‘The human being and architecture’

     

The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art offers a free lecture Thursday night on, what a Freemason might call, the essentials of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty in architecture.

(In Masonic theory, to link architectural integrity to the human form, it may be useful to recollect the Apprentice’s Perfect Points of Entrance and the Master’s—formerly the Fellow’s—Five Points of Fellowship, among other ritual elements in the lodge.)

From the publicity:

The ancient Vitruvian analogy between the human being and architecture was reconsidered in the Early Renaissance, most profoundly by Leon Battista Alberti. His writings emphasize the role of a human being as an ideal type, worthy of representation in the visual arts. According to Alberti, beauty in architecture is innate, which means that a person cannot help but respond in a positive way to a well proportioned building. Alberti even believed that if an army were to enter a city with the intention of destroying it, but the buildings were beautiful, the warriors would lay down their weapons and act in a peaceful manner. This utopian theory provides insight into architecture’s extraordinary role of maintaining civic life. In his theoretical writings, Alberti assisted architects by outlining the steps to be followed when designing a building.

This premier of a video course presented by Peter Kohane, Senior Lecturer of Architecture at UNSW Sydney, will review Alberti’s principles and discuss both their relation to the architecture of the Renaissance and how they can be applied to architectural debates today. The video premiere will be followed by live Q&A with Dr. Kohane.

What You Will Learn

• Alberti’s principles, including the steps involved in making a classical building.
• That an architect in the Renaissance strived to create forms which accord with the constitution of a human being.
• That a building by Alberti was intended to have a positive impact on a beholder, which involved acting in a civilized manner within the city.
• How to invoke Alberti’s ideas to clarify the nature of debates in the present about architecture and the city.

Register here.

     

‘Advancing the classical tradition in architecture’

     

Courtesy stonecarving.us

Pellettieri in a demonstration of the art.

This just in:

An operative stone mason will be the guest speaker at a lodge in Brooklyn soon.

Master Carver Chris Pellettieri will present “The Stone Mason Way” at Amos-Fort Greene Lodge 922 on Monday, February 3. This event, part of the lodge’s Community Lecture Series, will be open to Masons, their families and friends, and free of charge too. That’s 8 p.m. Dinner will be served afterward, and reservations are a must. Contact the lodge secretary here.

From the publicity:


Chris Pellettieri was trained as a stone mason at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine apprenticeship program in 1989, an experience that enabled him to understand the relationship between ornament and architecture from a design point of view. He is a Master Carver who continues the stone mason tradition today.

Pellettieri will give a lecture about his journey and the stonemason craft. His presentation will include a demonstration that Speculative Masons hear so much about, but rarely see. Join us and experience the connection of the Operative to Speculative traditions for yourself.

In 2009, Pellettieri was the winner of the Arthur Ross Award in Artisanship from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. The ICAA and its chapters nationwide honor the achievements of those advancing the classical tradition in architecture and related fields. The Arthur Ross Awards were created to recognize and celebrate excellence in the classical tradition.

Amos-Fort Greene Lodge 922 meets in the Midwood Masonic Temple, located at 1348 East 64th Street in Brooklyn.
     

‘Discovering Greece and Rome in Gotham’

     
I really need to pay closer attention to the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. Located just a mile north of Masonic Hall, the ICAA offers great events, to wit:

Classical New York:

Discovering Greece and Rome

in Gotham

Thursday, September 27

6:30 to 8:30

20 West 44th Street, first floor

Register here

During the rise of New York from the capital of an upstart nation to a global metropolis, the visual language of Greek and Roman antiquity played a formative role in the development of the city’s art and architecture. Join Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis, Matthew McGowan, and Francis Morrone, three of the authors of the upcoming book Classical New York: Discovering Greece and Rome in Gotham (Fordham University Press), for an evening of interdisciplinary exploration of New York City’s classical roots.

Classical New York examines the influence of Greco-Roman thought and design from the Greek Revival of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through the late-nineteenth-century American Renaissance and Beaux Arts period and into the twentieth century’s Art Deco. At every juncture, New Yorkers looked to the classical past for knowledge and inspiration in seeking out new ways to cultivate a civic identity, to design their buildings and monuments, and to structure their public and private spaces.

Following an introduction to classical reception and its importance in New York City, the three authors will speak on their papers from Classical New York:

Fordham University Press

• Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis’s “The Gould Memorial Library and Hall of Fame: Reinterpreting the Pantheon in the Bronx”

• Matthew McGowan’s “In Ancient and Permanent Language: Artful Dialogue in the Latin Inscriptions of New York City”

• Francis Morrone’s “The Custom House of 1833-42: A Greek Revival Building in Context.”

Copies of Classical New York: Discovering Greece and Rome in Gotham will be available for purchase following the event.

Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis is Assistant Professor and Acting Executive Officer of the M.A. Program in Liberal Studies (MALS) and director of the MALS track Archaeology of the Classical, Late Antique, and Islamic Worlds at the City University of New York. She majored in history, archaeology, and classics at Cornell University, where she graduated summa cum laude, and she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in archaeology at Oxford University. She has taught at Oxford and Royal Holloway–University of London. Macaulay-Lewis is the editor or author of five books, including the 2017 work Housing the New Romans: Architectural Reception and Classical Style in the Modern World, and the author of over a dozen articles on ancient Roman and Islamic gardens and architecture.

Matthew McGowan is Associate Professor and Chair of Classics at Fordham University. He is interested in Roman poetry, ancient scholarship, and classical reception. He has published broadly on a variety of Greek and Latin topics and is the author of Ovid in Exile: Power and Poetic Redress in the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto (Brill, 2009). Alongside editing Classical New York, he is compiling a guide to the Greek and Latin inscriptions of New York City. He teaches a wide range of courses, from classical myth to Latin prose composition, and has instituted the spoken Latin table at the Rose Hill campus. He was President of the New York Classical Club (2009-15) and is now Vice President for Communications and Outreach for the Society for Classical Studies.

Francis Morrone is an architectural historian and the author of eleven books including Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes (W.W. Norton, 2013); The New York Public Library: The Architecture and Decoration of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (with Henry Hope Reed, W.W. Norton, 2011); and architectural guidebooks to Philadelphia and Brooklyn. As a historic preservation consultant he has written countless building histories and neighborhood surveys in New York and beyond. He worked as an art and architecture critic for the New York Sun. Collectively, his work represents one of the most comprehensive bodies of research on the built history of New York City.

The Gould Memorial Library and Hall of Fame. My alma mater’s previous library in the Bronx. Only a tiny piece of it was relocated to Washington Square, where the current library stands. Bobst Library looks...ah, different.

     

‘The “decadent” order of architecture!’

     
The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art will offer a study on the Composite Order next month, with a look at the Solomonic Column also. From the publicity:

Elements of Classicism:

Unpacking the Composite Order

Instructor: Mason Roberts

Saturday, May 12

9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

ICAA National Office

20 West 44th Street, Suite 310

Manhattan

Register here

Decadent! This is just one of the utterances one may hear when asking modern day architects what their feelings are on the Composite Order. In spite of its ranking as the highest and most complex of the five canonical orders, the Composite is perhaps the least used and understood in the contemporary practice of Classical design. Why is this? Is it the level of elaboration of the capital combining a rich mixture of Ionic and Corinthian characteristics? Is it the unique Roman connotations of the order?

The purpose of this course is to provide an in-depth study of the composition of this underutilized order, its history, and its proportioning. A brief overview of the Classical Orders will introduce the development of the Composite as it emerged in Ancient Rome. The study of its proportioning will involve a hand drawing tutorial during which participants will draw the base and capital, including the volute geometry, according to the treatise of Andrea Palladio. The course will conclude with a look at case studies of the application of the canonical Composite in various building types, including some rare modern-day examples. As part of this survey, the geometry of Bernini’s iconic Solomonic Column, with its undulating Baroque shaft, will be examined in detail.

Course Materials: Sketchbook or drawing pad (loose leaf paper acceptable - recommended size 11 x 17), drawing pencils or lead holder with drawing leads (F, HB, B, or 2B recommended), ruler or architectural scale (12 inches minimum), pencil sharpener or lead pointer, simple drawing compass (optional). Materials are available for loan upon request.

What You Will Learn:

• A brief introduction of the classical orders
• The history of the Composite Order, showing its evolution from antiquity to the present
• The proportioning system of the Composite Order, according to Andrea Palladio and Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• The application of the Composite Order to building types and design elements

Mason Roberts is an architectural designer for Robert A.M. Stern Architects and holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture.

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art is a nonprofit membership organization committed to promoting and preserving the practice, understanding, and appreciation of classical design. To do so, the ICAA offers a broad range of educational programs. These include intensives for architecture and design students, introductory programs for middle school students, lectures and walking tours for the public, continuing education courses for professionals and enthusiasts, travel programs to visit classical masterpieces, the publishing of original and reprinted books, and an annual journal titled The Classicist. Through the annual Arthur Ross Awards, as well as other national and regional award programs, the ICAA also honors contemporary leaders of classical design and the related fields.

The ICAA is a national organization, with 15 chapters across the country and headquarters in New York City. Each chapter organizes its own local programming to reflect the unique members and architectural traditions in its region. The ICAA’s membership represents the diverse and dynamic cross-section of all those involved with the building arts, from architects and designers, to patrons and artisans. These members benefit from the robust network of local and national programs and networking opportunities. Likewise, the organization is continually enriched and inspired by responding to the needs, interests, and passions of its growing membership base.