This term,
artificial complexity, has not been widely used in the context of architecture. However, the architect and urbanist Leon Krier has frequently illustrated the phenomenon permeating the design of buildings, landscapes, and cities. His diagrams expose the absurdity of so much contrived complexity vs. the rational form of Krier’s classically inspired architecture and urbanism. Mathematician Nikos Salingaros has written extensively about complexity in architecture, using the terms
disorganized, random, and
invented complexity. And Christopher Alexander spent a lifetime trying to teach us the
Nature of Order, how to apply universal principles of design to create more beautiful and harmonious places. My objective here is to expand on this dialog and focus attention on the negative consequences of not following more natural processes of design.