On Artistic Nature Of Architecture

The artistic nature of architecture depends on people's comprehension of art. Although different people have different viewpoint on art, they yet have something in common. When people try to probe into the nature of art, art will inevitably be look upon as a kind of unique filed. The uniqueness of art is rooted in the distinction between art and experience of daily life. According to H·G·Bullock's point of view, the theory of art can be divided into two categories:one is concerning the "autonomy" of art, which emphasizes the intrinsic significance and value of art and has nothing to do with daily life; another is about the "heteronomy" of art, which esteems that daily life can not be distinguished from art and can measure art as a criterion. However, these two kinds of incompatible aesthetic thought have focused on architectural art. On the one hand, people use the principle of autonomy to analyze the line, form, color and other aesthetic elements of architecture, In the process of analysis, architecture is regarded as "form for the sake of form". On the other hand, the architecture is also related to the purpose and utilitarian, it must meet the needs of people's living and be inseparable with our daily life. These two aspects bring about the distinction between the form and function of architecture, and ultimately lead to formalism and functionalism. Nevertheless, the distinction does not exist in the architectural practice. There are two reasons for this distinction. Firstly, people always make a alternative choice between "autonomy" and "heteronomy" of art. Secondly, people take the distinction of concept's analysis as one of practical experience. According to the principle of artistic "autonomy" and "heteronomy", architecture differentiates from other non-practical art, such as sculpture, painting, music and so on, which can not be used to measure the artistic nature of architecture.The artistic nature of architecture is not only concerning with aesthetic experience but also space. Its space is different from the one of painting, sculpture and music, which makes the architectural art have its own characteristics. Generally speaking, people's concept of space can be divided into two categories:one is the physical space, which is organized by the science and technology, and it is from the capability of thought, that is reason; another is the meaningful space, which does not depend on the knowledge of science and technology to obtain, but stresses people's perceive and experience of space, and it contains the deep meaning of human's existence. The two kinds of space are in essence from human's understanding of himself, and they reflect that people grasp the world by means of perception and thought. Different understanding of space will inevitably affect the artistic nature of architecture. To the architects who emphasize the physical space, architecture can be considered as a quantifiable container. In order to adapt with such space, they often adopt regularly geometric forms, which finally lead to the machine aesthetic, the golden ratio and other rules of art; In contrast, the architects who has the concept of meaning space does not completely set out from measurement and technology, but stressed the relationship of dwelling between people and space. The artistic nature of architecture depends largely on this relationship. The space of architecture is closely related with time. Architectural art not only has the meaning of time, but also reflects the people's attitude toward time, and shapes people's sense of time. There is one relationship of dwelling not only between human and space, but also between human and time. In addition, architectural space shows up as place. Place in a sense is an extension of the meaningful space, and it can be regarded as a specific thing that exists in the space. Place is often endowed the relatively stable value and significance because of people's dwelling and more solid and durable then space. People living in it will have the sense of identity and belonging. Place has the spirit and soul-genius loci-which makes place have its own character and temperament. To a certain degree, place embodies coordination and understanding between human and nature. It is a kind of balance in survival sense. However, modern people have stricken this balance and the architecture's genius loci lost in modern society.In a sense, home brings out the artistic nature of architecture. Home is a place in where human beings live, and the architecture often embodies human's home. Home yet refers to the community of marriage and kindred-family that is organized by numbers with love and affection-therefore, it is not only our body's shelter, but also a place in where our spirit rests. Home is ultimately a life-world that is constructed for the better survival. Nevertheless, in the modern world, science and technology become the highest goal and the ruler of all things, and it offered violence and exploitation on everything, which make human being and everything apart from their nature. Everything crumbled, and home fell. Nowadays functionalism and technicism become main principle of modern architecture, while dwelling and home that were closely related to architectural art have been neglected, even forgotten. The real art has been trying to preserve the nature of everything and home of human being, so is the architectural art, which is firmly concerning to Heidegger so-called "poetic dwelling"."Poetic dwelling" does not mean that the place human living in is so pleasant that like a piece of poetry or painting, but refers to offer a norm or measure for human being. The artistic nature of architecture in a sense provides the nature of dwelling, home and human itself. The provision is not an astriction or binding, but brings freedom to human being. When the architects and thinkers try to probe the ideal of architecture in terms of home, there are two different views:one is dissatisfied with the status quo and worried about the mankind's future, then turns to the traditional architecture; the other is the criticism to the present and traditional society, then hopes for the future. No matter what kind of views in revealing the dilemma of architectural art, they both fall into a new dilemma again. However, once we realize the source of architectural art's dilemma, we already step forward.