Arts Teaching Kit for Senior Secondary Curriculum

Visual Arts
Art and
Architecture
[Student notes]

Organizer Sponsor Technical Support

Contents
Preamble
Learning plan i

Lesson 1: Relationship between Art & Architecture

1.1 Introduction 01
1.2 The Essential Qualities of Art 04
1.3 The Essential Qualities of Architecture 05

Arts | Art and Architecture

Two-week Project: Site-specific Art 07

Summary, Key words and Further reading 09

Appendix: Architecture Inspired by Art

2.1 Case study 1 — Ronchamp Chapel 11

2.1.1 Site & Spatial Experience 11
2.1.2 Form 13
2.1.3 Material 14
2.1.4 Lighting 14

2.2 Case study 2 — De Stijl and the Schroder House 15
2.2.1 Form 16
2.2.2 Spatial Experience 16

2.3 Art Inspired by Architecture... or the Reverse? 17

Disclaimer
Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise
take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) do not
reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
© 2012 Hong Kong Institute of Architects
Topic 01
Art and Architecture

Major teaching areas Interdisciplinary teaching areas

Visual Arts Design and Applied Technology
Strand 1 Visual Arts Appreciation and Criticism in Context • Strand 1 Design and Innovation
• Formal knowledge • Strand 3 Value and Impact
• Types of image and image development strategies
• Modes of presentation
• Knowledge of history and ways of seeing
• Knowledge in context

Related teaching areas

Visual Arts

Arts | Art and Architecture

• Visual arts making

Learning objectives
• To understand the close historical relationship between art and architecture
• To discuss the similarities and differences between art and architecture
• To appreciate how art and architecture inspire each other
• To understand how to produce artwork as a response to site

Learning plan
Lesson Contents
Lesson 1 • 1.1 What is art? What is architecture?
Relationship between • 1.2 Discuss the meaning of art
art and architecture
• 1.3 Discuss the meaning of architecture
• Discuss the similarities and differences between the two

*Supplementary: • 1.4 Case study 1: Ronchamp Chapel by Le Corbusier

Architecture inspired by • 1.5 Case study 2: De Stijl and the Schröder House by Gerrit Rietveld
art
• 1.6 Examples of buildings inspired by art

2-week project: Site- • Site-specific visual arts making

specific art

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Lesson 1
Art and Architecture
1.1 Introduction — What is art? What is architecture?
Look at the following photos and discuss what you think they depict - sculpture, installation,
building, painting or visualisation of space/architectural drawing?
What are the criteria of your judgement?

Arts | Art and Architecture

2

3 4
1. Shop façade in Central
2. ‘Three sets of tangented arcs in daylight and cool white (to Jenny and Ira Licht)’ by American artist
Dan Flavin ©Artist Rights Society, courtesy of David Zwiner Gallery
3. Replica of ‘David’ by Michelangelo at Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
4. Ceramic figurines on the wall of Lo Pan Temple, Hong Kong

[Discussion]
1 Both the shop façade and the installation by Dan Flavin were composed with curves made of neon lights.
What is the primary difference between them?
2 Do you agree that a stand-alone sculpture such as the David should be considered as an artwork, while
the ceramic figurines on a temple wall, despite their artistic value or level of craftsmanship, are just
decorations on a building? 01
 6

Arts | Art and Architecture

5 7

6 5. Landscape in the Style of Juran, Zhang Daqian, 1944

5 ©Hong Kong Museum of Art
7
6. Miniature landscape in Suzhou Museum
8 9 7. Taihu rock in Baotu Spring Park, Jinan
8. Schröder House designed by Gerrit Rietveld, Utrecht
9. ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie’ by Piet Mondrian, 1942-43
[Discussion] ©2012 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International USA
3 Referring to images 5-7, how would you describe the relationship between paintings,
architecture and landscape design in traditional Chinese culture?
4 Both the Schröder House and Piet Mondrian’s paintings are examples from the same artist
group called De Stijl. Would you consider the Schröder House, a functional yet highly
stylized building, a piece of art?
8 9
©The Museum of Modern Art/ Scala, Florence

