Beauty

As architects, we often think and get into heated arguments over a singular phenomenon, Beauty.

Beauty, a quality in a person or a thing that gives some deep satisfaction to our minds. It could be sensory, like vision, sound or touch. Or it could be basic understanding like spiritual. It is found in many forms, but at the same time, it may be formless. 

There is something about it that makes us crave more. 

To own it. 

Possess it. 

Something that makes us go to deranged lengths only to experience it.  

It might be true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but none of us can deny the existence of it. 

Are there posters on your wall?

Do you savour the first bite of that delicious meal?

Do you feel emotionally invested in your favorite fictional character?

We experience beauty differently. And we get latched on to it differently.

It is one of the most controversial and enduring topics. Perhaps the most controversial and basic issue in the theory of beauty is whether beauty is subjective or objective?

Vitruvius believed that beauty in architecture, just like the human body is a matter of “truth of nature”. He believed nature to be this ideal designer perfecting beauty to a fault. 

I, on the other hand, would like to put a counter-argument for this two thousand old philosopher and architect.

I strongly believe that beauty is not entirely objective and it interacts with an individual to an emotional level which makes each to react to it differently.

If beauty was something so objective then everyone would have a similar opinion about it. We would like the same things. No one would be making mistakes when it came to aesthetics. If beauty was universally objective then why would each have a different perception on the matter? Why would there be this argument in the first place?

But Vitruvius established that beauty lies in the truth of nature, and if you follow rules you can make something beautiful. But if beauty was so objective then why would art or architecture need to appeal to emotion in the first place?

If beauty lies in the truth of nature then nature must be perfect. But we all know it isn’t. That that is why it evolves. 

Here is an idea. Maybe beauty is not as simple to fathom in a blog or ten books, maybe beauty is endless. It may lie in a realm beyond the understanding of human minds. Maybe it hangs in the balance of objectivity and emotional response. 

Maybe we might never know. And so the debate on the nature of beauty continues. 

There might be countless arguments and counter-arguments made on the topic. We might continue pondering over the same questions over and over again. But there is one thing that one us can deny.

Beauty is addicting.