Riehen Natural Swimming Pool by Herzog & de Meuron
Teaching architecture for over 40 years, I have had endless opportunity to consider the elegance of architectural solutions, to a huge variety of problems. And to try and explain to my students why that concept might be applicable to architectural criticism.
My point, of course, is that elegance is not a matter of fashion, style, or a subjective taste, but the most appropriate word to describe a key part of the western intellectual tradition. Because of my background, I tend to draw on science, rather than art historicists writings.
So I start with any of the definitions of Occam's Razor, but usually find myself quoting Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Of course, I know that this is a paraphrase. But it is a very good paraphrase, because it captures not only the rigour of reduction, but the warning against the simplistic.
My point, of course, is that elegance is not a matter of fashion, style, or a subjective taste, but the most appropriate word to describe a key part of the western intellectual tradition. Because of my background, I tend to draw on science, rather than art historicists writings.
So I start with any of the definitions of Occam's Razor, but usually find myself quoting Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Of course, I know that this is a paraphrase. But it is a very good paraphrase, because it captures not only the rigour of reduction, but the warning against the simplistic.
