Ugliness and Judgment

On Architecture in the Public Eye

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Architecture, History
Cover of the book Ugliness and Judgment by Timothy Hyde, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Timothy Hyde ISBN: 9780691192642
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: April 9, 2019
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Timothy Hyde
ISBN: 9780691192642
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: April 9, 2019
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

A novel interpretation of architecture, ugliness, and the social consequences of aesthetic judgment

When buildings are deemed ugly, what are the consequences? In Ugliness and Judgment, Timothy Hyde considers the role of aesthetic judgment—and its concern for ugliness—in architectural debates and their resulting social effects across three centuries of British architectural history. From eighteenth-century ideas about Stonehenge to Prince Charles’s opinions about the National Gallery, Hyde uncovers a new story of aesthetic judgment, where arguments about architectural ugliness do not pertain solely to buildings or assessments of style, but intrude into other spheres of civil society.

Hyde explores how accidental and willful conditions of ugliness—including the gothic revival Houses of Parliament, the brutalist concrete of the South Bank, and the historicist novelty of Number One Poultry—have been debated in parliamentary committees, courtrooms, and public inquiries. He recounts how architects such as Christopher Wren, John Soane, James Stirling, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe have been summoned by tribunals of aesthetic judgment. With his novel scrutiny of lawsuits for libel, changing paradigms of nuisance law, and conventions of monarchical privilege, he shows how aesthetic judgments have become entangled in wider assessments of art, science, religion, political economy, and the state.

Moving beyond superficialities of taste in order to see how architectural improprieties enable architecture to participate in social transformations, Ugliness and Judgment sheds new light on the role of aesthetic measurement in our world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A novel interpretation of architecture, ugliness, and the social consequences of aesthetic judgment

When buildings are deemed ugly, what are the consequences? In Ugliness and Judgment, Timothy Hyde considers the role of aesthetic judgment—and its concern for ugliness—in architectural debates and their resulting social effects across three centuries of British architectural history. From eighteenth-century ideas about Stonehenge to Prince Charles’s opinions about the National Gallery, Hyde uncovers a new story of aesthetic judgment, where arguments about architectural ugliness do not pertain solely to buildings or assessments of style, but intrude into other spheres of civil society.

Hyde explores how accidental and willful conditions of ugliness—including the gothic revival Houses of Parliament, the brutalist concrete of the South Bank, and the historicist novelty of Number One Poultry—have been debated in parliamentary committees, courtrooms, and public inquiries. He recounts how architects such as Christopher Wren, John Soane, James Stirling, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe have been summoned by tribunals of aesthetic judgment. With his novel scrutiny of lawsuits for libel, changing paradigms of nuisance law, and conventions of monarchical privilege, he shows how aesthetic judgments have become entangled in wider assessments of art, science, religion, political economy, and the state.

Moving beyond superficialities of taste in order to see how architectural improprieties enable architecture to participate in social transformations, Ugliness and Judgment sheds new light on the role of aesthetic measurement in our world.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book How the Other Half Looks by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Judges and Their Audiences by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Ethics in the Real World by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Democratic Governance by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Wisdom's Workshop by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book The Meaning of Relativity by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book The German Economy by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book The Second Great Contraction by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Trees of Panama and Costa Rica by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Darwin's Unfinished Symphony by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Arendt and Heidegger by Timothy Hyde
Cover of the book Democracy and the Foreigner by Timothy Hyde
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy