Essay Analysis Of The Writing ' Bauen ' By Sigfried Giedion

The excerpt from the writing Bauen in Frankreich, Bauen in Eisen, Bauen in Eisenbeton (Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcrete) by Sigfried Giedion, though broken up into many sections, has a cohesive theme that is written throughout the piece. Giedion’s main point conveyed is the juxtaposition between many parallel elements, all in relation to the changing architectural field in the nineteenth century: the ideas of the individual versus the collective, the ability to industrialize a process and retire the more rudimentary method of handcrafted form, and the struggle to create a uniqueness when conformity was desired.
The layout of the piece, graphically, is arranged in a standard format but breaks away from the consistency in the times that emphasis or elaboration of forethought is needed. The main sections are categorized by a bold headline, with an all capital letter format. The margin used throughout is composed to be larger on the outer bounds of the book, left side of the left page and vice versa for the right, while the margin is smaller towards the inner spine of the tome. Paragraphs of similar context and idea are grouped together, without indentation being used. The author is able to draw emphasis to significant words by one of three means: italics, all capital letters, and in the sake of phrases an expanded kern. Exclamatory punctuation is used at times also, for instance, “In them lies the kernel!” on page ninety-nine. The footnotes are…