Costruction of time conception in architectural realm, Sigfrifd Giedion and space, time and architecture

Abstract

The main idea aimed in this dissertation is to deconstruct the transposition process of the concept of time from a term of art history into that of architecture.Thesis begins with the transforming effects of the art historical space conceptions in the 19th century German architectural theories on the formation of 20th century modern architectural space conception as .Space-time.. Space-time is termed by the avant-gardist architectural historian-critic Sigfried Giedion in the beginning of the first quarter of the twentieth century to characterize the morphological and structural forms of the new modes of spatial experience, temporal consciousness and self-evidency as the new characteristics of architectural Modernity.Apart from the Swiss art history tradition he has been trained, Giedion undertakes a leading role and owing to his historian background, constitutes a model both in establishment of historiography of modern architecture and in shaping the role of an architectural historian. Within the framework of his dual programmatic roles of Avant-gardist architectural historian and of mediator historian, suggesting the unification of architecture and life, Giedion renders architecture as the origin and apparatus of the holistic cultural renewal he has been striving to realize. In line with his Hegelian Telos of Unity, in order to justify his unification ethos he has proposed in every field of life between .feeling. and .thought,. Giedion invents scientific and artistic footings. Giedion sets on his Hegelian understanding of history as Zeitgeist to support the self-evidencies of scientific and artistic indications, which are operatively selected and connected by himself. Under the effect of this unification ethos, having made an attack on transposing the concept of time into architectural realm as .Space-time,. Giedion has constructed it to characterize the architectural Modernity and at the same time, has paradoxically started to equip the meaning of his .Space-time. invention with the therapeutic ideology, which aimed to dissolve .tensions. and to eliminate all symptomatic .illnesses. of the modernization process.Within the context of the operative historian figure of architectural Modernity, the thesis reveals how Giedion has constructed the Space-time conception throughout his book Space, Time and Architecture written in 1941 and with continuous additions to the book, how he has transformed the concept both in terms of content and meaning. This dissertation presents under which traditions, conditions, motivations and mentalities Giedion has invented the Space-time concept, deciphering how the content of the concept has been transformed through deconstruction of persuasion mechanisms and narrative techniques used in order to render this invention as self-evident. Within the framework of this demystifying and deconstructing approaches, thesis examines how the idea of space constituted and framed by the psychology, physiognomy and Gestalt theories of the 19th century have been transformed into spatial experience at the beginning of the 20th century and how Giedion transposes this spatial experience into .Space-time. as the morphological, spatial, temporal and syntaxial characteristics of modern architecture.This dissertation presents how the diversified traces of time theorizations ranging from the 19th century pseudo-scientific fourth dimension theories to non-Euclidean Geometry theories, from Einstein.s General Theory of Relativity to anthropomorphic time conceptualizations in philosophy are continued by Giedion have been deciphered.Transforming the static relationship between subject-object by suggesting the mobilization of Subject and the disengagement in syntax between the parts and totality of the Object, Giedion addresses the Cubist painting as a shift in the reception of .hidden. and .unseen. fragments of the Reality and it.s .contemporaneous. Einstein.s General Theory of Relativity as the scientific footing for the temporal characteristic of the spatial experience. Elaborating the 19th century art-historical space conceptions, the principles of a-perspectival view in the new mode of visual perception theories, which include time consciousness within the spatial experiences and the fragmented totality of the mentally constructed images of modern space conception in post-cubist reception theories, this dissertation scrutinizes, the techniques of expanding the meaning of Space-time conception and the mechanisms of persuasion that convert the meaning into a metaphoric narrative and the representative instrument of Modernity in the last edition of the book Space, Time and Architecture.Consequently, it has been analyzed how the two important concepts of Space and Time have undergone changes and transformations until they have been reached to Giedion, and how he has adopted this intellectual heritage and transformed it into .Space-time. that amounts to the modern space conception of the 20th century. Key Words: Space-time; Sigfried Giedion; Space, Time and Architecture;Architectural Historian; Historiography of Modern Architecture.