Ornamentation - Yan Chyuan Kai 1001542562

Ornamentation were once represented as the decoration of the outlook of a specific building . 

As for the ornament in modern day , it brings the meaning of carving or a thing that is beautiful but serve no practical purposes behind it , which aligned with the idea of the architect , Adolf Loos writing the article "Ornament and crime" . He stated ornamentation is a crime unless it has functions . 

Ornament as we speak are no longer the "ornament" that it used to be .




Although we had seen the statement of Modernism rejecting the existence of ornamentation in modern architecture , but we see much of the reincarnation of ornamentation in Contemporary Architecture nowadays . It blends well with the culture and technologies that we are processing now . 



The case study i chose to validate this is the 

Xicui Entertainment Complex

Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing,China designed by Simone Giostra & Partners Architects . Technology had merged with the ornament that was once we referred as not functional into object with purposes . The LED frame display, the "ornament" powered by photovoltaic cells system integrated into the glass curtain wall of the building . It absorbs the solar power energy from the obvious sunlight by the daylight and conserve it for the dark . The Media Wall or what we call the facade in architecture term will showcase a selection of the a selection of specially commissioned video installations and live performances by artists from China , Europe and the US .

"Evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of the ornamentation from objects of everyday . " by Adolf Loos


As what have been stated above , we witnessed that the ornamentation had much differed from one culture to another . So does the culture we are in now , which is more to technological and functionalism , but what we witnessed the ornamentation had changed in form but not removed in contemporary architecture . As the totality of the facade had covered completely the building , it gave out a new meaning to the function of the building , a reason for the ornament existence , but diff from the "ornament" it used to be .

ornamentation nowadays has it intention of its existences. 


The facade , Media Wall also serves as a legitimate technological way of harvesting the solar energy into the building and applying it to the screen when the dark comes . 






"The generalised belief that whatever was beautiful did not need decorate because it was itself decor was extended . It was beautiful because it served its purpose most directly" -Joseph Rykwert


As it, ornaments served direct purpose to its building . We may conclude that this building has ornament in such that it has provides an identity to the building , the technological ornaments .