Comments on: Impressive gardens: revisiting the Golden Age in America

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 21:42:11 +0000

I guess the difficulty with labels is that the term ‘Modern Architecture’ actually represents several aspects of a phenonmenon. ‘Modern Architecture’ is 1)a time term (approximately early twentieth century), a style term (design with particular characteristics based however closely to a particular theory of design) and a philosophical term (based on a particular way of thinking).

The Age of Reason for example is associated with the early eighteenth century.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Reason ] However, despite the passage of time reason is still considered an important attribute of contemporary life.

So in this sense, I believe that a new way of thinking (based on sustainable development) will necessitate a new style(s) that will be as significant as the transition from pre-modern to modern design. Hopefully it will be still modern in the same way that we are still reasonable.
However the precise relationship with or dependence on modernism is currently unclear.

Will this new way of thinking last for a 1,000 years? Yes, in the sense that this transition in time is an important period. However, an new set of concerns could potentially arise in an 1000 year time horizon with equal importance.

So, yes a new name will be necessary for architecture, but it is not yet obvious to me what it should be called.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:36:53 +0000

Life expectancy is increasing all the time – so if you live for 1,000 years will you still want to call modern architecture ‘Modern Architecture’ – or do you have an idea for what else it might be called?

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:10:14 +0000

Wow! Thankyou for the lead on the potential influence of jazz in Manhattan architecture. Yes, modern is definitely the correct label for the style despite its ability to sound outdated. The Jazz Age is technically pre-modern (transitional) like the work of Berlage (in Amsterdam) and Mackintosh (in Scotland). Transitional architecture is incredibly interesting as it has the seeds of modernism within it (and possibly much more).

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:53:48 +0000

In reply to Christine.

I think Tudor is a reasonable categorization for a period in the history of architecture and gardens, because the Tudor monarchs were leaders in the arts. But Georgian, though a nice word, is much less appropriate and Edwardian is a complete irrelevance. So I try to avoid the names of kings and queens when categorizing styles of garden design.
Turning to music, Medieval, Baroque and Romantic seem useful terms because they capture thet zeitgeist. Maybe Jazz does this too – and if so it could well be applied to architecture, which is desperately in need of a replacement for the time-expired term Modern. Is the style still to be called ‘Modern’ in 100 or 1000 years time? If not, it needs another name.
‘For Le Corbusier neither jazz nor a skyscraper is a “deliberately conceived creation,” he continues “if architecture were at the point reached by jazz, it would be an incredible spectacle. I repeat: Manhattan is hot jazz in stone and steel”‘. [Andrew Ballantyne Architecture theory: a reader in philosophy and culture p 223]

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:42:47 +0000

The Jazz Age is a wider time designation than a design style, so it is similar to the idea of the time period the mid twentieth century (loosely the decade 1955-1965). The technology of this period is highly relevant: in particular items that directly effected the affluent lifestyle cars, planes and electric lights. Clothing is also central to the Jazz Age, as are perhaps particular athletic and recreational pursuits such as swimming and tennis. [ http://library.thinkquest.org/C005846/categories/sports/sports.htm ]
Dance is foremost.

The Jazz Age may or may not apply to painting and architecture. (More on that in later blogs.) In politics it is quite probably associated with the universal franchise of women in America see the 19th Amendment.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution ]

Yes I am convinced that Jazz music and gardens were very closely associated during this period. How garden spaces were used is one aspect, how they were laid out is another and what was incorporated in them is another (ie dance floors and swimming pools).

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:46:08 +0000

My guess is that the aesthetic inspiration of music and gardens more often have a common parent (‘the soul’) than they influence each other. One could make two botanical analogies (1) xerophytic plants in Australia, Africa, China and America have characteristics in common (2) primitive plants in different continents have characteristics in common.
This leads me to wonder about ‘Jazz Age’ as a categorization of garden style. Would it be a suitable name for the painting, architecture, politics, clothing and technology of the inter-war period? If not, why should it be applied to gardens? Is it because American gardens in this period have other characteristics in common with gardens? ‘Golden Age’ is also problematic – because history has many golden ages.
Despite this, I do think there are parallels between jazz and an aspect of American gardens in the period. But how would one check on this?