Architecture in Words: Theatre, Language and the Sensuous Space of Architecture

255 Pages·2006·4.18 MB·English

by  Louise Pelletier

Architecture
in Words
What if the house you are about to enter was built with the confessed purpose of
seducing you, of creating various sensations destined to touch your soul and make
you reflect on who you are? Could architecture have such power? Generations of
architects at the beginning of modernity assumed it could. From the mid-eighteenth
century onwards, architects believed that the aim of architecture was to communicate
the character and social status of the client or to express the destination and purpose
of a building.
Architecture in Wordsexplores the role of architecture as an expressive language
through the transforming notion of character theory and looks at the theatre as a
model for creating sensuous spaces in architecture.
Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, the theatre was more than simply a
form of entertainment; it changed how individuals related to one another in society.
Acting was no longer restricted to the performing stage in theatres; it became a
way to conduct oneself in society. Such transformations had obvious architectural
repercussions in the design of theatres, but also in the configuration of the public
and private domains. The succession of spaces, the careful crafting of lighting effects
and the expressive role of architectural features were all influenced by parallel
developments in the theatre.
Pelletier examines the role of theatre and fiction in defining the notion of character
in eighteenth-century architecture. She suggests that while usually ignored by instru-
mental applications, character constitutes an important precedent for restoring the
communicative dimension of contemporary architecture.
Louise Pelletieris an architect and Adjunct Professor at the School of Architecture,
McGill University. She is also Faculty Lecturer at the School of Design, Université du
Québec à Montréal.

Architecture
in Words
Theatre, language and the
sensuous space of architecture
Louise Pelletier
First published 2006 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2006 Louise Pelletier
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Pelletier, Louise, 1963–
Architecture in words: theatre, language and the sensuous space of architecture/
Louise Pelletier.– 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0–415–39470–8 (hb: alk. paper) – ISBN 0–415–39471–6 (pb: alk. paper)
1. Theater architecture–Europe–History–18th century. 2. Theatre–Europe–History–18th century.
3. Communication in architecture. 4. Architecture–Psychological aspects. I. Title.
NA6821.P45 2006
725′.82209033–dc22
2005027670
ISBN10: 0–415–39470–8 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–39471–6 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–39470–3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–39471–0 (pbk)
For my daughter Beatriz
who loves words

Contents
Illustration credits ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Part 1: Character and expression: staging an architectural theory 9
1 Architecture as an expressive language 11
Character theory and the language of architecture 17
Le Camus de Mézières and the metaphor of the theatre 21
2 Character theory in theatrical staging 25
Servandoni, the master of special effects 26
The modulation of light and darkness 30
Unity of place and the perfecting of an illusion 40
3 Rules of expression and the paradox of acting 46
Le Brun’s theory of expression 47
The paradox of the actor 50
Part 2: Play-acting and the culture of entertainment: architecture
as theatre 57
4 Theatre as the locus of public and social expression 59
The rules of civility and conventions at the theatre 62
Louis XV and the new taste for private performances 64
Society theatre and Diderot’sdrame bourgeois 67
The staging of a play 73
5 Theatre architecture and the role of the proscenium arch 77
Rethinking the space of the auditorium 78
The beginning of a new tradition and the relocation of the spectator 82
The theatricality of the marketplace 95
vii
Contents
Part 3: Language and personal imagination: an architecture for
the senses 105
6 Taste, talent, and genius in eighteenth-century aesthetics 107
Theatre theory and the decadence of taste 108
Genius and the complex relationship between rules and talent 110
Génie and theEncyclopédie 113
7 Newtonian empirical sciences and the order of nature 118
The expression of nature in architectural theory 120
Newtonian empirical science and the role of tradition 124
8 Empirical philosophy and the nature of sensations 131
Étienne Bonnot de Condillac and the nature of imagination 131
Edmund Burke and the materiality of light and shadow 138
Denis Diderot and the importance of language 146
Part 4: Plotting an architectural program: the space of desire 151
9 Staging an architecture in words 155
The space of seduction 155
The Genius of Architecture and the distribution of an hôtel
particulier 161
10 The narrative space of desire 169
Aabba, a romance 170
Chantilly, a picturesque garden 183
Conclusion: the temporality of human experience 192
Notes 196
Selected bibliography 224
Index 235
viii
Illustration credits
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the following for permission to
reproduce material in this book.
Author’s collection: 2.3, 4.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cabinet des estampes: 2.6, 8.1a and b
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cabinet des estampes, Collection Destailleur: 5.9,
5.10, 10.8
Blackader-Lauterman Rare Books Collection, McGill University Libraries, Montreal,
Canada: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6
Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal:
2.4, 2.5, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7
Pérez-Gómez Collection: 0.1, 0.2, 1.2, 1.3a–c, 2.1, 2.2, 2.7, 3.2, 4.2, 4.3, 5.4, 5.7, 5.8
Rare Books Collections, McGill University Libraries, Montreal, Canada: 1.1
Osler Library, McGill University, Montreal, Canada: 3.1
ix