Aesthetics

( Article Type: Explanation )

Aesthetics is a discipline which describes how attractive, beautiful or pleasing to the senses (sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste) a particular scene, building, painting, or image may be to the observer. As a discipline, aesthetics has become more formalised in recent years with the development of visual assessments and analyses as a part of landscape, topography and planning study.

The work of the landscape architect includes consideration of aesthetics from a design, function and practicality point of view. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in aesthetics because every person has a different opinion or preference. Aesthetics practitioners, such as landscape architects, will study characteristics, preferences and patterns and try to achieve consensus among users and interested and affected parties.

In projects and developments, careful attention to colour, shape, form and texture of buildings can have a significant effect on the acceptance of such structures by neighbours and other interested and affected parties. Aesthetics and landscape design are used to enhance structures in game reserves to ensure that they blend in with their surroundings.