Ornament and Connecting the User to Architecture

Abstract

Ornament fulfils more than a decorative purpose in many different ways, by conveying beauty, meaning, communicating a specific brand, or generating affect. These functions in recent discussions that deal with ornament beyond its decorative purposes begin to address the connection between the user and architecture in new ways. Moussavi (2006) argues that the transmission of architectural affect is central to ornaments’ role in connecting the user and architecture. Although rather than evoking the feeling of happiness Moussavi (2006) believes ornament can produce affects unique to each building, such as weighted, quilted or spiral affect achieved through construction and materiality. This Master’s thesis aims to explore how ornament creates a connection between the user and architecture. As a starting point, three aspects of ornament in architecture; materiality and assembly, composition and idea and imagery, were chosen to focus the literature research and design exploration. New technologies continue to change the aesthetic of ornament shifting the way it can be used to connect the user to the architecture. The first phase of this research is a comparative literature analysis of three aspects of ornament. Research from the first phase informed the second phase of the research, that of design exploration. Where three pavilions were used to explore three different aspects of ornament; materiality and assembly, composition and idea and imagery. Although it is difficult to measure the connection between the ornament and user this research, by focusing on the connection, gives way of thinking about how we can harness affect to connect the user to design.