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The Impact of Ecological Thought on Architectural Theory. Robert Gordon University [Online], Phd Thesis

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The Impact of Ecological Thought on Architectural Theory. Robert Gordon University [Online], Phd Thesis LEWIS, P. 2019. The impact of ecological thought on architectural theory. Robert Gordon University [online], PhD thesis. Available from: https://openair.rgu.ac.uk The impact of ecological thought on architectural theory. LEWIS, P. 2019 The author of this thesis retains the right to be identified as such on any occasion in which content from this thesis is referenced or re-used. The licence under which this thesis is distributed applies to the text and any original images only – re-use of any third-party content must still be cleared with the original copyright holder. This document was downloaded from https://openair.rgu.ac.uk The impact of ecological thought on architectural theory Penny Lewis A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Robert Gordon University for a degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2019 1 Abstract This thesis looks at the idea of ecology and its relationship to, and influence on, architectural thought. Ecological thinking emerged as a subset of biology in the second half of the nineteenth century and developed as a philosophical idea and a political outlook. As an idea that stands in the hinterland between science and society, it has not been particularly stable; sometimes it is fashionable, at others it has disappeared from consciousness. This thesis looks at the long history of ecology, paying particular attention to the periods when it was a popular idea and it had an impact on the imagination and outlook of architects. The first of these periods is in the decades from Darwin's publication of his theory of evolution through to the run-up to the First World War, prior to the emergence of the Modern Movement. The second period is brief, from the late ‘60s through to the early '70s, and is popularly referred to as the Age of Ecology. Finally, there is the period from 2000 to the present. The final section of the study looks at the impact of ecological thought on architectural ideas and buildings today, when there is a high level of concern about the environment. Through historical interpretation, the study identifies some of the core themes of ecological thought and looks at their relationship to the design of the built environment. It traces the recurring themes of naturalism, vitalism and materialism, which are emerging as significant influences on today’s architecture. The thesis includes research interviews with some of the leading architectural thinkers and historians of our time in order to situate the discussion of ecology in the broader discourse on the purpose and nature of architecture and the future of the discipline and the profession. Keywords Ecology, environment, environmentalism, nature, naturalism, materialism, second nature, architectural history, environmental history, architectural theory, historiography, historical interpretation, mapping, conservation, biological, sustainability, Anthropocene, scarcity, ecological urbanism, Post-humanism, Romanticism, Vitalism, Darwinism, holism, organic, Systems Theory, cybernetics, chaos theory, complexity theory, spaceship earth, social ecology, literal greening, natural and biological analogies, new naturalism, expressionism, formalism, materialism, modernism, post-modernism, digital architecture, Ecosophy, Gaia, architecture’s expanded field. Declaration This is to certify that I am solely responsible for the work which has been submitted in this thesis. Turnitin report submitted to the research department. Acknowledgements Thanks to my supervisors, Christopher Thorpe and Richard Laing, my colleagues and students at RGU, University of Dundee and University of Wuhan and to my friends and my family. In particular I would like to thank Mandy Lewis, John Lewis and Lily Waiton who have all been very tolerant. CONTENTS The impact of ecological thought on architectural theory 0 Abstract 0 Declaration 0 Acknowledgements 0 List of illustrations 4 1.0 Introduction to Ecology and Architecture 9 1.1 Personal statement 9 1.2 Research Aims 10 1.4 Why Study Ecology? 13 1.5 The trouble with theory 15 1.6 What do ecologists believe? 17 1.7 How does ecology change over time? 19 1.8 How does ecology affect architecture? 23 2.0 Methods 25 2.1 Environmental histories of architecture 27 2.2 Historical interpretation 28 2.3 Architectural Theory 31 2.4 Architecture as Evidence 35 2.5 Critical approaches and Arendt 36 2.6 Historical narratives 40 2.7 Sources: Buildings 44 2.8 Sources: Texts 45 2.9 Sources: Interviews 49 2.10 Other sources 50 2.11 Time lines and diagrams 52 3.0 Terminology 54 3.1 Nature and the natural 56 3. 2 Environment and environmentalism 58 3.3 Sustainability 59 3.4 Ecosophy 61 3.5 Gaia 62 3.6 The Anthropocene 63 4.0 Literature Review 67 4.1 Environmental History 67 4.2 Environmental theory 69 1 4.3 Architectural theory 71 4.4 Early literature on architecture and ecology 77 4.5 Contemporary texts on architecture and ecology 80 5.0 Early Ecological thought 86 5.1 Introduction 86 5.2 Early ecological thought 87 5.3 Darwinism 88 5.4 Romanticism 89 5.5 Conservation 92 5.6 Concerns about resource depletion 93 5.7 Haeckel’s ecology 96 5.8 1900 Paris Exhibition 99 5.9 Themes in early ecological thought 101 5.9.1 Naturalism 101 5.9.2 Vitalism 103 5.9.3 Holism 105 5.10 Planning and the legacy of early ecological thought 106 6.0 The Age of Ecology 116 6.1 Early environmentalism 116 6.2 Popular Ecology 117 6.3 The Whole Earth and the Silent Spring 118 6.4 The oil crisis, resource depletion and scarcity 119 6.5 Mechanisation and technocracy 120 6.7 Systems theory, computing and cybernetics 125 6.8 Social ecology 126 6.9 Soleri and ‘second’ nature 128 6.10 Christopher Alexander and systems theory 132 6.11 Rudofsky and anonymous architecture 134 7.0 Architecture in the Age of Ecology 140 7.1 Fuller’s ‘Spaceship Earth’ 140 7.2 The Independent Group 143 7.3 The Smithsons’ climate registers 144 7.4 McHale and techno-utopianism 148 7.5 Banham and ecologies 150 7.6 Architectural Theory and Ecology 155 7.7 The social and the formal 158 7.8 From ecology to sustainability 159 2 8.0 Ecology’s Third Wave 163 8.1. The return of ecology 163 8.2 Anthropocene 164 8.3 Digital sympathies 167 8.4 Things theory 169 8.5 Architectural ideas and ecology 172 8.6 Waste, scarcity and creativity 172 8.7 Architectural Deleuzianism 175 8.8 New naturalism 179 8.9 New materialism 182 8.10 New Vitalism 185 9.0 Today’s ecology and built form 188 9.1 Introduction 188 9.2 Literal Greening 191 9.3 Naturalism 192 9.3.1 Landscape and ecological urbanism 193 9.3.2 Natural analogies 197 9.3.3 Organic 200 9.3.4 Bio-mimicry 201 9.4 Digital 203 9.5 Materialism 206 9.6 Ethical practice 208 10.0 Impact of ecological thought 215 10.1 The expanded field 215 10.2 Changes in the profession 216 10.3 Subjectivity and post-humanism 220 10.4 Environment by design 223 10.5 Conclusion 225 11. Bibliography 230 11. 1 Works Cited -Books 230 11.2 Journals and periodicals 240 12.0 Interviews 245 3 List of illustrations Figure 1 Mapping diagram of the waves of ecological thought produced by author 2019 7 Figure 2 Kings Cross Station, 2012, John McAslan+Partners, Image from John McAslan and Partners website www.mcaslan.co.uk/projects/king-s-cross and La Porte Monumentale Paris 1900, René Binet,image from www.worldfairs.info Accessed 19 November 2018 8 Figure 3 Frei Otto's drawings1967 German Pavilion, Montreal, https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/frei- otto-german-pavilion-expo-1967 22 Figure 4 Tables produced by author to show developments in ideas of ecology over time 24 Figure 5 Mapping document produced by author 25 Figure 6 Paris 1900, Montreal 1967, Hanover 2000, World Fairs website, Tower for Montreal – Peter Cook 1963 – Deutsches Architecturmuseum,https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/yesterdays- future-visionary-designs-future-systems-and-archigram, https://www.architectural review.com/architects/shigeru-ban/paper-palace-in-hanover-by-shigeru- ban/8660572.articlehttps://dam-online.de/en/ 26 Figure 7 Table reproduced from Jamison's The Making of Green Knowledge (2001 p 82) 40 Figure 8 Extract from the Smithson's CIAM meeting from the Catalogue of Team 10 exhibition at Yale School of Architecture 2006. 46 Figure 9 This is Tomorrow Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, 1956, James Stirling’s contribution. 55 Figure 10 1982 Agnes Dean, an Artist Harvested Two Acres of Wheat and Kongjian Yu, Turenscape, Rice Campus, Shenyang 2011. Both images appear in Ecological Urbanism by Mohsen Mostafavi. 66 Figure 11 1937 Taliesen West by Frank Lloyd Wright -https://www.archdaily.com/123117/ad-classics- taliesin-west-frank-lloyd-wright/5038083028ba0d599b000a1f-ad-classics-taliesin-west-frank- lloyd-wright-image Figure 12 1930 Aalto, Villa Mairea, http://mairea.alvaraalto.fi/en/7.htm, https://homesthetics.net/100- architects-houses-series-alvar-aalto-riihitie-20-munkkiniemi-helsinki/ 78 Figure 13 2000 Dunster, Bedzed, http://www.ellisandmoore.co.uk/ our-projects/green- projects/bedzed/https://static.wixstatic.com/media/330c42_9e7acc024a424daab97b4ba4 3aa8063f~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1224,h_649,al_c,q_85,usm_4.00_1.00_0.00/330c42_9e7acc02 4a424daab97b4ba43aa8063f~mv2.webp 80 Figure 14 1850 Oxford Museum Ruskin Oxford University Museum of Natural History by Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward, mostly Woodward and influenced by the writings of critic John Ruskin, https://quintinlake.photoshelter.com/image/I00002E4ik6ROrg4, Ruskin Chamonix; hill with trees sloping upwards to l. 1850 Pen and brown ink, with brown wash, touched with white, over graphite British Museum, 1892, Hotel Tassel, Horta, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1005/http://www.irismonument.be/nl.Brussel_Uitbreiding_Zuid.
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