The evolution of local construction systems during the nineteenth century

Abstract

The nineteenth century was the age of great engineering feats and technical inventions. Art historian Gotthold Meyer, in his book "Hisenbauten ", came to the conclusion in 1907, that iron architecture had brought with it a new quality of building. The aesthetic development was still in "the process of fermentation", a metaphor, which Meyer elaborated on further: "Enzymes are causative agents in the fermentation process which bring about, or accelerate, the decomposition of relatively large quantities of clear organic substances. The enzymes responsible for the status of the nineteenth century in the history of a style are the achievements of modem technology. They come to the fore. Their most important contributions can be grouped within three min material spheres: firstly iron, secondly machinery and thirdly light and fire. These are the mightiest powers having stylistic influence over the present and which, as far as we can see today, must also be reckoned with in the future. Those other organic substances upon which enzymes exert their powers of decomposition are stylistic forms handed down by history "