EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION: GOETHEAN POLARITY AND ARCHITECTURE A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty by Sabri Gökmen In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Architecture/College of Architecture Georgia Institute of Technology August 2017 COPYRIGHT © 2017 BY SABRI GÖKMEN EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION: GOETHEAN POLARITY AND ARCHITECTURE Approved by: Professor Lars Spuybroek (Advisor) Professor Daniel L. Purdy School of Architecture College of Liberal Arts Georgia Institute of Technology Penn State University Professor John Peponis Professor Thomas Pfau School of Architecture Department of English Georgia Institute of Technology Duke Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Professor Greg Turk, School of Computer Science Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: [April 21, 2017] [To the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Lars Spuybroek for his continuous support of my Ph.D study and research, for his patience, enthusiasm, encouragement and immense knowledge. His guidance and direct engagement with my intellectual development helped me formulate the core ideas presented in the work. I wouldn’t have wished for a better advisor and mentor for my Ph.D. study. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. John Peponis, Prof. Greg Turk, Prof. Greg Lynn, Prof. Thomas Pfau and Prof. Daniel Purdy, for their participation in this project, their insightful comments, engaging questions and critique of my work. My sincere thanks also go to the chairs of school of architecture during my research: Prof. George Johnston, Prof. Richard Dagenhart and Prof. Scott Marble for offering various teaching opportunities at school to aid my research and academic development as an instructor. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family: my parents and my sister, and my friends for providing immense support during though times that gave me the courage and ambition to excel during my journey. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV LIST OF FIGURES VIII SUMMARY XX CHAPTER 1 POLARITY AND ELECTIVE AFFINITIES 1 1.1 Polarity during Enlightenment 1 1.1.1 Kant and Idealism 2 1.1.2 Goethe and Idealism 6 1.1.3 Schelling and Realism 9 1.1.4 Goethe and Romanticism 14 1.1.5 Goethean Method: Analysis and Synthesis 18 1.2 The Influence of Goethe’s Scientific Studies on Elective Affinities 21 1.3 Summary of Elective Affinities 28 1.3.1 Elective Affinities: Picturesque Landscape 29 1.3.2 Elective Affinities: The Natural Law of Affinity 32 1.3.3 Elective Affinities: Ottilie 38 1.3.4 Elective Affinities: Novella and Otto 41 1.3.5 Elective Affinities: Hope 45 1.4 Polarity and Landscape 47 1.4.1 Humboldt’s Influence on Goethe 48 1.4.2 Polarity and Productivity in Schelling’s Naturphilosophie 51 1.4.3 Polarity as the Structuring Principle of Landscape 55 1.5 Polarity and Chemistry 64 1.5.1 Goethe’s Early Interest in Alchemy 65 1.5.2 Bergman’s Affinity Tables 68 1.5.3 Polarity in Character Relations 74 1.6 Polarity and Characters 79 1.6.1 Otto 80 1.6.2 Novella and Elective Affinities 84 1.6.3 Ottilie and Lucienne 88 1.7 Conclusion: Polarity, Productivity and Prototypes in Elective Affinities 92 CHAPTER 2 POLARITY AND MORPHOGENESIS 97 2.1 Polarity and Metamorphosis 97 2.1.1 Polarity in Metamorphosis of Plants 98 2.1.2 Expansion and Contraction 108 2.1.3 Polarity and Intensification 113 2.2 Polarity and Morphology 118 2.2.1 Polarity within the Ontogenetic Debate in Eighteenth Century: Preformation and Epigenesis 119 V 2.2.2 Urpflanze: Polarity and Botany 127 2.2.3 Zwischenkiefer: Polarity and Osteology 138 2.2.4 Farbenlehre: Polarity and Color 147 2.2.5 Goethean Morphology as a Unifying Science 162 2.3 Bildebewegungen: Polarity in the work of Jochen Bockemühl 167 2.3.1 Form and Pattern Transformations [Bildebewegungen] 168 2.3.2 Polarity and Embryogenesis of Foliage Leaves 170 2.3.3 Polarity and Ontogenesis of Mature Leaf Sequences 173 2.3.4 Polarity in Overall Development of a Plant 180 2.3.5 Reversed Biogenesis: Polar Relationship of Phylogenesis and Ontogenesis 186 2.4 Polarity and Leaf Morphology 190 2.4.1 Diagramming Leaf Polarity 191 2.4.2 Polarity and Generative Leaf Embryogenesis 198 2.4.3 Polarity and Generative Leaf Ontogenesis 205 2.4.4 Polar-Parametric Leaf Variations 210 2.5 “Alles ist Blatt”: Leaf-being as an Ontological Machine 233 2.5.1 Polarity and Being 234 2.5.2 Polarity and Becoming 240 2.5.3 Polarity and Color 246 2.5.4 Polarity Machine 252 CHAPTER 3 POLARITY AND ARCHITECTURE 259 3.1 Polarity and Symmetry: Animals and Architecture 259 3.1.1 Polarity and Organicism: Animal Body and Architecture 260 3.1.2 Symmetry and Architecture: Vitruvius and Alberti 273 3.1.3 Polarity