CONTENTS
Introduction: Architecture – An art and a science? ......................... 1
Chapter 1: Quandaries................................................................................ 7
Wren and wondering.............................................................................. 7
Talking about beauty ..................................................................................12
What is beauty? What is ugliness? .................................................................... 14
Chapter 2: Why the concerns? Why now? ............................................ 17
Who exactly should be satisfied? .............................................................. 17
Change in relative importance of factors of evaluation .............................. 19
We are still under the infl uence of some older thought ..............................20
A matter of ‘taste’?............................................................................................... 21
The capabilities and roles of managers are increasing ................................25
It is a complicated matter ....................................................................................26
Chapter 3: What are the questions? .................................................................29
What should a building design be attempting to accomplish? ................29
Evidence-based design: That design characteristics will lead
to positive human responses?........ 31
Is it more important to avoid ugliness than to achieve beauty? ............... 31
It is possible to understand different human responses to
the built environment.. 32
Where do architects and other design experts fi t in? ................................... 33
Chapter 4: The Historical Background of Building Appearance ........ 39
What is architecture? What sorts of buildings should be considered? ... 39
A brief history of appearance in architectural thought ..............................43
The beginnings and the classical tradition ....................................................44
Chapter 5: The Modern World ........................................................................... 51
The industrial (and other) revolutions ............................................................ 51
The Gothic revival .................................................................................................54
Arts and crafts ........................................................................................................58
The turbulence of the early twentieth century .............................................. 62
The twentieth century – modernism ................................................................63
Afterwards – postmodernism............................................................................. 71
Where to now? ........................................................................................................ 73
Chapter 6: The Development of Scientific Approaches – The Beginnings in Psychology........ 75
Chapter 7: The Contributions of Neuroscience .......................................... 81
We have insights into the nature of a positive response ..............................84
We have some idea about where the relevant brain functions occur .......84
We know that aesthetic judgements are associated with
moral judgements...........86
Preferences can be changed .................................................................................87
Can neuroscience tell us anything about building design? .......................88
Chapter 8: Understanding People - Four Exploratory Experiments .. 91
Experiment I – Considering ordinary houses ................................................ 93
Experiment II – Changing perceptions – Window replacements ............106
Experiment III – The cues – What are people actually looking at?
What can we learn from suburban office preferences? ........ .....112
Experiment IV – Looking at buildings ..........................................................118
Summing up the experiments – what do the results mean? ...................131
Chapter 9: Assessments and Evaluations –
Preferences and Familiarity .................137
Why do we have preferences? ............................................................................137
Typicality/Familiarity (preference-for-prototypes) ....................................140
Structure, creation and evolution of prototypes .........................................144
Developing and exploiting prototypes ...........................................................146
The implications for our built environment ................................................148
Chapter 10: Recognition and Legibility .......................................................153
Legibility I – Not too many materials ............................................................155
Legibility II – Simplicity/Complexity in form .............................................155
Chapter 11: Constructing Our Preferences –
Some Inherent Design Factors ......... 161
Symmetry ............................................................................................................... 161
Naturalness ...........................................................................................................166
Ornamentation ....................................................................................................169
Chapter 12: Personal Factors – Looking Further Into Design ............175
Novelty, newness and originality.....................................................................175
Mystery ...................................................................................................................180
Scale, proportions and other relations ..........................................................183
Warmth ..................................................................................................................191
Chapter 13: Unity/Coherence/Balance/Order/Elegance/Harmony 193
Chapter 14: Architecture Does Not Stand Alone – Context .................201
The physical setting ............................................................................................201
Providing labels and programme notes .........................................................204
Cultural and economic context .......................................................................206
Movement ..............................................................................................................206
State of the viewer – mood and affective state .............................................207
Self-image ..............................................................................................................208
Dissonance ............................................................................................................210
Fashion – Cherished or just junk? ...................................................................212
Context is important .......................................................................................... 214
Chapter 15: Details, Forms and Colours ......................................................215
Cleanliness/Shabbiness .....................................................................................215
Style and form ......................................................................................................217
Materials and meanings ....................................................................................218
Pitched roofs .........................................................................................................219
Visible entrances ..................................................................................................220
Curved forms ........................................................................................................220
Colour .....................................................................................................................222
Chapter 16: If it isn’t beautiful, what is it? And why? .............................229
Challenging ...........................................................................................................230
Romantic ...............................................................................................................231
Sublime ..................................................................................................................233
Charming/Quirky ...............................................................................................236
Bizarre ....................................................................................................................238
Comforting/Reassuring ....................................................................................239
Chapter 17: Why are there superstar architects?
What can we learn from them?..........................241
How superstar architecture works – how we can be infl uenced
in our preferences and choices...........247
I – We like what others like – the Harry Potter effect .............................247
II – The amount of effort people believe went into a work of
art affects their judgement.......................248
III – Work by one creator is valued more than work by
multiple creators ......................................249
IV – Representations and marketing .............................................................250
The brain is a strange mechanism – shortcuts and distortions ..............250
Finally ............................................................................................251
Chapter 18: Glimpses of Delight – Pulling Things Together ..............253
What are the design commonalities? .............................................................256
Assembling the elements: Familiarity, Legibility, Symmetry,
Naturalness,
Ornamentation, Novelty, Challenge, Mystery,
Proportion and Scale, Warmth,
Programme notes, Context,
Cleanliness, Implications,
Unity/Coherence/Balance/
Order/Elegance/Harmony ...............................256
Aspiring to the unattainable ............................................................................263
Chapter 19: Consideration of Some Buildings
Used in Experiment IV ........ ...265
Historic buildings ................................................................................................265
Historical references ...........................................................................................266
Classic modernism ..............................................................................................268
Abstract modern ..................................................................................................269
Interesting contrasts ...........................................................................................272
Targeting a specific group .................................................................................273
Chapter 20: Reasons for the Lack of Impact of What We Know .........275
Researchers and practitioners speak different languages
and have different priorities .................277
Experimental findings are often difficult to translate into designs ......277
Research findings may not align with the preferences of the
people who create buildings ......278
Building is a very complex process, and other things may
be more important ........................278
Lack of observable outcomes in buildings ....................................................279
We don’t always know who to appeal to ........................................................280
The development process has certain characteristics that
deter early-stage analysis ..............280
Chapter 21: Final Thoughts .............................................................................283
Avoiding ugly ........................................................................................................284
Seeking preferred forms .....................................................................................285
Bibliography / Sources ........................................................................................291