TY - CHAP
T1 - Introduction
AU - Ekici, Didem
AU - Blessing, Patricia
AU - Baudez, Basile
PY - 2023/6/30
Y1 - 2023/6/30
N2 - The introduction traces architecture’s enduring and evolving relationship with textiles in architectural theories, practices, and historiography from the Middle Ages to today. Architecture and weaving were closely associated when they were both categorized as mechanical arts in medieval Europe. In Renaissance, a rift emerged between architecture and crafts due to their conceptualization as, respectively, intellectual and manual practices. In the nineteenth century, the boundaries between decorative and fine arts were blurred as the textile industry became one of the most potent sources of wealth and gained increasing attention from professional design circles. Although investigations of textiles continued in architectural modernism, the expulsion of ornament relegated textiles as “decorative” arts to a less prominent standing than architecture. Textiles were consigned to “design history” or in the context of some non-Western cultures, moved into the realms of ethnography. Nevertheless, sporadic studies examined textiles in architecture particularly in ancient, mediaeval, and “non-Western” contexts. Over the past few decades, architects and designers have rethought the endless possibilities of building with or taking inspiration from woven materials due to the use of computer-aided design, digital fabrication, and innovative materials and engineering. This is part of a broader turn to materiality and a resurgence of craftsmanship in architectural practice and arts.
AB - The introduction traces architecture’s enduring and evolving relationship with textiles in architectural theories, practices, and historiography from the Middle Ages to today. Architecture and weaving were closely associated when they were both categorized as mechanical arts in medieval Europe. In Renaissance, a rift emerged between architecture and crafts due to their conceptualization as, respectively, intellectual and manual practices. In the nineteenth century, the boundaries between decorative and fine arts were blurred as the textile industry became one of the most potent sources of wealth and gained increasing attention from professional design circles. Although investigations of textiles continued in architectural modernism, the expulsion of ornament relegated textiles as “decorative” arts to a less prominent standing than architecture. Textiles were consigned to “design history” or in the context of some non-Western cultures, moved into the realms of ethnography. Nevertheless, sporadic studies examined textiles in architecture particularly in ancient, mediaeval, and “non-Western” contexts. Over the past few decades, architects and designers have rethought the endless possibilities of building with or taking inspiration from woven materials due to the use of computer-aided design, digital fabrication, and innovative materials and engineering. This is part of a broader turn to materiality and a resurgence of craftsmanship in architectural practice and arts.
U2 - 10.4324/9781003281276-1
DO - 10.4324/9781003281276-1
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9781032250427
SP - 1
EP - 8
BT - Textile in Architecture
A2 - Ekici, Didem
A2 - Blessing, Patricia
A2 - Baudez, Basile
PB - Routledge
ER -