and Symmetry: Urhütte 284 3.1.4 Polarity and Body-Limb Duality I 296 3.2 Goethean Architecture I: Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophical Architecture 310 3.2.1 Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophical Architecture 312 3.2.2 Polarity and Goetheanum 317 3.2.3 Polarity and Anthroposophical Architecture 328 3.3 Polarity and Asymmetry: Plants and Architecture 335 3.3.1 Polarity and Teratology: Vegetal Proliferation and Architecture 337 3.3.2 Asymmetry and Architecture: Gothic 350 3.3.3 Polarity and Asymmetry: Spiral Tendency in Gothic 363 3.3.4 Polarity and Body-Limb Duality II 377 3.4 Goethean Architecture II: Polarized Morphogenesis 391 3.4.1 Gothic Anatomy 392 3.4.2 Metamorphosis of Urhütte 400 3.4.3 Polarity and Gothic Metamorphosis 403 3.4.4 Polar-Parametric Gothic Cathedrals 420 3.5 Conclusion: Goethean Morphology and Ecology of Design 431 VI APPENDIX A. PSEUDO CODE FOR EMBRYOGENESIS ALGORITHM 443 APPENDIX B. PSEUDO CODE FOR ONTOGENESIS ALGORITHM 445 REFERENCES 446 VII LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.3.1.1 – Charlotte conversing with Edward at the moss hut. 30 Figure 1.3.1.2 – Edward and the Captain surveying the landscape. 31 Figure 1.3.2.1 – Charlotte, Edward and the Captain discussing the theory of 33 affinities. Figure 1.3.2.2 – The Captain is assisting Charlotte during walks 34 Figure 1.3.2.3 – Edward is playing music with Ottilie. 35 Figure 1.3.2.4 – Edward discussing with Mittler. 38 Figure 1.3.3.1 – Lucienne in tableaux vivant. 40 Figure 1.3.3.2 – Ottilie in the crèche. 40 Figure 1.3.4.1 – Charlotte and Ottilie amusing the baby. 42 Figure 1.3.4.2 – Ottilie hurrying to the summer house with the baby. 45 Figure 1.3.5.1 – The architect by Ottilie’s coffin at the chapel. 46 Figure 1.4.1.1 – An example of Humboldt’s renderings of the landscape 51 showing different plant formations on different altitudes with changing properties (Reprinted after H Berghaus, 1851, Physikalischer Atlas…, vol.V, plate No.1). Figure 1.4.3.1 – Riemer’s sketch for the landscape of the novel [?] (Reprinted 57 from Hühn, Goethe’s Elective Affinities, 97. Original source: Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer [?]: Skizze zu Goethes Roman “Die Wahlverwandtschaften,” [Sketch for Goethe’s Elective Affinities], Goethe and Schiller Archive, Weimar, GSA 78/539,2). Figure 1.4.3.2 – The “compass” of Elective Affinities: A reconstruction of 60 Riemer’s sketch showing the topography, the structures, lakes, paths and views of Edward’s estate. The longitudinal section passes through the manor house, moss hut, the summer house and the lakes. Key structures are highlighted in black, while the contours show height relationships among paths and structures. Figure 1.4.3.3 – The section of the valley in Elective Affinities along north- 61 south axis showing altitudinal relationships of the manor house, the village, the moss hut, the summer house and the lakes. Notice the difference in heights and views that distinguish the structures. Figure 1.4.3.4 – Diagrams showing polarized relationships that structure the 62 landscape. Figure 1.5.1.1 – Jacob Boehme’s representation of his Cosmogony showing 66 the polar opposition at the heart of cosmos (Reprinted from Vierzig Fragen von der Seele [Forty Questions Concerning the Soul], 1620). Figure 1.5.1.1 – Étienne François Geoffroy’s table of relations (Reprinted 69 from “Table des differents rapports observes en chimie entre VIII differentes substances,” in Mémoires de l’Académie royale des sciences (Paris, 1718), 202 – 212. Figure 1.5.2.2 – An example of Bergman’s Schemes, and modern equivalents 71 (Reprinted from Bergman, A Dissertation on Elective Attractions, 1968). Figure 1.5.3.1 – Diagram showing the arrangement and affinity among the 76 characters in chapter eight while they are sitting in the reading room. The dashed arrows indicate the attractive forces and solid arrows show repulsive forces. Characters are shown with initials as Charlotte (Ch), Edward (Ed), Ottilie (Ot), Captain (Ca). Figure 1.5.3.2 – Diagram showing the arrangement and affinity among the 78 characters in chapter ten around the dinner table. The dashed arrows indicate the attractive forces and solid arrows show repulsive forces. Characters are shown with initials as Charlotte (Ch), Edward (Ed), Ottilie (Ot), Captain (Ca). Figure 2.1.1.1 – The annual plant, Goethe’s basic model in his discussion of 99 metamorphosis; plant parts, separated for the purpose of illustration, from top to bottom—pistil, stamens, corolla, calyx, stem leaves, cotyledons, and roots. (Reprinted from Goethe, Metamorphosis of Plants (2009), 9). Figure 2.1.1.2 – Young castor bean plant showing its prominent two 100 embryonic leaves (cotyledons) that differ from the adult leaves.