Coming Full Circle

Community

Design is very important when it comes to community. The Disney Concert Hall is a great example of this. The building was very innovative being made out of titanium, yet they did not think of the community. The reflection off of the building created a heat island effect on the adjacent condominiums and caused the temperature to rise 15 degrees in some cases. Disney having the money and resources made the titanium more abrasive and dull. Since the incident, the concert hall has received much praise and made the city, “A major attractant and a cultural magnet for downtown Los Angeles” (Roth 600). The community has benefited from the concert hall and shows how one building can change many things.

Innovation

Frank Gehry was very innovative when it came to designing the Guggenheim Museum. The government of Basque wanted a building that would “bring tourists and cultural venues to the heart of the city” (Roth 600). Gehry and his team usual used copper sheets, but due to health concerns had to come up with a new similar material. The result was the highly expensive but rare and durable titanium. The skin was applied to the building that “they fluttered and shimmered in the wind, contributing a special luster to the museum.” (Roth 600). The titanium although costly was very innovative in the design sense allowing for a new direction in design. The look received much popular acclaim and soon everyone wanted their own titanium covered Guggenheim.

Stewardship

A steward is someone who is actively concerned with the direction of the affairs of an organization . That to me can not only be someone but an element that is THE direction of the affairs of organization. In our studio project, we had to make a meditative/celebrative space for 9 graduate assistants. That room had to have organization and purpose. In all of the first years designs there was an element that brought organization and purpose to the room. In mine it rice paper removable panels that brought everything together. The panels gave direction into what was public and what was private. They gave light direction as well. During the day the panels would shine onto the floor and move the light into the private space, making the graduate student more curious to see what was over there. Design is all about organization of ideas, and one element can be the steward of design.

Authenticity

This word resounds with me deeply. All throughout my life, I have wanted to be authentic, as soon as something became popular or well known, suddenly it did not have much meaning to me as before. I never wanted my ideas to be like someone else’s. That is something that I feel has sat with me as being a first year designer, we were to look at precedents for all our work. The final product, the viewer would not even know was supposed to be the precedent. I never wanted my project to resemble anything anyone else had done before. I wanted all my ideas to be original and me; even if it received criticism at least it was mine and no one else’s. The deconstructvisim movement in design is very authentic. They moved away from previous thinking “suggesting that fundamentally a building exists as an isolated abstract phenomenon.” (Roth 600) The movement was “Described by one reviewer “They’ve tossed out every orderly precept of architecture since the Greeks and have prompted the most basic questions, starting with which end is up” (Roth quoting Cathleen McGuigan). The designs were new and they showed the structure as it was. Sometimes, it came down to that they were unable to make the building due to the computer aided designs. Either way, every designer has to come up with a design that is authentic and makes them different from everyone out there. Otherwise, we will all be stuck with the crap in the suburbs the plain, repetitive, unoriginal designs.

Coming Full Circle

Throughout this year we have gone all the way from the beginning of design into history until precent day. We have gone back to the past to create new things for the future, and we have discarded the past in order to design for the future. These phenomenons have happened over and over again, and will probably continue until the end of time. As designers we have to know what makes us innovative and authentic enough to be a good designer. We are all stewards working in a specific community to make it a better designed world.

Between Silence and Light

Between Silence and Light

Craft is something to pay close attention to when designing a space. The care and time we put into the craft of our design really shows when it comes to the overall finished product. At falling water there was a craft issue during the construction process. The Kaufmann’s discussed the structure of the building with a group of engineers, who told the Kaufmann’s that the building would require additional support. Wright was outraged upon hearing of this, but the support was added and the result was added weight. Furthermore, the steel was laid to close together causing a weakening in the slab. Also no attention was given to the deflection that would occur when the scaffolding was removed. This minor craft error allowed the cantilevers to sag 10% when the scaffolding was removed. Kaufman Sr. and Wright would have many heated arguments over the issue but eventually the contractor was removed and construction continued. Over the years the cantilevers sagged more and more until it was deflected around 30% more than it was supposed to be. A group from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy invested in restoring the cantilevers. They carefully removed the floor inserted steel rods into the concrete that pulled the concrete back to its intended position, and then replaced the floor. Had no one paid attention to craft of the building it might not still be around for us to appreciate and enjoy. I pay close attention to my craft in my projects, because if something is off it takes away from the beauty and enjoyment of the project. For my light project I made sure that my craft was impeccable so that everyone would enjoy it the way I did and not pay attention to errors instead.
Public/Private
The first years went on a trip to Monticello and Falling Water recently and viewed the works of late 19th century and early 20th century designers. I was fascinated by falling water and the use of Frank Lloyd Wright’s way of using a dark tight hall that leads to the private areas makes the viewer feel that this is a space that they are not supposed to be. The public areas are more open and airy feeling giving the viewer the feeling that this is where they can relax and are able to be. These open rooms are the living room and dining room as well as the open land surrounding the house. Technique
In design I feel that all designers have a technique to something that sets them apart from everyone else. Something that is original to them, and when viewing the work, the audience can tell who that piece belongs to. Frank Lloyd Wright designs broke away from the cookie-cutter houses of that time and went in a new direction. His prarie houses

