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All modern creations must correspond to
the new materials
Otto Wagner once said that contemporary buildings have to be
created from new materials, otherwise they will not match
the demands of current society. Please discuss this
statement in relation to the Postal Savings Bank constructed
this great architect. In discussing the flow of
style throughout ancient history Wagner states, "each new
style gradually emerged from the earlier one when new
methods of construction, new materials, new human tasks and
viewpoints demanded a change or reconstitution of existing
forms". He believes that architects, also artists, have
always represented the time and culture they live in. He
believes that the imitation and simple copying of existing
forms denies creativity, and the architect fails to give
something great to the public. Wagner is concerned and aware
of the public, and that art is there to serve them, to
accommodate them, to better the quality of life for mankind.
After evaluating the evolution of ancient
cultures and their architecture, Wagner offers the lesson
that this is the path we must return to. "All modern
creations must correspond to the new materials and demands
of the present if they are to suit modern man; they must
illustrate our own better, democratic, self-confident, ideal
nature and take into account man's colossal technical and
scientific achievements"
In Wagner's own works his ideas are evident and his approach
to architecture is a innovating and modern one. The Postal
Savings Bank in Vienna shows Wagner's use of modern
materials techniques and ideas. The public ties in with the
building, not against it, and nothing is out of the reach of
being controlled and designed. The "HVAC" infrastructure
becomes elements in themselves that are part of the building
as a whole. In its original design the glazed vaulted roof
covering the public space was suspended by cables, an
incredible innovation at the time. It is one of the first
buildings to use aluminum as extensively as he does. He
offers the materials not as imitations of past elements, but
as new entities that can achieve new desired effects. He
ties in marble and meshes it with the aluminum. Throughout
history, new materials and new technologies are discovered,
and where they may define an epoch, they do not dismiss
later usage. Wagner brings in knowledge of the evolution of
architecture, and instead of just displaying what he knows,
offers new ideas ¦uses the technology we have and
construction of our times (concrete, iron, aluminum, glass,
suspension, machinery), to derive a form from it. Everything
fulfills its intended purposes, and nothing is out of place.
The building serves the public, "suits modern man" by using
our new achievements and technical advancements to better
the quality of life, and becomes a small catalyst for the
evolution of architecture, and mankind itself.
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