Architecture and urban design are inarguably direct manifestations of the prevailing values that drive a society, along with the socio-political atmosphere of the time. Thus, it is vital to explore built environments and urban spaces across the most significant epochs in world history. This allows a deeper understanding of their capacity to adapt to and accommodate this ever-changing world and its ever-changing people. Politics, economics, and societal values – the trinity that governs the achievements of humanity and the forces that shape our existence.
Mos Maiorum: The Core Values of Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome’s trifecta of social, economic and political priorities imbues itself starkly in its built environments and urban spaces. “Mos maiorum”, the way of the ancestors, is an unwritten doctrine that served as the cornerstone of Roman values, gearing the Republic for world domination. Bravery, loyalty, piety, seriousness, respect and authority – these principles are clearly visible in every building erected for Rome within and beyond its capital.
The Roman Forum, a collection of buildings nestled between the Palatine and Capitoline hills of Rome, is a prime example of these societal values. It intended to serve the civic needs of every Roman, providing courts of law, spaces to host public meetings, open-air markets, arenas for gladiatorial combat and temples for the revered gods and goddesses of the Roman Empire. This amalgamation of architecture and urban spaces is prevalent in all Ancient Roman cities and reveals the principles behind a tightly woven urban fabric. Such spaces allow for the convention and thriving of a vibrant populace that is envied by cities today.
Ancient Roman architecture and urban design have been the blueprint for venerated cities across Europe and the Americas, cementing themselves as the “classical” form. Urban fabrics were woven in constant homage to the Roman principles of construction and planning, often in exact mimicry. Yet, the passage of time ushered in new ages, each with their own set of cataclysmic changes and their augmented effects. As technologies advanced and economic trends shifted, so did societal values, expressed in the built environment. The discovery of new construction materials and technologies herded the modern world towards the “de-classification” of architecture and urban design.
The Industrial Revolution
Prior to the industrial revolution, European economies relied heavily on agriculture and handicrafts as their sources of capital. The advent of machinisation and industry led to a rapid shift in the socio-economic climate of Europe, blazing the trail towards technological advancement. This led to the popularisation of steel, bricks, and eventually, reinforced concrete in construction, allowing the built environment to span greater widths and soar to unprecedented heights. These materials became more readily available than timber and stone, and swiftly replaced them as the new convention, which gave rise to the lofty modern space.
The pinnacle of such advancements is the notable Crystal Palace, which served as the host of the Great Exhibition of 1851, in Hyde Park, England. Built entirely of prefabricated steel and glass panes, its dimensions were recorded as five hundred and sixty-three meters long, one hundred and thirty-nine meters wide, and forty-one meters high. Uninterrupted by structural elements due to the integrity of its steel frame, the Crystal Palace served as an iconic testament to the domination of Great Britain in the modernising world.
Besides the re-invention of the spatial experience, this epoch bore witness to a tectonic shift in societal values. The accumulation of wealth via industry challenged European class divides – wealth and status were no longer hereditary and could be attained through commerce. This development in the economic model greatly compromised the iron grip of monarchy and nobility in European societies, eventually leading to their dissolution in certain locales. For example, the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburgs, reigning over much of the European continent for nearly a century, approached their downfall amidst these social changes, coming swiftly to an end after the First World War. Thus, the Austro-Hungarian empire was one of the many dynasties left behind in a bygone age, along with the archaic system of beliefs they once represented and upheld.
“Form Follows Function” and “Ornament is Crime”
From the ashes of the First World War rose a series of post-modernist movements, in an attempt to reconcile industrial modernity with the existential need for human expression. Only the Bauhaus movement, among a few others, really took hold and cemented itself as the foundation of modernist thinking. Its imperative was the birth of a mode of design – applicable to everything from furniture to architecture – that shunned ornamentation and glorified functionality. This reflected the austere societal values that took root in the wake of the greatest conflict of the time, as well as the gradual breakdown of class divides. Perhaps the cause for the fervent rejection of ornamentation is its reflection of the subjugative relationship between nobility and working class, for it is the artists and craftsmen that supplied the upper classes with the finery in which they surrounded themselves.
