The Pursuit of Beauty

the pursuit of beauty

studying beauty through architectural design

by Rachel Kirkwood Kent State University Graduate Summer Studio 2016 Professor Jonathan Fleming

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1

Background

7

Timeline

13

CHAPTER I 25BC - 1775AD Present Day Opinions 1-4 The House of God

15 29 39

CHAPTER II 1776AD - 1875AD Present Day Opinions 5-8 The House of Harmony

59 71 79

CHAPTER III 1876AD - 1895AD Present Day Opinions 9-12 The House of Nature

101 111 121

CHAPTER IV 1896AD - 1950AD Present Day Opinions 13-16 The House of Utility

137 147 157

CHAPTER V 1951AD - Present Present Day Opinions 17-20 The House of Simplicity

171 179 187

CHAPTER VI The House of the Grotesque

205

INTRODUCTION

introduction

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2 | INTRODUCTION

THE GOAL OF THIS BOOK Eighteenth Century art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann said that beauty is “one of the great mysteries of nature, whose effect we all see and feel, but for which a universal and clear concept of its essence belongs among the undiscovered truths.”1 Not a half century later, architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel stated that, “To turn something useful, practical, functional into something beautiful, that is architecture’s duty.”2 It is because of the truth behind these two ideas that this study seeks to explore the concept of beauty in architecture. By laying out what great thinkers have had to say about the topic in the past, as well as giving a broad picture of what people have to say about it today, it is hoped that the resulting comprehensive view of beauty will help future architects learn how to recognize beauty (and a lack thereof) in their own work so that they can design and re-design accordingly.

A secondary goal of this book is to grow my own understanding of beauty through the design of a series of architectural works dealing with the different topics addressed throughout the study. In addition to increasing my own depth of understanding on the topic, it is also anticipated that this experiential study will give a more thorough insight into beauty - adding a more artful and inexplicable aspect to this otherwise purely logical and empirical exploration.

INTRODUCTION

METHODS OF STUDY This task of unveiling some of the mystery behind the concept of beauty is accomplished in three distinct ways: 1. Literature Review - A number of different books3 concerning architectural theory through the ages were consulted in order to establish a solid base for this research on beauty. Over fifty different written works are represented in the array of quotations that were gleaned from these collections. These excerpts are spread throughout this book in chronological order so as to give an unbiased and thorough picture of how thoughts on beauty in architecture have evolved over time.

2. Collection of Narratives - A one-page list of questions was generated and distributed to twenty different people, all in varying fields of work. These questions focus on the individual’s perception of beauty, its relevance in their work and life, and its importance in architectural design. The twenty individuals range widely in age and occupation.

3. Personal Production of Works - Various drawings, paintings, models and items were produced throughout this study which reflect my personal interpretations of each of the six main categories presented in this book. For each theme studied, a house (of sorts) was designed to portray that specific idea. Accompanying the works are excerpts that explain the deeper meanings behind them. Also, preceding each of the six categories is an introduction to that specific topic.

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4 | INTRODUCTION

SIX CHAPTERS Through the historical research that was done for this study, five distinct themes emerged as the main systems of belief about beauty.

Each one of the five was either widely accepted at one point in time, or else its relevance has spanned the centuries, from architectural theory’s conception until now. The five different beliefs are as follows: I. Beauty is God

God is Beauty, and every truly beautiful thing is simply a reflection of Him in some way.

II. Beauty is Harmony

A sense of balance is at the heart of everything that is beautiful.

III. Beauty is Nature

Beauty is found most aptly in the nature of the world.

IV. Beauty is Utility

A thing is most beautiful when it is serving its purpose most completely.

V. Beauty is Simplicity

Beauty is found only after all that is unnecessary has been stripped away.

The final chapter of this book diverges from the examination of sources of delight and instead focuses on beauty’s opposite: VI. Anti-Beauty: The Grotesque

What does the absence of beauty look like?

In studying the unbeautiful, even more of the nature of beauty is revealed, and general understanding of the topic is deepened.

INTRODUCTION

The first five chapters all follow the same format: 1. section of chronological quotations 2. four present day opinions 3. investigation of one of the five Themes of Beauty (including an introduction, a series of artful explorations, all of the designs for the House, and accompanying explanations) The sixth chapter contains only the third component: an investigation of the Grotesque (including all the items mentioned above).

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BACKGROUND

background

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8 | BACKGROUND

OBJECTIVE BEAUTY Most people hold that there is an objective side to beauty - that is, that some things are beautiful whether or not everyone sees them as such. The fact that these certain things are beautiful is independent of any individual’s personal taste or preference on the matter.

Anthony Ashley Cooper agreed with this assertion when she said that everyone has an “inward eye” which distinguishes between the amiable and the despicable.4 Nearly two hundred years earlier Leon Battista Alberti wrote that, “When you make judgments on beauty, you do not follow mere fancy, but the workings of a reasoning faculty that is inborn in the mind.”5 Despite the general agreement that there is a beauty which exists outside of personal taste, there are many different ideas for what the source of this objective beauty is (our five themes of beauty represent only the five major schools of thought). Through time people have believed that the origins for beauty can be found in nature, in God, through simplicity, sustainability, purposiveness, proportion, symmetry, or form, or else that beauty’s origins are and forever will be an unsolved mystery.

SUBJECTIVE BEAUTY Perhaps the fact that there is a variety of differing opinions in the previous section itself confirms that, while there may be an absolute facet of beauty, there is also certainly a more subjective and relative side as well. That is to say that every person has a unique view of what is beautiful and what is not. Eighteenth century artist Allan

BACKGROUND

Ramsay would even go so far as to say that, “To insist upon one form of dress, or one form of building, being in itself more beautiful than another, must appear to a philosopher entering upon as senseless a controversy, as the pretending that one dish was in itself more palatable than another, and that he who preferred the one had a better taste than he who preferred the other.”6 The realization that there is a relative way of looking at beauty may be a good deal less profound than identifying the objective side of beauty, but it is by no means any less important and has therefore been discussed equally as much throughout history. These two types of beauty are often mentioned in tandem with one another, with the architect or philosopher identifying and explaining the difference between the two. The following are some of the ways that these two ideas have been explained in the past: ARCHITECT/ PHILOSOPHER

SUBJECTIVE

“positive”

Claude Perrault

dependent only on prejudice

“natural”

Christopher Wren

discovered by the senses

“original”

Francis Hutcheson

“free”

Immanuel Kant

OBJECTIVE based on convincing reasons

from geometry

absolute

self-subsistent, pure judgment of taste

“arbitrary”

“customary”

“comparative” relative

“dependent”

conditioned, applied judgment of taste

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10 | BACKGROUND

THE ARCHITECT’S DILEMMA The reality of these two sides of beauty presents architects with a nasty dilemma, described very well by Philip Johnson as the sixth crutch of architecture: Then there’s another very bad crutch that you will get much later in your career. Please, please, watch out for this one: The Crutch of Serving the Client. You can escape all criticism if you can say, “Well, the client wanted it that way.” Mr. Hood, one of our really great architects, talked exactly that way. He would put a Gothic door on a skyscraper and say, “Why shouldn’t I? The client wanted a Gothic door on the modern skyscraper, and I put it on. Because what is my business? Am I not here to please my client?” As one of the boys asked me during the dinner before the lecture, where do you draw the line? When do the client’s demands permit you to shoot him and when do you give in gracefully? It’s got to be clear, back in your own mind, that serving the client is one thing and the art of architecture another.7

If subjective beauty is the top priority of the architect, then what is the professional doing for the client that they could not otherwise just do for themselves? Why should they bother paying for the assistance of an “expert” if their help is unnecessary?

However, leaning too far on the other side of the argument can be just as dangerous. If architects cannot master the art of revealing beauty to their client through a design that speaks to him or her as an individual, then they are not providing the service that is required and expected of them as architects.

In order to achieve beauty in design, an architect needs to be able to balance these two concepts and know when one trumps the other.

BACKGROUND

Neither the objective nor the subjective view of beauty can be ignored, and each has to be considered to the appropriate degree for any given project.

MODELS FOR BEAUTY If beauty were a diagram, there are a couple different forms that it might take. One way to look at it is to see beauty and its opposite on either side of a continuum. The closer you get to one side of the continuum, the farther you get from the other: NEUTRAL

BEAUTIFUL

GROTESQUE

If this is the case, then it implies that one thing can be more beautiful than another, and that there might be some things that fall in the middle of the scale that are neutrally impressive.

Another way to look at beauty is as a dichotomy, where something is either beautiful, or it is not: BEAUTFUL

OR

NOT BEAUTIFUL

Much different from the last scenario, this model states that there is no “more beautiful” or “more grotesque” - something is either beautiful, or it is not beautiful.

Perhaps it could be said that the first diagram represents the subjective form that beauty can take, and people only know that something is ugly to them when they see something else that is more beautiful than

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12 | BACKGROUND

the first. Likewise, the second diagram might represent objective beauty, and people may not know the specific cause for their reaction of awe but simply and inexplicably know when a thing is beautiful.

Conversely, maybe the truth is either the first or the second diagram, not both. Or else it is neither.

Johann Joachim Winckelmann in History of the Art of Antiquity.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel in Schinkel by Martin Steffens.

3 Architectural Theory Volume I: An Anthology from Vitruvius to 1870

by Harry Francis Mallgrave, Architectural Theory Volume II: An Anthology from 1871-2005 by Harry Francis Mallgrave and Christina Contandriopoulos, and The Architecture Reader by A. Krista Sykes.

4 Anthony Ashley Cooper in Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times.

5 Leon Battista Alberti in On the Art of Building in Ten Books.

6 Allan Ramsay in “Dialogue on Taste” in The Investigator.

7 Philip Johnson in “The Seven Crutches of Modern Architecture.”

1 2

TIMELINE

llll llll llll llll ll quotes

100 BC

2016 AD

llll llll llll llll quotes

llll quotes

llll llll quotes

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GOD

HARMONY

NATURE

SIMPLICITY

UTILITY

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25BC - 1775AD

25BC - 1775AD

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16 | 25BC - 1775AD

25BC

On Architecture, Book 1 Vitruvius

All these [buildings] must be built with due reference to durability, convenience, and beauty. Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected; convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments is faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when each class of building is assigned to its suitable and appropriate exposure; and beauty, when the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good taste, and when its members are in due proportion according to correct principles of symmetry.a

95AD

Revelation 21 The Apostle John

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

1

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

2

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 3

4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall

25BC - 1775AD

be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

5

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

6

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

7

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

8

[...]

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

22

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

23

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.

24

And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

25

And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither

26

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18 | 25BC - 1775AD

whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.b

1486

On the Art of Building in Ten Books Leon Battista Alberti

When you make judgments on beauty, you do not follow mere fancy, but the workings of a reasoning faculty that is inborn in the mind. It is clearly so, since no one can look at anything shameful, deformed, or disgusting without immediate displeasure and aversion.c

mid-1670s

Tract I on architecture Christopher Wren

Beauty, Firmness, and Convenience, are the Principles; the two first depend upon the geometrical Reasons of Opticks and Staticks; the third only makes the Variety.

There are natural Causes of Beauty. Beauty is a Harmony of Objects, begetting Pleasure by the Eye. There are two Causes of Beauty, natural and customary. Natural is from Geometry, consisting in Uniformity (that is Equality) and Proportion. Customary Beauty is begotten by the Use of our Senses to those Objects which are usually pleasing to us or other Causes, as Familiarity or particular Inclination

25BC - 1775AD

breeds a Love to Things not in themselves lovely. Here lies the great Occasion of Errors; here is tried the Architect’s Judgment: but always the true Test is natural or geometrical Beauty. [...]

Geometrical Figures are naturally more beautiful than other irregular; in this all consent as to a Law of Nature. Of geometrical Figures, the Square and the Circle are most beautiful; next, the Parallelogram and the Oval. Strait Lines are more beautiful than curve; next to strait Lines, equal and geometrical Flexures; an Object elevated in the Middle is more beautiful than depressed.

Position is necessary for perfecting Beauty. There are only two beautiful Positions of strait Lines, perpendicular and horizontal: this is from Nature, and conseequently Necessity, no other than upright being firm. Oblique Positions are Discord to the Eye, unless answered in Pairs, as in the Sides of an equicrural Triangle....

Views contrary to Beauty are Deformity, or a Defect of Uniformity, and Plainness, which is the Excess of Uniformity; Variety makes the Mean....

In Things to be seen at once, much Variety makes Confusion, another Vice of Beauty. In Things that are not seen at once, and have no Respect one to another, great Variety is commendable, provided this Variety transgress not the Rules of Opticks and Geometry.d

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1683

Ordonnance for the Five Kinds of Columns after the Method of the Ancients Claude Perrault

In order to judge rightly in this case, one must suppose two kinds of beauty in architecture and know which beauties are based on convincing reasons and which depend only on prejudice. I call beauties based on convincing reasons those whose presence in works is bound to please everyone, so easily apprehended are their value and quality. They include the richness of the materials, the size and magnificence of the building, the precision and cleanness of the execution, and symmetry, which in French signifies the kind of proportion that produces an unmistakable and striking beauty. For there are two kinds of proportion. One, difficult to discern, consists in the proportional relationship between parts, such as that between the size of various elements, either with respect to one another or to the whole, of which an element may be, for instance, a seventh, fifteenth, or twentieth part. The other kind of proportion, called symmetry, is very apparent and consists in the relationship the parts have collectively as a result of the balanced correspondence of their size, number, disposition and order. [...]

Against the beauties I call positive and convincing, I set those I call arbitrary...that appear agreeable not by reasons within everyone’s grasp but merely by custom and the association the mind makes between two things of a different nature.... It is also prejudice that makes us like the fashions and the patterns of speech that custom has established at court, for the regard we have for the worthiness and

25BC - 1775AD

patronage of people in the court makes us like their clothing and their way of speaking, although these things in themselves have nothing positively likable, since after a time they offend us without their having undergone any inherent change.e

1711

Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times Anthony Ashley Cooper

I am ready, replied I, to own there is in certain figures a natural beauty, which the eye finds as soon as the object is presented to it.

Is there then, said he, a natural beauty of figures? and is there not as natural a one of actions? No sooner the eye opens upon figures, the ear to sounds, than straight the beautiful results and grace and harmony are known and acknowledged. No sooner are actions viewed, no sooner the human affections and passions discerned (and they are most of them as soon discerned as felt) than straight an inward eye distinguishes, and sees the fair and shapely, the amiable and admirable, apart from the deformed, the foul, the odious, or the despicable. How is it possible therefore not to own “that as these distinctions have their foundation in Nature, the discernment itself is natural, and from Nature alone�? [...]

Who can admire the outward beauties and not recur instantly to the inward, which are the most real and essential, the most naturally

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affecting, and of the highest pleasure, as well as profit and advantage? [...]

‘Tis we ourselves create and form our taste. If we resolve to have it just, ‘tis in our power. We may esteem and resolve, approve and disapprove, as we would wish.... Who is so just to himself as to recall his fancy from the power of fashion and education to that of reason? Could we, however, be thus courageous, we should soon settle in ourselves such an opinion of good as would secure to us an invariable, agreeable, and just taste in life and manners.f

1725

An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue Francis Hutcheson

X. It is of no Consequence whether we call these Ideas of Beauty and Harmony, Perceptions of the External Senses of Seeing and Hearing, or not. I should rather choose to call our Power of perceiving these Ideas, an INTERNAL SENSE, were it only for the Convenience of distinguishing them from other Sensations of Seeing and Hearing, which Men may have without Perception of Beauty and Harmony. [...]

XIV. Hence it plainly appears, ‘that some Objects are immediately the Occasions of this Pleasure of Beauty, and that we have Senses

25BC - 1775AD

fitted for perceiving it; and that it is distinct from that Joy which arises upon Prospect of Advantage.” Nay, do not we often see Convenience and Use neglected to obtain Beauty, without any other Prospect of Advantage in the beautiful Form, than the suggesting the pleasant Ideas of Beauty? ... Our Sense of Beauty from Objects, by which they are constituted good to us, is very distinct from our Desire of them when they are thus constituted....

XVI. Beauty, in Corporeal Forms, is either Original or Comparative; or, if any like the Terms better, Absolute, or Relative....g

1739-1740

A Treatise of Human Nature David Hume

...a great part of beauty, which we admire either in animals or in other objects, is deriv’d from the idea of convenience and utility...the rules of architecture require, that the top of a pillar shou’d be more slender than its base, and that because such a figure conveys to us the idea of security, which is pleasant; whereas the contrary form gives us the apprehension of danger, which is uneasy. From innumerable instances of this kind, as well as from considering that beauty like wit, cannot be defin’d, but is discern’d only by a taste or sensation, we may conclude, that beauty is nothing but a form, which produces pleasure, as deformity is a structure of parts, which conveys pain; and since the power of producing pain and pleasure make in this manner the essence of beauty and deformity, all the effects of these qualities must be deriv’d from the sensation; and among the rest

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24 | 25BC - 1775AD

pride and humility, which of all their effects are the most common and remarkable.h

1755

“Dialogue on Taste” in The Investigator Allan Ramsay

To insist upon one form of dress, or one form of building, being in itself more beautiful than another, must appear to a philosopher entering upon as senseless a controversy, as the pretending that one dish was in itself more palatable than another, and that he who preferred the one had a better taste than he who preferred the other.i

1757

“Of the Standard of Taste” David Hume

Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.

It appears then, that amidst all the variety and caprices of taste, there are certain general principles of approbation or blame, whose influence a careful eye may trace in all operations of the mind. Some particular forms or qualities, from the original structure of the internal fabric, are calculated to please, and others to displease; and if they

25BC - 1775AD

fail of their effect in any particular instance, it is from some apparent defect or imperfection in the organ.j

1757

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful Edmund Burke

But nature has at last escaped from their discipline and their fetters; and our gardens, if nothing else, declare we begin to feel that mathematical ideas are not the true measures of beauty.... But if proportion has not this power, it may appear odd how men came originally to be so prepossessed in its favour. It arose, I imagine, from the fondness I have just mentioned, which men bear so remarkably to their own works and notions; it arose from false reasonings on the effects of the customary figure of animals; it arose from the Platonic theory of fitness and aptitude‌if proportion does not operate by a natural power attending some measures, it must be either by custom, or the idea of utility; there is no other way.k

1764

History of the Art of Antiquity Johann Joachim Winckelmann

[...]

Beauty, as the highest aim and focus of art...is one of the great mysteries of nature, whose effect we all see and feel, but for which a universal and clear concept of its essence belongs among the undiscovered truths....

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26 | 25BC - 1775AD

The wise who have pondered the causes of universal beauty explored its presence in created things and sought to reach the source of highest beauty - have located it in the perfect harmony of the being with its purpose, and of the parts with each other and with the whole. But as this is synonymous with perfection, of which the human vessel is incapable, our idea of universal beauty remains indefinite. It is formed in us through individual bits of knowledge, which, when correct, are collected and brought together, giving us the highest idea of human beauty. We elevate this the more we raise ourselves above the material. Moreover, as this perfection was given by the Creator to all creatures in the degree suitable to them, and as every concept resides in a cause that must be sought not in the concept but in something else, the cause of beauty cannot be found outside itself, as it exists in all created things. Thus arises the difficulty - because our conceptual knowledge is comparative and beauty cannot be compared with anything higher - of achieving a universal and clear explanation of beauty.

The highest beauty is in God, and the idea of human beauty approaches perfection the more it can be conceived in conformity and harmony with the highest Existence, which we distinguish from matter in our concept of unity and indivisibility.l

25BC - 1775AD

Theory Book A: Architectural Theory Volume I: An Anthology from Vitruvius to 1870 by Harry Francis Mallgrave Theory Book B: Architectural Theory Volume II: An Anthology from 1871-2005 by Harry Francis Mallgrave and Christina Contandriopoulos Theory Book C: The Architecture Reader by A. Krista Sykes.

Pages 8-9 in Theory Book A. Pages 20-22 in Theory Book A. c Page 54 in Theory Book C. d Pages 92 in Theory Book A. e Page 80-81 in Theory Book A. f Pages 97-98 in Theory Book A. g Pages 259-261 in Theory Book A. h Page 267 in Theory Book A. i Page 268 in Theory Book A. j Pages 271-272 in Theory Book A. k Page 276 in Theory Book A. l Page 175 in Theory Book A. a b

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PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 1-4

The View of a STAFFING MANAGER Present Day Opinion 1

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Something that is a close representation of its ideal, perfect reference. Something that is meaningfully deviant from its ideal, perfect reference. Something that is honest, genuine or true.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I think that there are times when the truth is ugly and an imperfection is beautiful. I think truth can be ugly because this world is broken and fallen. I think that imperfection can be beautiful when it is honest effort or a process of change toward perfection.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

If it does, I’m not sure how. Sometimes if I look for it I can find beauty in helping people, but oftentimes people do not want to be helped and it is just ugly and discouraging.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Beauty in nature and in marriage and in cooking and cleaning and organization and talking with God and in silence. So much beauty

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waiting to be discovered!

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I think that it depends on the purpose the building is trying to accomplish. It should be beautiful if beauty helps to achieve its purpose and not if beauty would hinder the purpose.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

Not sure what it is called, but there is a really pretty building in Cleveland that has carved details and smooth stone. Pretty, clean, detailed, and seemed like the person who built it cared about what they were doing.

The View of a MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT Present Day Opinion 2

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty� is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is the interplay of form and function. It is a reflection of the one or One who created it.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 1-4

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

Beauty is objective because God made all that is good and lovely and pure. The phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” gets to the fact that each person can choose to see the objectively good, lovely and pure creations. Each individual is blessed with unique, subjective value preferences and, in turn, assesses the merits of beauty differently - but that does not alter true beauty. Just because a camper doesn’t hear the tree falling in the woods, that doesn’t mean the science of sound is debunk; it simply means that the camper didn’t hear the tree falling. Similarly, beauty is there whether or not humans can appreciate it.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

In my occupation, there is beauty. Certainly not the beauty that I would like (aesthetic beauty). There is beauty in success and overcoming business hardship and diligence and discipline. Do I see this beauty often? No. But that doesn’t mean it’s not present.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Daily life is the searching for beauty. Each day when you go about your routine, it is a new attempt to find the unique, to find the extraordinary, to find the beautiful.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

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32 | PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 1-4

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

After living in New York for approximately a year, it has taken me about that much time to believe that buildings can be beautiful.

Should a building be beautiful? It is the responsibility to a desire to create things that are beautiful. As I said at the beginning, beauty is both form and function, which means that a building should work well and look good.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

One of my favorite buildings is the Chrysler in New York City.

Specifically, at night when the arrows on the top of the building light up - it points to God. Other than the Chrysler building, I believe that buildings that work with their surroundings are beautiful.

The View of a SOFTWARE AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEER Present Day Opinion 3

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

The concept of beauty is difficult to capture with words - it’s a very visceral type of thing. It’s easy to just explain it away as one of those things that “you know when you see it.” The best way I can describe it is this: When something is absolutely not beautiful, it doesn’t elicit

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 1-4

any emotional response inside of me. When something is close to being beautiful, but is not quite there, it creates a feeling of tension.

In this case I’m drawn to what I’m looking at, but there is something distracting that prevents me from fulling locking in. From an aesthetic viewpoint this could be due to something being out of balance or proportion. When I recognize something as beautiful, I get lost in it.

All I want to do is absorb and admire what I’m looking at.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I can see it both ways. It’s subjective in the sense that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” - something I have witnessed countless times.

There will always be differences in taste with regard to music, art, etc. I do think that we are trained by society to recognize certain qualities as beautiful, however. In this sense, beauty is objective.

Some examples of this are color trends, clothing styles, etc.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

A large part of my job is designing software interfaces that users interact with every day. I constantly strive to make them look good and easy to use.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Absolutely. Beauty brings me so much joy in life. For example, when I go on walks with my family I always prefer to travel through neighborhoods with beautiful homes and gardens. I always feel more

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at peace in beautiful surroundings.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I think that a balance must always be achieved between form and function, but beauty should never be neglected. I feel that beauty brings us so much well-being and should be incorporated into our world wherever possible.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I have seen countless beautiful buildings throughout my life. The first one to come to mind is the house across the street from ours. It is an old bungalow-style house that was built around 1920. It’s a long way from the bland boxes that plague today’s subdivisions. It has lots of lines that add visual interest, but not too many. Lots of thought went into the details of the house, from the exposed rafter tails to the trim around the windows and doors. Everything is very well-proportioned.

The colors complement each other and the environment very nicely.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 1-4

The View of a GRAPHIC DESIGNER Present Day Opinion 4

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

I think beauty is when you look, hear, feel or read something, and qualities of it move you to appreciate it deeply. It is a lot like love, but not necessarily as intense, and sometimes related to it.

As a Christian, I see beauty in places I see God, or in things that point me to Him. As a person, I also attach beauty to things that have meaning to me.

For example, I think the ocean is beautiful because it reminds me of childhood vacations (though it is also beautiful for other reasons, too). I think my family is beautiful, but even if they weren’t physically beautiful, I would feel they were because I have the utmost love for them. Some people think their flag is the most beautiful, but it probably has more to do with their love for their country. There are people I have a hard time seeing as beautiful, even though they have lovely faces and bodies, because I’ve been crossed by them. Though people may look great when taking particular types of selfies, I often don’t find particular types beautiful because of the vanity of the shot. I’m sure for some, places that they’ve had bad experiences are no longer beautiful (a hospital where a loved one died, a school where they had been outcast), and, on the flipside, places that I’ve had great experiences or that have great meaning in general will be more beautiful to me. It’s sort of like when you fall in love, you find the person more attractive.

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I also find beauty in things that are genuine. Wood instead of vinyl with a wood imprint. A real smile versus a fake smile. Real plants versus fake plants. Real painting versus a print.

As a designer, I see beauty as things that function properly and have balance, symmetry or asymmetry, good use of color, texture, contrasts, hierarchy, etc. - all based on personal preference, my education, and sometimes trends.

And as a Christian, person and designer, I see beauty in things that people have put effort into with the best of intentions, with a successful outcome. I think of churches with intricate carvings and paintings - I find that far more beautiful than a church with plain walls and little aesthetic thought. When I can tell that someone took the time to finish off a project correctly, and when I see that someone values aesthetics and puts a significant amount of time and maybe resources and energy in to achieve it, I find that amazingly beautiful.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

This is a conundrum for me. While I believe the beauty of God is an unshakeable and opinion-transcending fact, many people don’t love God, don’t feel things of him are beautiful, or just plain don’t see him, and therefore cannot see the beauty. When it comes to things of this world, I think “beautiful” is subjective to each person, though there are instances where it is nearly definite. There are schools of design or thought that find beauty undeniable in certain things, but not everyone belongs to any one school of thought. It is completely up to the individual.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 1-4

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Absolutely. I’m a designer and occasionally a copywriter and have to arrange images and words to look and read easily and beautifully.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

When I’m not at work, I’m a mom, a wife, and a homemaker. I try to teach my daughter beauty and bring beauty and balance into the home. This is generally not always a success, and causes me to feel unbalanced.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Yes, a building should be made beautifully. It needs to function properly first, but then it needs to have beauty. I think when things are made beautifully, we all feel more balanced, can function better and focus more on the tasks at hand. I think that’s part of the reason there is such a push for hospitals to be beautiful.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I have seen many beautiful buildings. I’ve been to churches that have taken my breath away by the smell of the old wood, the detail in all the carvings, the layout and the focal points. The new World Trade Center buildings - the whole grounds, really - are beautiful to me for

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what they stand for. I saw the old ones before they fell and to see the memorials where they are and the triumphant new buildings standing tall despite what happened - this also takes my breath away. My family home will always be beautiful to me, even the little flaws that I have an inkling to fix, because I spent the larger part of my life there. The Cincinnati Children’s hospital is beautiful to me because the layout was organized in a way that made sense and was easy to follow, was colorful, bright and didn’t frustrate us when we were already nervous. The art building at Kent State was beautiful to me in how it was laid out - the way the rooms and floors wove together and apart was unintuitive but not hard to remember, and I feel gave the students a sense of ownership and camaraderie in something unusual. It could have used some love in color and upkeep though.

