On chance and arbitrariness in architecture

Abstract

In the second half of the 20th century relevant buildings were constructed whose exterior appearance could seem the result of an arbitrary whim. Architect Rafael Moneo affirmed that any arbitrarily chosen form can become architecture. He put as an example the set of objects that, according to Vitruvius, Callimachus found by chance, decided to reproduce in stone and turned into the Corinthian capital. But this decision could be conditioned by the symbolic content of those objects. In such a case, the Callimachus’ decision was not arbitrary, but necessary. In the same way, some architectural forms that may seem arbitrary could express the values that give meaning to our world: freedom, dynamism, variability and fluidity. Vitruvius’ narrative could teach us that an artist is not the one who reproduces what he finds, but the one who puts himself at the service of what is necessary to produce.