I’m all verklempt

Pictured: Hardwick Hall, source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

On a recent road trip I was listening to one of my perennial road trip albums, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. If you are familiar with this album you probably are familiar with Clare Torry’s vocals on The Great Gig in the Sky. An amazing piece of vocalization that can bring on an emotional response while mindlessly driving up the New Jersey Turnpike or sitting in your living room. If the Stones are more to your liking try Gimme Shelter, Merry Clayton’s vocals are also impressive. Regardless, I am sure we all have a favorite song or movie or two that can bring a tear to one’s eye.

But what about design – what in the design world can elicit such an emotional response? On that same trip I saw an old Jaguar XKE on the back of a trailer in need of a little TLC. A car reportedly described by Enzo Ferrari as the most beautifully designed car, this from a man who knew a thing or two about beautiful cars. But I must confess even as a hardcore car nut looking at an XKE does not get me all verklempt. There were two cars I can recall that stopped me in my tracks; both were at the MFA Boston. A couple of years back the MFA held an exhibit of Ralph Lauren’s automobile collection and the 1929 Blower Bentley of the 24 hours of Le Mans fame caught my eye. This was a brute of a machine that defined automobile racing in the 1920’s, as an object it is impressive, but possibly more inspiring is the men who dared to climb into it and hurtle through the French countryside at break neck speeds. More than just a car, this is a legend from my childhood; the 1-2 -3-4 finish at Le Mans that all English school boys knew about at the time. But was my reaction to this particular vehicle because of its design or what it represented to me growing up? Featured in the same exhibit was a truly inspiring work of rolling art; a 1938 Bugatti Atlantic. A car turned inside out with the riveted seams on the outside, expressive, not hidden, an arts and crafts car? But here was a truly amazing design that held no foggy childhood remembrances, purely an emotive piece of design?

Along with my appreciation for all things automotive, my wife and I like static objects as well, we have a bit of a chair collection and a few decorative arts bits and bobs. A trip to any museum with a decorative arts collection is on our to do list, but here I think appreciation for fine design and craftsmanship rule the day, I for one cannot get emotional about a beautiful art deco tea pot.
 
Which brings me to architecture, can buildings inspire at an emotional level or are we only impressed? Do you have a list of buildings that have truly inspired you or merely gave you a Holy Schindler moment?

I have had the latter experience on a couple of occasions; two projects of the many I admire by Edwin Luytens come to mind: (1) the Page and Vincent Street Housing in the Pimlico area of London. Designed in the late 1920’s it does make me wonder how on earth anyone let him build this complex, truly a stop dead in your tracks experience. (2) a project he designed in 1901 for a client in Scotland is Greywalls. This is a much more subtle design. Unfortunately, one can only truly appreciate the geometry of the landscape and approach to the house on site, but in the end is it not all about being there anyway.

There are many buildings where one can appreciate craft; Mackintosh’s Art School in Glasgow, Mies’ Seagram Building in New York, Hardwick Hall (1597), the Day and Klauder Gothic Revival buildings at Princeton … one’s personal list can go on for a while, but what evokes an emotional response?

Then there are ecclesiastical buildings that can inspire for other reasons. One of my favorites is Durham Cathedral, started in 1080. If Bob Venturi was to design a cathedral, albeit Norman, this would be the one. It is another breath taking experience that fills you with wonder. Also the Church of San Lorenzo by Brunelleschi in Florence, beautifully detailed and scaled, a surprisingly very tranquil space given that it was built in the Renaissance. But are there cultural implications layered on these particular types of building?

So what is it that inspires in architecture? Is it design, function and or form? Detail or craft? Scale or familiarity? Implied spiritual meaning? Or is it a cultural and personal connection that layers meaning beyond the mere physical? So, are we limited to just the Holy Schindler moments? Or, are there a couple of buildings out there that get you all verklempt?