THE HOUSE OF GOD

the House of God

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INTRODUCTION As alluded to before, the series of house designs in this book are the result of a personal search for the truth about beauty. It is because this pursuit is my own, and because I am seeking truth through it, that this section is about the God of the Bible, whom I believe to be the only true God. The quotations from philosophers and from ordinary people of today are attempts at giving a more universal, unbiased view of beauty; but as for the houses, they are a search for truth.

So no study on a god (or on houses built for them) could be more worthwhile than one that seeks to understand the Trinitarian God who is all the things enumerated on the next page.

Each one of these houses (excluding the House of the Grotesque) was a joy to design, and each one was made with a worshipful heart - seeking to learn more about the Artist from whom all beauty originates and praising him for each new discovery. The House of God was a unique pleasure to design because it meant the merging of two of my greatest passions: God and architecture.

While working with watercolors was at times difficult, and my skills in that area do not even come close to doing this topic justice, it was still an awesome experience to think about these truly beautiful things and respond to them through art. It was good practice in conveying a message through design and art, which was one of my goals throughout this project.

The following works are responses to the beauty found in God’s character. The House of God explores some ideas about heaven, where he dwells.

THE HOUSE OF GOD

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ABSTRACT SERIES

watercolor paint on watercolor paper

This series of four watercolor paintings were simply an exploration of the medium as well as a celebration of the creativity that the Creator gave us when he made people in his own image.

THE HOUSE OF GOD

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DANCING ORBS: THE TRINITY watercolor paint on watercolor paper

“What does the term ‘glorify’ mean? To glorify something or someone is to praise, enjoy, and delight in them. When something is useful you are attracted to it for what it can bring you or do for you. But if it is beautiful, then you enjoy it simply for what it is. Just being in its presence is its own reward. To glorify someone is also to serve or defer to him or her. Instead of sacrificing their interests to make yourself happy, you sacrifice your interests to make them happy.

Why? Your ultimate joy is to see them in joy.

“What does it mean, then that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit glorify one another? If we think of it graphically, we could say that self-centeredness is to be stationary, static. In self-centeredness we demand that others orbit around us. We will do things and give affection to others, as long as it helps us meet our personal goals and fulfills us.

“The inner life of the triune God, however, is utterly different. The life of the Trinity is characterized not by self-centeredness but by mutually self-giving love. When we delight and serve someone else, we enter into a dynamic orbit around him or her, we center on the interests and desires of the other. That creates a dance, particularly if there are three persons, each of whom moves around the other two. So it is, the Bible tells us. Each of the divine persons centers upon the others. None demands that the others revolve around him. Each voluntarily circles the other two, pouring love, delight, and adoration into them. Each person of the Trinity loves, adores, defers to, and rejoices in the others. That creates a dynamic, pulsating dance of joy and love.”

THE HOUSE OF GOD

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DANCING ORBS: CREATION watercolor paint on watercolor paper

“Why would a God like this create a world of beings like us? ... God did not create us to get the cosmic, infinite joy of mutual love and glorification, but to share it. We were made to join in the dance. If we will center our lives on him, serving him not out of self-interest, but just for the sake of who he is, for the sake of his beauty and glory, we will enter the dance and share in the joy and love he lives in. We were designed, then, not just for belief in God in some general way, nor for a vague kind of inspiration or spirituality. We were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting, and resembling him. This growth in happiness will go on eternally, increasing unimaginably (I Corinthians 2:7-10).

“This leads to a uniquely positive view of the material world. The world is not, as other creation accounts would have it, an illusion, the result of a battle among the gods, nor the accidental outcome of natural forces. It was made in joy and therefore is good in and of itself. The universe is understood as a dance of beings united by energies binding yet distinct, like planets orbiting stars, like tides and seasons, ‘like atoms in a molecule, like the tones in a chord, like the living organisms on this earth, like the mother with the baby stirring in her body.’ The love of the inner life of the Trinity is written all through it. Creation is a dance!”

THE HOUSE OF GOD

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DANCING ORBS: THE FALL AND THE RESCUE watercolor paint on watercolor paper

“...we failed. We became stationary, self-centered. And according to Genesis 3, when our relationship with God unraveled, all our other relationships disintegrated as well.... We lost the dance. The dance of joyful, mutually self-giving relationships is impossible in a world in which everyone is stationary, trying to get everything else to orbit around them.

“However, God does not leave us there. The Son of God was born into the world to begin a new humanity, a new community of people who could lose their self-centeredness, begin a God-centered life, and, as a result, slowly but surely have all other relationships put right as well. Paul calls Jesus ‘the last Adam.’ As the first Adam was tested in the Garden of Eden, the last Adam (Jesus) was tested in the Garden of Gethsemane. The first Adam knew that he would live if he obeyed God about the tree. But he didn’t. The last Adam was also tested by what Paul called a ‘tree,’ the Cross. Jesus knew that he would be crushed if he obeyed his Father. And he still did.

“Why did Jesus die for us? What was Jesus getting out of it?

Remember, he already had a community of joy, glory, and love. He didn’t need us. So what benefit did he derive from this? Not a thing.

And that means that when he came into the world and died on the cross to deal with our sins, he was circling and serving us. ‘I have given them the glory that you gave me’ (John 17). He began to do with us what he had been doing with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity. He centers upon us, loving us without benefit to himself.”

- Timothy Keller (The Reason for God)

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VINE AND BRANCHES

watercolor paint on watercolor paper

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.... You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

- Jesus (John 15:1-11, 16-17)

THE HOUSE OF GOD

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THE HOUSE OF GOD

watercolor paint on watercolor paper

Approach (plan): Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Front Façade (elevation): My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

You know the way to the place where I am going.

Door (elevation): I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

Entry (perspective): Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Interior (plan): “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Matthew 7:7-8, 13-14; John 14:2-4, 10:7-9; Revelation 21:3-5

THE HOUSE OF GOD

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THE HOUSE OF GOD

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THE HOUSE OF GOD

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1776AD - 1875AD

1776AD - 1875AD

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1784

Architecture, Essay on Art Etienne-Louis Boullée

If by the strength of his mind and the techniques it devises, a man could arouse in us with his art those sensations we experience when we look at nature, such art would be far superior to anything we possess, for we are limited to more or less imperfect [imitations]. But there is no art that we can create alone, for if such an art existed it would mean that the Divine Being, the creator of Nature, had endowed us with a quality that is part of His own essential being. [...]

I should add that we consider ‘beautiful’ those objects that most resemble the human organism and that we reject those which, lacking this resemblance, do not correspond to the human condition. [...]

[A] sphere is, in all respects, the image of perfection. It combines strict symmetry with the most perfect regularity and the greatest possible variety; its form is developed to the fullest extent and is the simplest that exists; its shape is outlined by the most agreeable contour and, finally, the light effects that it produces are so beautifully graduated that they could not possibly be softer, more agreeable or more varied. These unique advantages, which the sphere derives from nature, have an immeasurable hold over our senses.

A great man (Montesquieu) once said, ‘Symmetry is pleasing because

1776AD - 1875AD

it is the image of clarity and because the mind, which is always seeking understanding, easily accepts and grasps all that is symmetrical.’ I would add that symmetry is pleasing because it is the image of order and perfection.

Variety is pleasing because it satisfied a spiritual need which, by its very nature, likes to be stimulated and sustained by what is new.

And it is variety that makes things appear new to us. It therefore follows that variety puts new life into our faculties by offering us new pleasures and it is as pleasing to us in the objects that are part of any given volume, as it is in the light effects so produced.

Grandeur, too, always pleases us whatever form it takes for we are ever eager to increase our pleasure and would like to embrace the Universe.

Finally, the image of Grace is one which, deep in our hearts, is the most pleasing of all....

It is easy for the reader to surmise that the basic rule and the one that governs the principles of architecture, originates in regularity.... ...Symmetrical compositions are true and pure. The slightest disorder, the slightest confusion becomes intolerable. Order must be in evidence and paramount in any composition based on symmetry. In short, the wheel of reason should never desert an architect’s genius for he should always make a rule of the excellent maxim, “Nothing is beautiful if all is not judicious.”a

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1790

Critique of Judgment Immanuel Kant

There are two kinds of beauty: free beauty (pulchritudo vaga), or merely dependent beauty (pulchritudo adhaerens). The first presupposes no concept of what the object ought to be; the second does presuppose such a concept and the perfection of the object in accordance therewith. The first is called the (self-subsistent) beauty of this or that thing; the second, as dependent upon a concept (conditioned beauty), is ascribed to objects which come under the concept of a particular purpose.

Flowers are free natural beauties.... Many birds (such as the parrot, the humming bird, the bird of paradise) and many sea shells are beauties in themselves, which do not belong to any object determined in respect of its purpose by concepts, but please freely and in themselves...they represent nothing - no object under a definite concept - and are free beauties....

In the judging of a free beauty (according to the mere form), the judgment of taste is pure. There is presupposed no concept of any purpose which the manifold of the given object is to serve, and which therefore is to be represented in it....

But human beauty (i.e. of a man, a woman, or a child), the beauty of a horse, or a building (be it church, palace, arsenal, or summer house), presupposes a concept of the purpose which determines what the thing is to be, and consequently a concept of its perfection; it is therefore adherent beauty....

1776AD - 1875AD

...we can settle many disputes about beauty between judges of taste, by showing that the one is speaking of free, the other of dependent, beauty - that the first is making a pure, the second an applied, judgment of taste. [...]

Beauty is the form of the purposiveness of an object, so far as this is perceived in it without any representation of a purpose.b

1794

Architecture, Essay on Art Etienne-Louis BoullĂŠe

...to create something beautiful we must, as in nature, ensure that the general impression given is gentle; colours must be soft and muted, their shades delicate; shapes must be flowing with light, elegant proportions.

The art of making things agreeable stems from Good Taste.

Good Taste is a delicate, aesthetic discernment with regard to objects that arouse our pleasure. It is not enough to simply put before us objects that give us pleasure. It is when we choose among them that our pleasure is aroused and we feel delight in the depths of our being.c

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1794

Essays on the Picturesque Uvedale Price

Beauty is so much the most enchanting and popular quality, that it is often applied as the highest commendation to whatever gives us pleasure, or raises our admiration, be the cause what it will. [...]

According to Mr. Burke, the passion...excited by beauty, is love and complacency; it acts by relaxing the fibres somewhat below their natural tone, and this is accompanied by an inward sense of melting and languor.... To me it appears, that Mr. Burke is right with respect to that pleasure which is the effect of beauty....

If we examine our feelings on a warm genial day, in a spot full of the softest beauties of nature, the fragrance of spring breathing around us - pleasure then seems to be our natural state; to be received, not sought after; it is the happiness of existing to sensations of delight only; we are unwilling to move, almost to think, and desire only to feel, to enjoy.d

1801

Archaeology of the Architecture of the Greeks and Romans Christian Ludwig Stieglitz

Works of architecture receive their beauty through beautiful form,

[...]

1776AD - 1875AD

which in this art, as in the other fine arts to which it is related, is evoked by order and symmetry, by propriety and good proportions.

A building can therefore only be called beautiful when all its parts are constructed and joined in a normal position and order, when they compose a symmetry, when they relate to one another and to the whole and have both a grandeur and proportions pleasing to the eye, and when the arrangement of these parts and the whole is suited to the character of the building. If everything that gives the building a beautiful form is taken into account, then it will certainly create the proper effect and make a pleasing impression. Decoration should be added only in order to enhance form, to avoid too much simplicity from which monotony arises, and to give the whole greater multiplicity. We achieve such through embellishments or ornaments that are joined to the essential parts of a building and serve as their adornment.

The urge to decorate an object lies deep in the human soul, for even barbarous and uncivilized peoples have a feeling for it.e

1801-1802

Lectures on Literature and the Fine Arts August Schlegel

Because beauty is always a meaningful appearance, beautiful form in construction, for which the determination of a certain purpose is the essential thing, must reside first and foremost in the appearance of this purposiveness; then can something more be added that exceeds it, although it may never contradict it.f

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1802

PrĂŠcis of the Lectures on Architecture Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand

It will be argued that, since there are buildings that are rightly admired, or rightly despised, it follows that there must be beauties and defects in architecture; that it must pursue the former and avoid the latter; and thus that it is capable of giving pleasure; that, if such is not its principal aim, it must at least attempt to blend that agreeable with the useful.

So far from denying that architecture can give pleasure, we maintain that it cannot but give pleasure, where it is treated in accordance with its true principles. Has not nature associated pleasure with the satisfaction of our needs, and are not our keenest pleasures the satisfactions of our most pressing needs? Such an art as architecture, which immediately satisfies so many of our needs, which places us in a position to satisfy all the others with ease, which defends us against the seasons, and which leads us to enjoy all the gifts of nature: an art, indeed, to which all the other arts owe their very existence: how could it fail to give us pleasure?

