Myth & Modernism: Essays on the Quest for Spiritual Architecture in the Early Twentieth Century

The slogan ‘form follows function’ is synonymous with architecture of the early 20th century, exemplified by what historians frequently present as efficient steel frames and rational social (and secular) building programmes. However, the purpose of this book is to illustrate an often neglected aspect of early architectural modernism, namely its expression of irrational, mythological and spiritual themes. These themes, well enough known in German Expressionist art, are shown to have derived from prominent non-architectural realms of thought, most notably the esoteric and spiritual ideas associated with Carl Jung’s Psychology, Albert Einstein’s ‘Fourth Dimension’ and Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy. The quest by philosophers and modernist architects for what might be termed a ‘spiritual architecture’ forms the book’s main theme. Seen collectively, the diverse esoteric and spiritual ambitions discussed in these essays contrast with the traditional view of the Bauhaus architectural orthodoxy as founded on a functional, anti-historical rhetoric. Myth and Modernism seem to be odd bedfellows. Yet the influence of archetypal myths of renaissance architectural theory and biblical narrative emerges as less remote than might at first be imagined.