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Building and Knowledge (Rome, 18-20 Sep 2003)
Dr.
Bibliotheca Hertziana
Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rom International Conference:
Building and Knowledge.
Contributions to an epistemic history of early modern Italian architecture 18.-20. September 2003
The Workshop "Building and Knowledge"
Recent studies in the historical vernacular knowledge of building practitioners have cast new light on various aspects of the History of Architecture. The structure of that expertise, its accumulation, its changes over time and the exchange with other fields such as natural sciences,
astronomy or economy show in a larger perspective in which environment and how building culture evolved.
The workshop aims to bring together case studies for this approach.
Fifteenth to eighteenth century Italy is one of the few subjects in the History of Architecture where knowledge and availability of the relevant sources have a more than solid base, and where for some time extensive cross- referencing and material synopses have permitted the study of the structure of practical building knowledge and its historic dimension.
The workshop represents the first major public event of the Research Initiative "Epistemic History of Architecture" ("Wissensgeschichte der Architektur") that was recently started by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome. Practical knowledge in building and architecture is currently undergoing massive changes due to computer graphics and construction management software. Under
the direction of Elisabeth Kieven and Jürgen Renn the project partners investigate the historic dimension of such epistemic changes and aim to establish an Epistemic History of Architecture based on a series of
exemplary case studies. Planning systematics, construction technology and logistics remained largely unwritten well into the nineteenth century and were
passed on through learning by doing and oral transmission. The aim of the
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project is to recover this knowledge and its structure by studying written, drawn and built sources, beginning with the early advanced civilizations through to the eighteenth century. So far, sources are often just seen in the context of the respective building: but drawings do not only describe the genesis of a design or a project but also explain how drawings were made and how and what kind of information was codified. Account books or building descriptions concerning contracts, technical or artistic issues show beyond the individual case how contracts and accounts were handled or how a specific terminology evolved, and to what extent architectural treatises played a role. Among the various interactions between different epistemic traditions, the confrontation of practical and theoretical knowledge will be of special interest.
PROGRAMME:
Thursday, 18 September Accademia di San Luca, Roma 18: 00 Opening words
Giorgio Ciucci Elisabeth Kieven 18: 30 Evening lecture
Giovanna Curcio (IUAV, Venezia):
Trasmissione di conoscenze pratiche in un’abbozzo di trattato settecentesco.
20: 30 Reception
Villino Stroganoff (Bibliotheca Hertziana) Via Gregoriana 22
Friday, 19 September Istituto Olandese a Roma 9: 00 Introduction
Elisabeth Kieven (Bibliotheca Hertziana, MPI für Kunstgeschichte, Rom) Jürgen Renn (MPI für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin)
Hermann Schlimme (Bibliotheca Hertziana, MPI für Kunstgeschichte, Rom) 9: 30 Session A
Chair: Joseph Connors (Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence)
Werner Oechslin (ETH Zürich):
Archtitectural theory as theory of practice: Borderlining.
Werner Szambien (CNRS, Paris):
The Italian Renaissance: Does it come from the medieval wisdom or is it a
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mental construction of historians?
coffee break
Hermann Schlimme (Bibliotheca Hertziana, MPI für Kunstgeschichte, Rom):
Francis Bacon’s "Instauratio Magna" and the birth of scientific interest in practical building knowledge.
Claudia Conforti (Università degli studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"):
Modi e tecniche di costruire sull’acqua. Roma e Firenze, XVI secolo.
15: 00 Session B
Chair: Jürgen Renn (MPI für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin)
Margaret Haines (Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence):
Managing supplies for the construction of Brunelleschi's Cupola at Santa Maria del Fiore.
Maria Grazia D'Amelio (Università degli studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"):
Materiali, strumenti e macchine da cantiere della Reverenda Fabbrica di San Pietro per la costruzione della Roma Moderna.
coffee break
Nicoletta Marconi (Università degli studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"):
Tradizione e innovazione tecnologica nel cantiere romano tra XVI e XVIII secolo: macchine da costruzione, pratica operativa e diffusione del sapere tecnico.
Vitale Zanchettin (IUAV, Venezia):
Una macchina perfetta: i conti di fabbrica di Francesco Righi per Borromini.
20: 30 speakers dinner Saturday, 20 September Istituto Olandese a Roma 9: 00 Session C
Chair: Elisabeth Kieven (Bibliotheca Hertziana, MPI für Kunstgeschichte, Rom)
Klaus Tragbar (Fachhochschule Augsburg):
Italian medieval building practice in contemporary visual representations.
Filippo Camerota (Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Firenze):
Architecture as a Mathematical Science: the Case of "Architectura Obliqua".
coffee break
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Antonio Becchi (MPI für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin):
Uova, veli, catenelle: retorica e costruzione nel cantiere di architettura.
Peter Russell (RWTH Aachen):
Modern Architectural Information and the Myth of Precision.
13: 00 Final discussion 14: 00 lunch
Adresses:
Accademia Nazionale di San Luca Piazza dell’Accademia di San Luca 77 00187 Roma
Istituto Olandese a Roma Via Omero 10- 12
00197 Roma
We wish to thank the Istituto Olandese a Roma for the kind hospitality.
Scientific Coordination: Hermann Schlimme Conference secretary:
Ornella Rodengo, Bibliotheca Hertziana
Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte Via Gregoriana 28
I-00187 Roma, Italy tel. 0039-06-69993-222 institut@biblhertz. it www.biblhertz.it
Reference:
CONF: Building and Knowledge (Rome, 18-20 Sep 2003). In: ArtHist.net, Aug 2, 2003 (accessed Feb 27, 2022), <https://arthist.net/archive/25813>.
