TY - MGZN T1 - From Taste to Judgment: Multiple Criteria in the Evaluation of Architecture Y1 - 1999 A1 - William S. Saunders AB -

[excerpt] First, some assertions about the evaluation of architecture:

Mere assertions. It would take a book to support them. In any case, you may already know if you agree or disagree. Here, I can only test these assertions through a close look at a few examples of evaluations of architecture.

A vast divide exists between the facile, flippant evaluations—about anything and everything—that so often constitute the sport of our daily conversations, and the careful, principled steering clear of evaluations in formal (mainly academic) writing and speaking. “Objective” historians, scientists, and social scientists stick to “neutral” observation, analysis, and exposition. Yet these same people (along with everyone else) at, say, a cocktail party, let untempered evaluations fly: “Oh, that’s such garbage!” “That’s the greatest work of the decade!” “Have you every seen anything so ugly?” Criticism is more common than praise.

JA - Harvard Design Magazine UR - http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/7/from-taste-to-judgment-multiple-criteria-in-the-evaluation-of-architecture CP - 7/Conflicting Values ID - AZ-CF-176883 ER -