La bellezza utile dell’architettura

Abstract

The relationship between beauty and utility in architecture seems more puzzling now than in the past. In particular, contemporary culture frequently argues a paradoxical antagonism between the former and the latter: it seems that the more we hide, and even deny, the dimension of the utility of an architectural object, the more we have the possibility to increase the dimension of its beauty. Reasoning about the meaning of the notion of shape, divided into morphe (concrete, real) and eidos (abstract, ideal), can get us to a possible solution, according to which speaking about an eidos which is heteronomous and referential, and responds to the needs and the aspirations of those who interact with the architectural object, means speaking about an eidos that includes, and does not exclude, the idea that the architectural object is useful to the human demands: something that we might call “human measure”. Then, an architectural object can be beautiful if its aesthetic dimension facilitates, and does not obstruct, its utility, because facilitating its utility means facilitating an essential part of its identity. Besides, the relationship between morphe and eidos can be instructive also about the case of a morphe which seems to generate a new eidos and about the case of the possible utility of a decoration.

Keywords

• aesthetics of architecture
• beauty
• utility
• eidos
• ideal human measure