Less is more or a bore? Detail and formal complexity in architecture
Authors
Citation
Hong Kong Papers in Design and Development, v.1, 1998, pp. 59-68
Abstract
Richness and complexity strike back at the architectural maxim 'less is more' replacing it with the conviction that 'less is a bore'. This article uses the multi-disciplinary Information Theory to relate the degree of complexity in a building with the amount of information it contains. Of the two different forms of information, 'semantic' and 'formal' the former has been extensively explored by Post-Modernists while the latter, 'formal information' is seldom discussed. This article tries to define details as the units of formal information in architecture. The Gestalt Theory on visual perception will be used to explain how to read architecture through units of details, and show how the amount of detail in a building relates to its formal complexity. An assessment of the truth of the statements 'less is more' and 'less is a bore' will serve to conclude the article.
(1) From 'Less to more' to 'Less is a bore'
(2) Details in architecture
(3) Detail as the perceptual unit of building
(4) Detail as 'figure'
(5) Building details as figures on ground
(6) Law of organisation and higher level of detail
(7) Details and formal complexity
(8) The reduction of details
(9) Interaction of details
(10) Complexity, interest and pleasure
(11) Too much and too little detail
(12) Pleasure from complexity
(13) The dual roles of detail
(14) Importance of details in architecture
(15) Less (detail) is more or a bore
Description
Subject
Type
Article
Format
Date
1998
Language
en