Certainly, the grandeur, magnificence, variety, effect, and character that are observed in buildings are all beauties, all causes of the pleasure that we derive from looking at them. But where is the need to run after such things, if a building is disposed in a manner fitted to its inteded use? ...where is the need to chase after all those partial beauties?g

1776AD - 1875AD

1830

To Artists Émile Barrault

And first, what is poetry? It is the power to move someone. What are the fine arts? They are the various expressions of this power. All the arts thus have their poetry; it is their secret soul. And it does not necessarily reside in a correct and pure form, but in the tangible influence that it exerts on us.h

1841

A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening Andrew Jackson Downing

Architectural beauty must be considered conjointly with the beauty of the landscape or situation.i

1842

Cottage Residences Andrew Jackson Downing

More than all, I desire to see these sentiments cherished for their pure moral tendency. “All BEAUTY is an outward expression of inward good,” and so closely are the Beautiful and the True allied, that we shall find, if we become sincere lovers of the grace, the harmony, and the loveliness with which rural homes and rural life are capable of being

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invested, that we are silently opening our hearts to an influence which is higher and deeper than the mere symbol; and that if we thus worship in the true spirit, we shall attain a nearer view of the Great Master, whose words, in all his material universe, are written in lines of Beauty.j

1854

Dictionnaire raisonnÊ Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

[Style] as well as the beautiful, we must insist, resides not merely in forms, but in the harmony of a form with reference to an end in view, to a result to be achieved. If a form clearly delineates an object and makes understandable the purpose for which that object was produced, then it is a beautiful form. It is for this reason that the creations of nature are always beautiful in the eyes of the observer.

The correct application of a form to its object and to its use or function, and the harmony that necessarily always accompanies such a correct application, can only evoke our admiration, whether we observe it in a stately oak tree or in the smallest of insects. We will discover style in the mechanisms of the wings of a bird of prey.... It hardly concerns us if someone points out that a bird has wings in order to be able to fly or that this bird is able to fly only because of its wings; the fact is that the wings are a perfect machine, which produces flight. This machine represents a precise expression of the function that it fulfills.k

1776AD - 1875AD

1871

Art in the House Jacob von Falke

Style is an idealization of an object, the harmonious adaptation of form to means and end, the identification of the object with itself and its idea.... From this point of view the simplest and the richest furniture, the humblest and the stateliest dwelling, may alike be full of style.l

Pages 76-79 in Theory Book C. Pages 396-397 in Theory Book A. c Page 213 in Theory Book A. d Pages 309-311 in Theory Book A. e Page 341 in Theory Book A. f Page 398 in Theory Book A. g Page 337 in Theory Book A. h Page 354 in Theory Book A. i Page 459 in Theory Book A. j Page 461 in Theory Book A. k Page 87 in Theory Book C. l Page 26 in Theory Book B.

a

b

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The View of a REGISTERED NURSE Present Day Opinion 5

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty� is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

As a Christ-follower, I believe that all beauty comes from God whether it be beauty in nature, creativity, or people. True beauty inspires and heals the soul. It is pleasing to the eye and the heart. I think that, at its core, beauty is good.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I know that there are things in nature and in architecture that I would find beautiful that others would not. But I think there are things that are objectively beautiful - especially in people. Selflessly and willingly and passionately serving others is beautiful.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

As a nurse, I am not surrounded by aesthetically pleasing objects or structures, but I do see beauty in the people that I work with and in my patients. Serving people that are sick or dying can be beautiful experiences.

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Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Every day I want to live for the Lord - and in him is true beauty. In following him I find the world more beautiful and interactions with others more beautiful, and I find a much deeper sense of thankfulness for beauty on a daily basis.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Because I believe that beauty inspires and heals our hearts, it would be fantastic to be surrounded by beautiful buildings and structures.

The world might be a better place to live in.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

The Cleveland Art museum. The entrance to the museum is a glass solarium. I wanted to sit in it for hours. I loved that it felt like I was sitting outdoors when I was actually inside. It felt peaceful and welcoming.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 5-8

The View of a RETIRED MUSIC TEACHER Present Day Opinion 6

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

I think beauty is a balance of variety and unity, be it of timbre, color, form or other factors or combinations. I think our perception of beauty is based, at least somewhat, on our learning, experiences and history.

I often have a physiological reaction to beauty, particularly in music.

In fact, I had to learn not to cry at inappropriate times. Goosebumps are acceptable. I have experienced this when seeing works of art, and even people. I get a “rush” when I encounter beauty. There is no sense through which I have not encountered this.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

In our culture, we perceive white wedding dresses as the most beautiful.

Other cultures prefer more colors. There are cultural, historical and educational contributors to our perception of beauty; we can learn to appreciate beauty in areas of which we were over dismissive.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Of course! One of my favorite memories is of a 13-year-old boy with tears streaming down his face, saying, “I never had music do this to me before.”

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Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I don’t think I could live without it! Music, my family, my house, my garden, food, clothing - everything!

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

A building should be a balance of form and function. A shed can and should be as beautiful as one’s home.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

MANY! The Art Deco National Grid Building in Syracuse, the Everson Museum of Art (I.M. Pei’s first museum) also in Syracuse, the Baroque buildings of Central Europe, the Craftsman style Gamble House in Pasadena, California, and many, many more.

The View of a RESTAURANT MANAGER Present Day Opinion 7

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

I believe beauty is having a quality I admire. Whether I find it looks

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 5-8

good, or some other trait, or usefulness can make something, someone, someplace beautiful.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I feel that beauty is subjective because everyone may find something beautiful for a different reason. Everyone has different tastes, so one person will find something beautiful while another person will not.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Whether a customer finds the food or people beautiful can be a deciding factor for if they come back or not.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I like to surround myself with beautiful things, which generally has a positive effect on myself.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Whether a building looks great or serves a specific purpose and does it well, a building should be beautiful.

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Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

The house I live in. It has a purpose and serves it well. It doesn’t have the prettiest exterior, but it provides plenty of living space and has multiple rooms for different activities.

The View of an ELECTRICAL ENGINEER Present Day Opinion 8

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

God - harmony - nature - utility - simplicity - beauty is a blend of all of these and more. It is worthwhile to realize what beauty is not. It is never practical. It is never cheap. Honest beauty is always created out of love. To work in architecture puts tremendous pressure on a person - the constant conflict of beauty versus making and spending money.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

On a desert island, with one person on the island, beauty is 100% objective. On a college campus (especially for an architecture student), it is very subjective.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 5-8

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Magnetic fields are the essence of “God - harmony - nature - utility - simplicity.” An added bonus is that very few people can see them at all.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

All the senses of a human seek beauty, all the time (often without the brain realizing it). Beauty “warms” the brain.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Given any amount of money, there is a beautiful and an ugly way to spend it. With very little money, less has to be more. With too much money, the result is clutter.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

Some buildings are “set” in nature so well, it is as if God put them there. Others (often historical ones) have a dramatic bonus of showing man seeking beauty hundreds and thousands of years ago.

One I saw recently (inside and out) was the cathedral in Siena, Italy.

Another was a cabin along the Allegheny River along Route 62 in western Pennsylvania.

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

the House of Harmony

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INTRODUCTION While I would definitely categorize myself as an avid reader, I have never subscribed to a paper or kept up with the daily news. It just never really seemed worth my time - too sad and too opinion-based.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve made a more conscious effort to keep up with the goings-on of the world, so through the duration of this summer semester I have been privy to the following headlines: ISIS Strikes in Baghdad Shooting on UCLA Campus Boy Rescued, Gorilla Shot at Cincinnati Zoo Terror in Orlando Nightclub Tragedy in Disney World Police Shooting in Baton Rouge Police Shooting in Minnesota Protest Turns Deadly in Dallas ISIS-Inspired Attacks Increasing

Granted, there are some happier titles that I neglected to list, but in general the bad outweighs the good in products of the news industry.

In these stories, I read about death: death of people by people, death of animals by people and death of people by animals. I see hatred and racism, ferocity and fear. In a world that is so full of wonderful variety, there also seems to be a huge lack of harmony.

The way I see it, we live in a world filled with music and we are all different notes in the symphony of life. We were created to make a beautiful song, with all of the notes improving upon each other in glorious chords and progressions. One note by itself is okay, but when you get a whole chorus...now that’s when noise becomes music.

THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

That was the intention, but that is not what happened. The moment we strayed from the Composer’s score, discord ensued. Notes clash all over the place in the form of selfishness, deceit, murder, hate, unkindness, distrust, etc. Notes that were intended for beauty become chaotic and unpleasant to hear and to see - these headlines are an example of this reality.

It is therefore all the more important to design for harmony. This world lacks it in the proportion that was intended, but that doesn’t mean that all is lost and there is no harmony left. The Composition still exists and we have the choice to follow it or not. And where it’s obeyed, gorgeous tunes can be heard that bring peace into a broken world.

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HARMONIOUS SCENES oil pastels on pastel paper

The first of these three drawings is about the relational aspect of harmony between people. I didn’t want to begin a study on harmony with an individual home on a site far, far away from civilization, because that ignores the communal aspect of the word. In this place, neighbors can see and interact with one another without effort.

While they each have their own space (some sense of privacy is also necessary), they all share this rolling hill with one another. The houses are oriented along the river so that building and landform work together, and the colors of the homes each reflect an aspect of the surrounding nature.

The second image depicts a home that is harmonious in its proportions and symmetry. The heavy, darker brickwork anchors the building while the lighter siding fills in above. The colors work well with one another and compliment the surrounding colors of nature.

The last scene was inspired by the Garden of Eden. Before the Fall, creatures and humans lived in harmony with one another. Today, as seen in the headlines of current news, this is far from being the case.

In this image, the human’s home is open and unprotected, without fear of man or beast. The lion sleeping on the ledge is equally as unafraid and at peace. In this place, harmony reigns in a way that will never be experienced in this lifetime.

THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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ABSTRACT SERIES

oil pastels on pastel paper

These abstract drawings study harmony through color, composition, proportion and the pastel medium. For each drawing, color theory was consulted in order to decide which color chords to utilize (complementary, analogous, triadic, split-complementary, tetradic or square). Then harmony was sought after in the design itself.

The first three works focus on creating balanced, peaceful imagery that is devoid of representation. The first examines pattern, symmetry, repetition and unity; the second studies smooth transitions through the blending of colors and shapes, and pure geometric forms suggest an abstracted musical scale; the third explores movement and the peacefulness of directionality.

The last two abstractions contain architectural implications. The first is an idealized mountain scene with a white built form in the middle of the frame. This scene shows the structure’s cohesion with its surroundings. The last abstract drawing shows a home and its owner, the latter standing closer than the former. Proportions are visible in the variations of shade, and natural elements are less rigid than manmade ones. The person is broken down into proportions, same as the building, but he is also blurred - that identifies him as being a part of natural creation as well.

THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

oil pastels on pastel paper museum board, pulp board, chip board and cardboard

The House of Harmony is located at the base of a cliff right next to a waterfall, and the peaceful sound of moving water can be heard from anywhere in the house. The dark and light stains of the exterior wooden planks tie into the different shades of bark in the distant forest beyond the cliff side, and the faรงade is bilaterally balanced.

An abstracted plan drawn in pastels shows the layout of this house.

The front door opens into a living area, which then leads up a few steps to the kitchen and eating space. From there you can either proceed up a flight of stairs or else return outside by exiting a second door onto the front deck. If you venture up the steps, you will find yourself in the bedroom with access to a balcony on the right and a full bathroom on your left. While each of the three levels are separated by height, the faces where they join have no walls which allows them to flow directly into one another.

This home is about the harmony between different programmatic spaces, but it is first and foremost about harmonious relationships with one another. Clear sightlines, an absence of distracting technology, and a focus on communal space all serve to make this a house of harmonious interaction.

The form of the building echoes that of the adjacent waterfall, with each level spilling over onto the one below. The house is tucked into a bend of the river without disturbing any of the surrounding land, bringing it to harmony with its environment.

THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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THE HOUSE OF HARMONY

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1876AD - 1895AD

1876AD - 1895AD

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1880

The German Renaissance Room Georg Hirth

In the house we rest from the burdens of the day; here we live with the ones who we love most in the world; here we plant nothing but good seeds into the hearts of our children. Even if it were just this one thing - a matter of playfully introducing our small ones into the sphere of beauty, of making their eyes susceptible to the harmonies of artistic forms and color - then it would be enough to lead each father of a family to apply himself to domestic furnishings with the greatest care.a

1881

“The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization�

William Morris

‌it must be confessed that the middle classes of our civilization have embraced luxury instead of art, and that we are even so blindly base as to hug ourselves on it, and to insult the memory of valiant peoples of past times and to mock at them because they were not encumbered with the nuisances that foolish habit has made us look on as necessaries. [...]

Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not misery, but the very foundation of refinement: a sanded floor and whitewashed walls, and the green

1876AD - 1895AD

trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside....

So I say, if you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it. It is not so much because the wretched thing is so ugly and silly and useless that I ask you to cast it from you; it is much more because these are but the outward symbols of the poison that lies within them: look through them and see all that has gone to their fashioning, and you will see how vain labor, and sorrow, and disgrace have been their companions from the first, - and all this for trifles that no man really needs!b

1882

“Art and the Handicraftsman�

Oscar Wilde

Do not imitate the works of a nation, Greek or Japanese, Italian or English; but their artistic spirit of design and their artistic attitude to-day, their own world, you should absorb but imitate never, copy never. Unless you can make as beautiful a design in painted china or embroidered screen or beaten brass out of your American turkey as the Japanese does out of his grey silver-winged stork, you will never do anything. [...]

We want to see that you have nothing in your houses that has not been a joy to the man who made it, and is not a joy to those that use it.

We want to see you create an art made by the hands of the people

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to please the hearts of the people too. Do you like this spirit or not?

