BASIC DESIGN CONCEPTS
2.12
Figure 2.12 The Treasurer’s House, York
presence of an unresolved duality or the splitting of a unity into two equal subdivisions is a defect in composition which is to be avoided. Venturi, for one, probably could not accept such a clear and unambiguous statement on the role of duality in architectural composition. He does insist that: ‘An architecture of complexity and accommodation does not forsake the whole.’57 Later he qualifies his position with statements such as: ‘However, the obligation toward the whole . . . does not preclude the building which is unresolved.’58 Even writers such as Robertson hesitate to be dogmatic on the subject of duality. In a helpful note to his text he introduces the idea of an exception to the rule: ‘A duality may be intentionally introduced on account of its very weakness, to split up, for example, some element in a composition which might otherwise be overpowering.’59 He cites the example of the Treasurer’s House at York where the projecting wing, if treated as a perfect unit, might have been too dominant and destroyed the balance of the whole building (Figure 2.12). The small town or village dominated by one church spire when seen in the general landscape presents a unified picture. Boston in Lincolnshire,
Figure 2.13 The Stump, Boston
2.13 35