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I've been preaching this myself for quite a while: the way the aesthetics of minimalistically clean surfaces work is by emphasizing new-ness while they are in f
by usrusr 3y ago
I've been preaching this myself for quite a while: the way the aesthetics of minimalistically clean surfaces work is by emphasizing new-ness while they are in fact new. That does look awesome, I'm guilty of enjoying that look myself, but when that new-ness disappears, the same design emphasizes its absence. Ornaments are the the key to graceful aging in architecture.
When you have a clean white wall, with three square windows decisively set in one part, yeah, it looks bold and fresh. But after a few years you get a wall with those rainwater "tear paths" that just look sad because there's nothing else to catch the eye. If instead there were some sills, ledges or maybe just some brick surface patterns, those same water traces would be patina that's perceived as part of the ornament.
- c22 3y agoThe key is maintenance. If you wash that wall every day it will never develop water stains, and a flat unadorned wall is easier to wash than one with a lot of nooks and crannies. A lot of walls don't get washed every day though, even the flat minimalist ones. What makes sense for a school or a hospital or a courthouse might not make sense for a home or a condo.
- hinkley 3y agoBecause washing it every day would drastically raise the lifetime cost of the building. We spend millions in the year before a building opens, then millions every decade it exists on maintenance and repairs. Having a full time washer would raise that quite a bit. Window washers make hazard pay and have higher insurance costs than janitors because of the physical danger, do they not?
- MichaelZuo 3y agoI agree, minimalism hides the complexity, it doesn't make it go away.