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 Arts | Art and Architecture
10. Valley Curtain by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72
10
Photo: Wolfgang Volz/laif/ImagineChina
11 12 11. ‘Cenotaph for Issac Newton’, designed by Étienne-Louis Boullée and never built, 1784
12. A red pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, a giant sculpture which can be entered and which provides
information to tourists on the art island of Naoshima, Japan

[Discussion]
5 After examining the above images, can you summarise how societies decide which items should fall into
the category of art or architecture? What is your judgment based on?

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p A temporary exhibition pavilion built in bamboo and
canvas, Hong Kong Kowloon Park, 2012
1.2 The Essential Qualities of Art
Very often, we judge something as art or architecture by its functionality (architecture has a

Arts | Art and Architecture

practical function while art does not) but after the previous discussion, it is clear that it is not
always possible to draw a clear line between art and architecture. Throughout history, there have
been various interpretations of art or architecture.

‘ Art ... a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or
imagination...
The various visual arts exist within a continuum that ranges from purely aesthetic purposes at
one end to purely utilitarian purposes at the other. Such a polarity of purpose is reflected in the
commonly used terms artist and artisan, the latter understood as one who gives considerable
attention to the utilitarian. This should by no means be taken as a rigid scheme, however.
...In cultures such as Africa and Oceania, a definition of art that encompasses this continuum
has existed for centuries. In the West, however, by the mid-18th century the development of
academies for painting and sculpture established a sense that these media were “art” and
therefore separate from more utilitarian media. This separation of art forms continued among art

’
institutions until the late 20th century, when such rigid distinctions began to be questioned.
— Encyclopaedia Britannica ([Link]

‘ Art is the expression or application of human creative

skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such
as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated

’
primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

‘
— Oxford Dictionary
There are three forms of visual art:
Painting is art to look at,
sculpture is art you can walk around,

’
and architecture is art you can walk through.
— Dan Rice, American entertainer

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‘ Firmitas, utilitas, venustas
(Strength, usefulness, beauty)
— Vitruvius, de Architectura (Ten Books on Architecture)
’
‘ In architecture as in all other operative arts, the end is to build well.
Well building hath three conditions.
Commodity, Firmness, and Delight.
— Henry Wotton ’
1.3 The essential qualities of architecture
Is architecture really as simple as ‘art that you can walk through’ as stated by Dan Rice?
In the contemporary world, artists and architects are no longer limited by the traditional
materials or ways of expression. There are non-functional or virtual buildings, and there are
also unconventional art pieces such as three-dimensional paintings or sound sculptures. To
understand the primary similarities and differences between art and architecture, it is perhaps
easiest for us to go back to a very basic interpretation.
Vitruvius, a Roman architect, wrote in his Ten Books of Architecture that a building should

Arts | Art and Architecture

possess the qualities of ‘firmitas, utilitas, venustas’ which roughly translate as ‘firmness,
usefulness and beauty’. Throughout history, different people have interpreted these Latin
words in different ways:
‘comodità, perpetuità, bellezza (convenience, permanence, beauty)’
— Andrea Palladio, Italian architect
‘commodity, firmness, delight’
- Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture,1624
In modern English, Wotton’s words can be expressed as ‘usefulness, strength and beauty’.

In the picture, a boy is enjoying himself in Casa Luis Barragan, Mexico, a

building designed by Luis Barragan
Architecture is an art when one consciously or unconsciously creates
aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this environment
produces well being.
— Luis Barragan
A well-designed and constructed building is not only useful. A pleasant
architectural space can also bring joy to the people who use it.
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‘
Architecture is always dream and function,

’
expression of a utopia and instrument of a convenience.
— Roland Barthes, The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies

[Discussion]
1 Have you ever experienced delight or joy in a particular building or space?
2 Vitrivius, Palladio and Wotton each put forward their own criteria for a good building.
Do you think that delight or beauty is an important criterion of good architecture?

