Oswald Mathias Ungers and Sol LeWitt: Variations

Abstract

One of the fundamentals of Oswald Mathias Ungers work is the definition of a new unity between art and architecture. What this investigation is focused on is the identification of the intersection point between art and architecture, considering the project for the Entrance to the Kaiserthermen in Trier (2003-2007) as case study, revealing the system of theoretical, methodological and compositional correspondences. Plastic art is Ungers' main interlocutor: one of the author's most important references is Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), an artist he admired and collected. Setting the work of Oswald Mathias Unger and Sol LeWitt side by side, offers the opportunity to underline the shared interpretation that the two authors have of the world of forms postulated by Henri Focillon (1881-1943) in Life of Forms, according to which form, autonomous with respect to time and place, has its own universe, governed by its own laws, space and matter. According to these premises, we propose to read Trier's building through the instruments of art, following the hypothesis that in this project art embodies a creative and positive component in the definition of architecture, a cultural stimulus that guides the author in the design process.