Neuroarchitecture

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to the position and importance of their occupants. The house creates the
space within which a communal life formed according to a system of rules
emerges. The interaction of living and the social structure and self-image of
communal life are dependent on this—a pattern that can be transferred to
any cultural community.
The image of the person is always reflected in organized forms of
living and dwelling and particularly so in all constructive stages of planning
through to the erection of the building. Quality and livability always have a
long prehistory. Clients and architects determine the framework. The way
our lives are organized in spaces reflects the way we live. Since the aforementioned
positions of Muthesius, Le Corbusier, and Steiner concern competing
types that are influenced by changing fashions and values in respect
of preferred materials and forms, it is important to consider these types and
their origins and reception in more detail.
Ethics of Living
The Deutscher Werkbund [German Association of Craftsmen] and
the early criticism of functionalism combine experiences and theories that
began with the Arts and Crafts Movement in England and the United States—
represented by William Richard Lethaby (1857–1931), Sir Thomas Graham
Jackson (1835–1924), Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857–1941),
Charles Robert Ashbee (1863–1942), and Geoffrey Scott (1884–1929)—and
became the basis of the ideas of Hermann Muthesius (1863–1927). Muthesius
spent seven years in England studying architecture and the history of
architecture before producing the three-volume collection of his experiences
entitled The English House (1904). During the years between the founding of
the Deutscher Werkbund (1907) and his death in 1927—he was struck by
a tram while visiting a building site in Berlin-Steglitz—Muthesius, a Prussian
building officer, architect, and author of many publications, became deeply
critical of the contemporary rationalization of living. After his death his ideas
and his buildings were soon forgotten. However, the background of his architectural
opinions, the English country house, whose layout and interrelationship
with the image of the feudal community he adopted and made the
basis for the plan of the house, would continue to exist as a concept, at least
in its approach. His main concern was to introduce the value of community
living into contemporary architecture as the basis of planning.
According to Muthesius, the true value lies in the house itself and
the way the parts of the building are arranged so they always function as an
ensemble. He was musically inclined and trained in the theory and practice
of music; he knew about the material composition and resonances of rooms
and saw the house as the basis of all kinds of aesthetic education. “It is obvious
that here the house alone can provide the basis for our artistic education