watch over their collective security. — By provi ‘lass are integrated and the bonds of an authentic community are formed. — By promoting suitable civic buil and the organie evolui Until the advent of postw I ncighbourhoo commonplace in the United States. Many survive as examples of communities ‘which continue to be practical and desirab ga full range of housing types and workplaces, age and economic democratic initiatives are encouraged of society is secured ing ordinances, tradition today. Extracts, Source: Architectural Design vol 89; no 5/6, 1989. @ Foundation fer Traditional Neighbourhoods 192 Theories and Manifestoes 1989 QUINLAN TERRY Architecture and Theology Significantly fering to AWN Pugin io tis essay, Quilon Terry (b 1937, London) takes a similar position to Pugin in claiming @ connection beoweer religious faith and orchitectural style. might be more rect to say tration rather than style as for Terry that twadition is the Classical (as opposed to Pugin’s Gothic). Educated at the Architec tural Assaciatian, whose Modernist bias he rejected Terry warked with Roymond Erith flor (962, continuing to proctise under the nome Erith and Terry after the awer’s death in 1973, My subject is architecture and theology, or rather Art and Faith, the place where architecture and religion meet. The two great authorities on this subject from the last century were Pugin, who designed the Houses of Parliament, and Ruskin, the celebrated artist and writer, Both started their lives as devout Christians, and ended their days in a mental asylum, Perhaps this is a warning to tread carefully and not expect 100 much from Art, and certainly not to look at art for the supreme truth, and consolation that Faith alone pravides We ate the victims of a voracious technology, ruthlessly consuming the resources, ofthe earth, A Pandora’s box has opened whi ro one can close. Everyone real- ises that for all their benefits these things will bring about huge collective disas- ters. The march of progress has crushed gentler species of animal and plant 0 cextinetion beneath its feet. But the gentlest and rarest species are the ereative gilt of Att and the fear of the Creator; both of which, speaking generally, have disappeared. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’; we have lost this fear and so we have become foolish. [do not know how to explain this phenomenon, except by relating this lack of creative gift to the Creator. The building of the Tabernacle showed that when kind rejecis the belief in the Creator, then his creative ability disappears, Never efore in the history of the world has man been ablew to reject God so completely Ml successfully. Even the Ancient Roman at his most evil had a fear of God which we have lisearded, He realised that his life depended on the one who gives rain and sun- shine, I there was famine he prayed to Ceres, the goddess of corn; if he was sick c brought libations to Aesculapius, the god of healing; when he was childless he Traditional 193prayed to the goddess of fertility; and he acknowledged his dependence on the goddess Fortuna for good luck. But the pride of technological man has ne tely greater than that of his Roman counterpart, ‘Whereas the heathen feared the creator and bowed down to wood and stone, mod- ‘em man feats no God and has no hope beyond technology. Ancient man hamessed ‘ature and expressed this in his art; modem man finds himself tragically opposed. to nature and has expressed this defiance in his art, Thus the creative artistic gift must disappear. process has occurred ines applied. But now steel, glass, concrete and plasties, electri light and air, have given us an unbridled and unlimited freedom which we are tunable to control, Cheaper, temporary construction and maximum profit have become our gods. In the 18th century Canaletio painted a view of the city of London from Somerset House. It was a beautiful city with St Paul’s dominating the skyline. Today the same view shows St Paul's dwarfed by the temples of Mammon: the banks which live off usury and insurance companies which fix their stakes on our misfortunes. In the old days people built as Hawksmoor built in Oxiord’s R: te propor tions, the gen human scale and accomplished harmony and how build skyscrapers which look lke ol refineries eschewing n ith no sense of proportion and with no harmony or grace. Buildings Tike these ceannot be compared with the buildings of our forefathers, The al fings has ceased hope? Are we of all men the most miserable? heology soin arc sights are fixed on another word. \d as we toil below, throug! mmething to create with his hands stone or a ser the thing that is good, be it » Corinthian capi 1. oF a leaf carved in wood or even a fine rubbed arch in a brick wall. A these raise a man from a mere wage earner to a craftsman 194 Theories and Manifestoes And though in our fallen state we do dimly grope after perfect quest for beauty that makes both their werk a wthwhile, As in theology, so ure, However, it is necessary to bear all the ridicule and scorn that are deployed by the Darwinian misconception that evolution and progress are man- datory, We are coerced into believing that every age must bring something new, But here again, having, As Solomon said: ‘The thing that hath been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done and there is no new thing (worth having) under the sun. Is there anything whereo! already been before us in (pp136-138) cclure — there i$ nothing new worth Earacts Source: Quinn Tey: Select Traditional 195