10 In a living building, everything is ultimately ornament
The principles that govern ornament, govern land, volume, and building structure. The very same principles, which have to do with positive space, alternating repetition, powerful centers forming and breaking out from the varying shimmering mass — all of them apply at every scale.
It must be understood that ornament is not something which is imposed to finish things off. It is, in itself, of the essence.
the gate is well made, sturdy, gives access to the meadow, is light enough to push easily, has a nice fastener to prevent the sheep getting out. But in addition it is also beautiful. It has five bard evenly spaced. It has a cross made of two diagonals. It is almost exactly square. Of course these features, too, are practical. But above all the gate is beautiful, and plays a vital role in the beauty of the garden and the meadow beyond.
It may be said, first, that this beauty formed by the geometric and ornamental character, is a necessary feature of what we do in the world. It is not something gratuitous, added to the practical nature of the world. It is something essential, which must be present, in everything, in order that it may heal the world, just as it is in nature.
Again, the guiding principle — and, by the way, the structural invention and detailed design, too — came from the way of looking at this truss, not only in the manner suggested by chapter 6, but also from its existence as an ornament; something beautiful in the ordering of space, positive space, and coherent individual centers, small and large. It is in this sense that everything of beauty, everything natural, is itself an ornament. A person’s face, in the eyes of God, is an ornament to the world; the eyes ornament the face; the face ornaments the body.
But there is a second, and deeper issue. The function of a thing, and its ornament, are not two separable features: they are inseparable. When a thing is well made, and takes its place in the world in a way that is beneficial, then this thing is always at once practical and at the same time an ornament. The fact that a beautiful thing is, in its totality, an ornament, is what cements it to the world, and makes it necessary. And we must be conscious of this necessity, as we build the world.
#book/The Nature of Order/3 A Vision of a Living World/18 Ornament as part of all unfolding#