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1979

Stephen Lauf

"Geometry: its internal workings, its external expression, and..."


2000.08.24
the right direction (finally)
...e.g. "this is an advertisement" as parody of the Venturi "this is a monument" (my Stanza AIA Bookstore ad idea).


2000.12.17
speaking architecture
In 1979, as an undergrad student halfway through my "formal" architectural education, I wrote an article entitled "Geometry: its internal workings, its external expression, and its meaning in architecture." This article was published within Stanza, Temple University's Architecture Students Association Magazine. Stanza was edited by Ronald Evitts and Michele T. Greene and designed by Stephen Lauf, and the magazine's name is derived from a quotation of Gio Ponti:
"The architect (the artist) must imagine for each window, a person at the sill; for each door, a person passing through; for each stair, a person going up or down; for each portico, a person loitering; for each terrace, somebody resting; for each room, somebody living within. (The Italian word for room is Stanza, a beautiful word; it means 'to stay', somebody there; a life.)"
"Geometry" was my first published work, and it was re-published at Quondam in early 1997, and is now again available at Quondam. Here's the opening paragraph:
"Geometry is the branch of mathematics that deals with space and its relations. The word geometry is derived from two Greek words meaning earth and measure. Man was once believed to be the measure of all things and perhaps in some ways still is. In architecture, geometry and man are used together; geometry as its form and man as its measure. Through this merger, a meaning evolves. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to demonstrate both the mechanical and theoretical aspects of geometry in the realm of architecture. "
For me personally, this was written literally a half lifetime ago. And I'm glad it is now that long ago, because virtually everything I've written since (now) has a firmly established "context". Incidentally, one of RE's prescient editorial decisions at Stanza was to reprint Robert Venturi's first publication, "Campidoglio: A Case Study", which originally appeared in The Architectural Review, 1954. I had since often wondered whether the reappearance of "Campidogilio" in Stanza, 1979 'inspired' Venturi and Scott Brown to then publish A View from the Campidoglio in 1984.

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