Design and marriage

Good design should be like marriage

Last Saturday in a sun-soaked Pukekura Park, the fabulous and adorable Lynne Alexander and I married. As the summer breeze made me feel fine blowing through the jasmine in my mind, I felt blessed and as contented as a fasting monk. The next morning lying about in our hotel room, which incidentally was almost as sumptuous and lavish as the aforementioned Ms Alexander, we basked in the afterglow of top notch party and reflected on why we had done it. After all, the lovable Ms Alexander and I had been happily sharing toothpaste and pillows for a number of years.

So why get married? Certainly there was no moral or legal imperative. Unmarried committed partnerships are as common as gluten free menus. There was it seems no impending necessity to get married.

Except one.

The reason we embarked on wedlock, and this is analogous to urban design, is legibility.
Marriage is understood. Married couples wear a visible veneer of personal mores and expectations that society immediately recognises. No explanation of our relationship is now required. Those we encounter, spoken or otherwise, only have to glance at our wedding rings to immediately know the rules of our game.

The parallel to landscape architecture and urban design is obvious.
Good design should require no explanation. It should be immediately understood because it resonates with what we already know and transcends the ordinary – aspiring to values agreed and joyously attained. And, just like marriage, good design should be ubiquitous and immune to the vagaries of fashion. After all, marriage, as a legible definer of relationships, has been around since Eve had her first headache.
Likewise, good design lasts the test of time, surviving the rise and fall of hemlines and sideburns.

So there you have it. Marriage so seemingly conservative at face value yet deceptively elegant and simple in its representation. Designers could do well to apply these principles to their work. The desire to be original can overwhelm opportunities for agreed values to be expressed in ways that are legible and ripe with promise.

Oh, and as a final note, all good design should be like the new Mrs Bain – witty, refined, elegantly restrained and as desirable as sunshine.

Richard Alexander Bain
self confessed besotted husband