DOC109/13503 - Goetheanum II in Dornach (CH)
Built to Steiner's original plans and built to last.
SHARP, Dennis (1966). Modern Architecture and Expressionism. George Braziler, New York. LCCCN 67-15596
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Quadralectic Architecture - Marten Kuilman (2011), p. 964-965:
In the same geographical area as Ronchamp (around Basel) is another impressive concrete building known as the Goetheanium. This building was the brain child of Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925). He was a charismatic Goethe scholar and philosopher with an interest in the occult. His study of aesthetics, combined with a knowledge of mathematics and history sparked ideas over architecture, which were caught in the first Goetheanum in 1913. This wooden building, situated in Dornach (Switzerland), burned down on New Year’s Eve 1922-1923. The new Goetheanum, now in concrete, was finished in 1928, just three years after Steiner’s death. The building acts as ‘a free high school for spiritual science’.
Rudolf Steiner’s book on ‘Die Rätsel der Philosophie’ (1914/1968) gives an overview of his historical thinking. He distinguished four periods in the development of the philosophy. 1. Thought as a form of observation from the outside (eine Wahrnehmung von aussen); 2. Thoughts directed to the inside, aiming at selfconsciousness by means of religion (‘Das Selbst-bewusstsein wird erlebt, noch nicht gedanklich erfast’); 3. Verification of thought (‘Prüfung der Wirklichkeit des Gedankenlebens’); 4. Further development of thoughts (‘Selbsterzeugnis der Seele’). These different types of philosophical thinking can be recognized, in Steiner’s view, in the European cultural history as the periods: 600 BC – 1 AD (1), 1 AD – 877 AD (2), 877 – 1500 (3) and 1500 – 2300 (4).
The Goetheanum buildings are characterized by a metamorphosis of form, which is common in nature itself (as observed by Goethe). This natural change is difficult to envisage in solid architecture. The solution to mimic this process in a visual experience was found in the adding up of smaller, unrelated parts of a building to a new, harmonious whole ‘image’ (SHARP, 1966; ZIMMER, 1971/1985). This approach is the hallmark of an Expressionist style of the first decennia of the twentieth century. This phase of the Modern Movement in architecture was rich in fantasy, Utopian idealism and vision. The influence of the soul and its feelings is rated highly. The function of empathy (‘der liebevollen Hingabe an das von der Seele Erlebte’) has a resemblance to the important ‘Point of Recognition’ (POR) in the quadralectic philosophy. The latter is an active contribution of the observer to the process of observation, which determines the position in a cyclic communication.
Rudolf Steiner’s ideas and his movement of Anthroposophy (meaning the wisdom of mankind) have references to ‘Fourth Quadrant’ thinking. Steiner tried to create an order in which man and the world are related by a perception of rhythms of time. ‘These rhythms would extend from the heart beat of man to the eons of great cosmic epochs’ (A. Kenneth Bayes in a lecture to commemorate the Rudolf Steiner Centenary on 8 March 1961).
ZIMMER, Erich (1971/1985). Rudolf Steiner als Architect von Wohn- und Zweckbauten. Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart.
ISBN 3-7725-0605-4
DOC109/13503 - Goetheanum II in Dornach (CH)
Built to Steiner's original plans and built to last.
SHARP, Dennis (1966). Modern Architecture and Expressionism. George Braziler, New York. LCCCN 67-15596
----
Quadralectic Architecture - Marten Kuilman (2011), p. 964-965:
In the same geographical area as Ronchamp (around Basel) is another impressive concrete building known as the Goetheanium. This building was the brain child of Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925). He was a charismatic Goethe scholar and philosopher with an interest in the occult. His study of aesthetics, combined with a knowledge of mathematics and history sparked ideas over architecture, which were caught in the first Goetheanum in 1913. This wooden building, situated in Dornach (Switzerland), burned down on New Year’s Eve 1922-1923. The new Goetheanum, now in concrete, was finished in 1928, just three years after Steiner’s death. The building acts as ‘a free high school for spiritual science’.
Rudolf Steiner’s book on ‘Die Rätsel der Philosophie’ (1914/1968) gives an overview of his historical thinking. He distinguished four periods in the development of the philosophy. 1. Thought as a form of observation from the outside (eine Wahrnehmung von aussen); 2. Thoughts directed to the inside, aiming at selfconsciousness by means of religion (‘Das Selbst-bewusstsein wird erlebt, noch nicht gedanklich erfast’); 3. Verification of thought (‘Prüfung der Wirklichkeit des Gedankenlebens’); 4. Further development of thoughts (‘Selbsterzeugnis der Seele’). These different types of philosophical thinking can be recognized, in Steiner’s view, in the European cultural history as the periods: 600 BC – 1 AD (1), 1 AD – 877 AD (2), 877 – 1500 (3) and 1500 – 2300 (4).
The Goetheanum buildings are characterized by a metamorphosis of form, which is common in nature itself (as observed by Goethe). This natural change is difficult to envisage in solid architecture. The solution to mimic this process in a visual experience was found in the adding up of smaller, unrelated parts of a building to a new, harmonious whole ‘image’ (SHARP, 1966; ZIMMER, 1971/1985). This approach is the hallmark of an Expressionist style of the first decennia of the twentieth century. This phase of the Modern Movement in architecture was rich in fantasy, Utopian idealism and vision. The influence of the soul and its feelings is rated highly. The function of empathy (‘der liebevollen Hingabe an das von der Seele Erlebte’) has a resemblance to the important ‘Point of Recognition’ (POR) in the quadralectic philosophy. The latter is an active contribution of the observer to the process of observation, which determines the position in a cyclic communication.
Rudolf Steiner’s ideas and his movement of Anthroposophy (meaning the wisdom of mankind) have references to ‘Fourth Quadrant’ thinking. Steiner tried to create an order in which man and the world are related by a perception of rhythms of time. ‘These rhythms would extend from the heart beat of man to the eons of great cosmic epochs’ (A. Kenneth Bayes in a lecture to commemorate the Rudolf Steiner Centenary on 8 March 1961).
ZIMMER, Erich (1971/1985). Rudolf Steiner als Architect von Wohn- und Zweckbauten. Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart.
ISBN 3-7725-0605-4