Sacred Architecture: The Lost Artform
The Degeneration of the High and Holy Art of Architecture
The Inciting Incident
The day was April 15th 2019. The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the greatest accomplishments of human architecture, was burning. The entire world was watching in horror and disbelief. This was truly a sad day – a day that will be remembered for a long time.
Once the fire was extinguished the former glory of Paris lay in ruins. Yet, as the ashes were still smoldering, there arose in the hearts the people of Paris and around the entire globe the wish to save this most precious building. In that moment all the people stood united – as one they vowed to rebuild this holy monument and restore it to its former glory.
Now, after five years of tremendous efforts, this phoenix has finally arisen out of the ashes. More splendid and beautiful than it has been for a very, very long time. What an accomplishment! A testament to what human beings can achieve when they direct their energies in service of a constructive common goal. One might dare say: humanity at its best.
As I was watching this short documentary, I was reminded of something that I had wanted to write about for quite some time now: the deplorable state of the art of architecture in our post-modern world. This is something of which I am reminded of daily. Wherever I go, there it is! An environment that has been callously recast in grey concrete, lifeless steel and dull glass panes. What an ugly world we have created for ourselves. What a wretched state of affairs.
Yet, can we really be surprised by this? Isn’t this outer lack of beauty merely a reflection of our inner lack of beauty? Is this externally visible symptom not a pointer to a much deeper internal problem? Is this not a reminder of what all we have lost along the way?
The Initial Primer
During my research on this topic, I found a most interesting article on Substack by
: We used to build cathedrals. What happened to us?Now, as she has mentioned quite a lot of things which are relevant to the discussion in her article (to which a heartily agree!) I will not repeat the well formulated and well-illustrated points made in it and instead use them as a starting point for my own reflections.
The Case Study
In this brief discussion of the apparent degeneration of the high and holy art of architecture I have chosen to focus on a particularly annoying exemplar of the trade by name of Rafael Viñoly Beceiro. To be honest, as I think his work itself speaks volumes, I have not gone beyond a brief glance at the Wikipedia entry on this individual in my research.
The following case study, then, will deal with three exhibits which together will frame one of the most salient points to be made with regards to contemporary architecture, namely, the prevailing utter lack of taste and common sense in the architectural arts. This has gone so far that among all artforms architecture has been relegated from a leading position to the very last and least rank. A downfall of epic proportions!
Exhibit A: The ‘Walkie-Talkie’ Skyscraper in the City of London
We begin with a small mental experiment. Imagine that you give a small child a lump of playdough to play with and ask it to shape it in the form of a tower. Given that the child lacks not only the mental capacity but also physical dexterity to create something aesthetically pleasing you will most likely end up with an elongated grotesque shape as the one featured below:
It is beyond comprehension how a so-called ‘professional architect’ could even come up with a design that amounts to no less than the architectural equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster. Ugly, deformed, atrocious! Not to mention how much money he was paid for this work.
Unfortunately, this is not all. Aside from the problem that such a building creates its own microclimate which directs substantial wind forces onto the streets thus endangering the people on the ground (a most common phenomenon in today’s urban environments) this particular building features a further element which causes an even greater peril to the innocent passers-by: a concave mirror surface on one of its sides. The consequence of this faulty design will become immediately apparent as you watch this short report which was featured on British television some time ago:
WTF? How can someone who should be well informed in the sciences (especially the field of optics) ignore some of the most basic principles in his building design? These are things taught on the most basic levels of our educational system!
Given what has been said up until this point it is no wonder that this (using the parlance of our times) arty twat was awarded the Carbuncle Cup (the architectural equivalent of the Golden Raspberry Award in the film industry) for this miscreant of a building. This prized was indeed well deserved.
Exhibit B: The Vdara Hotel and Spa on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise Nevada
One definition of stupidity (and of insanity for that matter) is that one repeats the same thing over and over again and, yet, expects an entirely different outcome.
And here too, our protagonist does not disappoint in disappointing. After having completed this building, he began and completed a new project which incorporated precisely the same flaw as the one he had just finished, namely, a building with yet another concave mirror design. This time on an even grander scale.
Again, WTF? How is it possible that this guy learned absolutely nothing from his past mistake? Watch the following report which briefly covers both of his building projects:
Exhibit C: Archimedes’ Burning Mirrors
We begin this final part of our inquiry with a simple question: What is the difference between a bona fide genius and a pretentious hack? Simple: it is precisely the difference between a mind such as that of the ancient Greek polymath Archimedes and a mind such as that of Rafael Viñoly Beceiro.
Long time ago (according to legend) when the Romans laid siege to the city of Syracuse Archimedes came up with a defensive strategy which was so far ahead of its time that it completely baffled the attackers to the point of disbelief. If you do not know this story already you can watch this short introduction:
As you can clearly see by now, Archimedes proved his genius by using the properties of a concave mirror design in a skillful defensive strategy whereas Rafael Viñoly Beceiro proved his utter incompetence (twice at that!) by completely ignoring the effects of a concave mirror in his building design. This, then, concludes our brief investigation. The prosecution rests.
The Lost Heritage
So, what have we lost along the way in our efforts to ‘modernize’ our world? What are the lessons from the past that we have forgotten?
In the past architecture used to be about much more than just creating functional buildings to be used for various purposes. At its very best, i.e. in the construction of religious buildings, the architects not only designed their creations in accordance with the sublime principles of esthetically pleasing mathematical proportions (the golden ratio, etc.) but also used ‘stone and light’ to pictorially and symbolically encode profound philosophical and religious truths. The buildings thus were conceived to be sophisticated ‘educational tools’ to be used to inform and uplift the viewers mind in a way that could radically alter one’s perception and understanding of the world and oneself.
To put it in slightly more modern terms: religious buildings (i.e. the physical hardware) were conceived and constructed in a way that they allowed the viewer with the right kind of knowledge base (i.e. the mental software) to unlock and assimilate profound philosophical and religious lessons by closely studying the architecturally and symbolically encoded messages they contain. In brief: they were ‘profoundly inspiring books’ cast in stone and light.
Unfortunately, nowadays, the architects have lost the ability to ‘write’ in such a way and the people have lost the ability to ‘read’ in such a way. We have become an ‘architecturally illiterate’ society! It is this kind of illiteracy which has greatly contributed to the mindless and meaningless architectural functionalism that has turned our environment into what it is today: a lifeless concrete desert barely suitable for human habitation – a veritable prison for body, mind and soul!
How, then, can we become literate again? How can we rediscover and reclaim our lost heritage?
These days we are in the fortunate position where this kind of lost knowledge is becoming available again. There have been quite a few scholars and researchers who have made it their life’s work to recover the ancient lore of religious architecture. It is thanks to these dedicated individuals that the information required to become architecturally literate again has been made available to anyone who is interested in it.
Therefore, if you wish to find out more about this most fascinating topic, I suggest that you begin by reading one or more of the following three books:
If you wish to jump right into the deep end of the pool, I further suggest that you join the late American author and lecturer John Anthony West (1939-2018) on a guided tour through the Temple of Luxor in Egypt from the year 2015.
