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THE ARCHITECTURE AS SCENARIO

L. Serro

Abstract

The contents of this article are an exposition on architecture, both as in itself as well as a scenic object. This reflection is based on the relationship between the signifier and the signified that constitutes the architectural symbol. Methodologically, this reflection begins with a clarification of some concepts which belong to the analysis structure. So we begin by clarifying the concept of symbol; of scenario (space as a manifestation of support and development of an ideal); of the beautiful and the sublime; and of the aesthetic development as a whole with architecture as one of its particular manifestations. This reflection, though based on the orientation of XVIII and XIX centuries' philosophers, transcends them and extends to the current times. In the scenario, the signifier only induces and empowers the signified which remits to the ideal, and therefore the architecture, itself as a predication of the ideal, is worth not only for itself but also becomes the support of other plastic arts that in the history of civilization gained their autonomy. It´s on the second half of the XIX century that the severance happens. On one hand the architecture is a scenic support for acquiring experiences, characterized by the representation of the sublime either as space (eclectic movement) or as time (Neo movements). On the other hand architecture expresses science and technology as the dominant symbol of liberation, and of form as adequate to function (cast-iron architecture). It is as a final apotheosis of this epoch that the scenario assumes its most apparent expression at the junction of all the arts (architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry) in the spectacle of the opera as total art. In the XX century, aesthetic options resulted in the material reduction of form and also the overvaluation of the symbol to the point of almost becoming autonomous. In addition to being an agent that manifests and categorizes space through geometry, Architecture has been, from time immemorial both object and carrier for symbolic representation of the peoples. It´s current “negativity” is nothing more than a potency set to receive future predications of an ideal that always requires a physical appearance to manifest. Whatever the actual materialization of this architecture, it will always have a dual nature; - on his substance an expression of space through geometry - in its materiality, it is a support for human symbolic values and therefore assert itself as a particular scenario of human civilization.

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