Much
as a composer weaves multiple layers, sounds and rhythms into their work to
evoke various emotional connections within the listener or performer, so too
the architect has immense control over how people may experience the spaces
they design. However the beauty in both a piece of music and in this particular
case, the grotto, lies in their ability to evolve beyond the composer’s or
architect’s intentions and have meaning bestowed upon them through repeated
usage and interpretations or as a result of the aging process. The success of
the grotto as a piece of architecture is that the materials used often allow
for weathering and decay, which bestow it with greater experiential qualities. Therefore
we can construe that for a grotto to be reinterpreted in contemporary
architecture, it should reference the materiality or form of the more
traditional grottoes.
An
authentic grotto is carved out of stone, either by man or nature. However grottoes
(or their partner, the Nymphaeum[1]) can also be created within existing
buildings, the room being transformed into a cave-like environment, or built
from scratch. In this way something that desires to evoke a sense of the grotto
should be predominately constructed from stone, or at least reference the
jagged elements of natural cave walls.
Tufa
and flint were popular stones used to decorate the more elaborate grottoes.[2]
With their porous and rugged textures and colour variations, their wildness was
exactly what garden designers, particularly those embedded in the British
landscaping tradition, sought. Grottoes were seen to be a more authentic
element of landscaping “…because they not only represented, but resembled
original nature,”[3]and
thus were integral to the British landscape gardens of the 18th centuries.
Another
popular decoration is shells,[5]
an element of ornamentation that can be interpreted as a symbol of life,
through its relationship to the untamed oceans, and its ability to foster
crustacean life. However it is likely they were more commonly used as a way demonstrating
the owner’s wealth. Similarly, pebbles were often inlaid into the grotto’s
walls, benches or embedded underfoot in the floor.[6]
Although
the simplest of caves could be treated as a grotto, the more elaborate tended
to incorporate sculptures, painting or reliefs of fantastical beings. The
preference was towards Classical Greek motifs; nymphs, certain Gods,[8]
animals and in Imperial Rome, Odyssean scenes. [9] These statues emphasised the
otherworldliness of the space, and enhanced the grotto’s connection with the
natural world.
Figure
3, ‘Grotta degli Animali,’ Villa at Castello, circa 1538.[10]
Light
is another key component of a grotto. It is the different effects of lighting
that can be used to create a highly experiential environment. The cave is a
naturally dark space, with light filtering in through the cavern’s mouth. Water
and ornamentation such as pieces of mirror reflects what little light there may
be in a grotto, transforming the grotto into a space of otherworldly illusion.[11]
Bowe observes that in ancient Greece the “aura of a cave, the dim, imperfect
light…and the shadows cast by torches or fires lit to illuminate the interiors
must have served to intensify the experience,” of these sacred spaces.
Similarly in the renaissance and British landscaping traditions the play of
light helped evoke a sense of the cosmos,[12]
particularly when reflective materials were embedded in the ceiling, a reminder
of the night sky.[13]
Perhaps
the most essential component of the grotto asides from its preferably cavernous
setting is water. Water, a common metaphor for
life, was seen as a natural element of the cave. To the ancient Greeks water
was sacred, and “the sound of water as it rose and fell and struck the floor”
would have only enhanced the divinity of the grotto.[14]
Water often has an important role in naturally eroding stones to create cavernous
spaces, materials like tufa and also fosters the growth of moss, which will
often adorn walls of the grotto.
With
the advent of water engineering the grotto rapidly became an even more
theatrical space, featuring man-made fountains, pools and waterfalls with the
intent of evoking “wonder and surprise.”[15]
After all it was only natural that the statues of nymphs be depicted frolicking
in water, their preferred element. As referenced in my first post, Villa d’Este
is perhaps one of the most famous grottoes to extensively utilise water in
order to achieve such awe and illusion.[16]
Although
such examples of ornamentation, and use of materials in grotto-inspired
architecture today have fallen from fashion, contemporary examples still exist
that pay homage to some of the more complex traditional grottoes. ARM’s Storey
Hall, despite the absence of water symbolism, is a public building that clearly
references the grotto in its ornamentation. It’s organic and jagged façade, and
cave-like entrance, assisted by its motley purple and green colour scheme seems
to be an abstraction of the moss-hewn walls of traditional grottoes. This
architectural language is continued through the interior, with the faceted
paneling representing the stone surface of a cave, and the detail within each
panel reminiscent of the shell and pebble mosaics.