Do you thing it simple and strong, noble in its aim, and beautiful in its result? I know you do.c

1883

“The Development of Space in Architecture” Hans Auer

Architecture has two souls. One relates to the earth and is subordinate to practical purpose; the other, like a free angel, reaches up into the higher regions and is self-sufficient in her service to free beauty.d

1887

“Arbitrary Conditions of Art” Arthur H. Mackmurdo

For that music of proportion which comes from the delicate adjustment of space to space in window and wall is one of the grandest elements of Beauty, and it is the highest compliment the artist can pay to their necessity that he makes them lovely in their mere disposition and measure. But in the sculptured or pictorial ornament of these features, this is the authoritative pattern after which the artist must work, would he be guided, and would he have his Art adequate in interest...the first is a test of the simplicity of an ornament’s application; the second is a test of its power in sensuous effect; the third is a test of its subjective force.e

1876AD - 1895AD

1887

“What is the Cause of Perpetual Style Change in Architecture” Adolf Göller

The impression that works of architecture and the fine arts make on us is the product of numerous individual effects, which separate themselves distinctly into two main groups. The first is a series of feelings that are based more or less on clear thoughts about the work of art in question, the second is a pleasure of a more external kind that has nothing to do with thoughts but arises directly out of viewing the form or image. The former impression is based on the intellectual content of the work of art, the second on its beauty of form. This latter, perhaps less valued aspect of beauty - this beauty of pure visible form, considered free of any ideal content - will be the subject of my address. It is defined as an inherently pleasurable, meaningless play of lines or of light and shade.f

1887

“Göller’s Aesthetic Theory” Cornelius Gurlitt

Göller shows that there is also a beauty of pure form, which he altogether opposes to Hegelian aesthetics. He says that there are certain combinations of lines, light, and shadow that, although indeed meaningless, nevertheless please our eye and mind. Thus he cites the “purely decorative” ornament, the play of lines and light on a cornice, which is applied not for functional reasons (that is, the functions have nothing to say), but is perceived by us to be beautiful simply for its

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form. How is it that one column can be beautiful and another ugly if both express their functions very well? Can we, then, infer the mass of details from their purpose, or from those proportions that give us pleasure? ... It is therefore not true to say, as Hegel wants, that a work of art must be ugly if it lacks the spiritual content that determines this beauty.g

1888

The English House Robert Dohme

...the value of a dwelling is to be sought more in its practicality than in its aesthetic appearance. [...]

One thinks, for example, of our modern vehicles and ships, whose beauty, in fulfilling their task, we have to a great extent achieved by limiting any and all decorative ornaments merely to graceful lines, in seeking the object’s greatest functionality and simplicity of form, and in divesting it of all superfluities. In a similar way, England has achieved the same today in architecture.h

1876AD - 1895AD

1888

Inside the Middle-Class House Cornelius Gurlitt

Enough! One could still speak on many things, but it is impossible to treat exhaustively every aspect of domestic interiors without composing a series of volumes that would be of no use to anyone.

Before the pen of the last volume would be put down, the first would already have changed. For fashion, like style, marches inexorably forward. It transforms not only the form of things but also our eyes.

The table that appears so charming to us today will seem ungainly in five years. Are there laws for such changes? Are there rules of beauty for how thick a table leg should be? Surely not. Each man makes it according to his own judgment following what he has seen before, following the images of similar things living in his memory.

Each man experiences beauty differently and no one can convey his perception to another in full. All attempts to create a unified concept of beauty will be in vain. For beauty lies not in the nature and in things, but resides in each of us.i

1891

“Design” John D. Sedding

We have, I said, realised our ideals. We can do splendidly what we set ourselves to do - namely, to mimic old masterpieces. The question is, What next? Shall we continue to hunt old trails, and die, not leaving the world richer than we found it? Or shall we for art and honour’s

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sake boldly adventure something - drop this wearisome translation of old styles and translate Nature instead?

Think of the gain to the “Schools,� and to the designers themselves, if we elect to take another starting-point! ... No more Tudor roses and pumped-out Christian imagery suggesting that Christianity is dead and buried! But, instead, we shall have design by living men for living men - something that expresses fresh realisations of sacred facts, personal broodings, skill, joy in Nature - in grace of form and gladness of colour....j

1892

The Claims of Decorative Art Walter Crane

As William Morris has so strikingly pointed out, the system of producing all things for profit, which has succeeded the old one of producing for use; the necessity of selling in the big world market, division of labour, and lastly, machine labour, have rapidly destroyed the art of the people, and are fast vulgarizing and destroying all local characteristics in art, as in costume and the surroundings of common life throughout the world. The system of absolute individual ownership of land, which, with the advance of commercialism, has displaced the older systems of tenure, and defrauded the people of their common rights wholesale, naturally leads to much destruction of natural beauty, and when not destroyed it is made inaccessible. [...]

1876AD - 1895AD

I have even heard an apostle of beauty defend those monuments of commercial effrontery and theatrical competition, our advertisement hoardings, covered with vari-coloured posters, as in certain lights becoming transfigured so as to rival the tints on a Japanese fan. But it is one thing to find accidental beauties in the midst of monstrosities, jewels on dung-hills as it were, and quite another to defend the monstrosities for the sake of accidental beauties.... We should aim at a condition of things which would not keep beauty at a distance from common life, or on the footing of an occasional visitor. No artist should be satisfied with such a cold relationship.k

1895

“New Paths�

Julius Lessing

Like it or not, our work has to be based on the soil of the practical life of our time; it has to create those forms that correspond to our needs, our technology, our materials. If taking this lead we fashion a form of beauty in the manner of our scientific age, it will resemble neither the pious beauty of the Gothic nor the opulence of the Renaissance, but will perhaps appear as the somewhat austere beauty of the late nineteenth century, and that is all anyone can ask of us.l

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Pages 27-28 in Theory Book B. Pages 8-9 in Theory Book B. c Pages 12-13 in Theory Book B. d Page 72 in Theory Book B. e Page 14 in Theory Book B. f Page 77 in Theory Book B. g Page 78 in Theory Book B. h Pages 28-29 in Theory Book B. i Pages 29-30 in Theory Book B. j Page 19 in Theory Book B. k Page 18 in Theory Book B. l Page 92 in Theory Book B. a b

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 9-12

The View of a DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Present Day Opinion 9

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

To me, beauty is when everything is in order. I’ll give you three examples: 1) A neighborhood that is made of both natural things and manmade things A beautiful neighborhood consists of houses that vary in design.

Some are brick, some are vinyl, some are stone, some are wood, and some are a combination of them all. All of them are in good repair.

Nothing is worn or falling apart. All the lawns are well manicured, but they all have their own character. The entire neighborhood has many trees and shrubs of many different species. In the spring and summer, everything is green and thriving. The fall displays the beautiful colors and smells that come with the season. In the winter the white snow and ice show the calculated order that the creator has spread on the earth. The entire neighborhood displays the wonders of God’s creation, and the creativity of the humans that he created.

2) A production line that is only made up of man-made things, yet is run by humans A beautiful production line is apparent by the cleanliness and order of the entire factory. There is a place for everything, and everything is in its place. The raw materials arrive just in time to be placed at the beginning of the production line. The material flow is perfectly

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timed to allow the product to flow through the manufacturing process in perfect synchronization. There are no shortages of parts, and no excess inventory. The quality of the parts is perfect, and they all assemble flawlessly from the very beginning of the assembly line through the final testing and packaging of the product. The shipping carriers arrive at the docks in perfect synchronization as the products are finished.

3) A natural forest A beautiful forest is an area that has not been developed for years.

The trees, vegetation, and animals have been allowed to grow, undisturbed by man. God’s beauty can be seen everywhere you look, displaying the whole life-cycle of his works. Young trees and vegetation are thriving, established trees and vegetation are solid and stable, and the older trees and vegetation are dying and falling to the ground to eventually supply nourishment for the young. The same complete cycle is displayed in all the birds, animals, and insects.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

Beauty is absolutely subjective. I know it’s cliché, but it’s very true: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Beauty does play a big part in my occupational work. See example 2 above.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 9-12

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Beauty plays a big role in my daily life. Beauty puts me in a good mood. When things go well at work, it is because things ran beautifully.

When they do not go well, life is, of course, ugly. Ugly puts me in a bad mood.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I believe that a building can and should be beautiful. It should show creativity, functionality, and order.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

Two examples of beautiful buildings: 1) Blackhawk Baptist Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana: functional, orderly, and attractive.

2) GM’s truck and bus assembly line in Fort Wayne, Indiana: functional, orderly, and attractive.

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The View of an ARCHITECT Present Day Opinion 10

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty� is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is a feeling that a person gets when they enter into a moment of time when their surroundings make them feel happy and serene.

The surroundings are not limited to what the eye can see when judging beauty, since beauty is a feeling. Beauty can be an act of kindness, the taste of food, the smell of spring flowers, walking into a space that makes you feel peaceful, being part of an event that makes you feel happy.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All people feel differently about the way they experience their own lives.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

As an architect, it is my job to simplify and maximize space so that people using the space will be happy, peaceful, and unburdened by using the space.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 9-12

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I am always looking at things in a different way to try to find the beauty in all aspects of my daily life.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

A building should serve its purpose and make the users happy and unburdened by using it.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

The Rookery by Burnham and Root in Chicago. The interior space is bright and open. The marble, gold, and cast iron detailing, as well as the glass ceiling, give you a connection between inside and outside.

The open staircase connects all floors of the building, also connecting all users. There is always something new to look at as you move in the space. It gave me an awesome, peaceful feeling, like I never wanted to leave.

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The View of an INSURANCE SALESPERSON Present Day Opinion 11

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

The first thing that I think of is someone or something that I find extremely attractive. The more I think about it, the more I think beauty is a lot more than something that looks “attractive” or “pretty.” I think about songs that I consider beautiful, and books that I think are beautiful. I think that something beautiful gives you pure joy when you look at it, or read it, or hear it, etc.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” - I agree. I don’t think there is anything in the world that you could call beautiful and not find at least one person who disagrees. Things that I consider beautiful, other people may find hideous.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

I think people can find beauty in my words and my attitude. I keep that in mind while dealing with prospects, and I think people do find value in both of those things when they see my positive mindset, passion for my job, and the joy I get from helping people.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 9-12

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

All day I am surrounded by the things that I think are beautiful. I spend time with my wife, who is beautiful. I listen to songs I think are beautiful. I hike and bike in nature, which I think is beautiful. I read the words written by authors whose minds I think are beautiful. The list goes on and on forever!

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Yes - if you have unlimited funds. I would love to live in a home that is beautiful on the outside. Unfortunately, I have very limited funds so I had to sacrifice beauty for practicality.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

There are many buildings I think are beautiful. I think the one that I like the most is the new World Trade Center. The building itself is beautiful: the size, the shape, the way it’s all shiny in the sun. The other reason is how I feel looking up at it from the bottom. You stand at Ground Zero and read the names of the people who died and it’s so sad; but you look up and the new World Trade Center is gorgeous.

I think it’s a building that every American can be proud of. You can’t look at it without thinking of all who died on 9/11, and they deserve to be remembered. It’s a great tribute to them.

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The View of an ACCOUNTANT Present Day Opinion 12

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is something that brings about a sense of peace and that is awe-inspiring - at least in nature. “Something that is pleasing to the eyes,” is another definition.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I think some people see beauty in different ways, but I believe that there are some beauty-full things that are beautiful to everyone.

Everyone has their own thoughts and ways of seeing something.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

It could. Initially I thought not, but thinking about various spreadsheets that I’ve put together that were very organized, I realized that those can be something that I view as beautiful.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Beauty can be all around us, but it’s taking the time to admire something as beautiful that sort of fulfills the beauty purpose of an object, thing, or person.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 9-12

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I think that recognizing a building as beautiful can be peaceful or be pleasing to the eyes. I think there’s a little bit of pride for the architect when people see their work as awe-inspiring.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I’m not sure that I’ve focused on seeing beauty in buildings enough to pin-point one...maybe the Duomo in Florence because it was pretty and well thought-out. The architecture of it points back to the ultimate Creator.

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THE HOUSE OF NATURE

the House of Nature

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INTRODUCTION Nature, by definition, is something that is not made by man. How then can a human-conceived, hand-built structure ever begin to emulate such a thing as nature? If beauty can be found in nature more than in anything else of this world, what can architects learn from it to help spread beauty throughout the earth?

I began this study by exploring the nature of things - without any building in mind. I explored the nature of the medium that I was using (oil paint) and worked to use it to its strength, as it was intended to be used. I searched the dictionary and thesaurus for definitions and synonyms for nature (a lot of which can be found on the following page). I began to discover that, beyond the dictionary definition of trees and mountains and fields and flowers, nature is at its core the true essence of something.

The essence of this world can be found in the temporal plants and material landscapes found throughout the earth. The nature of a person is what we were born with, what is ingrained in our beings.

With that in mind, what is the nature of architecture? What is the nature of a home? How can I uncover what the nature of a space is?

I chose to start with the feeling, the mood of a space and worked from there. In attempt to create a house that was as naturally conceived as possible, I developed a series of abstracted moods with strokes of oil paint, each with a different room of the house in mind. I did not have any preconceived idea of what the room would look like or how it was furnished, I knew only what mood I wanted to convey.

After finishing each painting, I examined it and extracted a program

THE HOUSE OF NATURE

based on what I saw.

The intention of this exercise was to experimentally design from a feeling rather than from logistics. You cannot get at the essence of something through pure logic - you must explore with your heart.

This is only one step of the design process, obviously eventually you would need to get to plans and sections through the space; but this activity helps to make sure that the project begins with the nature of the space rather than the rules binding it into reality.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURE oil paint on gesso-covered hardboard

Three of the un-man-made things in this world are plants, fire and water. While each of these can now technically be “made” by man, we were not their original creators; therefore, these three items fall into the category of nature. The first three paintings get to the heart of these natural elements. Flowering bushes and greenery abound in the first image, showing the beauty that can be found in blossoming wildflowers that grow without the assistance of humans. The second picture expresses fire’s flowing and flickering nature, and the third one presents the beauty of water’s reflectivity.

The fourth and fifth paintings show two different scenes of nature.

The first is of the edge of a shadowy forest of great trees. A path leads up to a door which stands between two tree trunks. This rugged, wooden door serves as the entrance into nature. The last image depicts the starry heavens. The galaxies are far from being man-made - we do not even know everything about them. There is a great beauty that lies within these great unknowns, one that suggests that there are things that go way beyond the human race’s realm of knowledge.

