Architecture as a Synthesis of the Arts

Architecture as a Synthesis of the Arts

8 lectures plus extracts and notes (CW 286)

This collection introduces Rudolf Steiner’s vision of architecture as a culmination of the arts. Such architecture unites sculpture, painting, and engraving as well as drama, music and dance―a vital synthesis of all the arts working in cooperation through the common ideal of awakening us to our individuality and task in life.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Steiner’s ideas did not remain abstract. Within his lifetime he was able to design and construct a number of buildings, including his architectural masterpiece, the Goetheanum―a center for culture and arts near Basle, Switzerland. In these lectures Steiner describes, with reference to the Goetheanum, the importance of an architecturally coherent and integrated community, and how this in turn affects social unity and harmony.

These lectures offer a panorama of the development of architecture in parallel with the emerging human soul in human evolution. This is a valuable collection for all students of architecture, the arts, social science, and those looking for a deeper spiritual understanding of the art of architecture.

Architecture as a Synthesis of the Arts is a translation from German of Wege zu einem neuen Baustil. “Und der Bau wird Mensch”

CONTENTS:

Part One: The Temple Is the Human Being

• An Art & Architecture that Reveal the Underlying Wholeness of Creation
• The Task of Modern Art & Architecture
• Proposals for the Architecture of a Model Anthroposophical Community at Dornach

Part Two: Ways to a New Style of Architecture

• True Artistic Creation
• Art As the Creation of Organs through which the Gods Speak to Us
• A New Concept of Architecture
• The Aesthetic Laws of Form
• The Creative World of Color

Appendix: The Evolution of Architecture at the Turn of Each New Millennium

Notes & Color Plates

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.