What do you think - is Beauty in The Details ?

[usarender]

We have frequently heard it said, "the beauty is in the details".

Some claim "the devil is in the details".

And others "God is in the Details".

Others will show how the beauty in the whole can be contemplated in it's parts, in each detail within the design. Thus, the part reflects the whole, and the whole it's parts. With this in mind, FLW and a great many designers have aspired to the sublime, to the ultimate perfection in design, to achieving a unity of form in function, in a relentless pursuit of this ultimate goal of integral design unity and harmony in the whole and in it's parts.

We can say as designers and architects that the whole is summed up in the beauty it contains. Or the beauty of the entire design should be reflected to some degree in the care to detail, and these, so to speak play together in a rhythmic synchrony as instruments in an orchestra, and together elevate the spirit of the observer into a spirit of sublime contemplation.

Do we as designers always have the opportunity to produce such masterpieces of design? In being restricted by our budget, by our clients tastes, too often we restrict ourselves into a forced functional simplification of form and detail, in order to contain the budget. But should this be the case ?

There are many samples of simple designs that although not ornately and intricately detailed, beauty can be contemplated even in their simplicity.

These are the true masterpieces.

We need not look very far in our modern society to see buildings replenished with the latest technology has to offer, from the most advanced environmental controls, LED lighting, Green Design and Environmentally friendly materials and technology. But many of these seem to lack something, seem to lack attention to detail, in their mechanized approach to design. They may display gigantic sheets of plated glass or the latest in fenestration, or even a fancy exterior of late modern explorations of form, but are these buildings really being detailed with extreme concern for detail, or are the dictates of technology, of the clients and architects taste taking precedence over the beauty in the details ?

In a study of architectural history, we find many periods and times when the dictates of the state, of the era of mechanization seem to supercead the dictates of the beauty in the details.

And then there are buildings that externally may appear to lack detail, but are ornately detailed on the interior. Is this a contradiction ? What are your views on this?

Does "beauty in the details" suggest a common motif and common design unifying element or can we unify chaotic details into a beauty of whole, as is frequently done in chaotic patterns in nature ? Do these make for good designs?

And, further, how do you feel the design process should direct the beauty in these details? Should it be a reflective process, one that springs out from the spirit, from the sub-conscious, from the moment of eureka? Or should it be a conscientious, rational, sober series of small design decisions that follow a unified theme of design?

And if beauty is in the details, does this suggest the beauty cannot be fully appreciated in the whole, without being able to grasp all the details from a distance ? From a user point of view, thus, if we are detached, distant away from the whole, we will not be able to contemplate the beauty in person, and thus not be able to fully contemplate the beauty in the design, unless we are there in person.

With this said, and suggesting human scale, human perception and human forms of experiencing design all play a part in the perceptions we as designers have as buildings.

Thus, it is not sufficient to simply study architecture from books. Thus, the need for experiencing architecture and the beauty in the details. Those, therefore who have never experienced a building in person cannot then fully contemplate the beauty in it's details.

Is this an axiom and should beauty always be found in the details ? What then of minimalism ? What of functional formalism ? What is to be said for the purists and those who aspire to clean design?

Can a design reflect beauty in the details simply from it's choice of materials and their combinations? Or should beauty be found in architectural details to a greater degree? Is a well detailed building then more beautiful then one built by a craftsman, with no architect to produce such details ? Or can a craftsman produce the same richness of details, simply out of his experience and own sense of beauty in the application of the same ?

Can we find many samples of buildings that although lacking many architectural details, are just as beautiful as those intricately detailed ?

Is not beauty in the eye of the beholder ? If this is so, beauty cannot be something contained simply in the details, but rather in the contemplation of the observer, who ascribes beauty within his framework of perception, to the vision he is obtaining within the context of his understanding.

Thus, we can see beauty is culturally oriented, it is racially oriented, it is a relative element that may or may not be contained in the details themselves.

We can find some styles in arts and architecture where beauty is revered, where ornate designs are in vogue. In other movements, simplicity and truth is sought in the pure simple form and application of materials and structural honesty.

Thus, beauty can also be inevitably linked to our philosophy as designers, to our ways of designing and interpreting beauty. This may or may not match the frame of reference of the observer, and may or may not be contemplated in the details we design.

Why is it, however, that certain buildings are inevitably beautiful to almost all, while many are beautiful to only select groups of people? This suggests there are common perceptions of beauty and these are translated into architecture, as the Greeks, the Romans, the Aegeans, the Moorish, the Christian, the Muslim civilizations have aspired to do for centuries. Thus, the ultimate quest for beauty in the details goes on. And the changing values, tastes, technologies of the times will always to one degree or another dictate the direction of possibilities. But it is in our mind and creative spirit that this ultimate beauty resides, and finds it's ultimate expression in the built environment we reveal.

[Design&Render]

It is inevitable most will find "beauty is in the details". But there are always the minority who insist on alternate opinions. Nothing can beat a well designed project, and one that has received proper attention to details. It shows in the result.

[usarender]

Yes, a design becomes beautiful when much attention is given to the same, and much thought and client input is incorporated into the project, in a well resolved solution, which maintains the clients needs in mind, aspires to achieve a balance and harmony of proportion and details, and where all the elements together in unison compose the essence of beauty.