Fancastel Art And Architecture Analysis

In an essay akin to the clean methodology he is in praise of that one has derived from advances in technology, Francastel states that there are three phases of how art and architecture as art has developed in light of advancements in technology. In the first phase, he details how people were generally reluctant to create new forms, instead using new technology to reinforce and recreate older styles. The second phase, he begins to contest Giedion in his thought that America was the one at the forefront of technology and explains that it was only later did America begin to emerge, however, other constructions such as French buildings also showed great advancement, farther than what America achieved. He feels that the second phase was the moment
Technology and art are ever more interconnected with the advent of even exhibits such as the various light festivals, and with the increasing use of parametric computational design to create designs for buildings. In addition, there are other technologies used in design creation for understanding structural behavior of any given design such as Karamba and Building Information Management (BIM), that can be easily shared to others in cloud-based systems. The epitome of such an advancement in technology to create can also be seen in Seol Min Kyu’s and Kang Mu Jung’s Evolution: Architectural Design Using Grasshopper (2016) where they use Grasshopper and parametric design to develop forms and building skins from a variety of profiles taken from real life photos. Their renders and photographs of completed works show also, how a clear understanding of material can be used to create form in an optimized manner, embodying Viollet-le-Duc’s
Rather than just seeking the sensibilities of serving the end user while being pleasing to the eye along with structurally sound to withstand long periods of time, architecture now also seeks to be subservient in its design to our earth, as sustainability is a key word that is used often now. However, this fourth phase unlike the abrupt change between the second and third to marry as opposed to divorcing art and technology, is much more a subset of the third, whereby an end user is added to the spectrum and technology further develops to serve that added end user.
The fact that Francastel also seeks to establish art as a tangible, less abstract form further shows also how times have changed whereby art is mostly based on an intangible and trying to conceptualize for most part that intangible into a tangible, however architecture seeks to capitalize on the tangible, resulting in the divide that was not around during Francastel’s time. As such, the fourth phase after Francastel’s third that we live in now is the return of art to the abstract and intangible, unlike that of Art Nouveau, while architecture continues to create tangibles with