Figure 5
‘Storey Hall,’ Melbourne, ARM Architecture, 1995[18]
Where
other architects steer clear of ornamenting their grotto-inspired architectural
compositions, instead often focusing on complex computer-generated organically
inspired models, ARM celebrates the cave through its complex decorative motifs.
This supports my argument that one can re-appropriate some of the more
traditional elements of grottoes into contemporary design language.
[1] Anonymous.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica." Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/423203/nymphaeum.
[3] Myers, Katherine. "Shaftsbuury, Pope and Original Sacred
Nature." The Garden History Society 38, no. 1 (2010).
[4] Figure 1 courtesy of Anonymous. "Textures from a Tufa Dome I." http://highway8a.blogspot.com.au/2013_06_01_archive.html.accessed 18.04.2014
[5] Balmori, Diana. "Architecture, Landscape, and the Intermediate
Structure: Eighteenth-Century Experiments in Mediation." Society of
Architectural Historians 50, no. 11 (1991).p. 46
[6] Balmori, Diana. "Architecture, Landscape, and the Intermediate
Structure: Eighteenth-Century Experiments in Mediation." Society of
Architectural Historians 50, no. 11 (1991). P. 46.
[7] Figure 2 courtesy of
Jones, Barbara. Follies and Grottoes. 2nd ed. Great Britain: Constable & Co Ltd, 1953.
P. 147.
[8] Myers, Katherine. "Shaftesbury, Pope, and Original Sacred
Nature." Garden History 38, no. 1 (2010).p. 6
[9] Carey, Sorcha. "A Tradition of Adventure in the Imperial
Grotto." Greece & Rome 49, no. 1 (April 2002). P. 56
[10] Figure 3 courtesy of
Pizzoni, Filippo. The Garden: A History in Landscape and Art. Translated
by Judith Landry. 5th ed. Great Britain:
Aurum Press Ltd, 1997. 1999. P. 45-46.
[11] Balmori, Diana. "Architecture, Landscape, and the Intermediate
Structure: Eighteenth-Century Experiments in Mediation." Society of
Architectural Historians 50, no. 11 (1991). P. 46.
[12] Miller, Naomi. Heavenly
Caves: Reflections on the Garden Grotto. World Landscape Art &
Architecture Series. United States of
America: George Braziller Inc., 1982. P. 7
[13] [13]
Jones, Barbara. Follies and Grottoes. 2nd ed. Great Britain: Constable & Co Ltd, 1953.
P. 171.
[14] Bowe, Patrick. "The Garden Grotto: Its Origins in the Ancient
Greek Perception of the Natural Cave." Studies in the History of
Gardens & Designed Landscapes: An International Quarterly 33, no. 2
(2013): p. 128.
[15] Miller, Naomi. Heavenly
Caves: Reflections on the Garden Grotto. World Landscape Art &
Architecture Series. United States of
America: George Braziller Inc., 1982. P. 45
[16] Miller, Naomi. Heavenly
Caves: Reflections on the Garden Grotto. World Landscape Art &
Architecture Series. United States of America:
George Braziller Inc., 1982. P. 45
[17] Figure 4 courtesy of Dowaliby, James. "Neptune's Grotto, Villa D'este,
Italy." http://jamesdowaliby.photoshelter.com/image/I0000S30jl_e0M0A.
[18] Figure 5 courtesy of
Anonymous. "Rmit Storey Hall."
http://www.cnkfooddesign.com.au/venues/rmit-storey-hall/.
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