The Design of Design: Essays from a Computer Scientist

12. Esthetics and Style in Technical Design

Monticello: Jefferson’s adaptation of Palladio’s adaptation of Roman styleiStockphoto

Firmitas, utilitas, venusitas    (Firmness, usefulness, delight)

MARCUS VITRUVIUS [22 BC],DE ARCHITECTURA

Style is the dress of thought, and a well-dressed thought, like a well-dressed man, appears to great advantage.

LORD CHESTERFIELD [1774], LETTER CCXL, 361

Esthetics in Technical Design

Vitruvius famously asserted that a good building architecture achieves “firmness, usefulness, and delight.”¹ Delight is equal with firmness and usefulness, although from a purely utilitarian point of view firmness and usefulness ...