Arts | Art and Architecture

The Eiffel Tower, designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel, met strong

protests from artists and writers during its construction in 1887-1889;
they believed it would destroy the harmonious city fabric of Paris.
Despite the controversy, it was a huge engineering and architectural
breakthrough, and a symbol of human ambition. ©Christopher Fisher
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Two-week Project: Site-specific Art

Arts | Art and Architecture

p ‘For Those in Peril on the Sea’ by British artist Hew Locke,
installed at the nave of the Church of St Mary & St
Eanswythe in Folkestone
Students should appreciate and analyse a piece of architecture from various perspectives and should have gained a
deeper understanding of the deep links between art and architecture.
Instructions:
• Students should work in pairs
• Each group should visit a building or a particular architectural space in Hong Kong. You are not limited to
contemporary architecture. Any typology including traditional buildings can be chosen as long as they are open
to the public. Study the following aspects of the chosen building:
• Form
• Spatial experience and site context
• Materials and details
• Lighting
• Scale
• Structural language
• Any other special properties such as symbolism, how people use the space and so on.

Outcome: each group is to produce a sculpture or a mixed media installation to be placed inside or outside the building.
Depending on the intended size, students can choose to produce the artwork in 1:1 scale or instead produce a smaller
model accompanied by a montage showing the intended effect. Should conditions allow, students may take photos of
their works within their chosen building. The artwork should capture and express the essence of the building in relation
to the above mentioned properties which students have already studied.
Documentation: the thinking process and the development of the artwork should be well-documented with sketches,
photographs and texts. Each group should write a 150-word statement explaining the concept of the artwork.
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Local and foreign examples

p ‘Moving scenery’ by Hong Kong artist Lee Chin Fai,

Warwick House, Island East

Arts | Art and Architecture

p ‘inForm’ by Chinese artist Li Jiwei, Beijing 798 Art
Zone
u ‘Flight of Fancy’ by American artist Larry Kirkland,
sculptures in Hong Kong Station
q ‘Feelings are Facts’ by Olafur Eliasson and architect
Ma Yan-song at UCCA, Beijing 798 Art Zone

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Summary
1. There is no clear distinction between art and architecture, and they are interrelated in
many ways.
2. Vitruvius proposed that the most essential qualities of architecture were:
‘firmitas, utilitas, venustas’ which roughly translate ‘firmness, use and beauty’ whereas
Henry Wotton interpreted the three basic characters of good architecture as ‘commodity,
firmness and delight’.
3. When appreciating a piece of architecture, we should pay attention to the following aspects:
Site context
Spatial experience
Form
Material
Lighting
Structural language

Key words
Vitruvius
Commodity

Arts | Art and Architecture

Firmness
Delight
Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (Ronchamp Chapel)
Schröder House
Site specific art

Further reading
1. 林中偉、馮永基、源耀邦、陳翠兒、何永賢、黃斯齡、姚展鵬、黃輝、蔡錦龍、潘偉基、Jason
Yung、Stan Lai、陳麗喬、鄭炳鴻、蔡宏興《建築師的見觸思》，香港：經濟日報出版社 2002。
2. 張志玲 《建築與藝術的對話》，台北：天下遠見出版股份有限公司 2005。
3. “architecture.” Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012.
<[Link]
4. “Centraal Museum Utrecht.” Centraal Museum. <[Link]
5. Plaff, Lilian, Vito Acconci, and Kenny Schachter. Art Becomes Architecture Becomes Art: A Conversation
between Vito Acconci and Kenny Schachter. Wien: Springer, 2006.

Organizer Sponsor Research Team

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Supplementary:
Architecture Inspired by Art
It is very easy to find artistic elements in a building. For example, in both traditional western
and eastern architecture, the different building parts such as the roof, columns and beams
are heavily ornamented with painted reliefs and sculptures. On the other hand, there are
also artworks which are inspired by architecture. Is it possible to appreciate architecture the
same way we appreciate art?

