Architecture of Lisbon City - Case Study Example

Client’s Information Enlightened Thought in Lisbon Architecture in the Use of Space A discussion in space as it is used in architectural development is based on the idea of how space will be enclosed and how it will be revealed. When approaching the concept of space, decisions about light, distance, manipulation of boundaries, and the most practical use as compared to the most beautiful use must be addressed and the decisions made must create the desired artistic point of view. In the age of Enlightenment, a sense of reason dominated the philosophies and had developed in regard to the way in which artistic pursuits were addressed. The architecture of Lisbon, Portugal, because of the devastation of the earthquake, subsequent tsunami and then fire damage of 1755 provided a blank canvas for the Enlightened concepts to be embodied. As the City of Lisbon was rebuilt after the disasters of 1755, an opportunity is made available for an examination of the use of natural light and space that well represents the philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was considered the age of reason when the overly ornate and corrupt influences of the elitist superiority was being replaced with a respect for the middle class and an appreciation for its rise. As this rejection of the elite was transformed into a more natural acceptance of humanity, “to create through deliberate and rational design a new social order, and with it a purer, more functionally and structurally Client’s Last Name 2 expressive architecture” (Roth 398). Architecture of the modern era would be defined by the way in which Enlightened thinkers designed the philosophical principles. “The conceptual basis of the modern house, as a system of public an private spaces with specific functions organized with respect to the dual poles of ceremony and comfort, was formulated at this time” (Etlin xvii). In defining the way in which architects should approach the organization of space and the elements that confine that space, the many aspects of the social human experience could now be addressed in the context of architecture. In 1755, in the city of Lisbon Portugal, an earthquake was then followed by a tsunami, both of which contributed to raging fires that destroyed much of the city. The reconstruction of the city would follow the philosophies of the Enlightenment in creating an embodiment of the concepts that best served the age, combined with the environmental needs of the city, which now included a conscious effort to thwart earthquake and fire damage. The Enlightenment followed the Renaissance which had re-established classical thought in the arts and architecture, where the Enlightenment brought a deep sense of reason into the philosophies of human creative inspiration. The city was redesigned with the concepts of practical considerations and beautiful inspiration guiding the new design. Some of the influences on the way in which the city would be designed were based on the disasters and the consequences of those disasters. King Joseph I became extremely claustrophic as a result of the catastrophe, living with his entire court in a tent city in the hills of Ajuda until his death (Ventura 164). However, the King was very engaged with the concerns of the city and began initiatives to begin the study of Client’s Last Name 3 seismology. One of the most important consequences of the disaster was that it inspired new ways of thinking that would help in defining Enlightenment philosophy, most importantly in that the state would take active responsibility in disaster relief (Hough and Bilham 50). Distributing very modern seismology questionnaires of thirteen questions known as the Marquis de Pombal survey (named for the prime minister), the government and the scientists they utilized made interpretation of the events that surrounded the earthquake and its following consequences (Mendez-Victor et al 30). As a result, the city would be rebuilt using structures that were designed to withstand seismic activity and to have some fire resistance by utilizing brick as opposed to wood within the structures. Pombal would choose designs by Manuel de Maia, along with the work of Carlos Mardel and Eugenio dos Santos, that had the most practical sense of the city (Fletcher and Cruickshank 961). The city is based on a central square on the riverfront with two additional squares around which rectangular formed street grids were created. This structured use of space was designed in order to create economically practical city planning as well as to reinforce the power of the monarchy and implement the new ideas in disaster based architecture. According to Sir Banister Fletcher, “the sobriety of rebuilt Lisbon lay partly in the need for economy, (although) a dichotomy has generally been apparent in Portuguese architecture between an instinct for simple elegance in the form of buildings and a love of sumptuous embellishments” (961). Space, however, would be the most interesting way in which the new city would be designed. Prime Minister Pombal was put in charge of the reconstruction of the city and he chose a design that would focus on five aspects of importance: 1) It replaced the Client’s Last Name 4 old medieval wooden city with stone and stucco in the manner of London, 2) It reoriented streets to gain maximum exposure to sunlight, 3) It linked commercial and royal districts of the city. 4) It eased circulation in the heart of the city. 5) It created open space for ceremonies and access to the river. (Burby 32) The most interesting concept that was developed during the organization of the space within the city was to reorient the design so that it led to the monarchy, spatially diminishing and weakening the aristocracy and the Church (Lauer 378). According to Susan Kent “Architectural partitions usually are conscious manipulations by humans to create boundaries where they do not exist in nature” (2). In the urbanized design of a city, outside space or exterior space, must be organized with a multitude of interests satisfied as well as a creation of an aesthetic appeal. In urban design, what is absent has as much importance as what is present. In the case of Lisbon, the streets were designed so that they run toward the water, creating a natural view that supports the well-being of the inhabitants. In developing streets so that travel