Architectural aesthetic thought of the Western tradition of architectural aesthetics

The more perfectly the form of a building expresses the lofty and great spiritual content, the higher the aesthetic value. The beauty of architectural form comes from the goodness of content. This point of view as early as in the ancient Greek period has been, the medieval theological aesthetician embodiment of God's glory called the United States, the popularity of the Gothic style for 400 years, the spirit of Christianity is expressed to the fullest (see color). 18th century Europe under the influence of Enlightenment architectural aesthetics, especially emphasizing the rational factors of architectural beauty. 19th century Romanticism, the wave of the nostalgia for the pastoral mood and the religious atmosphere of the Middle Ages, to the architectural aesthetics. Romanticism in the early 19th century was nostalgic for the idyllic pastoral mood and religious atmosphere of the Middle Ages, which had a great influence on architectural aesthetics. At that time, critics and architects believe that architectural beauty must reflect the admiration of God, so the buildings of Christian countries must be used in the Gothic style, so that the Gothic church form has long gone off the stage of history revived.

② that architectural beauty is an objective existence. Architectural modeling is only in line with the objective laws of beauty is beautiful. The earliest representative of this type of theory is the ancient Greek Pythagorean school. The 1st century A.D. Roman Empire's architectural engineer Vitruvius pointed out in the "building ten books", the beauty of the objective existence, it is mainly manifested in the building of a harmonious proportion between the parts. 15 century Renaissance artists also attached great importance to the proportion of the study. 17th and 18th century European classicist architects, the building of the proportionality of the relationship between the architectural art of the highest objective law in a variety of mathematical relationships in the search for the mystery of beauty. They sought the mystery of beauty in various mathematical relationships. L. Corbusier (1877-1965), one of the representative figures of modern architecture, used to design buildings with the ratio of golden section. Since the Renaissance, the research on the law of architectural form and beauty in Europe has formed a complete system through two ways. One is to measure a large number of architectural relics of ancient Greece and Rome, and summarize a set of proportional laws from them. Among them, G. da Vignola and A. Palladio summarized the five types of columns model has the most far-reaching influence. The five exemplars are the proportional laws of the five colonnade forms of ancient Roman architecture, which have been regarded as the most beautiful representatives of European and American architecture during the period from 300 to 400 years. And then is through the many recognized as beautiful buildings for geometric composition ratio analysis and visual analysis, summarized a number of formal beauty of the law, called the law of composition. There are many writings of this kind, among them, the United States in 1952 by Hamlin, "the twentieth century of architectural form and function" and 1960 published by the Academy of Architecture of the USSR Institute of Architectural Theory, History and Architectural Technology of Architecture, "Introduction to Architectural Composition" is more representative. The former summarizes the laws of composition into 10 kinds, namely, unity, balance, proportion, scale, rhythm, sequence in layout, regular and irregular sequence design, character, style, and color. The latter emphasizes the unity of form and function and structure in architectural composition; as a means of coordination, it summarizes 7 laws of composition, namely, symmetry and asymmetry, contrast and nuance, rhythm and tempo, modulus, proportion, scale, and optical correction; and there are another 4 auxiliary means, namely, color and illumination, architectural decorative motifs, sculpture, and monumental painting.

③The architectural beauty lies in a certain reaction that the architectural image produces in human psychological activities. Early experimental psychology attempted to explore the psychological impact of certain architectural factors such as volume, shape, line, color, texture, etc. on people through psycho-physiological experiments, but the results of the experiments could not exactly explain the aesthetic effect of complex architectural art. In recent times, Gestalt psychology and empathy have also been gradually used to explain the aesthetics of architecture. According to the former's basic point of view, architectural aesthetics is a comprehensive whole, which includes such elements of psychological activities as feelings, perceptions, associations, memories, impulses and so on. And each element is often associated with certain spaces, parts, styles, techniques, colors, textures, etc., and if one of them is removed, the overall sense of beauty will be destroyed. According to the latter's basic point of view, only when the viewer and the architectural image of the integration, in order to produce a strong sense of beauty; or, when the inanimate abstract architectural form is given the characteristics of the personification, only with the meaning of beauty. For example, people feel that the temple sacred and lofty, elegant palace, the garden is beautiful and quiet, residential peace and quiet, are human emotions and the building environment, form and so on the results of the mutual integration.