THE HOUSE OF NATURE

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THE HOUSE OF NATURE

oil paint on gesso-covered hardboard

Exterior (plan, section, elevation or perspective): No matter which way you rotate this image, you get a central building surrounded by nature. It could be on a cliff, by the water’s edge or in a field, it all depends on your imagination.

Living Area (perspective): This warm room is a cozy place to visit with other people or to snuggle up with a good book. A fire blazes in the hearth, a large bookshelf is filled with books of all kinds, and the paintings on the walls brighten up the room and help to fill it with stories waiting to be told.

Kitchen (perspective): The cooking space in the house is a very active area. The floor is dark and shiny and the walls are a bright red. It’s nighttime, the stove light is on and there are cookies baking in the oven.

Bedroom (perspective): The bed in the back, left corner of this space is laden with different-colored pillows, and the bright desk and chair rest in the foreground. This room is marked by its inhabitants’ personalities through the pictures on the walls and the personal items placed throughout.

Bathroom (perspective): All lights are off, save for the one right above the shower (the resident is not a fan of brightness in the morning). The floor is reflective, working well with all of the wet elements of the space. The tan toilet is on the left, a tall cabinet suspended above it; the sinks are on the right with a wide shelf behind them.

THE HOUSE OF NATURE

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THE HOUSE OF NATURE

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1896AD - 1950AD

1896AD - 1950AD

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1896

“Out of Munich�

Richard Streiter

Realism in architecture is the most extensive consideration of the real conditions in the creation of a building, and the most perfect fulfillment of the demands of functionality, comfort, health - in a word, Sachlichkeit. [...]

Sachlichkeit [is] simplicity, good design without ostentation, and simple solidity without empty chatter or false appearance.a

1902

Style-Architecture and Building-Art Hermann Muthesius

If we wish to seek a new style - the style of our time - its characteristic features are to be found much more in those modern creations that truly serve our newly established needs and that have absolutely no relation to the old formalities of architecture: in our railway terminals and exhibition buildings, in very large meeting halls, and further, in the general tectonic realm, in our large bridges, steamships, railway cars, bicycles, and the like. It is precisely here that we see embodied truly modern ideas and new principles of design that demand our attention.

1896AD - 1950AD

[...]

In such new creations we find the signs indicating our aesthetic progress. This can henceforth be sought only in the tendency toward the strict matter-of-fact [Sachlichen], in the elimination of every merely applied decorative form, and in shaping each form according to demands set by purpose.b

1902

“Clarification of Principles” Henry van de Velde

22. Yet it seems that beauty arises in a natural way from these normal and logical creative processes, and thus we are led to proclaim - following Plato’s conception - that the essential character of architectural beauty is what it has always been: the perfect accord of means with purpose. [...]

31. The task of ornament in architecture seems to me to be twofold. It resides in part in supporting the construction and indicating its means.

It also in part resides, as I explained with regard to Greek ornament, in the play of light and shadow, in bringing life into an otherwise too regularly illuminated space.c

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1908

Foundations and Development of Architecture Hendrik Berlage

Above all, one should once again display the naked wall in all its smooth and simple [schlicht] beauty.

By sachlich, clear work I mean a work in which all excess is most scrupulously avoided, in which there are no useless cornices and moldings, pedestals and pilasters, shoulder pieces and fixtures - in short no architecture of a parasitic nature.d

1908

“In Cause of Architecture�

Frank Lloyd Wright

I. Simplicity and Repose are qualities that measure the true value of any work of art. But simplicity is not in itself an end nor is it a matter of the side of a barn but rather an entity with a graceful beauty in its integrity from which discord, and all that is meaningless, has been eliminated. A wild flower is truly simple.e

1896AD - 1950AD

1916

“The Home of the Future: The New Architecture of the West�

Irving Gill

If we, the architects of the West, wish to do great and lasting work we must dare to be simple, must have the courage to fling aside every device that distracts the eye from structural beauty, must break through convention and get down to fundamental truths. Through force of custom and education we, in whose hands much of the beauty of country and city is entrusted, have been compelled to study the style of other men, with the result that most of our modern work is an open imitation or veiled plagiarism of another’s idea. To break away from this degradation we must boldly throw aside every accepted structural belief and standard of beauty and get back to the source of all architectural strength - the straight line, the arch, the cube and the circle - and drink from these fountains of Art that gave life to the great men of old.f

1918

Architecture and Democracy Claude Bragdon

Broadly speaking, there are not five orders of architecture - nor fifty - but only two: Arranged and Organic....

Arranged architecture is reasoned and artificial; produced by talent, governed by taste. Organic architecture, on the other hand, is the product of some obscure inner necessity for self-expression which

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is sub-conscious. It is as though Nature herself, through some human organ of her activity, had addressed herself to the service of the sons and daughters of men.

Arranged architecture in its finest manifestations is the product of a pride, a knowledge, a competence, a confidence staggering to behold. It seems to say of the works of Nature, “I’ll show you a trick worth two of that.” For the subtlety of Nature’s geometry, and for her infinite variety and unexpectedness. Arranged architecture substitutes a Euclidian system of straight lines and (for the most part) circular curves, assembled and arranged according to a definite logic of its own. It is created, but not creative; it is imagined, but not imaginative.

Organic architecture is both creative and imaginative.g

1921

“On Future Architecture and its Architectural Possibilities” J.J.P. Oud

Architecture, unlike the free arts, is not exclusively the result of a spiritual process but rather of material factors: purpose, material, and construction. Its goal is a double one: utility and beauty at the same time. Just as spiritual factors affect it over the course of time, so too material factors continually affect it, and architecture at times can be hampered in its development. This is true for architectural as well as industrial objects. Yet when the aesthetic possibilities of an object become smaller and its useful value greater, resistance diminishes and its purely formal purpose becomes the dominant artistic conception.

Thus it is possible that objects having chiefly practical purpose and

1896AD - 1950AD

possessing only small aesthetic value can escape artistic attention and be formed in the most suitable and purely technical manner.

Then it becomes apparent that the human urge for beauty is so great that these objects, as if on their own volition, overcome their purely technical purpose and acquire elementary aesthetic form.h

1923

Towards a New Architecture Le Corbusier

One commonplace among Architects (the younger ones): the construction must be shown.

Another commonplace amongst them: when a thing responds to a need, it is beautiful.

But...To show the construction is all very well for an Arts and Crafts sudent who is anxious to prove his ability. The Almighty has clearly shown our wrists and our ankles, but there remains all the rest!

When a thing responds to a need, it is not beautiful; it satisfies all one part of our mind, the primary part, without which there is no possibility of richer satisfactions; let us recover the right order of events.

Architecture has another meaning and other ends to pursue than showing construction and responding to needs (and by “needs� I mean utility, comfort and practical arrangement).

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ARCHITECTURE is the art above all others which achieves a state of platonic grandeur, mathematical order, speculation, the perception of the harmony which lies in emotional relationships. This is the AIM of architecture.i

1929

The Metropolis of Tomorrow Hugh Ferriss

Many people believe that the novel forms which are just now emerging are devoid of “beauty.” Yet when the necessary time has elapsed for the younger architects to formulate their accurate statement - and for the public to comprehend accuracy - it will again appear that a new truth is inevitably attended by a new beauty. [...]

Broadly speaking, it has been our habit to assume that a building is a complete success if it provides for the utility, convenience and health of its occupants and, in addition, presents a pleasing exterior.

But this frame of mind fails to appreciate that architectural forms necessarily have other values than the utilitarian or even others than those which we vaguely call the aesthetic. Without any doubt, these same forms quite specifically influence both the emotional and the mental life of the onlooker. Designers have generally come to realize the importance of the principle stated by the late Louis Sullivan, “Form follows Function.” The axiom is not weakened by the further realization that Effect follows Form.j

1896AD - 1950AD

1931

“The Education of an Architect” Joseph Hudnut

Whatever functionalism may mean to its priests, the public understands it to mean that architectural beauty can be created by a process of logic. Beauty is the satisfaction that we experience when we perceive the fitness of an instrument for its use. Then let an architect merely plan and build intelligently; beauty will dwell unbidden in his organic structure.

Therefore our snooty schools of architecture have no need to concern themselves with beauty. Economics, business, sociology, physics, the cost of materials and the marketing of mortgages ought to be our preoccupation; where these are known, taste and imagination will spring mystically and unconsciously into sudden being. And if they don’t spring into sudden being, so much the worse for taste and imagination.k

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Pages 92-93 in Theory Book B. Page 102 in Theory Book B. c Page 117 in Theory Book B. d Page 120 in Theory Book B. e Page 97 in Theory Book C. f Page 141 in Theory Book B. g Page 148 in Theory Book B. h Page 185 in Theory Book B. i Pages 125-126 in Theory Book C. j Page 157 in Theory Book B. k Page 257 in Theory Book B. a b

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 13-16

The View of a COUNSELING DIRECTOR Present Day Opinion 13

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is specific to the individual experiencing it. As we all know, what one person finds beautiful, another person may not. I believe beauty is something that speaks to the inner being of individuals.

Whether it be a person, a building, or a sunset, if we look at something and find it beautiful, it has meaning to us in some fashion. While I can work to find “beauty” in most art, there are some art pieces that I instantly find beautiful. The same may be true for people or other things as well. Why is that? The beauty that I see in that person or thing instantly resonates with me on some level. Maybe it evokes some emotion within in me that I enjoy feeling. Maybe it produces or reminds me of a sensation that I enjoy. Often I think that things I instantly find beautiful transport me to a place that removes the cares of the world, even if only for a moment. If I have to work to find beauty, I can appreciate it, but it does not evoke any emotions, only thoughtfulness.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

While I want to say beauty is subjective as referenced in my first answer, I think it can be both. I say both because there are certain things (buildings, places, people) that almost everyone would agree are beautiful (objective). The subjective comes in how those things “speak” to each person. While most would probably find a sunset on

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a beach beautiful (objective), with some it will resonate very deeply (subjective) while others just simply find it to be nice. I think the same could be said for people or other things that are beautiful.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Not really. I can’t remember experiencing it occupationally. The building I work in is...well...unattractive. While some of the people I work with may be handsome or pretty, it doesn’t have any impact on me other than being an opinion (it doesn’t resonate with me deeply... which is probably a good thing since I’m married). I don’t create anything so there isn’t the opportunity to experience beauty that way either. While beauty doesn’t play a role in my occupation, I firmly believe that people who work in environments that have aspects of beauty incorporated in them are probably more productive employees. I think most enjoy working in a beautiful building or having aspects of their workplace be beautiful.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

The beauty in my daily life is primarily subjective, I believe. I see beauty in the world around me (flowers here and there, birds, sunset) but day to day I mostly see beauty in my son’s smile or in my beautiful wife. These things resonate deeply with me and I am sure they do not resonate as deeply with others. I think the beauty in my personal life primarily involves those things most important to me (family, God, nature, etc.).

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 13-16

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

It depends. I think some buildings just need to be practical and efficient (a storage facility at a university, a gym behind a church that no one will really “see”). However, I do believe that buildings that are open, visible, and that people work or live in continually should have aspects of beauty incorporated into them. If not, we would all just live and work in rectangular boxes. How depressing would it be if every building at Kent State looked like White Hall?

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I’ve seen many. I would say one of the common themes of all buildings I find beautiful (almost instantly beautiful) is the detail in the construction of the buildings. Arches, stonework, brickwork, buttresses - all of these things demonstrate the care and thoughtfulness that went in to the building itself. For example, Kent Hall is a nice, “beautiful” building, but nothing special. The new architecture building is unique, detailed, and beautiful. It has the potential to instantly resonate with people and evoke some emotion. The same could be said for some buildings in downtown Pittsburgh. There are some older buildings with breathtaking stonework, or even metalwork, that instantly resonate with many people in regard to beauty. They are all surrounded by many other nice, “beautiful” buildings that are nothing special. It’s all in the details and the care taken in the construction.

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The View of a RETIRED REGISTERED NURSE Present Day Opinion 14

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty� is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Since my career was nursing and focused on the operating room, one of my ideas of beauty was a normal, healthy, functioning body.

Trauma patients were some of the best, as the whole operating team labored together to restore and reshape to normal appearance and function, a body accidentally broken by a machine or fall. I believe nothing is more beautiful than a new baby with all systems working and all physical features in their natural, anatomically correct location.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

To know that beauty is both objective and subjective, just wander into any art museum. You know the works have been thoughtfully assembled and should represent the best of their genre, and yet some pictures - their subject, lines, colors, media - speak more to you than others. All are pretty good art, but we prefer some more, or much more, than others. All the works usually fulfill objective criteria, but some, for whatever reason (subjective), stand out as favored.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Absolutely. For instance, the human hand is a wonder of motion,

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 13-16

dexterity, durable construction and is an instrument of the tasks of daily living. So when a child is born with a claw-type hand contracture, to be part of the surgical team that brings that appendage to not only functionality but also normal, natural appearance is greatly satisfying.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Everything in our dwelling - from wall color, to artwork displayed, to furniture style and placement, to how windows frame outside landscaping - is a factor in making our home comfortable and pleasing to us.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Since there are so many factors that affect construction of a building neighborhood, the space allotted, the orientation, building materials and costs being just a few - it’s hard to say that a building should be beautiful. Maybe more important is how well it serves the purpose for which it is built.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I love monumental buildings and have seen duomos in Italy, museums in Cairo as well as the pyramids, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham

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Palace in London, the Louvre and Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Capitol Building and White House in Washington, D.C. All are fabulous, but the most lovely to me was a small stone church, centuries old, in the English countryside. Its sturdy gray walls covered in lichen, small steeple, inviting doorway and surrounding cemetery made a lasting impression of what it means to be human.

