You wouldn’t think that a 1/2-inch would make much of a difference. But when I saw the front door of a new house we were constructing, something was off. The trim of the divided lites of the door seemed awkwardly out of scale. With a ba-jillion details to specify, I overlooked that I wanted ogee-shaped mullions 1-1/4 wide. We got the 1-3/4 inch version.
This kind of pickiness gives fuel for construction-site jokes about architects. But I wager that most people, when given the choice between the two versions, will agree that the thinner one is more graceful and has more life than the other. Even the guys on the job site will agree.
Does it make a big difference? By itself, not a lot. All together? Absolutely.
The ability to perceive these differences is very similar to having a musical ear. No matter how gifted a pianist may be, if the piano is out of tune, it will never sound right. Ask me to sing karaoke and I become a wallflower. I have such a hard time singing on pitch that I make people cringe. Or have a good laugh.
Yet Norah Jones floats to the top. Her voice is so alive and vibrant; you just want to move with the music.
That’s a pretty obvious difference. The point is that you don’t need to be a master musician to hear the difference. You just hear it.
In the same way, when a space or detail is “in tune”, you know it. You can hear its richness and vibrancy with your spatial ear. I don’t mean literally hearing with your ear. Rather, I mean sensing with another kind of ear that perceives beauty. I call this sense the Beauty Mind. Everyone has it. Not everyone uses it.
About Me
- Ross Chapin
- Langley, WA
- I’m an architect from Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. For more information on my background and thoughts about this blog, check out my first post below. I'll be building an 'arc of thought', so it may be helpful to read from the beginning.