Gesamtkunstwerk and Alberto Pessoa, art and architecture,1827 ,Khin That Mar

Gesamtkunstwerk and Alberto Pessoa, art and architecture,1827 

Gesamtkunstwerk means “total work of art’’ or “ideal work of art” the term is a German word and first used by German writer KFE Trahndorff in an essay in 1827. Later on this word has become connected with aesthetic ideas. Afterwards there are a lot of people in the architecture and film and media field start to use this term a lot.

Some architects who used this term in architecture is responsible for the design and expressing the buildings totality like walls, windows, partitions, accessories, furnishings, and landscape etc. Rufolf M. Bisanz who was a writer once wrote “Friedrich Schegel, Philipp Otto Runge, and Richard Wagner were three priniciple contributors to the evolution of the Gesamtkunstwerk theory in 19^th century Germany.” After that Moholy-Nagy argued in 1925 what would become a banner of the post war reconceptualization of the modern: synthesis of arts should be beyond individual achievements, symbolic values and be related with community life. Theme of the synthesis of the arts in the global design is thus defined as a means to foster the humanization of Modern architecture. By moving forward Alberto Pessoa who already attempted to deliver a global design approach in his projects since 1945. Especially in his public buildings, the equipment and the furniture were not thought of as aesthetically autonomous but as an integral part of the architectural design as a global project.

 The central library and the building for the student’s facilities of the university of Coimbra are the projects that Pessoa did and in these projects he uses the construction details and the design of the furniture to bridge the gap between the different scales of the project which became a fundamental element in the building formal character to deliver gesamtkunstwerk. While pessoa was designing these buildings he took advantage of a former educational building which had itself been built on the foundations of the 18^th century students theatre. 

             At the beginning this project was only focused on renovating the facades but later he starts to design the building details including the furniture. The layout of the furniture was used to organize the space in relation with the buildings structure he also referred the furniture to create hierarchical position in his building. The semicircular shape is by the next to the room’s main entrance and the furniture highlights the reading hall’s spatial structure which related to the detailing of the ceiling, which also have a skylight offsetting the limits of the room. The furniture’s in the room are made connection with the room due to the modernized materials they used like curved tubular steel and wooden desktops. Pessoa really try to make relation with the landscape, architecture, and design. Pessoa highlighted the building interior spatial structure by the layout and detailing of the furniture, he also used a lot of different materials to represent the programs inside the building also some of the materials and furniture’s in this building is only designed for a specific location. Pessoa designs are working together with the arts, landscaping, and techniques components of a global composition from the structure to the furniture.

Citation

Coutinho, Bárbara. "The Modern Gesamtkunstwerk and Its Preservation." Journal / International Working-Party for Documentation & Conservation of Buildings, Sites & Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement (Docomomo), no. 47, 2012, pp. 10-11. EBSCOhost, arktos.nyit.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.arktos.nyit.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bvh&AN=693584&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“Alberto Pessoa.” Alberto Pessoa | Architectuul, architectuul.com/architect/alberto-pessoa.

“Alberto Pessoa.” Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/the-founders-collection/building/alberto-pessoa/.