| The Architecture of Nothingness: An Explanation of the Objective Basis of Beauty in Architecture and the Arts Subjects: Arts; Built Environment; Humanities; Design; Art & Visual Culture; Architecture; Philosophy; History of Art; Theory of Art; Architectural History; Theory of Architecture; Aesthetics; Logic - Philosophy; 19th Century Philosophy; Philosophy of Language; Modern Philosophy (16th Century-18th Century); 20th Century; It is a common enough assumption that good buildings make us feel good just as poor ones can make us feel insecure, depressed or even threatened. We may instantly decide that we 'like' one building more than another, in the same way that without thinking we choose one work of art or music over another. But what is going on when we make these instant decisions? The process is so complex that it remains an area rarely examined, often considered unfathomable, or for some mysterious, bordering even on the spiritual. Frank Lyons seeks to unpick the complex relationships that go to make up great works of architecture, to reveal a set of principles that are found to apply not only to architecture but also to art, music and culture in general. One of the major complications at the heart of culture is that because the arts are generated subjectively, it is assumed that the finished cultural artefact is also subjective. This is a myth that this book seeks to dispel. The arts are indeed created from the personal subjective space of an individual but what that individual has to say will only be shareable if expressed in coherent (objective) form.
Frank Lyons was awarded the RIBA President's Design Prize (President's Silver Medal) in the final year of his architectural studies. The unexpected circumstances of this award caused him to question the nature of design, a question that led to a forty-year search for answers and a career split equally between research, teaching and practice. Lyons has won or been placed in several international architectural competitions and has lectured internationally. He is currently Director of Humane Architecture Ltd, and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Bath. The answers to that early question are laid out in this book. |