[Re] Actions

Rotation
In design there is always rotation from one source to the next. Everything goes in a continuous cycle that eventually starts back at the original design or source. In history we have been learning a lot about how history has shaped design and there was a rotation in design patterns. As we learned at the very beginning Rome and Greece shaped the world through their designs. They were the foundations for the different design patterns throughout the rest of the world from then on. After the American Revolution the Americans wanted to break away from the Roman style that Great Britain had adapted over the years, and instead go towards Greece in their designs. They wanted to revive the past in a different way thus starting a whole new rotation of thoughts. The Baltimore Cathedral revived the Grecian Ionic columns. The portico was “Supported by some of the most beautifully carved Grecian Ionic colums of the period.” (Roth 461) The Romans had borrowed from the Greeks and now that the Roman style of designing was being challenged the cycle was being started over again by the Americans. All designs have to go through a cycle where the designer must go back to their original source and start over reworking the idea further to make a better design for the customer.
Movement
There were a lot of movements going on in the 19th century, both physically and in design as well. People were relocating and moving due to the industrial revolution. Factories were being built and workers were needed everywhere. The urban growth was popular as well. People were moving from rural spaces out into the urban areas. This influx of people caused places like Paris to be rebuilt and reshaped to add order and for health reasons. The sewers were draining into the river where the town got the water from. “When Napoleon became emperor in 1852 he embarked on a rebuilding of the city of Paris” (Roth 491) the town was demolished and the new city went up housing parks and new sewers and it restructured the town to new architecture to house all the people and no longer be a health hazard. Another movement in design was the arts and crafts movement. “To create a fully and contemporary environment was the pivotal aim of the movement” (Massey 33) William Morris was obsessed with going back to the guilds and design without machines. He felt the Crystal palace and the objects in it were all bad design. He set out to reform the design standards. His reformation led to the arts and craft movement and was “fee of any attempt at deliberate copying” (Roth 493). Design can cause a movement across the world. Items seen in Paris may be reproduced in America. This movement of ideas is all about what makes the design revolution unique and inspiring. We all want to be inspired and inspire those around us with our designs.
Reflection
Reflection to me is capturing light and mirroring it back to the viewer. In Versailles I the king’s goal of was to show off his power and having it all relate back to himself. He did this through the elaborate gardens and even more so in the hall of mirrors. The hall of mirrors reflects back the beauty of the outdoors and brings it indoors to command the space as explained by Roth “Windows face the gardens westward and banks of mirrors on the opposite walls reflect the light throughout the room” (Roth 419). This reflecting back of ideas also can be looking back on designs and seeing was wrong and correct about the project. Designs are never right the first time, and we must look back at our work and redo it until it is correct. That is what makes designers so successful. Is being able to look back at their work and recreate it into something new and innovative.
Source
Source is going back to the origins of designs. I feel that source and rotation go hand in hand. In order for a rotation to occur there must be an original source. It is like a precedent in where it’s an initial idea where designs are built off of. In the 19th century the designers were reviving the past in their own unique ways. “Architects were turning increasingly to specific source models, in a wide variety of historical styles, resulting in revivals of Greek and Roman Classicalism.” (Roth 461) These sources made American design what it is today. In studio we were to find a natural object and design our wooden creation around it. I found a cherry blossom tree and designed a wood feature that would cast shadows all throughout the project. My source is what made me think about the different aspects of the design and how it correlated to my wood project.
Illumination
Illumination is highlighting a feature of the design. It is all about creating the correct hierarchy of the space in order to make that object, color, space, really shine. Everything that makes up a space must have one selling feature that makes the space unique and special. This is what we as designers must do in order to create a successful design. Our projects in studio were to be illuminated by natural light. I created a “coral like” feature that had folding layers to capture the light and create shadows throughout the piece.

Grammar: Syntax

Revisions

At the heart of all designs there is revision. No design is ever finished on the first try. Designers must constantly revise their project to make it better. The royal chateau at Versailles was originally a hunting lodge but it was revised to be bigger and bigger until the French Revolution. When it was built in 1624 the building was small in size, but in it was enlarged in 1631-1636. The chateau at that time had “Several geometric garden parterres laid out west of the chateau, defining an axis centered on the lodge and stretching westward into the landscape” (Roth 417) When Louis XIV came into total control of the building he ended up drastically changing the chateau even more after his minister of finance made his own chateau much more extensive than the kings. The king had his architects wrap a new building around the existing building and leave that untouched. The plan was to “celebrate the king, his rule, and his military victories through numerous allusions to Apollo.” (Roth 418) He also made the landscape more elaborate by adding more water features like pools, fountains and water basins. To further his extensive building the infamous Hall of Mirrors was added to the west façade to reflect the large outdoors into the massively decorated indoors. Every detail that was put into the revised building that is Versailles radiated the notion that all things were to come back to the most important feature; the king. The revising of the small hunting lodge into a large château is hard to imagine

