The book ‘The Aesthetics of Architecture’ was written by Robert Scruton in 1979. He is a philosopher.
Aesthetics is at the bottom of the architectural food chain. There is beauty everywhere, weather it is names or imagination, it permeates life naturally at a subconscious level. As a way of life, it is an important part.
Aesthetics in architecture is subjective. Some buildings try to provoke reaction and hence aesthetics of the building may not be the vernacular definition as seen in the location.
Kant says,’ sense of beauty is a distinct and autonomous employment of human mind comparable to moral and scientific understanding. ‘
The book describes the value of aesthetics and its importance. It mentions the unsurely about what consists of aesthetic expression. It’s not a book on architecture theory it doesn’t provide rules and maxims. It describes the nature of interest.
Scruton was a critic for modern buildings coming up in 1979.
He is against
Reason X Aesthetics
Substance X Style
Fragmentation of design tasks
Non permeation of aesthetic consideration.
He talks about the difference between style and substance. Style, he describes is like varnish, makes the truth harder to see. Substance on the other hand can be presented straight, without any varnish.
He focuses on appreciation.
There are however a lot of unsatisfactory descriptions.
‘Functionalism, he describes as aptness of form to function (as means) sculptural notion and importance of space. It is the need to add something unique to architecture, as it’s not just art.
He argues that our sense of beauty in architectural form can’t be divorced from our conception of the building. Architecture can only be a craft if the end product is known. Which if true if it is based on functionalism.
What distinguishes architecture from other forms of art when it comes to aesthetics?
Utility or function.
Highly localized quality
Feature of technique
Public object
Continuity of decorative art.
This makes architecture difficult. Hence we use function and morals to make a judgement dogma.
Daniel Mendelsohn in the critics manifesto mentions that
Knowledge + Taste = Meaningful judgement.
Criticism is embedded in deep knowledge.
To understand the aesthetic of a building, it is important to understand how a building is designed.
Definition of need as he explains: X needs Y only if X is dependent on Y.
‘For a rational person, appropriateness means imagination + evaluation’ as per Alberti. This talks about the experience of living in a building.
Design in much more than need. It is value. What does education involve? It involves, noticing things, making comparisons and the appropriateness for human life.
Scruton describes that classical architecture is the best. He calls modern architecture ‘landscape of litter, it is not civilization’ He believes that the aesthetics of grand beauty and ornamentation.
‘The philosophy of Vishishtadvaita’ describes aesthetics to be an essential quality of reality. World is a beautiful manifestation. Aesthetics is a spiritual experience, exalted by imagination.
Aesthetics is embedded in us. We look at beauty everywhere and we try to design as beautifully as possible. It is something that cannot be separated from architecture or be considered as a separate entity.
htcray 