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Beauty in Architecture –
The concept of Beauty and its Meaning for Architectural Space
 In everyday life, we use the idea of "beauty" to help describe our subjective definition of taste depending on style and fashion. However for the aesthetics and the contemporary art criticism the phrase is without any value. Nevertheless in the discourse we are using it all the time. Thus, this research shows that "beauty" does in fact has importance and is relevant for the discussion of architectural space. The project starts with a historical research of relevant literature and philosophy regarding the idea of "beauty". This is used as a base to evaluate the principle of beauty in relationship to an architectural discussion.  In the middle ages, beauty was a mythical experience. This concept was seen as the foundation of a transcendent definition of being. The colorful light of the gothic cathedral represented the light of God.  The philosopher Gottlieb Alexander Baumgarten liberated beauty from a geometrical and logical definition, grown out of the western and greek tradition. He emphasized the sensual character of beauty as a basic condition of experiencing art.  Immanuel Kant is responsible for our understanding of beauty today. He valued sensual perception. In his thesis of critical judgement he defined beauty on the base of ethics. But in his analysis of sublimity he proved that logical recognition and sensual perception can not be considered independently.  The loss of a defined system of values in the 20th centuary enforced the subjective character of beauty. The phrase eventually came under the control of economy and the free market.  Contemporary discussion started when a phenomenological approach has been developed. The possibility of a new interpretation of beauty has arisen. The potential of sensual perception has been explored as its basic condition. The importance of the human body as an instrument of sensual cognition was described by the french philosopher Merleau-Ponti. The exploration of sensual cognition is the foundation for a new definition of beauty. By using the phenomena of color, already described by J.W. Goethe in his theory of color, the phrase can be redefined. The destinction between "actual facts" and "factual facts" in the cognition of color, described by Josef Albers, is a condition for the definition of beauty as a structure of communication between the individual and the "thing". The discourse of abstract color painting can be seen as an example.  Finally, with help of the phrase of "atmosphere", as described by the German philosopher and expert in architectural theory, Gernot Böhme, the idea of beauty can also be integrated into the discussion of architectural space. |
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