Audience

In design it is very important to consider our audience when we are designing. After all, we are not designing for ourselves we are designing for the public. The designer has to follow what the customer wants in order for his or her design to be successful. In Versailles I explained over the revisions that took place again and again in order to achieve the king’s goal of showing his power and having it all relate back to himself. The town’s people were the audience, and since the king did not concern himself with the financial aspect of Versailles this caused the people to be in a crisis, which led to the French revolution. The time that it all takes place is important to consider as well for audience. Now that the French revolution is over, Versailles is overwhelmingly beautiful and extravagant. Although it was not appreciated as much back then, it is more than appreciated now. The hall of mirrors reflects back the beauty of the outdoors and brings it indoors to command the space as explained by Roth “Windows face the gardens westward and banks of mirrors on the opposite walls reflect the light throughout the room” (Roth 419) The viewer cannot help but be taken back by the glory of the space. Every aspect put into the glory of Versailles is in or reflected in that space.

Character
Charter I believe is how a space is decorated to give it an appealing look. It is something that is added to a room that makes it a real stunning design. In the Baroque period in the seventeen century the apart from the chimney piece the ceiling was what gave a room character. The ceilings were decorated with plaster and “included such motifs as naturalistic fruit, foliage, curling flowers, putti, and animals.” (Blakemore 206) The ceilings were very elaborate works of art that drew the eye upward and were at such a delicate feature, that it was no wonder why they were on the ceiling. The rooms were overwhelming with the décor of the plaster designs. They were given character to places that normal ordinary people did not have. It shows wealth through the extensive detail put into the work.

Datum
Last week in Suzanne’s class we were to create a board that had a clear datum line. The Mossman building group that I was in, was commended on having a clear and successful datum line. It is an area that allowed the eye to understand what to read first and where to go from there on out. Our board had the groups pictures lined up along the datum line and on the datum line we included the title and group members. If there was no datum line, the project would not read as well and would not be as successful. Instead the eye would not know where to look first and make the board look less professional. As far as history is concerned I believe the line of reference could be that of thought and emotion. In the renaissance the world was concerned with thought and writing down all the rules of the ancient architecture and design. While in the Baroque time period it was all about breaking the rules and going towards emotion and movement. There is no datum line in Bernini’s work. His work had lots of movement, and the eye did not know where to go. The mind is constantly moving throughout his work, although this does not make his work unsuccessful, this is the way he wanted his work to be viewed.

Transitions

During the seventeenth century there was a transition from baroque to rococo architecture. The Baroque architecture broke the rules and was more about “elaborate, embellished, and complex” and focused on decorative elements and deep colors (Roth 398). However, around the end of the seventeenth century there was a transition to Rococo, which had “the use of light colors and the delicate, irregular curvilinear ornament. This transition was partly due to Versailles, due to the cramped quarters that the court had to live in. When Louis XIV died the “nobles moved to Paris, where they erected spacious private houses [and] hotels” (Roth 430) This moving from Versailles to the western outskirts of the city is further explained by Roth “ these hotels were most often painted ivory, cream white, or in pale pastel tints and were paned with delicate frames formed of lacy tendrils and wisps of gilded ornament…the Rococo interiors must have felt like a breath of fresh air after the somber interiors of Versailles, loaded with heavy pilasters and entablatures.(Roth 430) The transition was more towards going back inside the box instead of breaking all of the rules of art. The transitions that happened back in the seventeenth century speak a lot of what happens in design. Many things can impact design to change it into something new. As designers we must be open to changing our designs with the design or rebelling against them to create our own transition into something new.

P Week

Professional

In design it is important to have professionalism. When presenting a design to a customer, one is not only selling the design they are also selling themselves as well. The designer has to look polished present themselves well. They should be dressed nicely and speak intelligently or else the customer might feel that the person is not worthy of their time. Furthermore the presented work must look as polished as the designer as well. The design must not have any stray marks and be set up on a type of grid with a clear datum line. For Suzanne’s class we had to set up a panel in the hallway that was professional looking. The group set up the pictures on a grid and created a red datum line that connected to the Mossman building. The work was neatly laid out so that when a passerby walked by the grid would be easily readable to the person.

Portfolio

A portfolio is a designer’s complete body of work. This can be in a hard copy on paper, or it could also be on file. For our design classes we have two different places for our work. Stoel’s drawing class we have all of our work in a hard copy portfolio that is every piece of drafting we have done so far. In studio and Suzanne’s drawing class our portfolio is online in our blog. We post everything we have done so far in a certain manner so that it looks professional, and is free of getting lost. As long as it is on our blog and on a flash drive, there is no more worries of something getting misplaced.

