INTRODUCTION TO MY M.P.A. THESIS [As U've sad elsewhere, most of the material in this collection of essays was ‘written in the recent past. This last work is an exception because it repre= sents my Princeton M.FA. thesis of 1950—slightly edited but still some= ‘what awkward in its style; it is accompanied by some of the illustrative material that composed the body of the thesis. My jury included Lo Kahn, whom I had met the summer before in Philadelphia, and George Howe, I am sorry the graphic material is incomplete, as some of it has been lost; the footnotes are also incomplete, 1 include this work because its subject, context in architecture, represents almost a cliché in our field and because the origin of this idea has become almost forgotten: a Philadelphia architect, for instance, recently confidently referred ¢o context as an architectural element that evolved in the seventies But 1 vividly remember my Eureka-like response in 1949 when I came across the idea of perceptual context in Gestalt psychology as 1 perused a journal of psychology in the library in Eno Hall at Princeton and recognized its relevance for architecture: ata time when architecture was exclusively designed from the inside out and confidently promoted Modernist as unk= verslly applicable: to hell with all rhat old stuff that was, al Hird as iis to Frank Lloyd Wright would connect with natural context—with the prairie ‘or with a Pennsylvania waterfall (bat never with that lousy architecture that preceded him), Its nice when a dating idea becomes an accepted ides but still round. member, this was true with some few exceptions, as when{it hurts a hitle—especially as it i often misunderstood and ultimately ‘misapplied, {eshould also be noted thatthe significance of meaning as wel as expression in architecture was here acknowledged for the first time in our time and that the way for plurality of cultures or multiculturalism, if not anticipated, \was opened up for architecture, You will detect a notable omission within this thesis—one that is forgivable, | trust inthe context ofits time when aesthetic abstraction reigned supreme and reference, asociation, symbolism, or iconography was automatically shunned to the point where a youth might not dream much less acknowl: ledge the existence of these dimensions within his medium. I refer to a lack of acknowledgment ofan element's inherent characteristics and associations, which can exist independent of context or alongride of content, ‘Another reason for including this project is, I think 45 years later, the design of the chapel for the Episcopal Academy is darn good. A short essay deriving from the part of this thesis on the Campidoglio was Published in Architectural Review in 1953; it was my first publication, aT) CONTEXT IN ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION: A. THESIS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Written 1950, INTRODUCTION Intent ‘The intent of this thesis problem is to demonstrate the importance of and the effect of setting on a building, It considers the art of environment; the el- cement of environment as perceived by the eye. Spe~ ‘08 00 the aliat: Also a suspended crus i dntegeated CON TIOCE IN ANCMFFECTURAL COMPOSITION ‘wih the tins atnl therefore aswciages with 4. "The ‘eriation in relation to the whole system caused by’ the belfry expluined above, Meanwhile, the varied trunses im the rear form a hanging balcony for the choir and organ pipe Joft over 4. sunken narthex which takes advantage of a nanural fll in the grade at this ‘Aether dletermansnt for the farm of this truss be= Sides the desire for enttieaey, expreston of resin and Tightnes, and approprace lighting, way the lew height of the building demanded by contextual eat siderations. The exterior walls rms he Jow to maltte tain their espresion of wnenclonig wall and denny with the garden swalls explained above ud to minimize contict with the weeiclity and herght fof the mansions. ‘The catrasiagly tow and igh pars of the ceiling in the roof scetion then fonen & ficaes of iving an overall imterior expresion of height to this necessarily law chapel—mare sa, it can be euintained, than if the ceiling: had been jlye- ‘cally higher but of one tevel. ‘The absence of weeny horizontal planes helps alun t0 prevent the oppres- sivenes possible from lw ceilings. It should he ‘mentioned hete that the maf shape'recogainey and 1s determined also by the varying, Functions of relaveal area in plan—of the nave expecially, The cxilingg vcr the sitting area—ehat i, the pewr—is lower and more horigowtal than that over che eirculaton aca which comity of the monumental prover sional aide, The common se of this too shupie ie nnchastrial any sthivectve assure ity practicality it rear dane sige. AS ie similar factory roof conditions, radiant heating cous an eve cold, whitch alse weortitupe the:general heating system fr the building, melt the ‘ow, and 1 proper roof slope takes eare of drainage, ‘The problem of the necemarily extensive une of metal Mlahinne is gracefully resolved by the contin Su the OF copper an the mofing and nd wall rates Bends ins conscious ineicacy, dynanuc wespension might he considered a senactural-expressive theme of this building. The akar crow integral with the roof trvig, the cher yalllery which i a variation of the “floating” typical tras, and the “fies” of ee exterior vrestbales const of ypecificlly lighter but more wo~ juminows matenal suspended by stronger bac kes wo lumianws material—wood neues and! steel bars fespectively—which contribute to the floating quual- lay eharocteriie OF the stnictare ‘and 9 Ayan overhead ‘The opagueness of chis busking, its hidden wi dows, etc., disninctly cut eff the ounude from the Inside, The innefinicely defined form of she central potion of the truss sestion seen Ae shade and the space slong the eri! portion of the tras section — “only part o€ whose baud 3:31 view—-prnduce im= measurable space and an element of mystery This exclusion of the outside world for the worshipper creates in one sense confinement the indefinitely Aefined form and the wave only partially perceived can sage paradoxseally an wlentification with the beyond othe snfimite. This combination when nat crmployed 3 a couple of applied devices can create a mystical expeesion and can become a sytem and a part of a tradition in ene kind of religious architec ‘ure found i Uyzantine aad Gothic interion. ——— aa aa a ARC AL COW ~~ “The profine ceiling tneaenent by practical case its ‘means are simple anil conventional; it is retined in ics effet because of its allevsating comtrase to the warm ple and feavier expression of the walls and exterior adit i appropnitely religious in ite expression partly because it follows on principle the system and tects of te Gane structures, even in their weak nnesies—that it, am inherent ripartice facade probe and an elabrate rootaainage poem. The lanier, ‘Vhope, ts elegantly solved atthe endl wall by the inedern equivalent of gameyles 1m copper. 1 Rela, Cat Pyne 2. 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