Someone posted this question in traditional architecture emailing list, and I found it of interest, so I re-post it here:
If people suddenly disappeared, would the buildings we now consider Beautiful, still be Beautiful? Does Beauty require a human observer to recognize it?
@ Kasia Gallo I agree with you that beauty relies on a viewer to be judged, just as "cold" or "hot" relies on a viewer to be judged. BUT "to be judged" is secondary. First, beauty is what exists. I am referring to structural or objective beauty. It is the same for the feeling of "cold" or "hot", Without the temperature of -10 (for example), where does the feeling of "cold" comes from?
The same argument applies to mental map or the image of the city. Yes, the image of the city (Kevin Lynch) relies on human brains to be judged, but it is secondary. First and foremost, it is the underlying scaling or living structure of far more smalls than larges that triggers the image of the city in human mind. This is the central argument I made in this paper:
Article The Image of the City Out of the Underlying Scaling of City ...
@ Kasia Gallo Sorry, you did not follow my arguments correctly. My central argument is that beauty exists on its own accord. It is something of physics, and of course this physics can reflect in our minds psychologically. Back to the question - If people suddenly disappeared, would the buildings we now consider Beautiful, still be Beautiful? My answer is YES.
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