Process
In design there is a certain process to each person’s design. It starts off with a precedent then develops into a sketch model, which after a few revisions turns into the final product. For history we have been learning about the early renaissance architecture. I found that the process of “rebuilding” Rome to its former glory and one main focus was St. Peter’s. Donato Bramante was chosen to mark the spot where Saint Peter had been crucified. Bramante looked to Alberti for the ideal centralized church. “Alberti had used the Latin word templum … Bramante took Alberti literally, deriving his martyruim for Saint Peter … the result was Tempietto (little Temple) (Roth 372). The New Saint Peters however, was to be bigger than Constantine’s church, embodying the ideals of the new architecture and proclaiming the power of an invigorate Christianity while surpassing the achievement of pagan antiquity” (Roth 372) Bramante’s new process was to resemble the ancient pantheon but was higher. His plan was to again use geometric shapes (circles, squares, cubes hemispherical domes) to create a large church that “rivaled scale of the Romans (Roth 374) The rough design of the church was costly and the project split the church. Therefore, the project was temporarily halted. When resumed by Michaelangelo, the centralized plan was changed repeatly yet kept the sence of it. The proposal was to “Making one of the [arms] the entry by ending it in a huge colanaded temple front.” (Roth 375) After his death, the building would be resumed in the baroque period. The process of rebuilding Rome to its glory ended up taking a long time period, split the church and changed frequently. It shows us as designers that we must take in to account various issues that will arise in design. We must consider how we will deal with the problems and eventually create an outstanding design.

Perspective

Various One point and two point perspectives

One Point PerspectiveOne Point Perspective

There is two different ways to think about the word perspective. The first is in drawings there are different perspectives to draw an item. If something is looked at straight on the picture would be in one point perspective. However, if there is a corner the picture would be in two point perspective. I also found that it can be a way that someone views architecture. The urban palazzi were a way to be perceived as being rich and affluent. Some of the buildings like Palazzo Medici were just the front of the building that was seen only on the front façade or from a one point perspective. However, at Palazzo Farnese paid for the open space and built a two point perspective, corner lot palazzo. The building was out in an open space and had a grand fountain in front to show they were a prominent family. The building was owned by Cardinal Farnese who “held enormous power in the Vatican” (Roth 378) The cardinal kept making bigger, hence making people perceive him as a wealthy and powerful man. How the site will be viewed and how it will look from various points are all important things to consider when designing a space.

Periphery

Periphery refers to the edge or outskirts of a city. . The Germanic invasions allowed pushed the refugees further and further out, until they were eventually on the marsh lands of Italy. No one else wanted the land, so they had to make due with what they had. The entire city of Venice is built on top of large trees buried into the ground that the people got from the mountains. The city has been referred to as the “city of water”. The city broke the boundary of the water and chose to build on top of it instead of limiting themselves to just the land. This breaking of the boundaries and normality, made Venice a trade center for the western Europe and the rest of the world at the time. The fact that the people of Venice turned into a prosperous country given the circumstances is outstanding. The space inside the periphery is designed for the rise and fall of the tides, and to last through decomposing. Designers come in contact with periphery in every one of their designs. There is a certain “boundary” to keep in mind while designing. Whether it be the site, price, or space, the design has to consider all of them in order for it to be successful.

Summary
This week more than others was especially hard to connect with history. All of these words I feel have a major role in design more so than anything else. Up and for most is that as designers we are professional in all of the work that we do. We must be sure to look the part and that our portfolio of work looks it as well. The portfolio contains our process up until our final piece of work. Furthermore, we must consider the different perspectives people will look at the design and have multi-angles of our work in our portfolio as well. Finally the designer must consider where the design will go and the periphery of that design. The design challenge is keeping inside of the periphery and working with that to achieve a top design.

Macro to Micro

Porch, Court, Hearth

So far in the semester in History, we have been learning a lot about porch, court, and hearth. Ever since the basic structure was outlined in ancient Egypt, the tripartite has been in effect. The porch is the entrance where one decides who gets to enter. Next is the court, which is the gathering place where people can meet to talk. Finally is the hearth where only a select few are allowed to go. In the acropolis in Greece, this arrangement is easy to point out. The porch is at the main entrance where Athena Nike’s temple sits above for news. The court is the wide open stretch of land that leads up to the hearth of the Parthenon. Ancient Greece was not the only one to have this arrangement, in present day homes, in which this outline is set up to section off rooms into private and public spaces.

Detail

This week in Suzanne’s class we focused on details of buildings. Details are element of design that makes the building unique. They are tiny elements that make the building recognizable by just seeing them. When we were given the assignment to draw details for Suzanne I chose to do the concrete wall facing on the Mossman Building. No other part of UNCG’s campus has this on the front of the building. It’s a small thing but on a larger scale it is what makes up the entire building.

In history we have been learning about the cathedrals during the Renaissance. The people were convinced that the world would come to an end, and the church was the only hopeful salvation. The cathedrals used geometric shapes that correlated with the genetic code of the universe, and if the world were to end the cathedrals wouldn’t be destroyed. This detail is incorporated into all the Cathedrals of that time period. Another detail that the church had was the ribbed vaulted ceilings. The ceilings were a series of triangles making up a square to hold up the cathedral’s roof. This detail was not only for delight but was symbolic of the church holding together the town, because without the church the towns would be sent into even bigger chaos.

