Earlier this week, Yo chatted with David Hovey, the New Zealand-born architect and developer who founded Optima and designed the modernist Optima Old Orchard Woods. Among other things, we asked him what his pet peeves are. Hovey said that he doesn’t like “applied decoration.”
“I think the architectural beauty of the building should come from the inherent quality of the materials and the proportions of the building and how you’re composing architectural components. It should not come from applied decorations.
“This is an extreme example, but you wouldn’t put gargoyles on a 21st century building. Imagine taking something that was meaningful to a past society and trying to put it on a building today I think is inappropriate just in order for decoration’s sake.”
Hovey was too much of a gentleman to point us to a specific example in downtown Chicago. What do Yo’all think? Is he right, or is there a place for reviving architectural traditions from another time? Click on “Comments” and tell us about buildings that do or don’t work.