NOTES ON THE METAPHYSICS OF CREATIVITY
(PART I)
a note on the metaphysics of design
the design of a building should not be
a mere translation of program into
uninspired if functional spatial agglomeration
there has to be a central theme:
a major idea that seeks to celebrate an aspect
of site
or light
or climate
or programmatic requirement
or material
or technology
or spatial relations
or geometry
or place
or time
or circumstance …
that seeks to explore the opportunities inherent
in the relationship of parts to the whole
and to one another
that seeks to resolve these myriad of
conflicting and/or complementary determinants
into a transcendental oneness.
and by transcendental oneness
what I mean is
a quality or phenomenon where the totality is –
an entity unto itself –
larger than the sum of its parts
of art and craft
… the existence of an informing philosophy –
conscious or subconscious, articulate or otherwise –
is the singular distinction that sets artists apart
from craftsmen in general and architects apart from
draughtsmen in particular
PART II
a note on the metaphysics of aesthetics
my philosophy of aesthetics holds that
sentiment can be expressed without
sentimentality and pain
expressed without self-pity
and if sentimentality it must be
let it be advanced to the point of
soppy or gooee or outright banality
in which case it becomes a parody
whatthat means is
parody is
banality elevated to an art … can you dig it?
of mind and celebration
… real creative insight will invariably
be bought only at the cost
or rigorous intellectual enquiry
for the heart will not
be inspired to possibilities
the mind does not understand
PART III
of vision and actualization
the architect is a philosopher
albeit the language of form
rather than the language of words
from this it follows
a critical standard of measure
of a building as a work of art
is the degree of congruency –
in the face of circumstantial contradictions
of programmatic requirements –
between intention and actualization
or approximation between vision
and the skills or capability to realise it
… and from this it follows
another standard of measure
is the empirical validity of that vision or intention
both in terms of romantic idealism
and unquestionable practicality.
of rationalism and architecture
I dislike the merciless rationalism
of architects who seem alive
only from their necks upward
I dislike the picturesqueness, and blatant
expressionism
of architects who are emotional to the point of
sentimentalism.
I like that architecture which is born of artistic
intuition
in constant dialogue with functional and technical
reason
I am for that order of creativity
(be it in art or life or living or loving)
which is a coming together
of the heart and the mind –
an accomodation of the tensions
between rationality and intuitiveness
between that which is cognitive and
between that which is sensory
between intellect and sensibility
Olumide Okunsanya
EDITOR’S NOTE
Archived from Nigeria Magazine, 1 January 1987.