ORNAMENT Ornament
While not attempting to give a complete history of ornament in architecture, what is addressed here is the conventional use of ornament in architecture to elicit certain responses. Conventionally ornament “was not meant solely for pleasure” as suggested by the fathers of Modernism Loos and Le Corbusier, but “conveyed vital information about the rank of the owners” and “participated in the expression of social values, hierarchies and order.” 9 Beyond being simple decoration or for beauty’s sake, ornament played a significant role in accentuating structure and deciphering architectural spaces. 10 As outlined by Bloomer in great detail, ornament was conventionalised, which enabled a common architectural ‘dialect’ to disseminate meaning through architecture. Such conventionalisation – that is the classification and formalisation of the classical orders – contributed to bolstering the authority of the classical style. 11 One period of architecture that might be seen as taking ornamentation too far is the Baroque (and late-Baroque otherwise known as Rococo) period, yet despite their excess
Antoine Picon, Ornament: The Politics of Architecture and Subjectivity (Chichester, UK: Wiley, 2013), 11. 10 Bloomer, The Nature of Ornament: Rhythm and Metamorphosis in Architecture, 20.; Picon, Ornament: The Politics of Architecture and Subjectivity, 39. 11 Bloomer, The Nature of Ornament: Rhythm and Metamorphosis in Architecture, 47-49.; Payne, From Ornament to Object: Genealogies of Architectural Modernism, 15-16. 9
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