Aesthetic framework 4.1 APPROACH Objectives of the framework This chapter uses the concepts from Chapter 2 and the findings from Chapter 3 to inform the literature review that predicates an aesthetic framework of properties for melancholic contemplation. This framework will be translated into site-specific design guidelines and then exemplified in a site-specific response. It is my intention and hope that this framework will be useful for other designers who may wish to create spaces for melancholic contemplation.
·· Inform a design (as opposed to evaluate an existing design, although it might indirectly do so) ·· Illustrate how aesthetic conditions can encourage the state of melancholic contemplation ·· Incorporate the process of reaching the mental state
4.1.1 REACHING A MENTAL STATE First, this chapter clarifies what the framework must do and how it approaches the task, as this then guides the choices made. Secondly, it dives into landscape architecture literature about melancholy and contemplation to extract and evaluate properties for the framework. Thirdly, it consolidates the findings into an aesthetic framework for melancholic contemplation. Lastly, it explains how to apply it within the design process.
The framework is based upon a directional understanding of contemplation interpreted from Sivananda’s explanation (2009) and described in Section 2.3: one begins with ‘purity of the mind, attention, purpose, focus’ and then moves into concentration, and lastly into a state of [melancholic] contemplation. The three mental states are loosely connected, but not causal. The structure proposes that aesthetic conditions in space result in one of the above states. It returns to the notion introduced in Chapter 2, that aesthetics affect experience (Meyer, 2008). Aesthetic conditions Specific aesthetic conditions can have an effect on one of the three mental states. It implies a hierarchy of importance: this has to be done first, then that, and finally these are relevant. Therefore, if the conditions are not conducive to reaching the first two states, the performative agency of the conditions in the third state is compromised.
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