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A Reassessment of Enlightenment Architectural Thought in Thomas Jefferson’S Poplar Forest: a Phenomenological Case Study

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A Reassessment of Enlightenment Architectural Thought in Thomas Jefferson’S Poplar Forest: a Phenomenological Case Study VANN, CHRISTOPHER SCOTT, M.F.A. A Reassessment of Enlightenment Architectural Thought in Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest: A Phenomenological Case Study. (2019) Directed by Stoel Burrowes. 167 pp. This case study examines the application of Continental and Neoclassical principals in the architecture of Thomas Jefferson with particular attention to Poplar Forest through an examination of the context of a skylight installed under Thomas Jefferson’s direction. Jefferson’s meaning has come to us in explicit form and is implicit in its very existence. Experientially light interpenetrates the absolute and mundane world of body, architecture and physicality. We may more easily experience this meaning than rationalize it; thus, the durable, tangible presence of the skylight transcends form or function, and fully expresses, as will be demonstrated here, Thomas Jefferson’s intended meaning. A REASSESSMENT OF ENLIGHTENMENT ARCHITECTURAL THOUGHT IN THOMAS JEFFERSON’S POPLAR FOREST: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL CASE STUDY by Christopher Scott Vann A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Fine Arts Greensboro 2019 Approved by _________________________________ Committee Chair APPROVAL PAGE This thesis written by CHRISTOPHER SCOTT VANN has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair __________________________________ Committee Members __________________________________ __________________________________ ____________________________ Date of Acceptance by Committee __________________________ Date of Final Oral Examination ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 Current Interpretation ............................................................................................ 8 Towards a Renewed Understanding .................................................................... 11 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 13 Sources ................................................................................................................ 13 Approaches to the Study of Historic Documents ................................................ 16 Alternative Paradigms ......................................................................................... 31 Gestalt ........................................................................................................ 31 Material Culture: Orienting the Mind-Body Duality ................................. 33 Re-enlightenment: Immanence and Transcendence of Selfhood ................................................................................................. 36 The Nature of Order ................................................................................... 40 Relevance ................................................................................................... 41 III. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 45 What is Phenomenology? .................................................................................... 48 The Methods of Phenomenology ........................................................................ 49 Bracketing/Phenomenological Reduction .................................................. 50 Explication ................................................................................................. 51 Identification/Significant Statements/Clusters of Meaning ....................... 53 Textural Description .................................................................................. 53 Structural Description ................................................................................ 54 Essential Invariant Structure ...................................................................... 54 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 54 Aesthetic Study Precedents ................................................................................. 56 Formulating a Research Design .......................................................................... 56 Emic Investigation .............................................................................................. 59 Textural/Structural/Essence Interpretation .......................................................... 60 Explication: Phenomenological Interpretation .................................................... 62 Structural Description ......................................................................................... 64 iii IV. EXPLICATION OF INTENTION .......................................................................... 65 Part One: Philosophical Background [towards a Contextual Explication] ................................................................ 68 Part Two: The Architectural Response to Enlightenment ................................... 72 Part Three: A Culture of Meaning [towards a Textural Explication] .................................................................... 82 Notes on the Sublime: Beyond all Sensible Measure .............................. 100 He Had Seen Her Like a Beam of Light: A Culture of Light ............................................................................. 106 Part Four: Between Earth & Sky: Jefferson’s Intentions in Architecture .................................................................................................. 116 V. OUTCOMES .......................................................................................................... 129 What is the Role of Beauty? .............................................................................. 133 Further Research ............................................................................................... 138 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................. 140 WORKS CONSULTED ........................................................................................................ 147 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Architectural Rendering of Poplar Forest, View of the South Elevation ............................................................................2 Figure 2. Poplar Forest Floorplan ........................................................................................6 Figure 3. Poplar Forest Section View Facing East ..............................................................7 Figure 4. Monticello: 2nd Version (West Elevation) ..........................................................21 Figure 5. Poplar Forest, Floorplan, Thomas Jefferson, circa 1814 ...................................22 Figure 6. Hôtel de Langeac, Garden Elevation ..................................................................27 Figure 7. Hôtel de Langeac, Floorplan ..............................................................................28 Figure 8. Phenomenological Research Design. ................................................................55 Figure 9. Ariadne. Giovanni Battista Piranesi ...................................................................77 Figure 10. Ruins Room of Padre Le Sueur ........................................................................80 Figure 11. Travelers in the Interior of the Temple of Diana at Baia .................................81 Figure 12. Interior; Piranesi, Piranesi in Rome..................................................................81 Figure 13. Ruined Vault, Hubert Robert, 1785 ..................................................................83 Figure 14. Lever du Soleil sur le char de l’Aurore, circa 1770 .........................................87 Figure 15. Domed Roof of the Halle Aux Blés, Nicolas Le Camus De Mézières, circa 1767 ................................................88 Figure 16. Theorem for Drawing Three Sides of an Octagon on a Given Base, with Diagram, Thomas Jefferson, circa 1771 ..........................92 Figure 17. The Primitive Hut. ............................................................................................96 Figure 18. L'hôtel de Brunoy ..........................................................................................102 Figure 19. Pavillon de Musique de Madame à Versailles ...............................................104 v Figure 20. Pantheon, Rome, Hiroshi Sugimoto, 2015. ...................................................109 Figure 21. Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647-1652. ..............................................................111 Figure 22. Detail View, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647-1650 ..........................................113 Figure 23. L’Abri du Pauvre (Shelter of the Poor) .........................................................115 Figure 24. Poplar Forest, View Looking East in Central Dining Room. ........................121 Figure 25. Poplar Forest, View Looking South in Parlor ................................................122 Figure 26. Poplar Forest, Dining Room Facing North....................................................123 Figure 27. Poplar Forest, Skylight. .................................................................................124
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