Question: Is architecture art?
Richard Meier: Architecture is art. Every work is a work of art. Architecture is the greatest of the arts, and it encompasses thinking that other arts don’t even deal with. Like relationship of the work to the individual human being – the person who uses it; the person who experiences it; the person who sees it; and how that person perceives that space. You know there’s an old adage that a sculptor can make a square wheel, and an architect has to make a round one. You have a certain responsibility not just to your client, not just to the people using the building, but to the public at large with what you do.
Question: When does a building become art?
Richard Meier: Well I don’t say all buildings are architecture, first of all. So there’s lots of buildings that have nothing to do with architecture. They have to do with economics. They have to do with an enclosure, but I wouldn’t consider them works of architecture. To be a work of architecture is creating a work of art.
Recorded on: 9/17/07
Discuss
Matty Brownson on August 7, 2008, 3:13 PM
To suggest in some way that (within architecture) 'every work is a work of art' is stultifyingly ill informed. Furthermore to suggest that architecture in some way strives for some 'higher' ideal' because it encompasses thinking 'other arts don't deal with is equally pig ignorant'. The 'art question' in itself makes such a question as 'is architecture art' incredibly difficult to answer. However the underlying concepts between both art and architecture are radically different. The aesthetic in architecture is, in many ways, an afterthought. Even if an architect sets out to create a building that is so logically concieved it manages to marry both practical and an aesthetic considerations with ease, its primary concern is ultimately to create a sound shelter. That is not to suggest that 'artistic flair' is not possible in the field of architecture, but that an architect lacks the overwhelming sense of freedom and control that underpins the works of an 'artist'. Indeed, I would further suggest that Meier is not an authority on such a subject. When one considers his Atheneum, located in New Harmony, Indiana it becomes patently recognisable Meier's comments are unfounded. He knows nothing about art.
Matty Brownson on August 7, 2008, 7:13 PM
To suggest in some way that (within architecture) ‘every work is a work of art’ is stultifyingly ill informed. Furthermore to suggest that architecture in some way strives for some ‘higher’ ideal’ because it encompasses thinking ‘other arts don’t deal with is equally pig ignorant’. The ‘art question’ in itself makes such a question as ‘is architecture art’ incredibly difficult to answer. However the underlying concepts between both art and architecture are radically different. The aesthetic in architecture is, in many ways, an afterthought. Even if an architect sets out to create a building that is so logically concieved it manages to marry both practical and an aesthetic considerations with ease, its primary concern is ultimately to create a sound shelter. That is not to suggest that ‘artistic flair’ is not possible in the field of architecture, but that an architect lacks the overwhelming sense of freedom and control that underpins the works of an ‘artist’. Indeed, I would further suggest that Meier is not an authority on such a subject. When one considers his Atheneum, located in New Harmony, Indiana it becomes patently recognisable Meier’s comments are unfounded. He knows nothing about art.
ted shado on May 26, 2009, 12:40 AM
Sounds very American? Biggest is best.
What about opera?: there is music, singing, acting and fantasy.
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