toward the ocean, the grid of the city creates unnatural boundaries in response to environmental resources. The idea of open spaces for congregation was deeply embraced during the 17th and 18th century architectural styles. Areas that had interconnections between the natural world and the defined architecture were created as a representation of the Enlightened concept that embraced the natural world as a component of the designed human experience. The Ajuda Palace occupies the site where King Joseph I set up court with a series of royal tents within a wooden framework structure in order to avoid being Client’s Last Name 5 enclosed within solid walls that could crumble under natures wrath. After the wooden structure burned in 1794, Queen Mary I and King John VI began the process of having the palace built. Designed with the symmetry that is common for architecture built during the post-Enlightenment period in a neoclassic style (Jorge), it is designed with an open courtyard in the center of a square which house the rooms of the palace. The use of this open space, however, is representative of the way in which the influence of Enlightened thought put artistic pursuits together with the natural world in order to create a sense of harmony. By creating this open space, people could gather within the environment. In using the aspects of definition and space, the architecture relates the geometric structure to the necessity of human needs within a boundary. The period of time surrounding the earthquake and the consequences of the Pomballian period of control would create a confusion in the styles of architecture that would be used to design the buildings of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The new Lisbon was a severe and austere design that was the embodiment of the Enlightened thought. “Lisbon became the veritable symbol of the triumph of reason over the savage forces of nature” (Bergdoll 53). However, Pombal was as ruthless in the way that he regained order in the city as he was in the severity of the designs he chose to implement. His death in 1777 created a backlash where some of the Rococo and Baroque influences would come back to building. Queluz National Palace is one of the last buildings with these influences and was embraced as symbolic for the anti-Pombal. However, the Estrela Basilica, built in 1789 by Queen Mary I was in the style of the Baroque and was a commentary on a desire to shed the growth of the middle-class and embrace the Client’s Last Name 6 aristocratic principles once again (Sayers 269). The struggle can be considered symbolic in the tighter, more intricately designed space of the Baroque as compared to the symmetrical and open space of the Neo-Classicist. However, the city of Lisbon would continue to develop according to the needs of the bourgeoisie and was driven by a new sense of the economy that was based on capitalistic growth. The Sao Carlos Opera House was built shortly after the Basilica and was designed in with a sense of the neo-classic symmetry and the thought to open space and harmony with nature. The Opera House was paid for by the upper middle class, establishing a sense of division between the old aristocracy represented by the basilica and the new capitalistic power of the middle class (Sayers 270). According to Kim Dovey, “Architecture and urban design are the most contradictory of practices - torn between a radically optimistic belief in the creation of the new, and a conservative acceptance of the prevailing order” (xii). However, the natural disasters of 1755 allowed for a complete restructuring of Lisbon, although the political influences would find a struggle between the old and new relationships. The new city was designed from the point of view of the monarchy with the spatial relationship leading to the political power, abandoning the spiritual powers. The way in which space was defined for the new Enlightened thought was in harmony with the natural order. The confines of the aristocracy was symbolically opened to the world in the neo-classic designs of the 18th century as the middle class gained importance and power. The remarkable historical power of Lisbon is the way in which it was developed with the spatial harmony of Enlightened philosophy as the basis for its design. Client’s Last Name 7 Works Cited Bergdoll, Barry. European Architecture 1750-1890. Oxford history of art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Burby, Raymond J. Cooperating with Nature: Confronting Natural Hazards with Land Use Planning for Sustainable Communities. Natural hazards and disasters. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 1998. Dovey, Kim. Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form. New York: Routledge, 2009. Etlin, Richard A. Symbolic Space: French Enlightenment Architecture and Its Legacy. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994. Fletcher, Banister, and Dan Cruickshank. Sir Banister Fletchers a History of Architecture. Oxford: Architectural Press, 1996. Herrle, Peter. Architecture and Identity. Habitat - international, Bd. 9. Berlin: Lit, 2008. Hough, Susan Elizabeth, and Roger G. Bilham. After the Earth Quakes: Elastic Rebound on an Urban Planet. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Jorge, A. “National Palace of Ajuda.” Mica Nazare. 12 January 2009. 4 April 2009 Kent, Susan. Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space: An Interdisciplinary Cross- Cultural Study. New directions in archaeology. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Lauer, Gerhard, and Thorsten Unger. Das Erdbeben von Lissabon und der Katastrophendiskurs im 18. Jahrhundert. Achtzehnte Jahrhundert, Bd. 15. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2008. Mendes-Víctor, L. A. The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake: Revisited. [Dordrecht]: Springer, 2009. Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Client’s Last Name 8 Saunders, D. “Behavioral Conventions and Archeology: Methods for the analysis of ancient architecture.” ed. Kent, S. Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space: An Interdisciplinary Cross-Cultural Study. New directions in archaeology. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1993 Sayers, Raymond. Portugal and Brazil in Transition. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Ventura. R[io de] J[aneiro]: Spala Editora, 1987. Read More