The Aesthetics of Ugliness in Architecture

Abstract

The concept "aesthetics of ugliness" is considered to be one of the post-modernism treatises. The meaning of "aesthetics" is more comprehensive it encompasses numerous other concepts, e.g. those of beauty, ugliness, sublime… Many studies were generally concerned with the concept of ugliness (especially in the field of architecture) from different perspectives, and in a brief and inclusive way. The research problem focused on the absence of a clear definition of the concept of aesthetic ugliness and its role in the aesthetic experience of architecture, and this is what the present research aims to discover. Depending on the research hypothesis which states that there is a relation between aesthetic ugliness and aesthetic appreciation of architecture. The importance of the research arises from comprehending the measures and bases of aesthetic evaluation that are more diverse, and increasing the possibility of attaining the pleasure of the aesthetic appreciation of architecture. As to the research methodology, the study of aesthetic ugliness hinges on two main axes. The first deals with the construction of a theoretical data base to define the concept of aesthetic ugliness by investigating and analyzing the treatises and the existing literature in the various fields of knowledge that involved the concept directly or indirectly. In the second, the aforementioned data base is invested and enhanced by the architectural treatises and studies for extracting the specialty of the aesthetic ugliness concept in architecture. The conclusion of this research is that (ugliness) has aesthetic values that can be discovered through aesthetic judgment of architectural products by appreciating and criticizing the aesthetic experience according to critical aesthetic bases (subjective, objective or both), as a wider perspective of the aesthetic phenomenon in architecture.