Honesty & Deception - Chin Yi Hong 1001542729

Different architects have different designs base on their different concepts . Thus , there is always a conflict between the supporters and opponents . The topic of today is about the argument of ' honesty ' and ' deception ' .

A PILLOW WITH AN EMBROIDERED CASE LOOKS IMPRESSIVE BUT LACKS REAL WORTH .

The world is full of dishonest people , so as buildings , many of them have only a good appearance but lack of functions . Cite a quote , " Form Follows Function " , functions take a higher priority than forms but nowadays buildings lay emphasis on its form more than its function . People are attracted by heavy decorative elements and ignore the beauty of simplicity . Thus , the ' deception ' in architecture is being used to catch the vision of people . It does not concern how the characteristic of materials being maintained or remained , it is more into the visual effect and the appearance of materials being used , no matter how it been covered or transformed .

IT IS JUST AS YOU SEE .

With the excessive development of complicated design and non functional buildings , people start perceiving the importance of simplicity . Buildings consist of simple structure and design start coming out . It may not be designed outstandingly but it is more into the ' honesty ' . The materials remain its property and value . It will be seen how it looks like and it will be touched based on what it is . It emphasizes the originality of materials by keeping its characteristic . As a conclusion , the ' honesty ' in architecture is to present the original form and characteristic of the materials or structure without deforming its appearance .

As my opinion , ' honesty ' is about the expression of the structure but not the ' deception ' . Both of them are the relationship between interior and exterior and have different kind of challenges . Further , the interior and exterior of the ' honesty ' architecture would be obvious that you may see how the structure built up and how it withstands the building . For ' deception ' , there would be some decorative elements covering the columns or the ceilings such as the painting of Sistine Chapel . 

' Honesty ' predominantly expresses the uses of structure and material . For example , the columns nor the beams within a building would not be covered . On the other hand , it would not be painted .

' Deception '  tend to expresses the appearances of the building by attaching varies decorative elements which will cause the materials lose its original look .

As far as I am concerned , I prefer the ' honesty ' . I think that every design must have its reasons and it is not right to abandon its initial characteristic . This difference is the best way to differentiate the type of the materials and it will become the choice and reason for us to attach it into our building .

For my case study , I would like to use the National Museum of Roman Art which designed by Rafael Moneo . It was built of bricks and it is obviously looked like a brick building . 

  

The use of brick makes sense that it gives us a strong feeling which is very artistic . It indulges our vision - the across grains of bricks , the light coming from the skylight and how it exposes on the bricks .

The columns are obvious that they are not covered . Even the arches are built by bricks . 

In a nutshell , the ' honesty ' and ' deception ' will still contrast each other . There is neither lowliness nor nobleness in between them that I believe everything coming out must have its reasons . It is all depend on how people utilize it .

References :

http://www.archdaily.com/625552/ad-classics-national-museum-of-roman-art-rafael-moneo

https://tianyijiang.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/dishonest-architecture/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel