schopenhauer: "on the aesthetics of architecture" (from "the world as will and representation, vol. II")

for arthur schopenhauer, the fundamental law of architecture is that "no load may be without sufficient support, and no support without a suitable load". the Ideas expressed through architecture are then "gravity, rigidity, and cohesion", and not "merely regular form, proportion, and symmetry", as the second class, where it's present in architecture, is only found there as a reflection of the first. architecture, like the other forms of art, expresses the essence of existenceitself, one's experience of which is grounded in certain conditions (e.g. gravity), which are consequently the means through which one comes to identify phenomena (e.g. form). a prime example of this is when one looks at a support column, when, through one's experience of having a body acted upon by natural physics, one can recognize or "feel" how the load of a weight is distributed onto a column, and will naturally appreciate a column that is bowed out and tapered in appropriate points as required by physical laws. conversely, straight columns feel off-putting, because they are uncannily similar to one's bodily experience, and yet differ infinitely. similarly, schopenhauer says that "a glaring example of load without support is presented to the eye by the balconies that stick out," because "we do not see what carries them; they appear suspended, and disturb the mind." architecture for schopenhauer is the lowest form of the arts, but also the one most similar to music, the highest form. but whereas music occurs in time alone, architecture is absolutely confined to space, into infinity, never to move, only to 'be'.