Context of Borchers thought Although belonging to the Modern Movement, Borchers retains a critical view supported by continuous study and mainly by direct observation of the works through countless trips around the world, in which he measured, perceived and analyzed, comparing his direct experience with the doctrines that supported the works. This activity gave birth to the criticism of the positions expressed in those years, which promoted an objectivist and abstract approach to architecture. In the 50s and 60s Santiago lived through an architectural revitalization product of the integration of new visions both in schools and in private practice. The principles of modernism prevailed, with the demands for functionality, rationality and a new abstract, objectual and purified aesthetic for the works. In Chile, leading architects designed buildings and changed the image of our cities. Architecture schools were reformed and debate was permanent. Borchers was part of this period by association with other architects, but he did not visit the schools. In between his continuous and extensive travels abroad, he remained in Santiago and met with different architects and intellectuals, read their writings and provided his thoughts, thus involved in the architectural activity in what he called his “public life”.
Key 1: The Concept of ARCHITECTURAL HARMONY
Today the term “architectural harmony” is not commonly used among architects or in the architectural debate. Derived from music and its theoretical postulations, it has possibly been replaced by the more general concept of aesthetics or configuration. With different names, from Vitruvius and the treatise writers to Le Corbusier, it was a crucial problem for architects as reflected in the study and proposal of the “architectural orders”. The quest for controlling systems for the form - through the proportional relations between the dimensions of the architectural components of the work - expressing the concept of beauty in every age, was a forced issue in Borchers’ time. In 1923 Le Corbusier wrote in his book Vers une Architecture: “The Engineer, inspired by the laws of economics and led by calculations, puts us in accordance with the laws of the universe. He affects harmony”. This formulation dominated the debate until after the first half of the twentieth century. The poetry of machinery and the rationality of science applied to architecture defined the concept of natural harmony as an aesthetic model. In 1938 Borchers works for some time at Le Corbusier’s studio in Paris. Admirer of his philosophy and works, he accepts the master’s advice and goes on a journey to Egypt through the Mediterranean countries. The assessment and direct observation of the works leads him to doubt what Le Corbusier posed on the application of the golden ratio as a tool to transform a common construction into architecture and great art. In his 1964 text Plastica, Borchers gives his own definition of harmony in architecture: “Harmony is the point of disagreement with the axis on which man is centered. Contrary to the laws of the universe, it forces us out of the general order. “ This definition disagrees from Le Corbusier’s own and rather sits at the opposite end to the one commonly accepted at the time, regarding the “naturalism” of forms promoted by the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier himself and generally by the architects of the Modern Movement; forms that originate in physics and mechanics, which are derived from calculations and are expressed in the aesthetic of ships, planes and automobiles, as well as industrial buildings.
The Five Keys
As keys to understanding the Borchers proposal, I present five concepts to approach his body of thought:
1. The concept of ARCHITECTURAL HARMONY 2. The definition of PLASTICITY 3. The ACT as a subject pertaining to architecture 4. ARCHITECTURAL EXTENSION as a heterogeneous magnitude 5. NUMBER as a crystallizer agent for form
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