The demand for austerity and renunciation of ornament in design was not a novel idea. It had already been preached by Adolf Loos, in his infamous “Ornament is Crime”, six years prior to the advent of the Bauhaus movement.
An amplified focus is placed on the purpose and function of architecture and objects rather than their aesthetic – the beauty of the product of this movement thus lies in its devotion to the motto “Form follows function”, the intimate relationship between the two, beheld with reverence. This phrase acted as a catalyst to the global phenomenon of modernised architecture, partially fathered by Louis Sullivan of the Chicago School of Architecture. The zeitgeist of this era is evident in the prevalence of more simple geometries, the focus being artful design intimately guided by purpose, or namely, function – anything in excess of that being deemed redundant. This mindset, geared towards practicality – and to a degree – efficiency, eventually re-wove the urban fabric, once more reflecting the era’s metamorphasising societal values on the urban scale.
Life in Le Corbusier’s “Radiant City”
It can be argued that no set of design principles has clearly imprinted on today’s urban thinking like that of Le Corbusier’s, specifically his rentitle “The Radiant City”, published in 1933. Tangential with the Bauhaus movement’s activities, Le Corbusier has been an innovator of post-war reconstruction, devising masterplans and housing developments that focused on accommodating a rising population displaced by the destruction of the First World War.
“The Radiant City” was an aspiration for a housing development, intended to accommodate three million inhabitants. An urban utopia, featuring cruciform shaped towers, sixty stories high, employing steel frame construction and enveloped in glass curtain walls. Each tower was intended to be anchored in a rectangular park of greenery at its base, and the masterplan, as seen in the model, accounted for interconnectivity to the public transportation that serviced the remainder of the city. The intention is clear – to provide housing for a large mass of inhabitants, cost effectively. Though generally unappreciated at the time of its introduction, the visage of “The Radiant City” displays within it an uncanny resemblance to cities today, despite the occasional omission of interconnectivity and the provision of greenery. Thus, societal values are redefined once more, as this model of the mass-produced city began to gain popularity, reigning supreme in twenty-first century planning.
With the passage of time, from the present unto eternity, humanity will continually be the offspring of the material, spiritual, and personal facets that parent its evolution. Beyond architecture and urban design, seeping into poetry, music, film and literature, societal values are an inescapable influence. Thus, the built environment is not simply stone, brick or concrete, but the breath of air that fills the enlightened man’s lungs as he navigates the world of his creations and challenges. Yet the true challenge is as such: to break free of the bonds of politics, economics, and society, and grasp the reins by which humanity has been commanded, pursuing a destiny of betterment. Such is the power of the architect and the designer, who ultimately, is the thinker.
References:
Casciato, M., Fox, G. and Rochester, K. (2019) Bauhaus. Available at: https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artist/history/ (Accessed: 27 December 2024).
Crystal Palace Construction and its subsequent years (no date) Crystal Palace Construction and Its Subsequent Years | Part 1: Expositions Held in and before 1900 | Expositions, where the modern technology of the times was exhibited. Available at: https://www.ndl.go.jp/exposition/e/s1/1851-1.html#:~:text=His%20design%20featured%20the%20use,truly%20embodied%20a%20new%20era. (Accessed: 24 December 2024).
Industrial revolution (2024) Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution (Accessed: 26 December 2024).
Jasiński, J. (2023) Values professed by Romans ” imperium romanum, IMPERIUM ROMANUM. Available at: https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/curiosities/values-professed-by-romans/ (Accessed: 25 December 2024).
Louis Sullivan (no date) Chicago Architecture Center. Available at: https://www.architecture.org/online-resources/architecture-encyclopedia/louis-sullivan (Accessed: 29 December 2024).
Radiant City (no date) Architectuul. Available at: https://architectuul.com/architecture/radiant-city#:~:text=The%20Ville%20Radieuse%20was%20an,in%20curtain%20walls%20of%20glass. (Accessed: 27 December 2024).
