Beauty in Architecture

Perspectives from Theory and Practice

Beauty in Architecture cover

Beauty in Architecture

Perspectives from Theory and Practice

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Description

Beauty in Architecture brings together the views of architects, artists, critics, historians, and philosophers to explore how beauty can again become an integral part of discussions about architecture.

Despite its recent resurgence in the public debate about the built environment, the notion of beauty remains problematic and contested in critical discourse about architecture. When the topic is addressed, it is either treated with suspicion, historicized or contextualised, or substituted with other –often equally problematic– terms, such as order, legibility, atmosphere, or character. This collection brings together voices from theory, scholarship, and practice to show that a conversation about beauty in architecture is necessary, not only because the general public speaks easily and frequently about beauty in architecture, but also because much can be gained from taking it seriously.

Bringing together a diverse range of perspectives, the essays reflect on the themes, categories, and concepts that should be part of such a conversation and show how talking about beauty engages important reflections on its ontology and what it involves: values, communities, collectives and shared histories, environment, identity, and political or legal mechanisms and institutions. A must read for designers and theorists alike, this volume allows readers to discover new strategies and concepts to foster the discussion of beauty in architecture.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Problem of Beauty in Architecture - Maarten Delbeke (ETH Zürich, Switzerland) and Nele De Raedt (UCLouvain, Belgium)

Practice
1. Reframing Beauty - Adam Caruso (Caruso St. John Architects, UK & ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
2. How Reductionism Cancelled Beauty and Other Speculations - Willem Jan Neutelings (Neutelings Riedijk Architecten, Netherlands)
3. The [In]justice of Beauty in Architecture - Mariam Issoufou Kamara (Atelier Masomi & ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
4. The Pink-Fingered Dawn -Saar Meganck (Dhooge & Meganck Architecture & Architecture Academy Maastricht, Netherlands)
5. Molly House Series - Pablo Bronstein (Artist)

Theory
6. Exploring a Measured Beauty through an Ancestral Landscape in the Pearl River Delta - Hong Wan Chan (Ghent University, Belgium)
7. The Beautiful Architecture of OMA/Rem Koolhaas - Christophe Van Gerrewey (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland)
8. Beauty, Architecture and the Affective Sciences: A Political Discourse - Daniel Sik (UCLouvain, Belgium)
9. Beauty and Aesthetic Formalism in Architectural Theory - Branko Mitrovic (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway)
10. Gothic at the Margins: Architectural Beauty in the Colonial Antipodes - Adam Jasper (Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Emma Letizia Jones (Hong Kong University)
11. The Place of Beauty in the Law on the Built Environment: A Flemish Perspective - Stéphanie De Somer (Antwerp University, Belgium)
12. The Beauty of Architecture and its Vicissitudes - Vlad Ionescu (Hasselt University, Belgium)

Product details

Published 02 Oct 2025
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 240
ISBN 9781350477278
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Illustrations 39 color illus
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Nele De Raedt

Nele De Raedt is Associate Professor in History, T…

Anthology Editor

Maarten Delbeke

Maarten Delbeke is Professor in the History and Th…

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