简单清晰与可识别性
古往今来，建筑界的大师们都宣称，他们赞成将美学与简单的体量联系起来。“少即是多”不是密斯·凡·德·罗唯一的特权。
布雷渴望一个“清晰的”建筑，他说不规则形体的形象超出了我们的理解。 贡布里希肯定简单是能够学习的先决条件——学习观察和感知。他建立了一个假设，即感知的简单性与构造的简单性有关。他还认为，对简单形式的偏爱很可能是由于它们在眼睛的锐焦点锐角(1到2度)之外是可识别的。雏菊的简单和整齐使人愉快和安心。
Great masters of architecture throughout time have declared themselves in favour of aesthetics linked to the simplicity of volume. ‘Less is more’ is not the sole prerogative of Mies van der Rohe.
Boullée, who aspired to an ‘articulate’ architecture, said that the figure of irregular bodies escapes our understanding. Gombrich affirms that simplicity is a prerequisite for being able to learn – to learn to see and to perceive. He establishes the hypothesis that ease of perception is linked to simplicity of construction. He also thinks that preference for simple forms could well be due to the fact that they are recognizable outside the acute angle (between 1 and 2 degrees) of the eye’s sharp focus. The simplicity and regularity of a daisy delights and reassures.
复杂与刺激
然而，心理学研究表明，刺激的复杂性引起了人们的兴趣。“年龄在10岁以下的受试者似乎对介于简单和最复杂之间的光学复杂性最敏感。”让我们以盛开的玫瑰为例。它几乎从来不会让人失望。尽管它非常复杂，无法用数学或语言来描述，或者至少是无法预测，但人们一眼就能看懂。它能够唤起我们当时的情感。它也许可以逃避我们的理性，但无法逃避我们的感性。它会对所有关于美的形式结构的逻辑讨论构成挑战吗?
这是一个规律而不重复的问题。简而言之，这是一个高度组织性和层次性的总体问题，它与随机组合有着根本的不同。
Researches in psychology have, however, shown that the complexity of the stimulus arouses interest. ‘Subjects whose age is under ten seem most sensitive to an optical complexity situated somewhere between simplicity and maximal complexity.’ 45 Let us take the example of a rose at the moment of flowering. It hardly ever disappoints aesthetic sensibility. In spite of all its complexity, indescribable or at least unpredictable by mathematics or language, it is taken in at just one glance. It is capable of arousing our emotions there and then. It can perhaps elude our reason, but not our sensibility. Would it be a challenge to all logical discussion on the formal structure of a beautiful object?
It is a question of regularity without repetition. In short, it is a question of a highly organized and hierarchical totality which is fundamentally different from a random assemblage.
球体和玫瑰
此外，玫瑰，不像建筑物，足够小，可以被感知的狭窄的焦点角度。如果我们不得不在巨大的玫瑰迷宫中寻找出路，我们的感官享受可能会变成一场噩梦。因此，几何上的简单性和复杂性，当它是一个整体或从远处感知的问题，而不是一个紧密和零碎的感知时，就不具有同样的意义。我们将在下一章回到简单与复杂，或规则与不规则的主题上来。汉斯·夏隆的爱乐音乐厅的融合复杂性，以及密斯画廊的清晰性，都让我们深受感动。但是在球体和马铃薯之间，或者在玫瑰和混沌之间，有一条线。
Moreover, the rose is, unlike buildings, sufficiently small to be perceived by the narrow angle of focus. If we were obliged to find our way inside the labyrinth of a giant rose, our sensual pleasure would perhaps be transformed into a nightmare. Geometric simplicity and complexity do not, therefore, have the same significance when it is a matter of perception of the whole or from a distance, rather than a close and fragmentary perception. We shall return in the next chapter to the themes of simplicity and complexity, or regularity and irregularity. We are as moved by the convergent complexity of Hans Scharoun’s Philharmonic Hall as by the clarity of Mies van der Rohe’s Art Gallery, both built in the same period in Berlin. But there is one thread between the sphere and the potato or between the rose and chaos.
