DSDN 171 - Week 3 Assignment

Part 1 & 2
In 
'The
 Grammar 
of 
Ornament' (1856) 
Owen 
Jones 
argued
 that, “Construction
 should 
be 
decorated.
 Decoration 
should 
never 
be purposely 
constructed.”

When Owen Jones said this he was saying that when something is designed it should have some form of decoration on or decorating it but that something should never be created as a decoration; without purpose or function.

Keeping what I said previously in mind and looking the Rialto bridge in Venice, which spans the canal, you can clearly see that this bridge was made as a bridge, then decorated. It was made with the purpose/function of being a bridge not a decoration for the canal. I agree with what Jones said in 'The
 Grammar 
of 
Ornament' in that if this bridge was made as an ornament or a decoration then it probably wouldn't be standing today, at 420 years old. This bridge also relates to what Augustus Pugin was saying when he publicised his thoughts on what design should and shouldn't be. This bridge is not trying to be a different material. It is clearly a stone bridge and not trying to imitate a wooden or metal one. It is clearly 3-dimensional and not trying to look flat. This bridge, if witnessed by Pugin himself, would surely satisfy his quarms about the design of his times (even though they are many, many years apart from each other).