Arts | Art and Architecture

Town

p ‘Cloud Gate’, a stainless steel sculpture by Anish p Visitors looking at the Little Mermaid sculpture from the
Kapoor, in Chicago, USA curved ramps of the Danish Pavilion, Shanghai World
Expo 2010

Visual Arts Architecture

Medium Material
Visual quality Spatial experience
Commissioner Client
Viewer User
Message Function
Concept Concept
Form Form
Gallery / Site Site
Time Time
Style Style
Structure Structure

What other similarities can you think of? 10

2.1 Case Study 1
Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (Ronchamp Chapel)

Architect: Le Corbusier
Year of completion: 1954
Location: Ronchamp, France

Ronchamp Pyramid
Chapel (memorial)

Visitor centre
Porter’s lodge
& carpark

Arts | Art and Architecture

Town
Ronchamp
Train Station

2.1.1 Site & Spatial Experience

• Can you describe the spatial journey? How do you
approach the building?
• How did the architect ‘write’ this story with space? Why
do you think Le Corbusier did not place the chapel right
at the end of the road but chose to make visitors turn
right, and walk further up the hill at the end of the main
road?

p
The long journey through the woods prepares
visitors for the holy experience.

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 Arts | Art and Architecture
Plan of Ronchamp Champel The sweeping curve of the south wall directs visitors to the entrance on the east façade. The
©Helen Fan east façade is also an open-air altar.
1 Altar Upon entering, one is immediately drawn to the impressive south wall adorned with irregular
openings covered with stained glass in different colours. Like the exterior, the interior is
2 Seating modest, and the forms are simple, primitive and powerful.
3 South wall with
irregular openings
in stained glass
4 Main entrance to the
chapel
5 Small prayer areas 6
5
6 Private 8
5
7 Floor pattern showing
the central axis
8 Open-air altar
9 East entrance
7 1

3
5 9

12
 2 3

Arts | Art and Architecture

1 4

The dark interior, punched with stained glass 1. Side chapel

windows, presents a great contrast to the 2. Light tower above the altar
pristine exterior. Besides the main altar, three 3. Exterior of light tower and gargoyle for draining rainwater
smaller chapels are attached to the main 4, Enamel painting on metal plate by Le Corbusier
worship space. Each altar is placed under 5. South elevation
a unique light tower, and they explain the 6. North elevation
existence of the three towers on the exterior.

2.1.2 Form
• The sketches by Le Corbusier hint that the architect could have
been inspired by a dove’s wing, a boat or a pair of praying
hands. How would you describe the form of the chapel?
(Keywords: organic, sculptural, complex, curvilinear...)
• Does the shape remind you of anything? Do you see any
symbolic meaning in the form?
• How does the form vary when viewed from different angles?
Describe the different elevations of the building. How are they 5
different? Do they give you different feelings?
• The building has a very complex shape. How are the
various components (vertical and horizontal, planes,
points and volumes) assembled to create a bigger form?

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 1

p Plaster concrete painted in red

p Grey concrete roof with the impression of form boards contrasts with
white walls with grainy cement plaster.

2.1.3 Material
• What materials have been used in this building?
• Many western churches were built of stones and bricks, but Le
Corbusier chose to use concrete, a modern material at the time of

Arts | Art and Architecture

design. What are the differences between this concrete chapel and
the stone or brick churches commonly found in Europe?
2 • Even though the building was mostly constructed of concrete and
glass, we do not find it monotonous. Take a closer look at the
building surfaces - how many types of surface treatment can you
p
Stained glass with Le Corbusier’s
find?
own writing and drawing

