Technomorphism and the myth of the architectural machine

Abstract

What has motivated a relationship between architecture and the machine from the turn of the century through to the present day, and does this make the machine a suitable paradigm for architecture? This paper considers the period from the beginning of the modern movement at the turn of the century through to the present day. It was from this period that the machine was consciously taken as a model. The architects and stylistic movements to be considered are only those that make intentional and deliberate reference to the machine. For this reason, architects such as Jean Prouvé, and architect-engineers such as Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava have not been considered. While it may appear that the choice of architects and movements to be considered is subjective, in most cases the availability of research material has served to direct this. For the purpose of constructing arguments, the architects and movements are related to each other by their similarities in form and intention, and hence the research is in no way organised in a chronological order.