The View of a C.P.G. BUSINESS PERSON Present Day Opinion 15

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is something with unique and purposeful design.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

As a Christian, I believe certain beauty is objective because it was designed by a perfect God. God also designed human beings to have free will, which makes other things subjectively beautiful.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Based on my definition of “unique and purposeful design,” many aspects of my job (i.e. Strategy) include beauty. The word “beauty” itself feels and sounds odd in the context of business, however.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 13-16

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Many aspects of my daily life include beauty. My wife is beautiful physically, emotionally and spiritually. My unborn daughter is beautiful as she grows in the womb. The sunrise and sunset on my drives between work are beautiful.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

This question is subjective for a number of reasons: use of building, existing versus new construction and opportunity cost. In my opinion, a building should be beautiful if it meets key criteria. I define “key criteria” as: 1) built for a worthy use (hospital to heal the sick) 2) built to meet a real need (not a “nice to have”) 3) built at the right cost (not sacrificing better opportunities to spend the money) If those criteria are met, then yes, a building should be beautiful.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

Some of the most beautiful buildings I have seen are the least “impressive” to society. The Faithful Servants Care Center in Tallmadge, Ohio, is a plain building from the outside, but it was

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uniquely and purposefully designed. It has three exam rooms to see patients who cannot afford insurance and a pharmacy that gives away necessary medications. This is a beautiful building.

The View of an APPLICATION ENGINEER Present Day Opinion 16

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is something that touches your soul. You see it - or hear it, or touch it, or experience it - and it does something to you that you can’t explain. For me, it’s something that is a gift from God that he designed to remind me of him or teach me about him or draw me closer to him.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

Everyone is different and will experience beauty differently (because God created each of us uniquely), and yet since beauty is something God created and gives, and he never changes, it’s also absolute.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

I don’t think so - engineering is very analytical, and while it’s a very “good” thing to solve problems, I wouldn’t call it beautiful - at least

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 13-16

not to me! (subjective) Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

First, I want to look good and feel good about myself, so I take care with my appearance - what I wear and how my face looks. Also, I find beauty in music and nature every day of the year and every time of day.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Because in general I think there’s no reason why it can’t or shouldn’t be beautiful, so why not make it as attractive as possible within budget and scope?

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

So many! Just one example is an industrial building on Seasons Road in (I think) Stow. Its lines and colors are just very attractive to me. I appreciate it every time I go by, and it makes me wonder what it would be like to work there - is it just as beautiful inside?

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THE HOUSE OF UTILITY

the House of Utility

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INTRODUCTION Sometimes, something is beautiful not for how it looks but for what it does. A razor-sharp medical scalpel is beautiful because of the life-giving surgeries it performs; a dingy building in the city is beautiful because it holds within it a team of people serving food to the homeless; a plain woman is beautiful because of her honest and humble attitude toward others. In the same way, a house can be beautiful solely for the purpose that it serves.

This reality of something being valuable because of its use is very real for me when it comes to people. To be honest, I hardly think I ever notice the outward appearance of my dearest friends. Years of getting to know the value of their inner qualities (friendship, love, devotion, steadfastness, enjoyment, etc.) have long since overshadowed any shortcoming in their exterior person. It is not about the beauty of their complexion or their hair or their clothing, it’s all about their worth of personality and friendship.

Another area where I have witnessed something’s usefulness making it beautiful is with my migraine medicine. A small little pill can change the course of my entire day. With a debilitating migraine, I am unable to be productive and sometimes even incapable of movement or thought. But two units of this medicine can make it seem as though the headache never existed. The sight of a bottle of this medicine can be a beautiful thing on a day that my body is plagued with the pains of a migraine.

If a house has a beautiful exterior, but the inside is a jumble of useless spaces that are highly impractical and inefficient, then that

THE HOUSE OF UTILITY

building is not beautiful. In order for a home to be considered truly lovely, it must have not only a gorgeous appearance, but also the beautiful arrangement of spaces and designed use.

The following works take into account the frugality of the term “utilitarian� in their composition. Each picture is a collage formed from magazine clippings which are glued together. These were all found magazines which were going to be tossed, so it was a free way of designing that also reused and repurposed something that would have otherwise been wasted.

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COLLAGE SERIES

magazine clippings on sketching paper

The first collage in this abstract series conveys what different purposes a home can serve its occupants. A house provides a place for a family to live: places to cook, sleep, eat, play and get clean. A house that does all of these things is one that is beautiful because of its purposiveness.

While homes need to fulfill their purpose of usefulness in order to be considered beautiful, that does not mean that every house should look and act the same. Since every person is unique, each individual’s home should respond to their own specific needs. The result will be that no two houses are the same because they are each marked in different ways by their owners.

Homes are not offices. The main activity within a home should be living and loving with family and friends, not working.

The fourth collage is an abstraction of a home constructed with bathroom elements. It was an exploration of the potential for collaging to be a means for architectural formal design.

The next work is also an abstraction of a house, this time focusing on the purpose of the home being hospitality. The abode contains extra food, seating (some hanging from the ceiling to be retrieved when needed), places to sleep, and places for entertainment.

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THE HOUSE OF UTILITY

magazine clippings on sketching paper

Coming and Going: (first floor): doors; low shelves for shoes; benches for putting on shoes; hooks for bags and coats.

Cooking (first floor): refrigerator/freezer; double oven; self-cleaning, gas stove; large sink with gel standing mat; large island with pots and pans suspended above; stools and cantilevered countertop; corner dishwasher located by silverware and dishes; drawers with dividers; cabinets; food pantry; microwave.

Dining (first floor): table; chairs.

Living (first floor): large couch facing windows with view; shelf along back of couch by wall; game storage shelves; closet; tables; laundry area with table and baskets.

Coming and Going (second floor): door; exterior landing; exterior stairs.

Sleeping (second floor): queen bed; shelf along back of bed; desk and chair for morning reading; shared triple laundry shoot to separate dirty clothes; love seat; small table with coffeepot; closet area with open shelves and racks for clothing and shoes.

Bathing (second floor): toilet with adjacent window for view; double sink; shelf and mirror unit behind sinks; small wooden bench for sitting or holding clothes; shower with bench/shelf; shared triple laundry shoot that drops to three different baskets; heated floors.

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1951AD - present

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1953

“The Threat to the Next America” Elizabeth Gordon

I have decided to speak up.

In this issue, devoted to the wonderful possibilities for the better life in the Next America, I must also point out to you what I consider to be the threat to our achieving the greater good which is clearly possible for us, if we do not lose our sense of direction and independence. [...] ...hear me out. You may discover why you strongly dislike some of the so-called modern things you see. You may suddenly understand why you instinctively reject designs that are called “modernistic.” For you are right. It’s your common sense speaking. For these things are bad - bad in more ways than in their lack of beauty alone. [...]

They are all trying to sell the idea that “less is more,” both as a criterion for design, and as a basis for judgment of the good life.

They are promoting unlivability, stripped-down emptiness, lack of storage space and therefore lack of possessions.

They are praising designs that are unscientific, irrational and uneconomical - illogical things like whole walls of unshaded glass on the west, which cause you to fry in the summer, thus misusing one of our finest new materials. Or tricks like putting heavy buildings up on

1951AD - PRESENT

thin, delicate stilts - even though they cost more and instinctively worry the eye. Or cantilevering things that don’t need to be cantilevered, making them cost more, too. A strong taint of anti-reason runs through all of their houses and furnishings.

No wonder you feel uneasy and repelled!

They are trying to convince you that you can appreciate beauty only if you suffer - because they say beauty and comfort are incompatible.

They are trying to get you to accept their idea of beauty and form as the measure of all things, regardless of whether they work, what they do to you, or what they cost.a

1955

“Order and Form” Louis I. Kahn

Order does not imply Beauty

The same order created the dwarf and Adonis Design is not making Beauty

Beauty emerges from selection

affinities

integration

love Art is a form making life in order - psychic ...Beauty will evolveb

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1960

“Meaning and Building” Joseph Rykwert

As one of Diderot’s characters summed up: “...we don’t really know what we do or want, so that we follow our fancy - which we call reason, or our reason - which is often nothing but a dangerous fancy, that sometimes turns out well, and sometimes badly....”

And therefore some of my contemporaries, (and I with them) would argue that the preoccupation of designers and architects with rational criteria has devalued their achievements and cut them off from a mass public, so that now architecture cannot command public support or consent because it has lost the power of touching emotion. [...]

The designer’s responsibility then, whether he knows it or not, is to create order not only in terms of a sensible arrangement of physical function, but also out of the all-but-living objects which we use and inhabit.c

1966

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture Robert Venturi

Where simplicity cannot work, simpleness results. Blatant simplification means bland architecture. Less is a bore.

1951AD - PRESENT

The recognition of complexity in architecture does not negate what Louis Kahn has called “the desire for simplicity.” But aesthetic simplicity which is a satisfaction to the mind derives, when valid and profound, from inner complexity. The Doric temple’s simplicity to the eye is achieved through the famous subtleties and precision of its distorted geometry and the contradictions and tensions inherent in its order.

The Doric temple could achieve apparent simplicity through real complexity. When complexity disappeared, as in the late temples, blandness replaced simplicity.

Nor does complexity deny the valid simplification which is part of the process of analysis, and even a method of achieving complex architecture itself. “We oversimplify a given event when we characterize it from the standpoint of a given interest.” But this kind of simplification is a method in the analytical process of achieving a complex art. It should not be mistaken for a goal.d

1985

“Geometry of Feeling: The Phenomenology of Architecture” Juhani Pallasmaa

Why do so few modern buildings appeal to our emotions, when an anonymous house in an old town, or an unpretentious farm building, will give us a sense of familiarity and pleasure? Why is it that the stone foundations we discover in an overgrown meadow, or a dilapidated barn, or an abandoned boathouse can arouse our imagination, while our own houses seems to stifle and smother our day dreams? The buildings of our own time may arouse our curiosity with their daring

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or inventiveness, but they give us little sense of the meaning of our world or our own existence.e

1988

“Deconstructivist Architecture” Mark Wigley

Architecture has always been a central cultural institution valued above all for its provision of stability and order. These qualities are seen to arise from the geometric purity of its form composition. [...]

The projects in this exhibition [“Deconstructivist Architecture”] mark a different sensibility, one in which the dream of pure form has been disturbed. Form has become contaminated. The dream has become a kind of nightmare. [...]

Deconstruction is not demolition, or dissimulation. While it diagnoses certain structural problems within apparently stable structures, these flaws do not lead to the structures’ collapse. On the contrary, deconstruction gains all its force by challenging the very values of harmony, unity, and stability, and proposing instead a different view of structure: the view that the flaws are intrinsic to the structure. They cannot be removed without destroying it; they are, indeed, structural.

1951AD - PRESENT

A deconstructive architect is therefore not one who dismantles buildings, but one who locates the inherent dilemmas within buildings.

The deconstructive architect puts the pure forms of the architectural tradition on the couch and identifies the symptoms of a repressed impurity. The impurity is drawn to the surface by a combination of gentle coaxing and violent torture: the form is interrogated.f

1998

“New Structure and the Informal” Cecil Balmond

I propose that more than the eye sees the body senses. In response to new structure we may find in the configuration of such network a deeper resonance than the superficial visual. Out of chaos we came; within us is a derived sense of order, not linear and logical, but odd and complex. [...]

There are no fixed rules for new structure, the informal takes care of that. If there is a set rhythm it is in the hidden connections that are implied and felt but not seen, leading to the skewed and oblique or towards the regular and symmetric - it all depends on where one starts.

There is no one reading of such designs - ambiguity forces interpretation.... At some point coherence is reached and an ‘object’ defined. Order, in this sense, is a travelling transient.g

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Pages 286-287 in Theory Book B. Page 292 in Theory Book B. c Pages 375-376 in Theory Book B. d Page 194 in Theory Book C. e Page 242 in Theory Book C. f Page 478 in Theory Book B. g Pages 559-560 in Theory Book B. a b

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 17-20

The View of an ADVERTISING MANAGER Present Day Opinion 17

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

“Beauty” makes me feel something. Light-hearted, in awe, even happy.

Beauty really does come from within (whether living or not). A person is beautiful if they’re happy, kind, looking outward versus totally selfcentered. A thing is beautiful if it was made well and thoughtfully.

If color was taken into account and proportion and character or uniqueness, etc. To me, organic materials are more beautiful because they’re not perfect. Perfect is boring or manufactured. Function also makes a person or thing more beautiful.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

The definition of beauty is learned. It reflects the times, styles and even socio-economic situations. (i.e. overweight was once a status symbol - you must be rich or successful).

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Appearance absolutely plays a role. “Beauty” in my business is about being current, modern, urban, confident and unique.

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Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I want to look my best and I want my home to look its best (both for myself and for others). “Home” is any space reflective of me - my house, my office, my car, etc.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

Appearance matters. It makes you feel something whether you realize it or not. The space you occupy provides subtle cues for who you are and how you act.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I’ve seen many beautiful buildings. The style doesn’t matter. Old stone covered in ivy or the most modern, stark, contemporary building is beautiful if it was designed with care. Shape, color, function, proportion and uniqueness all factor in.

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The View of a PHOTOGRAPHER Present Day Opinion 18

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

I believe beauty can be found anywhere, among both things and in people. I feel that I know when something, someone or someplace is beautiful when it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and puts a feeling of emotion inside you. I think beauty is above us in that it comes from God and is a reflection of Him and His works.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I believe beauty can be both subjective and objective. Naturally, I think beauty is found in every person and in all of nature. When it comes to things, I think beauty can then be subjective because of how various it can be. For example, there is plenty of eclectic artwork I have seen that is considered beautiful among many people and artists, but I just can’t find the beauty in it - this is something I believe falls under the category of “things.”

