitecture that was being developed and would be born in the early twentieth century.

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Published

2013-12-01