Enduring architecture : an examination of the concept

Abstract

Events take place in time. We live in time. Buildings are built in time. Time flows..... Events become nodes in history, and we grow old. Yet there are some buildings which do not grow old. They defy time. They 'endure' time, and 'man in time.The thrust of this dissertation lies in the establishment of such an enduring order in architecture. The genesis of such rests on its inherent ability to relate to fundamental physical, and more importantly the psychic needs of man across the world. As such man forms the point of departure for the study. Psychically, man since time immemorial has always strained towards immortality: endurance. He attempts to physically manifest this psychic longing through his built-structures: thus perpetuating his being in the world for posterity. Man creates his buildings to facilitate his psychic need for orientation, which presupposes his need for meaningful existence. He needs stable, rooted, enduring points of references. He associates himself with these forming a rapport; a rapport which echoes a supremely primordial one, that of 'matter and spirit'. In time man 'moulds' matter: thus creating Art. Art makes his life worth living......