ABSTRACT
Textiles have been a dominant topic in architectural discourse, specifically related to the possible origin of architecture and therefore to the theoretical underpinnings of the development of architecture. Gottfried Semper (1803–79), for instance dedicated the entire volume one of his seminal Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics: A Handbook for Technicians, Artists, and Friends of the Arts (Semper 1860) to the topic of ‘Textile Art: Considered in Itself and in Relation to Architecture’. In the introduction to volume one Semper states as one of his key considerations ‘the work as a result of the material used to produce it, as well as of the tools and procedures applied’ (Semper 1860). This reads as if purposefully drafted to underpin a key aspect of the Emergent Technologies and Design approach.
