Still time in four gazes

Abstract

According to Lessing’s theory, time and space are the concept bases of aesthetics. Architecture belongs to the realm of space, following this theory. There is no unitary discourse that substantiates the presence and the representation of time in Architecture. Our approach in this paper is based on the idea that the attributes of time and its passage, understood in their deep sense, are nothing but an essential issue of Architectural Project. Thus, the construction of our discourse hinges on four gazes to four projects, as defined in the first of “Four Quarters” by T.S. Elliot, published in 1936. The outside wall of the experimental house of Muuratsalo represents the gaze to a previous ruin, confronted with the detained time by the white that covers everything. The fragment of the wall of Sankt Markus, by Björhagen, evokes the lost unity. The courtyard enclosure of the Värmlan Regional Museum is a look in two different times. Finally, the outside wall of the Särestö Museum explores the bond between Architecture and nature throughout time.