THE LONGEVITY OF BEAUTY: The Importance of Aesthetics
Why does beauty matter?
The modern world feels starved of beauty, particularly in the parts of the world that benefited the most from the successes of modern industry, resulting in less productivity and satisfaction for those that live there. This is because beauty, in it’s elemental sense, is an important factor in our quality of life. If we are to accept that beauty is necessary to human contentment, why does the modern world feel so devoid of it? Lets start at the beginning - with the definition of beauty (to avoid confusion).
“Beau·ty
a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.”
I want to clarify, I am not talking about beauty in the cosmetic, fashion industry “trend” sense. I am taking our idea of beauty back to it’s bare-bones, philosophical sense - what is it and why does it matter. There are those that would say beauty does not matter in a world with so many bigger problems, but that viewpoint fundamentally misses the point of beauty in the human experience. Beauty is orderly, which evokes calm in a chaotic reality. The human brain is designed to be soothed by the combination of elements that are defined as “beautiful”, leading to increased joy, contentment, and creative stimulation. Why do you think creative people tend to live in beautiful environments (either preexisting or created)? It is because of the fact that being surrounded by beauty is necessary for what they do for a living.
Beauty also effects on a more emotional level too - anyone who has received a beautifully wrapped gift understands how that much more caring it feels to receive, versus being handed the same item still in its shopping bag. Beauty implies care, which translates to feeling appreciated and loved. This connection between beauty & feeling loved is one of the biggest reasons why children (and adults too) need to live in a space that feels settled and, in a sense, beautiful and cared for - in other words, a settled home. The emotional experience they will take from that beautiful space will go on to inform their world view in ways they might never realize, but the experience of which will never leave them.
Over the course of the 20th century there was a real bent away from beauty - you could argue this was brought on by the intense pain & suffering experience around the globe during these decades. Beautiful places were bombed in air raids, or lovely things sat abandoned by owners that would never return. Beauty must have felt like a jarring reminder of world before so much suffering - an unknowing rebuke against the cruelty of mankind. Regardless, the rebuilding of the world in the later half of the century saw humanity set it’s mind on progress & innovation - a bright, new world made by men of science and industry, some have called this time the Industrial Renaissance.
Again, almost like trying to forget a bad memory, you saw society steer away from any semblance of beauty in this modern era. It is in the post-war reconstruction that you see basic infrastructure being rebuilt hastily with little care for the aesthetics that existed pre-war, though care was given to protecting the beautiful buildings that were part of their heritage. In America too, aesthetic beauty in public buildings and spaces was sacrificed in the race for American expansion and functionality. It was roughly around this time that you saw massive city expansion in the USA, with zoning laws being relaxed to allow for more real estate per square mile. These choices made almost a century ago, have gone on to shape America’s cities and the people who live in them. If you want one explanation for why America feels so different from Europe, this is why - one has spent centuries investing in beautiful illustrations of their national heritage, the other has spent the 200 years of its existence focused on expansion & industry and the expense of it’s heritage.
In architecture and design today, beauty is almost a dirty word - meaningless, empty, and husk of bygone era of opulence at the expense of the working man. This in many ways, in a progressive lie - mankind from the prehistoric period onward has known that embellishment mattered to their quality of life, whether that life was lived in a hut or in a palace. Despite this fact, there is a perception that beauty and beautiful things lack seriousness, that beauty is too shallow a thing for the grittiness of the human experience. There has resulted in the modern era of design a great love affair with the literal version of things - the bare unadorned, basic version of life. How deeply dystopian that is - a kind of democracy of sadness, where we all experience only the simplest version of anything, until we forget the art, culture, and richness of our ancestors altogether.
There is an argument for the idea that the dominance of simplistic design is a result, of a sort, of the democratization of opinion - that those who are not gifted in design, set themselves up their own judges of what is beautiful (a view that simultaneously damns all DIY-er of the world). I don’t actually espouse this perspective (though I sympathize with it) because it sounds just like the typical human response to idealogical conflict, where if we like our own ideas we dislike being questioned or disagreed with - a form of idealogical elitism. This form of idealogical elitism is not exclusive to design - imagine telling a mathematician that you can solve a theorem better than he can, most of us wouldn’t dare! Again, I think it comes back to this idea of design as haughty & pointless, whereas something “productive” like mathematics is respected & necessary.
However, if we know that beauty is a necessary factor for human happiness, how can we reconcile this modern perspective on design with the need for aesthetics? The earliest fathers of modern design laid the foundation for minimalism to incorporate beauty with simplicity through carefully considered proportions & attention to detail. Frank Loyd Wright one of the early greats of modern architecture, looked to nature for his inspiration, respecting the environments that his buildings were situated in and celebrating natural materials in his designs. In many ways, Wright’s buildings remind me of early gothic buildings - they are both early period pieces, with minimalist styles, and respect for the landscape they are situated in.
“The mission of an architect is to help people understand how to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living in, and to give reason, rhyme, and meaning to life.”
The work of Wright and so many that came before him, illustrates the correlation between sustainability & longevity of beauty.
It is an indisputable fact that beauty matures generation on generation. When you build something that is unattractive, as it ages, it becomes even more ugly - but when you build something from natural materials, respectful of the environment with an eye on beautiful aesthetics, as it ages, it will only continue to develop patina and charm. This concept of building beautifully and building to last is something that we appear to have lost along the way. In the drive for modern innovation (and the race to keep up), aesthetic considerations fallen victim to cheap, quick, and unsustainable.
However, the sustainable design movement hasn’t caught on to this correlation yet. Sustainability without esthetic consideration is failing at its objective for a more durable and harmonious world. When you tick all the boxes for technical progress without considering “is it beautiful?”, it will not last, and the objective of sustainability will be unsuccessful. What are the key elements of beautiful and lasting design? Durable natural materials, timeless beautiful design, and a consideration for the passage of time.
