Neuroscience of aesthetics
October 29, 2025
Exploring the influence of the built environment on human experience through a neuroscience approach: A systematic review
October 29, 2025
Research Article

Beauty in Architecture: Not a Luxury – Only a Necessity

By Zeki, S.

Full Citation

Zeki, S. (2019). Beauty in Architecture: Not a Luxury ‐ Only a Necessity. Architectural Design, 89(5), 14-19.

Key Findings

Evidence suggests that aesthetic criteria are pancultural and that there is greater unanimity in classifying buildings as beautiful than is commonly supposed, although there is room for a component of socially constructed perceptions of beauty as well. Hence even in the domain of architecture, beauty is not quite as subjective as it may at first seem. What universality architectural beauty may possess probably lies in satisfying inherited brain concepts of proportion, harmony and geometric relationships that are more formally expressed in mathematical terms.

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