“Architectural History or Landscape History?”
1. Citation:
Dell Upton, “Architectural History or Landscape History?” Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 44, No. 4. (Aug., 1991), pp. 195-199.
2. Argument:
“Architectural History or Landscape History?” examines the efficacy and precision of the distinct research positions of architectural historians and the effectiveness of whether these methods exude the true analysis of architecture.
3. Author:
Dell Upton’s philosophy that influences his thinking and writing is primarily that architecture is a means for forming society and culture and appropriating a society by creating specific settings for it. Dell Upton received his B.A. in History and English at Colgate University, his M.A. and Ph.D. in American Civilization at Brown University. Upton is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, as well as a member of the editorial boards of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, the Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, and the Material History Review. He has also served as a consultant and chief catalogue essayist for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts 2000 exhibition Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861. Upton is currently a professor at UCLA, teaching courses on the history of architecture and urbanism, vernacular architecture, material culture, cultural landscapes, and research methods. A few major publications by Upton include: Architecture in the United States written in 1998 and the winner of the Vernacular Architecture Forum’s 1999 Abbott Lowell Cummings Award, Madaline: Love and Survival in Antebellum New Orleans, written in 1996 and winner of the 1996 Louisiana Literary Award and Holy Things and Profane: Anglican Parish Churches in Colonial Virginia, winner of many awards in the year 1987.
4. Method:
Dell Upton begins to evaluate the progression of architecture during the eighteenth and nineteenth century and the way it is learned and studied. Using Larson’s, The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis, Upton studied how historians during this time perceived, researched, and legitimized architecture. Understanding how the methods of architectural historians evolved, Upton was able to find the gaps in recording architecture in a precise and detailed manner. Upton supports his argument regarding the need for a more effectiveness of an architectural historian’s analysis on architecture by proposing three precise strategies: interpreting the function and intention of the architecture through recognizably universal aesthetics, analyzing architecture within a variety of contexts and landscapes, and emphasizing the importance of human experience and perception of the user of the architecture.
The first methodology encompasses architectural historians analyzing architecture through the aesthetic and technical traditions around the world and throughout history. Historians use their understanding of vernacular architectural styles and patterns to create an analysis and understanding. According to Upton, this strategy is unsustainable, for historians use identifiable traditions to create a general typology of architectural history rather than scrutinizing differences and unique attributes.
The second methodology used by architectural historians consists of analyzing the landscape and setting of the architecture and what cultural, social, and environment aspects influence the building to be what it is. Differing landscapes create a multitude of meanings for architecture, whether applying the “low,” local, vernacular culture to a “high, ” elite, monumental concept or vise versa. Looking solely at the context itself will not define the architecture and what it truly entails, conflicting with the first methodology. Upton sustains this confliction of these two methods using the words of Jonathan Culler stating, “while meaning is context-bound, context is boundless…”, from Framing the Sign: Criticism and Its Institutions.
According to Upton, the preferable strategy to analyzing architecture is that of cultural landscape, which focuses on the human experience of the user of the architecture. James Deetz in Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life and Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf explain the human perception of the material world. Using these sources, Upton proves his argument that in order to be a successful architectural historian, it is necessary to understanding the experience of the user.
5. Keywords: - Vernacular, Human Perception, Cultural Landscape
7. Vernacular:
Paul Groth, “Making New Connections in Vernacular Architecture.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 58, No. 3, Architectural History 1999/2000 (Sept., 1999), pp. 444-451.
Human Perception:
L.J.Wood, “Perception Studies in Geography.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, No. 50 (Jul., 1970), pp. 129-142.
Cultural Landscape:
Richard H. Schein, “The Place of Landscape: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting an American Scene.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 87, No. 4 (Dec., 1997), pp. 660-680.
8. Rationale:
“Making New Connections in Vernacular Architecture” creates a connection between vernacular and high style architecture. Though Dell Upton establishes distinct definitions for low and high architecture, he states “rather denying or even supplementing the high culture, therefore, histories of the vernacular complete it, confirming its transcendence.” This article supports Upton’s belief that low and high architecture are interrelated despite their distinct characteristics. This article explains in many examples how low and high architecture merge together in one geographical location to create a dynamic environment and atmosphere. Furthermore, this article begins to articulate sites within their larger context and surroundings, proving Upton’s belief in the importance of contextualization and landscape.
“Perception Studies in Geography” inquires a deep understanding of the evolution and progression of environments around the world and how they have been influenced by human perception of place. Patterns created, behaviors performed, environment formed, and architecture built all result from the human mind, perception, and cognition. According to Dell Upton, it is essential in analyzing architecture as an architectural historian through the eyes of the human, human experience, and human perception. Without studying and learning the observation of human activity, the understanding of man verses environment and architecture will not succeed.
“The Place of Landscape: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting an American Scene” provides a genealogy of landscape, including a multitude of meanings and perceptions of what a landscape is. It is explained, as Upton explains, that cultural landscape encompasses a “materials presence” and “conceptual framing.” It is not solely the building and not simply the context of the architecture but rather, a culmination of tangible materials and sociological aspects and culture of individuals who create this landscape. This article proves Upton’s statement that architecture and landscape need to look beyond the physical building itself.
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