Is beauty quantifiable? Some would say it is all a matter of personal preference, and that may be so when it comes to individual taste in music and art. But for a professional assessment of landscape quality and the acceptability of a new proposal in its setting, there are quantifiable and objective standards.
We have all sometimes had heated arguments over personal preferences in art: the traditionalist that does not understand minimalism or abstract art; the rock and roll fanatic that runs screaming from the room when opera is played (or vice versa.) So it is sometimes true that at a personal level, beauty, or the individual’s response to art is indeed subjective. This, however, is not the same as a professional analysis of the visual effect of new building. The prediction of the visual effect of a new development is often a bone of contention. There can be wide divergences of opinion over the appearance of development or the degree to which it intrudes into established views. Also, the degree to which the proposals fit within the existing context – townscape or landscape. I was recently cross-examined at length on the visual impact of a proposal, with opposing Counsel saying, in effect: “Surely this is all a matter of opinion?” But, as I testified, it is not a matter of opinion. If the extensive, well-tested tools and methodologies of landscape and visual assessment are used, the development effects are rigorously and fully analysed. This analysis leads to an objective assessment of “beauty” – in this case, visual harmony, appropriateness of scale in the context and so forth. In the case of the proposal for which I was challenged, the assessment included accurately scaled photographs and visualisations, comparisons with existing buildings, and a comparative (scaled) analysis of effects. The analytic process responds and refutes the common challenge: it is all subjective and a question of one witness’s opinion against another.
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