For the first time since it was established in 2003, the Richard H. Diehaus Prize is honoring a non-Westerner. What does this mean for the tradition of Classicism? What does this mean for the future of Notre Dame's School of Architecture? Is this unique academic enclave having second thoughts about the omnipotence of our Western Classical language?
Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil, renowned for his traditional craftsmanship and leadership in Islamic architecture and culture, will be the 2009 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture. His work – including the King Saud Mosque in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Oxford University Centre for Islamic Studies in England – seeks balance, timelessness, and cultural reflection in traditional design principles. Yet is his architecture Classical?
To some, Classicism is a strict set of rules, hopelessly abstract and rarely attainable. Brunelleschi and Alberti, architectural cornerstones of the Italian Renaissance, sought a 'universally valid' architecture. Their designs approached freedom from intuition, artifice and subjective choice. I believe these illusive principles are no different than those that drove modernism to dominate in the twentieth century.
To others, Classicism is broad. It includes any attitudes or endeavors that use ideas and forms genetically derived from the Classical language of our predecessors. This Classicism is not applied, but generative. It assumes that design is rooted in cultural heritage, intuition, and choice. This Classicism is human and demands the highest degree of skill. It requires a particular strength of character, one who challenges him- or herself to speak the language of our ancestors.
For those who consider Classicism an abstract set of rules – to be applied with timidity and fear of the human soul, Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil does not fit the mold. But for those who find within them an insatiable desire to keep alive their cultural heritage in a world that worships scientific objectivity, Abdel-Wahed Ed Wakil is the truest Classicist yet honored by Notre Dame's Richard H. Driehaus Prize.
Crystal Olin
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