Aesthetics in Landform and Construction

What is so appealing to the aesthetic’s eye about ruins? The same that is appealing about any nature-made landscape: the forms are the product of natural processes brought to bear over a very long time: a ruin is nature’s improvement of a man-made imperfection.

The same things that make one garden more appealing than another or one building more than another is how well each was constructed to replicate the forms of nature. 

Look at any landscape from high overhead--aerial views of any nature-made landform always look perfect, though the details of this perfection are never the same. There is no end to the possibilities of perfection, in fact no two perfect faces or two perfect landscapes are ever exactly alike. 

Just the same, there are no limits to the variety of ugliness--ugly can come in as many guises as beauty. The only difference is that nature is never the author of ugliness in any landscape, and humans are rarely the authors of anything else. 

Discuss the concept of “clean” land, minus all the hideous marks we can and do inflict on it. In California, clean landscapes have become a rare and therefore ever more precious commodity. 

Discuss our temptations to “improve” on nature--something I have been as guilty of as any of us--attempting to improve trees by pruning, for example.

The only real improvement we can do is to our own selves and our own creations. The mere thought of improving on anything made by God is the depth of stupid arrogance.