The relationship between art and architecture is one that has fascinated designers and artists for centuries. The balance can be hard to get right, and the process can be a challenging one. In this insight article, Jan Dijkemadiscusses how art can be used to enhance architecture to create visually stunning environments.
Art-chitecture
There has been a debate for decades about whether architecture is art – with some passionately arguing that architecture is a form of self-expression and therefore an art form, and others decrying the notion, viewing it as a form of egotism which leads to ‘starchitect’ designs being parachuted into place without reference to social and geographic context or appropriateness.
If architecture is not art, and there’s a good argument to the contrary when one considers striking buildings such as the Baku Entertainment Centre in Azerbaijan or NOI Techpark in Bolzano, Italy, there is certainly a place for art within the architectural form. For thousands of years, buildings and spaces have been transformed by the way in which art was used within them – often resulting in a fusion that created spaces that were beautiful, awe-inspiring, or spiritually uplifting, depending on the intentions of the client and the architect.
The fusion of art and architecture can transcend the sum of its parts, but can also go incredibly wrong. Getting the balance right is, it can be argued, an art form in itself. The building designer has to have the skill and creative talent to envisage what the end result will be and how it will be interpreted by the people who see it.
“More recently, the42 Maslakmixed-use development in Istanbul has made the incorporation of artworks within the architecture a signature feature of the scheme, which is themed as ‘Artful Living’.”
How is the fusion best achieved?
The incorporation of art needs to be clever - it requires creativity and vision. Otherwise, the viewer just gets the sense of art being shoehorned in as an afterthought, detracting from both the art and the architecture. In addition, it needs to be tastefully done, to avoid vulgarity or contextual misplacement.
Architects and artists need to have the experience and creativity to know precisely how and where to blend art and architecture in a way that turns the synthesis of both into much more than the sum of its parts. Places and spaces can be both commercially successful and aesthetically pleasing, but it requires good planning.
It is important that the context is taken into account, whether in terms of the individual space, the local geography, the culture, or what the client wants to express. It is also vital that the effect be one which doesn’t look cluttered or mismatched, and which enhances rather than detracts from the surroundings. READ MORE
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