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

Beauty definitely plays a role in my photography work. I have the privilege to work with people - engaged or married couples, high school seniors, etc. - who all portray a sense of beauty. I absolutely love having the opportunity to create beauty through images as

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memories for them to keep forever. Not only is beauty shown through the people, but it is also shown through the nature I get to photograph them in as well.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I think beauty plays a role in my daily life by wanting to portray it and also by wanting to find the beauty in the simple things.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

I don’t necessarily believe a building should be beautiful, but it is always a plus when it is. I don’t think it needs to be beautiful because it doesn’t always have to serve the purpose of being aesthetically pleasing, but, rather, to be functional.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

The one I always think of is the Freedom Tower in New York City. It’s beautiful to me because the design of it is simply amazing and has so much meaning behind it. The meaning behind it is enough to convey the beauty of the entirety of it, and it has become an icon in the heart of New York City.

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 17-20

The View of a CASE MANAGER Present Day Opinion 19

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty is something that gives a person pleasure of any sense (taste, sound, touch, sight...maybe smell?).

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

I think beauty, for the most part, is subjective. The old saying that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is something I believe to be true. Someone’s taste in everything from art, architecture, music, nature, even another human is based on their own, individual value of beauty. This is not only different from person to person, but can change over the course of a lifetime.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

YES NO

If so, how?

Why or why not?

Simply because I always try to see beauty throughout my day. I find much more pleasure in my day-to-day life if I find beauty. I nearly always find it.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

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Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

While I understand that buildings are first and foremost utilitarian (to keep us and our things protected from weather and other people), I also love the idea of buildings that complement their surroundings and blend with nature more than they stand out from it. I think, ideally, this is how buildings should be designed (think Fallingwater in Pennsylvania). So, yes!

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

Honestly, I don’t specifically remember what it was. I often think old theaters or opera houses are very beautiful because of the amount of detail that goes into them. I also like buildings built around trees or other natural structures.

The View of a MOTOR SALESPERSON Present Day Opinion 20

In your own words, what do you believe “beauty” is? (How do you know if someone, something or someplace is beautiful?)

Beauty certainly is something that everyone perceives on their own terms and tastes. Someone can be physically attractive on the outside, but if they are a bad person, beauty goes away. You don’t really know if someone, something, or someplace is beautiful. It is personal

PRESENT DAY OPINIONS 17-20

preference and how you view others and the world.

Do you think beauty is

SUBJECTIVE or OBJECTIVE or BOTH

? Why?

Beauty is definitely subjective. “Eye of the Beholder” is not a cliché for nothing.

Does beauty play a role in your occupational work?

YES NO

If so, how?

I would say no in my previous steel business role and in my current job.

Does beauty play a role in your daily life?

YES NO

Why or why not?

We all try to look and act our best on a daily basis, which can be interpreted as trying to be beautiful for yourself and others.

Do you think that a building can be beautiful?

YES NO

Do you believe that a building should be beautiful?

YES NO

Why or why not?

It’s always nice to walk into a building that looks inviting, clean, interesting, etc.

Have you ever seen a beautiful building? and why was it beautiful to you?

YES NO

If so, what building was it

I would say some of the oldest buildings in Europe stand out. Whether

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in Rome, Paris, London or Monte Carlo, I’ve been amazed at some of the architecture. There are beautiful buildings in this country as well, but the age of Europe’s buildings win me over.

THE HOUSE OF SIMPLICITY

the House of Simplicity

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INTRODUCTION I thought that I hated simplistic architecture, especially bareminimalist homes. Who would want to live in a stark white box with no soft surfaces, no details to admire and grow fond of, nothing that separated your home from any of the others? I think of living in one of the houses in the Bruchfeldstrasse Housing Estate, and everything within me protests. Looking at buildings like Aldo Rossi’s San Cataldo Cemetery does not move me at all. These are the types of buildings that came to mind when I thought about “minimalistic” architecture, and I learned to despise the word.

But then I saw modern homes designed by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects and Bestor Architecture. I saw the intentionality of every choice of material (gorgeous, grey-washed wooden shingles, beautifully smooth, formed concrete), the thoughtfully selected furnishings that belong nowhere else besides that home, the expanses of windows which bring the outside indoors by providing breathtaking views of creation...and I began to appreciate simplistic architecture a bit more.

I discovered Shaker houses. Vastly unimpressive from the outside, but not grotesquely so: a simple, gable-roofed rectangular box with regular punched windows and centered doors. Everything about the designs of this culture are humble and non-luxurious. Since everything is made by hand, each piece has embedded value and the beauty that comes from hard work, without being showy or extravagant. This is a type of architecture that I can admire - a kind of architecture that speaks to me.

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The following is an exploration of the beautiful potential that comes along with the elimination of the unnecessary, and the celebration of the modestly simple.

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REDUCTION SERIES marker on sketching paper

John Maeda, the former president of the Rhode Island School of Design, wrote a book called The Laws of Simplicity which establishes the following rules of minimalistic design: 1. Reduce

The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

2. Organize

Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

3. Time

Savings in time feel like simplicity.

4. Learn

Knowledge makes everything simpler.

5. Differences

Simplicity and complexity need each other.

6. Context

What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

7. Emotion

More emotions are better than less.

8. Trust

In simplicity we trust.

9. Failure

Some things can never be made simple.

10. The One

Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.

This series of four drawings was an attempt at the realization of the first rule: reduction. The first drawing seeks to portray as much detail as possible with as little ink as possible; the second, through as few solid lines as possible; the third uses figure-ground to establish the shape; and the last one was the most efficient use of time and effort.

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ABSTRACT SERIES

marker on sketching paper

The next five marker drawings were made to explore the nature of simplicity. The first work uses the medium to its advantage, with a quick stroke with the width of the chisel edge of the marker for each color.

A complex array of units are made to look much simpler through the thoughtful organization and arrangement of the assembly.

For the second drawing, a simple set of rules was established using three different grids and three different color markings. Through this exploration, it was learned that something rather complex can sometimes be the result of a fairly simple method.

In the third composition, a simple process of organized strips of vertical lines was used to produce an image. The variation of color and the intentional use of white space are all that keeps this work from being a square full of identical, half-inch lines arranged in rows.

The fourth image shows simple proportions, and the fifth shows the simplicity that results from looking at familiar shapes. The more recognizable something is, and the simpler the composition of it, the easier it is for a viewer to take it all in. There is a comfort in familiarity. And there is a beautiful simplicity in stripping away all unnecessary color and details in order to convey a clear message.

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THE HOUSE OF SIMPLICITY pen and marker on sketching paper museum board and foamcore

The layout of this home is beautifully simple, with a meaningful emphasis placed on community and a lack of vanity. You enter the house in the hub of activity that is the kitchen, and the first thing you see is the fireplace-facing couch where late-night conversations are had and stories are shared. There is no sink in the restroom in order to fully utilize the sink in the kitchen, and the result is that there is no bathroom mirror in front of which to primp and fuss over your appearance.

There is a simplicity and efficiency in the routine of the household. The sofa has removable cushions (to be temporarily stored on the shelves behind the shower) so that it can fold down into a dinner table with extendable legs. The end table is actually a set of stacked stools which can be unstacked and used as dinner chairs. The bedroom is a loft with a space-saving ladder for movement between levels, which doubles as a porous room separator between the kitchen and living space. The wall on either side of the bed is composed of an open shelving system for clothes and shoes - not an excessive amount, just enough to add uniqueness and variety into one’s wardrobe.

Beauty can be seen in the six-foot high painting on the back wall above the fireplace and in the flanking “pictures” of nature through the windows on either side. The shelves above each square window house potted vegetation indoors all year long. The form of the home is simple and recognizable as a house, with clean, wrapping windows that let considerable daylight into the home throughout the day.

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THE HOUSE OF THE GROTESQUE

the House of the Grotesque

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INTRODUCTION Before beginning work on the House of the Grotesque, I brainstormed and researched on the topic in order to gain ideas that would put me in the mindset of the truly grotesque. I looked at works done by Francis Bacon, Gustave DorĂŠ, Francisco Goya and Hieronymus Bosch: images depicting scenes of Hell and disturbed, distorted characters.

I thought of the most upsetting stories I’ve ever heard (of which there are not many since I tend to steer clear of horrific tales) - stories such as the one of Sweeney Todd, a barber who murders his clients and feeds their baked flesh in the form of meat pies to unknowing strangers. I looked at all of the opposites of beauty (ugly, hideous, deceitful, false, broken, thoughtless, disgusting, etc.), and I tried to figure out how I could take all of these ideas and design a house that is fully immersed in this experience of the grotesque.

After only an hour of this sort of research, I found that my soul was deeply disturbed. I had the horrific realization that I was trying to design Hell itself, and that in order to do this House justice I would have to throw myself into the heart of all that is ungodly and evil.

I stopped my investigation at that point, and spent the rest of my day diving into the Truth and dwelling on good and beautiful things.

When I had recovered enough to reflect on what had happened, I came to the conclusion that I was not willing to go that deep with the House of the Grotesque - it simply was not worth it.

The works that follow are a result of my pulled-back investigation; they represent certain ideas behind the grotesque rather than actually presenting you with the reality of it. While I did learn a significant

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amount about bad design - how difficult it is to intentionally create it, and how easy it is to stumble upon it by accident - I learned a great deal more about the grotesque through my reaction to immersing myself in it. The grotesque is the opposite of what our souls long for, and nothing good can come from dwelling on the disturbing.

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INVERTED SCENES

acrylic paint on cardboard

I have, set as the lock-screen background on my phone, a picture of my husband and me on our wedding day. On the same day that I researched for the House of the Grotesque, I went to check my email on my iPhone. I naturally expected to see my husband’s and my happy faces looking back at me but was instead greeted by the horrific image of our smiling faces inverted: my wedding dress was now black along with our teeth and the previously-bright sky, our faces were a ghostly blue, and we had glowing white fathoms for our eyes and mouths. It took me an unsettling couple of minutes to search on my computer to discover that my phone had somehow switched itself into the inverted mode, which is used to protect a user’s eyes from the brightness of their phone screen. But it wasn’t until I saw the corrected image that my heart rate started to slow back down to normal.

This disturbing moment was the inspiration for these first three paintings. In each scene, the colors are inverted from their natural state in an attempt to unsettle viewers. The first painting shows an orange sky with red vegetation, and the shadows in the picture are lighter than their shadow-casting counterparts. In addition to the red sky and blue ground of the second painting, a deep, dark forest and a large body of water are depicted at night - two things which have always made me feel unsettled and on-edge during that dark hour.

The third painting was more of an abstract exploration of acrylic paint, but there is still the inversion of a green sky with a blue ground.

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ABSTRACT SERIES

acrylic paint on cardboard

In order to explore the media (acrylic on cardboard) as well as to practice conveying mood through art, I produced three mini-series with four works in each set. The first group of four began as one piece which was cut into quadrants once it was finished, with each piece rotated in order to give the set a fragmented look. In the world of these paintings, happy, bright dots have been slashed with bloody claws; confusion and chaos abound and there is no visible sense of order.

For the second series, I attempted to be thoughtless in my application of the paint. Ugly, tar-like blotches partially obscure a bright field, mingled with messy drops of the background color’s opposite. I imagine getting lost in these paintings, in a world where spiky, heavy blobs are suspended in the air like floating black holes....

The intention of the last set was to make them dark, dark, dark.

Adding just a bit of brightness to each one helps to show how dark the created space is. It’s as though there is this one, bright being within a pitch black space - all alone, with no way out. The work with the bit of red was painted with a shaky hand, in attempt to imitate fear and distress.

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THE HOUSE OF THE GROTESQUE EXTERIOR clay, cardboard, acrylic paint, paper and sticks

The House of the Grotesque is, above all else, a liar. If viewed from far enough away, it would look like a harmless, small house, with a stone exterior, white columns and black accents. However, the reality of the situation is vastly different. The stone cladding is actually a pasted image and the shutters are completely two-dimensional as well. The columns are actually moaning gargoyles that don’t even reach the bottom the roof they’re supposed to be supporting. The windows cover over a white brick wall instead of looking into the house, and the front doors open to a false room that dead-ends into a 1’ x 1’ back wall that the ceiling and walls slope down to.

As you walk around the house, more of the home’s true nature shows (no lie remains unknown forever). Standing on the front porch, you can look up and see the disgusting, bloody texture of what the house is made of (use your imagination as to what the material is) hanging right above your head. The sides and the back of the house are covered in the same undulating mass, as is the inside of the false roof. While the house looks peaked from the front, it is actually a rectangular mass with a fake roof that is precariously propped up by bloodied branches.

Needless to say, this is not a house that is in any way pleasing to the eye. Instead of bringing ease, it brings major discomfort. It makes you want to run away at the very sight of it. It causes you to dread what might be inside such an atrocity.

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THE HOUSE OF THE GROTESQUE INTERIORS charcoal and Photoshopped images

These interiors are unbeautiful in a number of ways, the first of which is in their horrible dysfunctionality. The doorless doorway on the right face of the building is 1’-6” wide while the glassless windows (which open to a sheer cliff) stand 3’-0” across. The passageway that links the two main spaces together causes the dweller to crawl in order to fit into the 3’x2’ hallway. The only sink is located far from the toilet and stove, and its bowl is flipped so that water runs all over anytime it’s turned on. The only way to turn on the shower (which is four inches of hose hanging from the ceiling) is to turn on the sink, and the only “counter” in the place is actually just a piece of cloth suspended at its four corners from the ceiling. The stove is rusty to the point of uselessness, and the dresser in the bedroom is not practical with awkward proportions and no shelves.

The walls, floors, ceilings and openings are almost too simple, with no detail added at any of the corners. However, the surface texture on each of the surfaces is grotesquely complex, with random, dark patterns strewn thoughtlessly over the expanse.

The main wall of the “family” room is completely obscured by a massive television, which captivates its audience at all times with its horribly bright images. All along that same wall inside the bedroom is a series of niches filled with enumerable false deities. Their demonic powers can be felt within the House of the Grotesque at all times, and they are ever staring down at the occupants as they try to sleep on their cushionless, unbalanced bed.

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