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ART AND ARCHITECTURE
The complex human personality tends and lends itself to take shape and realize its
potential thus creating certain cultural values. Individual sciences and branches of spiritual and
practical activity concern themselves with various nuances of life, making it possible for the
human personality to display a broad spectrum of creativity. Art is the field which concerns itself
with the world in its holistic entirety. The purpose of art, as reflected in the evolutionary process
of man, makes it poly-functional. Definition of art cannot be all inclusive because art at various
junctures adopts various hues: art is education, art is cognition, and art is language and so on.
Also, art has been necessary and valuable for mankind throughout the whole course of his
development. Even in antediluvian antiquity, man noticed that art educates while entertaining.
The aesthetic impact of art and the pleasure man derives when creating art is informative. Art
manifests itself in concrete styles and types: painting, theatre, sculpture, music. The diversity of
types of art makes it possible to perceive the mundane world aesthetically in all its complexity
and richness. The practice of art has given rise to the richness of the human spirit, developed
man’s aesthetic sensibilities and made his eye capable of appreciating the beauty of form and
deriving pleasure from that beauty.
Flowing from the above described richness of art, one of the most ancient and still
developing types of art is applied arts, materialized in everyday utensils made as art objects.
Such man made objects are produced not only for their utility value in daily life, but also for
their beauty. The man made objects surrounding us in our daily life and creating a comfortable
ambience for us, may attain the zenith of art creativity. Applied arts evolved from the basic
objects to include luxury objects. Applied arts progressed from purely constructive and utilitarian
objects to include decorativeness and structural form. There, a convergence of diverse streams of
applied arts, emerged into structural entities and architecture. Forms of architecture gave
prominence to the unity of function and beauty especially during and after the Renaissance
period. Many individual works of architecture came up reflecting the talent and personality of
their maker.
During the course of evolution, after man learnt to make working tools, his dwelling
ceased to be a cave or den. It transformed into a utilitarian structure and gradually with passage
of time acquired an aesthetic aspect. Aesthetics is the soul of art. And art epitomizes architecture.
Man’s natural yearning for aesthetics metamorphosed buildings into architecture. Architecture is
the forming, arrangement and shaping of reality according to the dictates of beauty in the
building of houses and structures designed to cater to man’s needs for housing and public
premises. Architecture creates its own enclosed environment and the ultimate beauty lies in the
congruence of the architectural environment with the elemental natural environment.
Architecture is thus a people enablement process harmonizing nature with humanized space to
suit their material and cultural needs. The defining feature of architecture is that it constructs
buildings and structures that are comfortable to be lived in, beautiful to the eye and in sync with
the natural environment. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often
perceived as cultural symbols. Historically, civilizations are often identified with their surviving
architectural achievements.
Experts in the field of architecture are firm believers in the principle firmitas, utilitas,
venustas; i.e. durability, utility and beauty. And these very qualities are the distinguishing
features of works of art. Both art and architecture cross-fertilize each other with innovative ideas
adding value to both the fields. Environmental sustainability has become a mainstream issue,
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with profound affect on the architectural profession. Many exponents of architectural practice,
have become educated to encourage the facilitation of environmentally sustainable design. Major
examples of this can be found in greener roof designs, biodegradable materials and more
attention to a structure's energy usage. Modernism and Post-modernism practitioners have
leveraged the use of material technology to create liveable environments, with the process
involving informed studies of behavioral and social sciences. The availability of stronger and
more flexible materials create new possibilities for controlling space.
Both art and architecture are easy to define in limited terms, but both have far deeper
meaning than in the literal sense. Both these fields attract the creative and romantic minds. Art
and architecture both interface with various fields of human activity, history, material science,
physics, engineering … anything and everything that impinges upon the human psyche. Art and
architecture inherently share the qualities of proportion, scale, balance, rhythm and symmetry.
It is often said, “Architecture begins where engineering ends whereas art begins where cognition
begins”.
The concept of architecture has acquired newer meanings and modern technology has
been found to use the word architecture for technical solutions, systems, web, business
applications, hardware, software, network platform, security etc. The future will see architecture
as an art, whose influence no man can escape. The development of architecture will be
interlinked and intertwined with technological progress, much like the concept of chiasma in
medical parlance (like Kiasma – the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland).
There are very few who would choose a world devoid of art and art in architecture. Also
the future generations would not be content with the art of the past, howsoever glorious it may
be. Art in every period of man’s existence has been limited only and only by the understanding
of the self. And it is art that awakens the creative impulse in man, who is capable of making
things of beauty in various domains of human endeavour. Architectural effort of man through
ages shows this progressive trend where great works of architecture become just stone
symphonies for the new generation. The 4th
. millennium BC Harappa in India and the 5th
.
millennium BC Yangshao in China were consigned to history. The 2600 BC Mohenjo-Daro and
Great Pyramid of Egypt left their footprints on the sands of time. Greek architecture flourished in
400 BC in Athens with marvels like the Pantheon. The Qutub Minar of 1190 AD and Taj Mahal
of 1630 AD stand evidence for the social and cultural impact on architecture. Many other
wonders of architecture were created during the sojourn of man, leading to the 2010 AD Burj
Khalifa and now China coming up with Sky City in Shanghai, which upon completion, promises
to be taller than Burj Khalifa.
So onward goes the artistic creativity and architectural effort, travelling through futurity,
leaving here a name on the earth that will not perish in the dust.
Narendra Varma