Is beauty universally appreciated? I don’t think so. I believe that same buildings design can be loved by some and hated by others. There isn’t one rule for everything. Whether the architecture is deemed beautiful will depend on many factors such as design trends, how old and well kept the building is, how it refers to its surrounding, but most importantly how the user perceives it. Symmetry is not always desirable, I heard once that things look best in threes. But that is just another opinion. Some people like circular spaces, some prefer rectangular or triangular. Some like symmetry and grid like arrangements, while others like asymmetry and irregular shapes. For example, Peckham Library has all strange angles, irregular shapes of the cladding on the outside and windows within it, and of course the pods, each of them slightly different than the other two. This buildings design seems to follow no rules, yet in my opinion it is strangely beautiful. On the other hand, the golden rectangle seems to have a nice proportion to it. I think a rooms size based on golden rectangle may make it easier to zone and furnish (providing it is a rectangle large enough). I think I will learn as the course goes that we can use whatever rules suit our future clients.
Resources:
https://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/bodies/vitruvius/proportion.html (accessed 17/03/2020)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vitruvius (accessed 17/03/2020)
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jan/05/architect-andrea-palladio (accessed 17/03/2020)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Corbusier (accessed 17/03/2020)
https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/lesson-style-le-corbusier-lesprit-nouveau/ (accessed 18/03/2020)
https://www.goldennumber.net/un-secretariat-building-golden-ratio-architecture/ (accessed 19/03/2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ZHsk0-eF0 (accessed 19/03/2020)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnsworth_House (accessed 21/03/2020)
Aggie's interior design journey 