Naturvidenskab og "det andet". Historiografiske vinkler på dansk glasarkitektur

Abstract

The article examines the apparent silence concerning history and theory of modern architecture in Denmark during the postwar period. By making inquiries into the general agenda of mainstream C.I.A.M. modernism a strong Danish line of oppositional architecture appears.
Sigfried Giedions influential book Space Time and Architecture promotes science, industry and works of engineering. Space Time and Architecture is a linear history in an almost Hegelian sense describing the parallel development of still more dematerialized structures (+exposed glass cladding ) and natural science, implicitly evoking a relation between the two. Arne Jacobsens Rødovre City hall is a case study of architecture that manifest Giedions and C.I.A.M.s programme. Glass Curtain wall cladding and exposed engineering structures characterize this building. A stock of Danish Architects opposed to Arne Jacobsens ideas of architecture and in reality also to the C.I.A.M. programme. They were rooted in architectural theories from the Arts & Crafts movement and further back from the English pioneers of The Picturesque. The essence of these architectural strategies is the opposition to science and industry manifest in tectonic strategies. Bo & Wohlerts Louisiana Museum is a case study in this aspect, wonderfully reinterpreting follies of the romantic garden by means of solid buildingmaterials left with the natural finish and using glass only as a non exposed necessity between the rough buildingparts. But since Space Time and Architecture aggressively ridiculed what could be termed the romantic architectural programme of Danish post war modernism a silence in relation to History and Theory appeared. The article in detail examines how the term romantic is used as a negative expression in Space Time and Architecture and how Giedion uses the term organic in a sense suited for C.I.A.M.s mission of promoting science as architectural meaning.