ARCHITECTURAL AESTHETICS

Architectural Aesthetics in the 20th Century

Architectural Aesthetics in the 20th Century

Introduction

Architectural critics fundamentally have the potential to analyze the vigorous factors that affect the formation of identity of built environment (Kornberger and Clegg 2004). Architectural theory deals with the primary functional, aesthetical, cultural, and philosophical issues of definite structures, buildings, or urban collection in general. The analysis of the critics might involve a description of a space in the context of architectural heritage or a comparison of local and global understandings. These analytical discussions actually contribute a lot to the architectural environment within the cultural entities of a definite society (Kornberger and Clegg 2004).

Throughout human history, architectural works such as the Greek and Roman architecture shared a commonality of an incessant love for building and design. Other than these, the “elements” of nature (fire, water, air, and earth in the ancient Occident and metal, water, wood, fire, and earth in the ancient Orient) have influenced the design of ancient buildings. Japanese buildings are designed to provide a natural setting, which draws the mind toward meditation. It often reflects the influence of Zen Buddhism and takes a minimal form.

Discussion

Contemporary architectural discourse theory has become more concerned with its position within the cultural formation of the society. The social structure of any society may generally have traditional, modern, or post-modern properties. However, it is rarely possible to find a mixture of configurations, such as non-modern formations in modern structures (Kornberger and Clegg 2004).

Identity

The components of the concept of identity have direct relationships with the surrounding natural and built structures . Physical environment, in other words, architecture, presents a framework that constitutes the summation of the past and recent cultural configurations (Kornberger and Clegg 2004). Therefore, architectural artifacts possess the reflections of a specific place, city, or a region's identity. These artifacts include the dynamics of transforming and shaping the identity as well. The reason for this is that culture, language, tradition, and geography have very strong organic ties among themselves. These strong ties produce a dialectical relationship that directly influences the architecture of a society.

Correspondingly, architects accepted time as the fourth dimension and emphasized the effects of tradition on architecture. According to them, tradition is a language, a resource, a challenge, a big vessel, which collects architectural experiences in it and no structure can be alive outside of it. The main concern should be considering architecture in historical context.

Culture

Culture usually refers to the patterns of human activity and the representative structures that give significance to such activity. Cultural values of buildings express the old and new stories of a society, and the actual people of these tales. The old and present dreams, interrogations, justifications, challenges, oppositions, resistance, and even failures of the society have become concrete in surrounding physical environment as a combination of stone, brick, and mortar. The opportunity of transferring cultural heritage from one generation to the other brings about the continuity of inheritance. However, in some cases, this chance cannot be used as positively as its big ...