held one another in balance. Columns were also interpreted as uniting the building with the earth, ‘roots become architecture.’ While the widening base of the pillar is rooting the column to the ground, the broad pillar heads provide the experience of supporting from above. Another interpretation is that the pillars are both growing from the cosmic forces above and from beneath the earth, as does a plant. This is organic architecture.

Comparing the axial building to the circular building, Hagen Biesantz contends that the circular building creates a sense of rest, it removes any need to move away from the central position. Biesantz writes that “it may be asserted that the central building emanates peace and security in the harmony of a cosmos, whereas the axial building provokes activity and movement.” Thus he presents the reason for the double-domed shape of the first Goetheanum; it “enables a new experience of freedom in spatial perception, which is generated when the rotunda and cupola effect is brought into a fluctuating equilibrium with the longitudinal axis effect.” Since there is both the axis created by the two rotundas and the harmony and rest of the dome above, a person is given the choice of which experiencerest or movementis to take precedence.

Steiner’s views were centered around humanity, and this was expressed in the Goetheanum . The circulation for the Goetheanum was deliberately overlapping to give people the opportunity to interact and “gladly greet each other” as much as possible. Steiner has quoted Goethe’s studies of metamorphosis in the organic world. Themes would be articulated, repeated and varied [more...]

Plan and section of the first Goetheanum.