Historians of Modern Architecture have cultivated
the image of the architect as a temperamental
genius, unconcerned by issues of politeness or
pragmaticsa reading reinforced in cultural
representations off Modern Architects, such as
Howard Roark, the protagonist in Ayn Rand's 1943
novel The Fountainhead (a character widely
believed to be based on the architect Frank Lloyd
Wright). The perception of the Modern Architect
as an artistic hero or genius has also influenced
the reception of their work. Despite their
indisputable place within the architectural
canon, many important works of Modern
Architecture were contested on pragmatic grounds,
such as cost, brief and particularly concerning
issues of suitability and effectiveness in
relation to climate and weather. A number of
famed cases resulted in legal action between
clients and architects, and in many more examples
historians have critically framed these accounts
to highlight alternate issues and agendas.
"Complaints about the weather," in relation to
architecture, inevitably raise issues regarding a
work's "success," particularly in view of the
tensions between artistry and functionality
inherent in the discipline of architecture. While
in more recent decades these ideas have been
framed around ideas of
sustainabilityparticularly in relation to
contemporary buildingsmore traditionally they
have been engaged through discussions of an
architect's ethical responsibility to deliver a
habitable building that meets the client's needs.
This paper suggests these complaints often raise
a broader range of issues and are used to
highlight tensions inherent in the discipline. In
the history of Modern Architecture, these
complaints are often framed through gender
studies, ethics and, more recently, artistic
asceticism. Accounts of complaints and disputes
are often invoked in the social construction (or
deconstruction) of artistic genius whether in a
positive or negative light. Through its
discussion of a number of famed examples, this
paper will discuss the framing of climate in
relation to the figure of the Modern Architect
and the reception of the architectural "masterpiece."
<http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/172>Link
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