In Search Of Elegance

What is architecture? How is it made? How is it judged? These fundamental questions have intrigued architects for centuries. While the questions are philosophical, the answers have important ramifications for architectural practice. In Search of Elegance provides answers to these complex questions and, in so doing, develops a new theory for the practice of architecture and urban design.

This Festschrift volume, published in honour of Peter Buneman, contains contributions written by some of his colleagues, former students, and friends. In celebration of his distinguished career a colloquium was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, 27-29 October, 2013. The articles presented herein belong to some of the many areas of Peter's research interests.

What made the Sopranos finale one of the most-talked-about events in television history? Why is sudoku so addictive and the iPhone so darn irresistible? What do Jackson Pollock and Lance Armstrong have in common with theoretical physicists and Buddhist monks? Elegance. In this thought-provoking exploration of why certain events, products, and people capture our attention and imaginations, Matthew E. May examines the elusive element behind so many innovative breakthroughs in fields ranging from physics and marketing to design and popular culture. Combining unusual simplicity and surprising power, elegance is characterized by four key elements—seduction, subtraction, symmetry, and sustainability. In a compelling, story-driven narrative that sheds light on the need for elegance in design, engineering, art, urban planning, sports, and work, May offers surprising evidence that what’s “not there” often trumps what is. In the bestselling tradition of The Tipping Point, Made to Stick, and The Black Swan, In Pursuit of Elegance will change the way you think about the world.

One of today’s eminent tastemakers, Alex Papachristidis is known for arresting, elegant interiors that meld classical motifs with a modern perspective and sophisticated details. This volume pays homage to Papachristidis’s refined sensibility and celebrates Alex Papachristidis Interiors’ twenty-fifth anniversary. Papachristidis has decorated homes for an international clientele—featured projects range from grand New York apartments to idyllic beach houses in the Hamptons and Cape Cod. Inspired by legendary designers such as Renzo Mongiardino and Sister Parish, he is known for wall-to-wall luxury. The hallmark of his style is an unwavering attention to detail, from gilded finishes and stenciled floors to his use of passementerie and creative layering of fabrics for upholstery. Papachristidis’s multifaceted approach and fresh color palette make his rooms the perfect backdrop for glamorous living and an easy elegance. He discusses style strategies such as draping hall tables and hanging matchstick blackout shades beneath bedroom curtains, and he opens his international address book to share favorite resources for fabrics, furniture, and antiques.

Marshall Watson’s first book reveals how to make traditional interiors fresh. Known for his meticulously researched, European-inspired style, Marshall Watson creates interiors that are rich in texture, detail, and simple luxuries. In his first book, Watson shares his finest work, demonstrating that while each of these homes is as unique as its owner, they all adhere to principles that transform a mere series of spaces into a genuine, coherent home: warmth; light; peace; comfort; balance; proportion; livability; and last but not least, appropriateness. Whether in an Italianate villa in Los Cabos or a family idyll on a Swedish island, a Gramercy Park apartment that blends shimmer and restraint, or a Newport Beach cottage warmed by walls finished in egg-yolk yellow, Watson explains how he translated each family’s lifestyle and aspirations, the house’s history, and the surrounding environment into a highly original form of elegance—and how anyone can discover his or her own. Beautifully photographed with lavish images of Watson’s work, this inspiring book is a must-have for interior design lovers.

What is elegance? Is it a quality of movement or gesture? Or is it rather connected to the way someone dresses up? Can we think of an elegant object or an elegant speech? These questions point at the ambiguity elegance presents any person wanting to reflect on it. The Reconciled Body responds to this challenge by looking at the birthplace of elegance: a subject’s experience. From movement consciousness to dreaming, from attention to the upright posture, this book presents the reader with first-person moments that are fundamental in shaping someone’s intimate sense of elegance. In the end, the reader is invited to reflect on the value of elegance and its potential in reconfiguring someone’s I-world relation: is it worth opposing the nature of consciousness to experience the self and other in a radically different manner? *** Simionescu’s brilliant formula on elegance conveys a sense of measure and a self-limitation in one’s unconventional conducts, fulfilling the characteristic, albeit subtle, moral nuance carried by the meaning of the word “elegance.” Following the main methodological rule of classical phenomenology, and at the same time drawing on contemporary research about embodiment and movement, the author finds his way to “material” axiology by a bottom-up analysis of the intuitive, lived matter of this value, laying the foundations of a phenomenology of elegance. (Roberta de Monticelli)

The idea of elegance in science is not necessarily a familiar one, but it is an important one. The use of the term is perhaps most clear-cut in mathematics - the elegant proof - and this is where Ian Glynn begins his exploration. Scientists often share a sense of admiration and excitement on hearing of an elegant solution to a problem, an elegant theory, or an elegant experiment. The idea of elegance may seem strange in a field of endeavour that prides itself in its objectivity, but only if science is regarded as a dull, dry activity of counting and measuring. It is, of course, far more than that, and elegance is a fundamental aspect of the beauty and imagination involved in scientific activity. Ian Glynn, a distinguished scientist, selects historical examples from a range of sciences to draw out the principles of science, including Kepler's Laws, the experiments that demonstrated the nature of heat, and the action of nerves, and of course the several extraordinary episodes that led to Watson and Crick's discovery of the structure of DNA. With a highly readable selection of inspiring episodes highlighting the role of beauty and simplicity in the sciences, the book also relates to important philosophical issues of inference, and Glynn ends by warning us not to rely on beauty and simplicity alone - even the most elegant explanation can be wrong.

One million. That's how many new ideas the Toyota organization receives from its employees every year. These ideas come from every level of the organization - from the factory floors to the corporate suites. And organizations all over the world want to learn how they do it. Now Matthew May, Senior Advisor to the University of Toyota, reveals how any company can create an environment of every day innovation and achieve the elegant solutions found only on the far side of complexity. A tactical guide for team-based innovation, THE ELEGANT SOLUTION delivers the formula to the three principles and ten practices that drive business creativity. Innovation isn't just about technology - it's about value, opportunity and impact. When a company embeds a real discipline around the pursuit of perfection, the sky is the limit. Dozens of case studies (from Toyota and other companies) illustrate the power and universality of these concepts; a unique 'clamshell strategy' prepares managers to ensure organizational success. At once a thought-shaper, a playmaker, and a taskmaster, THE ELEGANT SOLUTION is a practical field manual for everyone in corporate life.