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From: Stirling's Inheritance To: Stirling's Legacy Re: Stirling's Muses

1.10

Stirling's evolutionary theory of architecture:

[C]ontemporary architecture has its origins long before the 1920s or Adolf Loos. (How about the Japanese tea house for starters though, speaking personally, I might be inclined to go back to Egypt). I believe that the evolutionary theory of architecture is more interesting and is gaining ground over the revolutionary one--witness the current interest in (corrupt) Art Deco over the (pure) high MOD of Corb-Mies-Bauhaus. Every now and then revolutions do occur within the mainstream of architectural development and Modern Architecture was certainly one of these, but revolutions are the exception. The early pure style of Brunelleschi also was succeeded by architects who had a more relaxed and accommodating attitude to all of everything including architectural history and influences from every direction.

It is shocking to realize how very limited the language of contemporary architecture has become though, with the passing of High Style MOD, we have the opportunity once more to expand our vocabulary and remember our architectural lineage. The front of Hawksmoor's church at Spitalfields (London) comprises at least a Gothic spire, a French arch-de-triumphe and a Roman basilica, and this free-wheeling construction of elements was something which Schinkel and many other architects could do well; one admires their facility and envies their vocabulary. Never in the past (MOD Architecture excepted) have architects so completely rejected previous architectural forms and now is perhaps the time to acknowledge our continuity and remember our cultural background, wherever we come from, and this must be more important than any attempt at outright historical revivalism.

James Stirling, "Introduction and Comments" (to the House for K. F. Schinkel Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition) in The Japan Architect, February, 1980, p.50-1.

The sense of "oscillation," as ascertained from the trees and aedicule at Stuttgart, also plays a role in Stirling's design philosophy.

We are alas too well known for a small part of our output, namely the University buildings of the early 60s particularly at Leicester and Cambridge and recently I've heard the comment 'Why has our work changed so much?' Whilst I think change is healthy, I do not believe that our work has changed. Maybe what we do now is more like our earlier work, and that oscillating process is still continuing.

James Stirling, "Acceptance of the Royal Gold Medal in Architecture 1980" in Architectural Design, July/August, 1980, p.7.

Our work has oscillated between the most 'abstract' modern (even High-tech), such as the Olivetti training school, and the obviously 'representational', even traditional, for instance the Rice University School of Architecture. These extremes have characterized our work since we began, but significantly, in recent designs (particularly the Staatsgalerie), the extremes are being counter-balanced and expressed in the same building.

James Stirling, "Design Philosophy and Recent Work" in Architectural Design, July/August, 1990, p.7.

Stirling's Muses Part I

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