Neuroarchitecture

29
Organic and Anthropological
Architecture
The Roof as Image and Dogma
The philosophy of architecture in the twentieth century is widely reflected
in the shape and structure of roofs and how they are interpreted. In
the visual arts, when representational shapes and subjects began to disintegrate
around 1880, elementary forms, especially the contrasting shapes
of circles and triangles, were the first to become the focus of interest. The
rise of Impressionist techniques resulted in a marked increase in round and
pointed shapes, which extended into the late phase of Cubo-Futurism. The
canvases are characterized by splinters and triangular shapes. A distinctive
one-sidedness of form is countered by the atmospheric charging of
the remaining structure. The course of seasonally determined moods once
again becomes the basis of an art that tests out its themes and variations
on the primeval structure of the house and related forms. The shapes of
drying haystacks, arranged as an ensemble in the form of primitive huts,
are reminiscent of the first villages, while titanic cathedrals are likened to
sailing ships, whose outlines are left to merge beyond recognition into the
gently mirthful play of light and its fluctuations and shadows. From Monet,
Cézanne, Kandinsky, and Klee through to Feininger, it is possible to define
architectural forms that, over a period of at least forty years, between
1880 and 1920, develop the roof into a major feature in the visual arts. It
would be hard to find another architectural detail with an equally charismatic
personality. The roof becomes the very epitome of the dawn of the modern
era. During these years, the structure of the roof was associated with
metaphysical ideas that charge the completion of buildings with a distinct
symbolic power and also affect the architecture itself. The roof no longer
merely completes the building and holds its walls together; it becomes a
powerful medium for the expression of meaning, leaving an unusually deep
imprint on the building. The extensive use of buildings and dense urban areas
in film can be regarded in the same way, when film sets have archaic or
Expressionist backdrops portraying such buildings. “Among Expressionist
architects, Herman Poelzig, Bruno Taut, [and] Paul Thiersch … built sets for