Diagram

Designers use plans to show the outline of a building that includes fully detailed setup of the building. The plans are not that interesting to look at, not to mention regular people would not know how to read them correctly. Luckily there are diagrams to show circulation patterns, function, the context, zoning, and other elements to help the consumer understand the layout of the design. These diagrams are nicer to look at as well. They can include colors, pictures and shapes that make it look more like a work of art, rather than a boring set of lines.
Composition

Composition

Composition is a key element to design, without, the design would be a mess of different pieces. Composition would be better to describe parts to a whole, considering different parts (details) make up a composition that in turn creates a whole. The details have to come together to create a unified piece of work. For instance, at Salisbury Cathedral there are many different elements coming together like the high ceilings at the crossing point of the crosses, versus the low span of the entire building. These elements come together by having the ribbed vaults connecting the two throughout the entire building making it into a glorious composition. The geometry in making the cathedrals was quite like Vitruvius did by connecting the proportions to the human body itself “Ideal systems of proportion, he observed, can be found in the perfect proportions of the human body” (Roth 359). At Amiens Robert first walked the measure of a man and made a fifty foot square, from there he used a series of crosses and angles to create the mammoth sized building. The connection between man and architecture is a beautiful way of connecting the details together to create a composition.

Impression

From what I have gathered so far in History, I feel like impression is all about how architecture affects us personally and how it carries with us throughout the remainder of our lives. It is how we perceive a building, and what the building tells us without the designer there to explain. The cathedrals were all about impression when they came in to take over when the Roman Empire fell away. The cathedrals were a safe haven to the town’s people and gave them a place to create “order out of the chaos”. The dynamic effect that the church had on the towns people both physically and spiritually created an impression on the way the world would go from then on. Once you enter through the doors of the gothic cathedrals it takes a hold of you with its beauty and epic height. Once one has visited the cathedrals, they will take that experience with them throughout the remainder of their lives. As present day designers, we all must have a way of impressing the client in our own unique ways. We want to have an effect on someone that carries with them throughout the lifetime and that they never want to forget.

Voices

Precedent

Precedent is an inspirational word or artifact. It can be a lot like the word prototype or archetype as it is where the next phase of design comes from. Throughout history, other cultures based their designs for architecture off of previous societies. Romans used precedents of other societies when they built the churches. Constantine was active in the church and in only a year after he reunited the empire he “made Christianity the favored imperial religion.” (Roth 279). Now that Christianity was popular they needed a place to worship and they set out to find an architectural place of worship. “Constantine and church officials looked to secular public buildings, and the type they selected was the basilica” The basilica was a place for law or gatherings, what better place for a Christianity to be embraced. It was a place where a gathering of people could hear the Christian law preached from the altar. From there other churches used the Church basilica as precedents for their own. Furthermore, the other buildings of Christians were derived from royal tombs which were round, octagonal, or square. (Roth 280). As designers we must receive inspiration from other places that we might not have thought about for spaces. The basilica was used for law and with a few alterations it became an icon of what we see today for worship.

Duality
In design I find this word to be similar to multi functional. As stated in previous entries, for a space to work it must have commodity, firmness, and delight. The commodity of a building is determined by those who use it. The basilica was used for “civic activities…a large covered space, where judges could hear cases and the public could listen” (Roth 257). However, around circa 300, the basilica would be forever changed into a place of Christian worship. The basic outline of the building was a duality; it was not only for one use alone now. Again Constantine changed the commodity of the building by making it into a churches gathering space. “St. Peters and other early churches were clearly derived from the great imperial basilicas, but additional modifications were necessitated by the special needs of Christian worship.” (Roth 282) The commodity changed so to must the others as well. The basilica had a certain way of working for both law and the church. Two completely different purposes, and yet came together to accommodate both under “one roof” so to speak.

Moment

Moment captures time in place and allows us to revisit whenever the need. Architecture or even design in general captures a moment in time to allow us to go back and see what life was like back then. A moment that is literally caught in time is that of Pompeii Italy. When Mount Vesuvius erupted the town was caught off guard and was completely covered by molten lava. When excavated the archeologists found the city beneath. The town gives much insight to what was occurring back in that time. It linked together so much of what was going on in Italy during those times as well as uncovering for the first time the villa. Had this moment in time not have been discovered there would have been many loose ends of history still yet to be connected. In present day time we are learning to capture our own moments in time through drawing. For Suzanne we had to go draw a specific building and capture the building in whichever way we wanted. Those drawings created a mood of what was occurring and gave insight on how to become a better rounded designer. If the composition was too close it did not show how the building was to be experienced. However, if the moment was captured with a more zoomed out look, the building read more easily. Capturing those buildings in time allows me to revisit them whenever I am stuck on a design and get inspired by them all over again.

Metric
Size is an important aspect of design. When drawing the Mossman building, I saw how the people interacted with the space and got a feel of how large the space was to an individual. Size impacts design in every way because people do not want to feel uncomfortable and jammed into a place. The bathes of the Diocletian can be a way of interpreting metric further besides that of a measuring tape or tool. The baths are all linked together by the technologically advanced system of water, but the people within the space and the different rooms separating one room from another is a different way of going about the word metric. The building was for an aray of different amenities besides that of bathing. The baths were free to the public and had theaters and gymnasiums and had “continual games and the pleasures of the baths served to divert the populace.” Roth (269). These baths created a system of diverse functions that separated each into a caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium, and yet were all connected by water. The people in the space verses how large the actual baths were created a measuring devise to go by. It could accommodate 3200 people at various times of day for men, women, and slaves. The people had to feel comfortable enough in the space so that they were not all packed into the baths. The distance between the classes and the actual people in space versus one another all had to be taken into account when designing the baths of the Diocletian. Thus, the word metric goes beyond that of a measuring tape. It can be used to describe a range of different scales; the scale of the governments rule, the space between people in the space, and the space dimensions itself.