3
3
4

p
Untreated concrete with rough 2.1.4 Lighting
aggregates
• How is the building shaped by light?
• How is ‘drama’ created by light?(The contrast between the
bright exterior space and the dark interior.)
[Media Corner] • Compare the light in Ronchamp Chapel and that in a Gothic
Interactive Plan of Ronchamp Chapel cathedral. What are the differences and similarities?
http: / / ww [Link] [Link]/ha/
r e la te d_s it es /r onc hamp_360/index.
html
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2.2 Case Study 2
De Stijl (1917- 30s) and the Schröder House by Gerrit Rietveld (1924)

De Stijl
A comprehensive artist group

‘‘De Stijl’, Dutch for “The Style”, was a periodical funded by

Theo van Doesburg in 1917 that later became a platform for
a group of artists to present their ideas and designs.
Other key members also included Piet Mondrian (painter)
and Gerrit Rietveld (designer and architect).

©The Museum of Modern Art/ Scala, Florence

Arts | Art and Architecture
p ’Composition with Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, and Gray’
Piet Mondrian, 1921
©2012 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International
USA

Neoplasticism was Piet Mondrian’s own title and

description of work in his writings from 1920 until his
death in 1944.
De Stijl sought to express a new utopian ideal of
spiritual harmony and order. Members, such as Theo
van Doesburg and Gerrit Rietveld, attempted to apply
De Stijl principles to architectural design and many De
Stijl paintings were representations of interior spaces
within houses.

p Contra-construction - Maison Particulière

Theo van Doesburg and architect Cornelis Van Eesteren, 1923

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 Schröder House by Gerrit Rietveld
Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands

Arts | Art and Architecture

2.2.2 Spatial Experience
• Similar to the exterior, the interior is composed
of interlocking horizontal and vertical planes, and
p Red Blue Chair by Gerrit Rietveld. The members all elements are painted in primary colours. What
of the wooden frame are in standard sizes of do you feel about the interior space?
the time, revealing Rietveld’s wish for design to
(Possible keywords: fluid, open, free plan, toy-like,
be easily mass produced.
plastic-like, modern, well-integrated, flexible etc.)
2.2.1 Form • How did Gerrit Rietveld create a fluid, flexible space?
How did he combine functionality with aesthetics?
• How would you describe the form of the building?
(Keywords: vertical and horizontal planes, • What is the relationship between the interior and
interlocking, lines and planes, pure form and colours, the exterior?
context, abstraction) • What role did furniture play in the Schröder House?
• Can you describe the composition of the building
façade? How is it different from the traditional houses
nearby? (Free façade, floating and cantilevering
elements, flat roof, non-standardized sizes of openings,
use of colours)
• How is the building related to De Stijl/Neoplasticism?
Has it applied any De Stijl principles? (Pure forms,
planar elements, primary colours with black and white)

[Media Corner]
p The ‘Dom-ino’ system designed by Le Corbusier.
Gerrit Rietveld: The Architect and Designer
©Helen Fan
http: / / ww [Link] [Link]/w at c h?v=q L H CYes w x uI Note how building floors are supported by
columns instead of walls. As walls are no longer
load-bearing, they can be freely arranged and
have irregular openings such as the ones in the
Schröder House. 16
2.3 Art Inspired by Architecture...or the Reverse?

Arts | Art and Architecture

p ‘Building cuts’ performed by Gordon Matta-Clark in the1970s © Artist Rights Society, courtesy of The Estate of
Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York
q Mosaic ceiling of Park Guell, designed by Antoni Gaudi q Casa Mila, designed by Antoni Gaudi

u ‘Relativity’, lithograph print by M. C. Escher, 1953

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© The M.C. Escher Company BV
 ‘ The mother art is architecture. Without
an architecture of our own we have no

’
soul of our own civilization.
— Frank Lloyd Wright

Arts | Art and Architecture

[Discussion]
We have discussed the similarities and differences between art and architecture, and we have
also taken a virtual tour of Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp Chapel and Gerrit Rietveld’s Schröder
House. Let’s go back to our first questions...
1 Is architecture one of the various types of art?
2 Or is art instead one of the many elements of architecture?
3 Have you changed your mind about the nature of art and architecture?

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