Abstract

Hegel wrote that “Die Architektur ... ist die Kunst am \usserlichenﾓ (A 14.271).1 We might translate this as "Architecture is art in the external." But since all art is sensuous externalization, perhaps we should translate Hegel as saying "Architecture is the art of the external." Architecture is art at its most external. Let us ask what this ﾒexternalityﾓ might be that is so important to architecture. There are more dimensions to the answer than may at first appear. We might say that architecture is “external” because architecture constructs in physical space “out there” and uses external material such as wood and stone and steel. But other arts, for instance sculpture and painting, do the same. There are kinds of externality more specific to architecture. I will discuss first architecture’s special relation to gravity, then the unorganic externality of architectural purpose, the outward architectonic act, and the externality of meaning in symbolic art. My conclusion will suggest going beyond Hegel on this topic by following his directions.