Presence

Presence I feel is how something speaks for itself. Work as a designer has to present itself without the designer there to defend it. When our work is put up it becomes for others to interpret and critique. The churches presence in society was to make order out of chaos. The church was built high and dominated over the area in which it was placed, as to give order to a unorganized place. The churches of Italy had geometric shapes that contained the genetic code of the universe they believed that this would make the building not become destroyed when the world ended. The church was the turn to place for order in the early 1000’s. The presence of the church allowed the people to feel more secure.

Recap

The purpose of design is to voice our ideas through our work. We must be careful of measurements because that is how a person will interact in the building. The scale of something must be able to relate well to the consumer, or it will take away from the design. They must be able to enjoy the "moment" that the space is creating by making it a functional design. Furthermore, if a space has a dual purpose or can accomidate more than one purpose it makes the space more delightful because it goes back to the basic functions of design. If the design works well enough, it can make its presence known throughout its lifetime to become a design that can be used as a precedent for designs to come. Afterall, that is what we all are designing for. We design to allow our voice to be heard long after we are gone.

Parts : Whole

Archetype/Prototype/Hybrid

The archetype is the main source that a product or an idea is derived from. When beginning there has to be something that one can go back to and receive inspiration from. The prototypes are then derived around that product. The temple is an example of an Archetype/Prototype/Hybrid. The temple started about “1050 B.C.E., a wooden structure with upright columns completely in the central chamber… It is believed that the temple, with its surrounding colonnade was an attempt to recreate the sacred grove.” (Roth 231) The Greeks took the archetype from nature the groves that they used for sacrifice to the gods. They then built the temple of Hera I out of wood, and slowly over time reconstructed with all stone. The temple of Hera I is the prototype of the ideal Doric temple column. The Greeks put one row of columns in the middle and rows on the outside. Hera II was the next temple that used the Doric columns. This one spread out the columns into two rows instead of just one row in the middle. That temple was the prototype for the Temple of Athena or the Parthenon. The Greeks took out the row from the middle and moved them just to the porch of the temple. The building was made out of white marble and used Doric columns on the outside and Ionic columns on the inside. The Roman Temple “Based on Etruscan prototypes, was similar to the Greek temple and eventually was embellished with Greek orders and architectural details” (Roth 250). The Romans changed the temple to fit their needs and was on an axis instead of just made into the land. Furthermore, instead of it being able to be viewed from all sides it was viewed from only the front. All these elements make the Roman temple a Hybrid of the past and present. All the architecture in US Legislature is a hybrid of the past and present.

Source

Source like archetype is where an idea or product originates. When designing something we must look at other sources, whether it is nature or another’s design. The Greeks, as mentioned before received inspiration from nature. They looked at the groves and came up with a temple that embodied natures form, but also achieved its commodity. The Romans then used the Greeks as an example of what their temple looked like. It was not an exact copy, but embodied the technology that the Greeks used.

Order

The Greeks used Orders to decorate the interior and exterior of different buildings. They are classified by the capitals which are Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. Each one came in a different chronological order, in which each capital changed each time. As time went on, the Greeks technology advanced to enable them to create different looks each time. These ancient orders are still around today, as explained by Blakemore when she says “Future periods of design were influenced by the characteristics observed in classical Greek and Roman architecture these are reflected in space planning, interior architecture, and furniture.” (Blakemore 30) It goes to show how History influences design every day.

Entourage

An entourage can be described as a grouping. There are ways in which that can be taken in different ways. Rome was shaped by its entourage according to Blakemore “Foremost among these influences were geographic position, conquests, technology, priorities in social life, and religion” (Blakemore, 45). Rome was, because of the way they shaped the land to fit them and also how they used Etruscan and Greek ideas and made them into their own hybrid. Entourage can also be a grouping of items. They wanted to show power and wealth in what they did, and did this by taking others ideas and shaping them into a amazing technological piece. Furthermore, In Suzanne’s class we had to draw 12 thumbnails of a building. Those pictures made-up the entire building and gave a feel of what went on at that building. As designers we put together an Entourage of pictures and ideas just like the Romans, in order to design a space.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy is entourage within a group, or a group within another group. Hierarchy may be social status, like the Wu-Wu, where men wanted to show social status by having the largest and widest structure in the middle of a forum. It showed that they were the highest ranking man and others were inferior. The size of buildings also correlated with hierarchy. In the acropolis each building connected back to the Parthenon making it the main focus in the town. When someone enters through the gate they are guided to see just that. The other buildings in the Acropolis are positioned to draw the eye straight back to the Parthenon. This shows the viewer that this building is the most important; hence, Athena is the main attraction.

