Aesthetic Determinism+ Why Architecture Matters
The fruits of beauty are nourishing.
No understanding of human nature is complete without understanding nature, or the environment. One phenomenon that is uniquely human is the interplay between our environment and ourselves. While evolution is understood as the organism adapting to its environment, we are able to consciously and deliberately design our surroundings. In doing so we change ourselves.
Interestingly, we only tend to do environmental engineering paternalistically for others. The most famous example of course being parenting. Good parents take care in curating their child’s social and informational environment (school), which is obviously important in ensuring the kid develops well. The cause and effect relationship here is established and easy to see.
But counterintuitively, while the impact of intangibles such as a curriculum or social circle are easily understood, the effects of the tangible physical environment are less obvious.
For reference here are two phenomenon (w/links)-
Classrooms with more daylight exposure improved student learning rates by 21%.
People have improved cognition and creativity in rooms with higher ceilings.
While these effects of course make sense, we are not actively conscious of them. This is not to advocate for the dissemination of all esoteric best practices for interior design but only to say that our physical environment strongly affects our attitudes and emotions, often on a subconscious level. We feel and behave differently in a forest than we do a city.
Now onwards to the thesis.
When we see Versailles we can't help but feel a sense of opulence and hierarchy. When we see the US Capitol we can't help but feel a sense of stoic order. When we see La Sagrada Familia we can’t help but feel a sense of reverence and the ineffable.
These are intentional effects by the architect. In designing the building they design our emotional response. Aesthetics are functional!
Once we realize this, the question becomes- Given the power of architectural design, why do we not use it to our advantage more broadly? It is limiting to only consider aesthetic mind control when designing major buildings. Is there not so much potential in taking the same approach in designing the rest of our communities because.-
When your neighborhood is beautiful, you can’t help but think more highly of your neighbors. Just like the atmosphere of our own homes is significant in how we view ourselves. The appearance of our neighborhoods and cities is significant in forming our attitude regarding the collective.
In living around beauty we are instilled with subconscious connections to past, future, and neighbor. If our goal is to enhance wellness, aesthetic design must play a part.
This is not to overlook that architectural possibility is a function of economic abundance. Apartment buildings should not be as ornate as a palace. I would like to simply point to some low hanging fruit which enhance emotional perception.
The post image I used contrasts a Victorian in Chelsea, London to low income housing in Brooklyn. Two brick structures with completely different emotional impacts. The difference lies simply in the presence of ornamentation in the British building. It would not have been prohibitively expensive to incorporate some of the same into the design of the Brooklyn residences, but we cannot understate the magic those ornamental exterior details bring to a community. These are not antiquated but rather deprioritized by architects whose priorities have outgrown them. (We will detail each specific ornaments by name Part 2)
Economic forces lead real estate designers to design beautiful buildings in order to attract tenants but there is much untapped legislative and cultural potential to promote beautiful design in our communities.
The fruits of beauty are nourishing.