Robin Boyd (1) (1919–1971)
Author of The Australian Ugliness
For other authors named Robin Boyd, see the disambiguation page.
Works by Robin Boyd
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Boyd, Robin Gerard Penleigh
- Birthdate
- 1919-01-03
- Date of death
- 1971-10-16
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- architect
author - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Commander, 1971)
- Relationships
- Boyd, Penleigh (father)
Boyd, Martin (uncle) - Nationality
- Australia
- Birthplace
- Armadale, Victoria, Australia
- Places of residence
- East Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Camberwell, Victoria, Australia - Place of death
- Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Associated Place (for map)
- Victoria, Australia
Members
Reviews
Thanks Robin Boyd - a stimulating read! And thanks to my godmother Gretchen Alexander who gave me this book, fresh of the press, in 1960. It's taken me 62 years to get round to reading this brave and withering analysis of the Australian National psyche and well worth the wait. Essential reading if you feel the need to understand, and not just laugh at Australia's ridiculous barbarities. Boyd's insights (though anchored in the 1950s) are as relevant today as in they were in 1960 when the book show more was published. I suspect he would be horrified at how Australia has 'matured'.
Featurism, is described by Boyd as a form of aesthetic chattering; a subordination of the essential whole by accentuating separate features. But Featurism goes deeper than the built environment (veneer and camouflage) and reveals itself in Government policies (White Australia Policy) as well as in a mishmash of ideologies adopted as arbitrary distractions competing for attention by people who desperately want to be noticed.
Following an extensive (sometimes dated) analysis, Boyd shifts gear into possible solutions. Here, with the benefit of hindsight, I found his faith in modernism and his optimism about industrialised construction somewhat inconsistent. This is mainly because my view of architecture and its impossibilities was shaped by Christopher Alexander and his emphasis on the connectedness of living buildings i.e. buildings that we recognise as being alive. Connectedness includes the importance of context and surrounds. Boyd’s faith stems from what he calls scientific building where somehow perfection of space enclosure is achieved by building technologies.
Yet he then refers to Frank Lloyd Wright’s assertion that a building without poetry has no right to exist. He proposes two kinds of buildings: good universal (machined shelter) and good particular (by the artist architect). That many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings were unfit for purpose doesn’t seem to exclude them from being ‘good’. Part 3 extends the angst about the relevance of architecture and architects as Boyd searches for an objective system of making beauty. I was particularly interested in his references the work of Talbot Hamlin, Architecture – an Art for All Men, as he had clearly influenced Christopher Alexander’s 15 properties of living centres. Ultimately Boyd rejects golden dimensions and ideas of beauty in favour of pertinence by which he means definite form that reflects specific solutions to the problems at hand.
Featurism, is described by Boyd as a form of aesthetic chattering; a subordination of the essential whole by accentuating separate features. But Featurism goes deeper than the built environment (veneer and camouflage) and reveals itself in Government policies (White Australia Policy) as well as in a mishmash of ideologies adopted as arbitrary distractions competing for attention by people who desperately want to be noticed.
Many sensitive Australians are uncomfortably aware of the rootless nature of their artificial environment. Nevertheless Featurism is frequently perpetrated as much by the artistic section of the community as by the commercialisers, as mush by sentimentalists as by the crass and uncaring. P.34
Following an extensive (sometimes dated) analysis, Boyd shifts gear into possible solutions. Here, with the benefit of hindsight, I found his faith in modernism and his optimism about industrialised construction somewhat inconsistent. This is mainly because my view of architecture and its impossibilities was shaped by Christopher Alexander and his emphasis on the connectedness of living buildings i.e. buildings that we recognise as being alive. Connectedness includes the importance of context and surrounds. Boyd’s faith stems from what he calls scientific building where somehow perfection of space enclosure is achieved by building technologies.
At last buildings can be erected without a trace of an architect’s individuality or evidence of any sort of emotion. p. 136
Yet he then refers to Frank Lloyd Wright’s assertion that a building without poetry has no right to exist. He proposes two kinds of buildings: good universal (machined shelter) and good particular (by the artist architect). That many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings were unfit for purpose doesn’t seem to exclude them from being ‘good’. Part 3 extends the angst about the relevance of architecture and architects as Boyd searches for an objective system of making beauty. I was particularly interested in his references the work of Talbot Hamlin, Architecture – an Art for All Men, as he had clearly influenced Christopher Alexander’s 15 properties of living centres. Ultimately Boyd rejects golden dimensions and ideas of beauty in favour of pertinence by which he means definite form that reflects specific solutions to the problems at hand.
The universal visual art: the art of shaping the human environment, is an intellectual, ethical, and emotional exercise as well as a mean of expression. It involves the strange sort of possessive love with which people have always regarded their shelters. The Australian ugliness begins with fear of reality, denial of the need for the everyday environment to reflect the heart of the human problem, satisfaction with veneer and cosmetic effects. It ends in betrayal of the element of love and a chill near the root of national self-respect. p.251show less
exhibition catalogue featuring short essays, archival photographs and sketches inspired by architect Robin Boyd, Australian Architecture and Mid-Century Design. The exhibition and catalogue was the outcome of student based research within the Melbourne School of Design graduate elective Critical and Curatorial Practices in Design (2017)
"La creación arquitectónica es una forma especial de comprensión de la realidad. Funciona sobre y transforma la realidad a través de la construcción de un objeto importante de su uso. La forma artística de este objeto, por otro lado, tiene la calidad de dos veces tanto de reflejo y el enriquecimiento la realidad. Esta comprensión de la realidad que se lleva a cabo a través de la creación arquitectónica requiere que la anatomía de la realidad, su estructura sustancial y espiritual, show more ser comprendido como un todo ... " show less
Aug 25, 2011Spanish
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Members
- 341
- Popularity
- #69,902
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 30
- Languages
- 2