AESTHETICS adj.
1. a. of, relating to, or dealing with aesthetics or the beautiful b. artistic c. pleasing in appearance 2. appreciative of, responsive to, or zealous about the beautiful; also : responsive to or appreciative of what is pleasurable to the senses aesthetic. 2015. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved July 4, 2016
The Making of the Leica M9-P »Edition Hermès« Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas on Vimeo University of Waterloo School of Architecture
Interpreted Definition An object’s aesthetic is an expression that exists beyond its function. It relates to the visual and the tactile experience immediately and relentlessly felt by the user. An object’s aesthetic can be used as a device to hide, deemphasize, emphasize, or reveal, as well as inject or subtract meaning from a particular object. This can take the form of colour, material, or geometry— in order or in disorder. In his Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius determines that successful architecture embodies three qualities: venustas, firmitas, and venustas— that is usefulness, solidness, and beautifulness. Venustas states that an object’s user is just as important as the object itself; therefore, the object must appeal to the senses of said user1, otherwise the relationship between object and user will be a negative one, and the object will be discontinued, forgotten, or demolished. Two millennia later and the world’s most reputable designers still agree about the importance of aesthetics: in Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design, he claims that “Good design is aesthetic,” and that “the aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being.”2 One Chuck Palahniuk character would claim that, “The things you own end up owning you.”3 Through our dependency on material things, built objects become just as essential as electricity or education. Consequently, through the visual aesthetic of everyday items, one establishes one’s identity. Mies Van der Rohe coined the term “Less is more” in reference to distilling 1
a buildings’ ornamentation to the craftsmanship and details of structurally imperative elements, thus creating the modernist aesthetic (which is often referred to as minimalism). The aesthetic and the individual are deeply intertwined, in that one chooses how an object expresses itself much in the same way one would choose to express oneself through language or humour. In landscape architecture, a project’s motifs should be clear as expressed through its comprising elements. The use of local materials express a contentiousness, for example— an otherwise immeasurable trait. Formal responses to program express whether the designer is resisting or listening to the needs of the site and its citizens. Perhaps a dull, monotonous site is contrasted with bright colours and unnatural forms— this expresses the designer’s desire to challenge the design paradigm of her predecessors in a particular location. Through aesthetic, deeply human qualities of otherwise sterile and inanimate creations— or rather, the ideals the creators of said creations projected upon their creations— are readable. Made measurable. Material. Vitruvius. Ten Books on Architecture, Ed. Ingrid Rowland with illustrations by Thomas Noble Howe (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 1999) Karissa Rosenfield. “Dieter Rams 10 Principles of “Good Design”” 09 Jan 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed 4 Jul 2016. 3 Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. Print. 1 2
ien Boodan ARCH 225 | Spring 2016