SYMBOLIC REFERENCE |
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| This building program aims to establish an American counterpart to the expression of craftsmanship , communal participation and cosmology in great buildings and space that we admire from the history of civilization, places such as the Piazza San Maros and Salisbury Cathedral. In this case, our cosmology respects the modern Whiteheadian view that some aspects of any event can be coordinated with some aspects of any other, and stemming from Heisenberg and quantum theory, both determinacy and indeterminacy are required to establish how any event come into being and how its future can be known. Thus in conceiving the building program, physical theory informs social and aesthetic theory, in that expression of democratic participation with future unpredictability becomes a principal goal to be achieved in the symbolic form. The aesthetic and psychological underpinnings of the project are best explained by Professor Arnold Weinstein in his lectures, The Soul and the City: Art, Literature and Urban Life. Weinstein describes how Freud, interested in tapping and understanding unconsciousness layers of experience, conceived the city of Rome as a palimpsest with layers of script (buildings and sites) underneath the surface. To reproduce all the layers at once is not possible in physical reality, but is achievable in memory, language and art. A plenary vision of ruins of the city becomes a stimulus to find the “ruins” of the mind. This allows a recuperation of the destruction caused by the passage of time, reversing entropy. The artful image of the city’s ruins helps us to recover the origins and stories of one’s life. Thus the forms of the government center need to encourage the individual mind to become archeological in intention. To retrieve a history of time, birth, death and rebirth. The political intent of the program is both populist and elitist. The ornamental surface and displays include a wide spectrum of artistic contributions, ranging from the works of school children and art therapy classes for the elderly, to the works of master artists and contributions by historical societies. All such works would be done with the supervision of arts and architectural facilitators. Periodic replacement of selected surface ornament ensures fresh commentary, while the sale of select replaced pieces in the private sector fosters interest in antiques and crafts. The method of building proposes an synthesis of our present high technology, an intermediate technology suited to small groups and special objectives, and the return in individual expression as ornament on architecture. The accretion of popular arts and crafts, together with the modification of spaces and forms designed to welcome alterations, make the structure a vehicle for the expression of cultural memory and renewal – a metaphor for the passage of time. The architecture described could also serve as a long-lasting core and a nucleus for private development to increase tax revenues and improve quality of life. It can be designed as a backdrop fro arts fairs, a crafts center, music, dance, theater and political rallies, and become the focus of tourism. Planning, execution and installation of major projects for ornament can be televised, subscribed, and then installed with ceremony. Because I see the over-thick walls expressing mass and substance in contrast to the thin glassy forms of much contemporary urban architecture, the Roman allusion seems to fit my predilection for mass, texture and history. (I very much admire Roman aqueducts, Roman brickwork and H.H. Richardson’s massive Romanesque libraries for the qualities of their stone, artisanship and historical allusion.) the actual walls of the project would be made of concrete cast in shaped Styrofoam molds with integral color and ornamental inserts made of ceramics, or any material that will weather acceptably. Important masses of planting with fountains and waterfalls would be integral as ecologically-designed features. Restaurants, bookshops and craft sales, as well as galleries, are among the more obvious functions with potential for incorporation into the structure. Again, the important objective aims to provide an architectural metaphor of continuity over centuries, while incorporating indeterminate participation and aesthetic and narrative contributions, and by making existential connections to the city that signify both stability and change. The understanding of order must necessarily be complex to encourage and satisfy the participation of our diverse population while accommodating and aesthetic expression of our knowledge of geometry, architectural tectonics, social psychology, mental process and architectural form. For information or inquiries on purchasing Herb Greene paintings or drawings, please contact info@herbgreene.org copyright © Herb Greene |