I’m
thrilled to be traveling to Seville, Spain next week and blog about the
experience for the American Institute of Architects. The AIA, through
the Committe on Design, hosts a few conferences a year in cities with a
robust architectural history. The fall conference features a mix of
historical and modern buildings and sites, including the Old City in
Seville, the Madinat al Zahra, The Grand Mosque, El Alhambra and, on a
modern bent, the Metropol Parasol, Casa de Retiro Espiritual and the
site of the 1992 World’s Fair. And the conference covers this
wide-ranging assortment of historic designs under the title The Role of Style in Defining Architectural Design Excellence.
In the work In Praise of Shadows,
Junichiro Tanizaki, (Leete’s Island Books, Stony Creek, CT, 1977)
wrote, “In making for ourselves a place to live, we first spread a
parasol to throw a shadow on the earth, and in the pale light of the
shadow we put together a house (p 17).”
The
shape of those parasols, the detailing and the expressiveness of the
structure, facades and how they all fit into their contexts is what I’ll
explore in this blog during the conference. I’ve got some ideas. I’m
interested in hearing any of yours, too. What have you seen in Seville?
What has moved you? What seemed like a big deal, a gracious act? What
treated the street nicely?
Here’s
a bit about me. I live in one of the United States’ most
architecturally treasured cities, Charleston, South Carolina. The
architectural importance of this seaside city is one of the reasons why I
wanted to live here. Though America’s written history is shorter than
Europe’s, this city has been urban since its founding. The density of
living and made things shows up on any walk down any street, in the mix
of dialects and characters (human and architectural). Incorporated in
1670 at the intersection of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, Charleston
“…attracted
no less a mixture of people than New York or Philadelphia – English
dissenters, French Calvinists, Scotch Convenanters, Barbadians, Dutchmen
from Holland and New York, New England Baptists, Quakers, Irish
Catholics and Jews – among others.” (G E Kidder Smith, A Pictorial History of Architecture in America, American Heritage Publishing Co, Inc, New York, 1981, p. 278).
“In
that benign climate those diverse faiths and traditions fused into a
civilization that was leisurely, cosmopolitan, and aristocratic.”
Anyone
who’s visited during July, August or September would question the
benevolence of the climate here - the humidity can ruin your day. But
most of the year, it’s an incredibly generative place, for me, and one
in which landscape and climate is as powerful a force as any machine.
“Virtually
every family of importance maintained houses in both city and country.
Seasonally, the rice aristocracy would flee the malarial marshes of
their plantations and retreat to their town houses. Here the climate
conditioned the art of building in special ways. The first floors of of
these mansions were raised several feet above the level of the ground to
counter the penetrating dampness, encouraging the ironmaster to forge
curving stair rails and elaborate gates. Some stood sideways to the
street with high-ceilinged, spacious rooms opening on porches and
piazzas that faced gardens, in the manner of houses of the West Indies,
whence had come many of the city’s residents, and so designed to
mitigate the sultriness of the atmosphere and to catch every trace of a
refreshing breeze. Here, wrote, La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, “persons vie
with one another, not who shall have the finest, but who the coolest
house.”
In
this, I think the similarities between Seville, Spain and Charleston,
South Carolina, USA, are worth exploring. As I write this today, the
high temperature in Charleston: 64 degrees. Seville: 63. Hmm.
I’ve
put together a chart which captures some of my thoughts as I get ready
for the conference. America’s major cities have some things in common
with Seville. Primarily, the similiarity is an historically important
port and a river (Los Angeles maybe less strongly connected to its river
than other cities). That’s a good starting point for thinking about why
cities are founded, and how they grow over time. Taking a lesson from
Jane Jacobs, the mix of old, new, expensive, flimsy and all other sorts
of conditions is what makes a city feel grown, and what makes living there inspiring, comfortable and mostly importantly, worthwhile.
|
NYC, NY, USA |
Chicago, IL, USA |
Los Angeles, CA, USA |
Charleston, SC, USA |
Seville, Spain |
Port city? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
River(s) |
Hudson, East |
Chicago |
Los Angeles |
Ashley, Cooper |
Guadalquivir |
Year of Incorporation |
1653 CE |
1837 CE |
1850 CE |
1670 CE |
188 BCE? |
Urban from its founding |
Yes |
Slow growth, then explosive growth |
Slow growth, then explosive growth |
Yes |
Yes |
Length of written history |
450+ years |
400+ years |
200+ years |
400+ years |
2200 years |
Historic mix of religions |
Yes |
Yes |
Hmm |
Yes |
Yes |
Distinctive arch. Style |
More than One |
Later - More than One
|
Later On |
Yes |
Yes |