ABSTRACT
The idea that form and freedom are in opposition has a long history. Obviously, the discovery of form must precede the conception of such an opposition; however, the discovery is not in itself an advanced intellectual achievement. Anyone thinking about a building is bound to find him or herself thinking about form sooner or later. It may seem more reasonable to expect an age in which many buildings are constructed to be preoccupied with surfaces. That is because, when many buildings are to be constructed, a facile, superficial treatment of exteriors would seem necessary. In place of that world, new, enormous works of secular architecture emerged in the Renaissance. Formalization isolates architecture for a time from humanity and regards it as an abstract construct from a god-like perspective. The adjustment involved in formalization is possible only with such isolation. Though architecture may exist for a time as form in the mind, it must eventually return to earth.