Reflection

The archetype/ prototype/ hybrid are all ways of funneling out ideas to create just one main outcome. All designers must start out with some sort of source to make their work unique, but also embody what the client wants. Furthermore, if a piece deserves special attention, we give it hierarchy to draw the eye straight there, and have everything else come back to that artifact. That compilation of pieces creates an entourage of work that over all makes the entire design come together. Each of these parts creates the whole in design. Without one the other will not function.

Opus Three

Scale

Scale can be interpreted in various ways. Scale is important in design, making an artifact in a space to big can take away from the design and can be over bearing or can show off a key piece. Throughout history humans have used scale to show power. According to Blakemore, “Class distinctions were reflected in the décor and size of a house”. In ancient Egypt the scale of a pharaohs building were large to show their power over ordinary town’s people. At the temple of Hatshepsut the building had large man like figures that towered above the common people, as if to give a warning to any intruders. The scale of buildings varied between males and females as well. The male’s temples were taller and pointed to the heavens, as if to say they were part of the gods. The female temples like that of Hatshepsut were smaller in height, to show they were less powerful than the men. In modern times, designers have to consider scale as well. They have to consider how the place will be viewed by the consumer. Banks use scale of their buildings to show wealth and security. The material of the buildings has changed, but they too make one think twice before robbing the place.

Unity

Unity is how different objects come together as a whole. For instance, in ancient Egypt and Greece, the people were a polytheistic society, who wanted to pay tributes to the gods. They created unity by designing buildings that connected the real life with the afterlife. The pyramids in Egypt created an invisible line that went up into the heavens and united the two together. The sun would beam down onto the top of the pyramids and travel equally throughout the rest of the pyramid to the land. The Greeks created the Parthenon as a temple to celebrate Athena the Goddess of wisdom. The columns on the corners are closer together than all the rest of the columns thus creating entasis, so that if the invisible line was drawn again it would come together at a point above the earth. This could possibly be interpreted as their way of bringing Athena down to the earth, uniting the Gods with the land. In present day our work must all come together to create a unified space. Consideration must be like the ancient Greek and Egyptian societies thus connecting our ideas to the space itself.

Boundaries

The earth created boundaries for humans and from then on we have created boundaries for ourselves. The water limits how far humans can expand our reign over the earth. The Egyptians settled along the Nile and eventually made a country villa on the space outside of the town. This villa was a “Walled enclosure and [its] dependencies” that only had a defined gate to determine who could enter. (Blakemore 6) Across the water, the Greeks had the Acropolis that had a wall and a gate that is similar to what the Egyptians were creating. They set up boundaries to show they owned the land and wanted to protect their wealth. The idea of putting up walls to protect ourselves has woven its way into our everyday lives. We have walls put up in our houses with doors to decide what is shown to our guests. It is our duty as designers to create walls that give our customer a sense of security in that space.

Section

Section like unity can be interpreted in many ways. In design we create sections of various views of a space to show what the overall look is to the design. Walls are sliced into to display the materials used, the feel of the space, and depth to the design. Another view of section is that our basic house structure is influenced by that of ancient times. This is further stressed by Roth in his book “Modern civilization has added very few new basic building types to those that arose from the needs created in Neolithic times” (Roth 175) The very basic outline of a house was set up as a “tripartite arrangement [that] begins with the reception spaces and is followed by the great hall and a private section. (Blakemore 6). The Egyptians had the portico, hypostyle, and the naos. (Blakemore 2-3). The Greeks similarly had the porch, court, and hearth. Almost every architecture space has those clearly defined sections at the core. One receives guests at the door (porch), and then proceeds to the living room to converse (court), and the bed room is only for designated people (hearth).

Vignette

Vignette as we learned in Suzanne’s class captures a moment in time by drawing. History at its core is a vignette. It tells a story from architecture, drawings, writing, and so on. The design of artifacts captures that moment in time and it is up to present day humans to decipher what the true reasoning was behind that piece. Our vignettes that we did for class captured the moment of different locations. To me my picture of a man at Panera Bread made me think he was having a bad phone call by his body language. Another individual may think that he was having a stressful day and it had nothing to do with the phone call. That captured moment can be viewed in many ways just like that of history.

Sources

Blakemore, R. G. (2006). History of Interior Design & Furniture. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Roth, Leland M. "Understanding Architecture." Its Elements, History, and Meaning. Cambridge: Westview Press, 2007.

Looking Back in Order to Look Foward

Idiom

Means "construction or expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language but whose total structure or meaning is not matched in the same way in the second language." In history, Stonehenge can be interpreted as an idiom. The meaning of the stone circle has been in question for over centuries. Our meaning of Stonehenge might be completely different than their original meaning. This week in Studio we learned the importance of having symbolic meanings in our work. The American idea behind the color red could be perceived as love, where as in another country it could symbolize communism or the devil. This is idiomatic. The choice a designer makes in materials has to be well thought out, as to not offend ones client.

