Overthinking Architecture

A version of this article appreared on the webpage of the docents of the Chicago Architecture Center. I think I had learned about the classical orders by the 8th grade, although I think I then only learned that the columns of the various orders had different capitals. Much later I learned there is much more to the classical orders than capitals. A key element of the Doric Order is the triglyph . The triglyph is a set of three vertical marks that appears on the frieze equally spaced between columns. If you look up triglyph in Wikipedia, you'll see this image: The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius speculates that triglyphs reflect the ends of wooden beams. No one knows if Vitruvius is right, but everyone (e.g., the French architectural historian and theoretician Viollet-le-Duc) repeats what he said, because it's the best we've got. I don't know much about the religious beliefs of the Dorians (no one does), but they seem to attach high importance to small decorative detail...

"Where are we now?" ... and how we find out. Some thinkers argue that architecture could  be purely speculative and philosophical, not applied, that architecture is wholly distinct from construction, and so architects should deal with the ideas of buildings. There is a tension between the factual and the ideal, and some argue that truth and essence is aligned with the ideal. (I wouldn't so argue, but that's not an issue for this blog.) Even if  architecture doesn't need to be in the physical world,   buildings  certainly do. Buildings need a where. Architects don't sweat the exact  location of their buildings, but owners must, so engineers and surveyors do. How the where  of a structure is determined may vary from place to place, but the observer of architecture should understand how those issues are addressed. How is it done in Chicago? Some history. After its 1776 Revolution, the new country of the United States had a huge parcel of land out we...