I’m not a cultural studies scholar, but this much seems clear to me: aesthetics don’t emerge in a vacuum. It only make sense within a specific way of life. Remove that context and what’s left is decoration, or at worst kitsch.
The Bauhaus is a good example. It wasn’t just a style, it was also a social movement. In that context, it probably had real aesthetic force. I’m not disputing that. But it doesn’t follow that importing the associated architectural style automatically made our lives better. Once you detach the form from its context, “function before content” can quickly turn into concrete housing wastelands.
If that’s roughly what you meant, we’re probably on a similar page.
Thanks, Holm, for your thoughtful comment. I share your assessment that there is no guarantee that styles or formal solutions that have proven successful in one place will also work in other contexts. Hence the Adorno quote that architecture "should produce something that comes out of the space, rather than place something arbitrary within it."
I’m not a cultural studies scholar, but this much seems clear to me: aesthetics don’t emerge in a vacuum. It only make sense within a specific way of life. Remove that context and what’s left is decoration, or at worst kitsch.
The Bauhaus is a good example. It wasn’t just a style, it was also a social movement. In that context, it probably had real aesthetic force. I’m not disputing that. But it doesn’t follow that importing the associated architectural style automatically made our lives better. Once you detach the form from its context, “function before content” can quickly turn into concrete housing wastelands.
If that’s roughly what you meant, we’re probably on a similar page.
Thanks, Holm, for your thoughtful comment. I share your assessment that there is no guarantee that styles or formal solutions that have proven successful in one place will also work in other contexts. Hence the Adorno quote that architecture "should produce something that comes out of the space, rather than place something arbitrary within it."