Material

Material plays a big role in design. In Egypt, the people had limited materials at their disposal, so they had to work with what items they did have. This hindrance led them to adapt their technology to make what they needed. In the desert there was an unlimited amount of sand to use so they made a variety of structures with it. They used the sand in one instance to build a hill to move slabs of sandstone into columns towering above to the heavens. This limited use of materials can be adjusted into modern day as well. If we only have one piece of MDF available and a chair, server, and workstation needs to be made, we have to adapt our design to fit the materials at hand.

Illuminate
This word can have many different meanings. In Suzanne’s class we illuminate objects every day by drawing them. We went and found vignettes in our everyday lives and drew them to remember that day. When I go back to that page later in life, it will “shed some light upon” that specific day. Light can also affect how humans perceive an object. Manipulation of light has been used over thousands of years as far back as the Egyptians. The Egyptians wanted to make the Giza pyramids stand out from the desert, so they covered the sandstone with a slick limestone, so that the top would gleam during the day. This effect made the top of the pyramid look like it was lit up. Roth writes that “Light is a most effective element in creating a sense of mystery and awe” (Roth 86)* The Egyptians must have stood in amazement when the pyramids were in full glory in 2560 BC.
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Commodity, Firmness, and Delight
The basic elements of architecture were first described by Vitruvius as “providing utility, firmness, and beauty” (Roth 11) Sir Henry Wotton later shortened that phrase to just commodity firmness and delight (Roth 11). Any design must have a function. Whether that function changes over the years or stays the same it is inevitable for it to occur. The pyramids in Egypt are an example of this once again. Careful consideration went into making the building withstand the test of time, because The Egyptians wanted the buildings to outlast them. The tombs were being robbed and other pharaohs were taking from the graves to build their own legacy, therefore, a new plan had to be made to deal with firmness. The tombs function was unchanged, but to show power, a new plan was devised to deal with all three elements .After thousands of years the pyramids at Giza Egypt are still standing. The limestone has eroded away almost completely, but it is still standing after all these years. The Egyptians with limited tools created one of the Seven Wonders of the World (Roth 196). There in lies delight. The human mind “seeks out mathematical and geometrical relationships”. The pyramids at Giza have precise measurements of 51 degrees 50’ to face up directly with the sun. (Roth 196). This connection gives our eyes and minds something to ponder and gives it beauty or delight. If the pyramids were off on one side, they would not be as well perceived as they are now. As designers we must incorporate these three things into our work, because when one element changes the other is then affected.

*Roth, Leland M. "Understanding Architecture." Its Elements, History, and Meaning. Cambridge: Westview Press, 2007

Communication : Design :: Tell : Story

STORY

The dictionary definition of a story, is a fiction or nonfiction tale. Either a narrative, prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader. What we have learned in our classes this week is that everything tells a story somehow. Whether it be in a book or an item that tells a tale silently. In design it is up to us as designers to tell our story someway. Stories have a beginning middle and an end, and convey a certain type of mood it is the same way with designers. We start out with an idea and evolve that into an elaborate composition that generates a mood. In studio we had to create an artifact that captured the true essence of the fairytale we were given.

ARTIFACT
In IAR 221, we learned how artifacts tell us a lot about history. An artifact is anything made by man. We can become inspired by an artifact and we can learn about history of anything through them. Building styles, Pompeian colors, and even teapots have stories to tell. That through artifacts we can learn about humanity; the stories of people that made the artifact, the artifacts that were made, and the stories the artifacts goes on to tell.

TRANSLATION

The fairytales we were assigned in Studio connect with translation. We were to deconstruct the story to get the true meaning behind it. Other people in class could translate my story in another way than my own view. Their different views are similar to design how a piece of work can be interpreted in many diverse ways. It is up to us as designers to convey our meaning of a design as clearly as possible.

Cycle

Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture Introduction – Architecture, the unavoidable art P. 2

As learned in IAR 221, objects go through a cycle in their “lifetime” they can go from a basic kitchen chair, to that persons attic, to an apartment/dorm, to a thrift store, and then the chairs life starts over again. Buildings can do the same thing according to Roth. Their purpose changes and therefore the building must change. This cycle will continue until it is demolished. It is not only architectural or interior design that this cycle occurs. In my psychology of dress class I have learned that it holds true in fashion as well. Fashion can go from being the “latest and greatest” one day to slowly fading into its ordinary past. Then one day when that object becomes popular again it is restored to its infamy

MULTI-VIEW
Multi-view can be interpreted as a different perspective on an object, idea, or situation. Throughout our lives we are shaped into adults by various ways. This gives us our own personal stories that tell about our lives. We then have different perceptions on the world around us. When we design something we have to take into account that people will interpret it differently than we ourselves would. A building can be interpreted as ugly by one person and relate to another in an opposite way.

REFLECTION

Everything comes back to the word story. Without a story behind something the object of interest becomes bland. In Suzanne’s class we all had ordinary objects that became special to us because of the story behind it. Design is because of the story that we designers want to convey through our work. The words not only connect each of our different classes together but they link our aspects of our lives together as well. We create a story about an artifact we see through our designs. That object goes through its life cycle and is viewed and expressed differntly by each person that it encounters.