point: alternatives

In the alternatives unit, we began discussing not only buildings, but furniture much more than before. We went over Palladio's villa rotunda and how it's the most copied building in the world. We arrived at a place in time where people began actually writing about architecture, including Palladio's The Four Books on Architecture. To some, the writing becomes more important than the buildings, and architecture itself. Going through Palladio's design process of the villa rotunda step by step, we begin realizing the notion of centrality. The circle in the center is different and stands out from the rest of the building, and is borrowed from antiquity. The structure begins to resemble a compass in a couple of different ways; the way in which it appears in plan, and the way borrowed elements from the ancient world directs us back to the ancient world. The dome is centralized and is reaching heavenward with a vertical axis. This notion of "reaching heavenward" has been seen before. The villa rotunda however, explores a new notion of a facade on all sides of the compass, which breaks away from the traditional single facaded building. Having included the verticality reaching heavenward, and the facades on all North, South, East, and West sides of the building begins to show Palladio's idea of the perfect world.

We also discussed palaces in more urban areas. As in the villa rotunda, the facade becomes a very important part in the building. The facades of these buildings speak a language of symbolism. The different use of spaces in the building are clearly seen on the facade, which faces the street. The facade appears "rough" at the bottom, and moving to the upper levels, becomes "smooth". The bottom level is typically used for storage, the middle for entertaining, and the top for sleeping. The facades of not only palaces, but government and public buildings as well gives a sense of civic pride. Walkways are covered as you travel through parts of a city.

We discussed and analyzed furniture much like we did with buildings, without distinguishing them in regard to form, but focusing on the design aspect. Furniture reinforced the architectural style and period through including the same elements and geometrical forms. An abundance of items or things throughout the Renaissance led to an abundance of furniture to store them in. Much of it was disguised as being storage devices, but rather pieces of art. In viewing images, scale was often hard to dictate due to the level of detail and the elements of architecture depicted as with columns and pediments. We discussed not only furniture for storing things, but also chairs, tables, other pieces. We saw a lot of wood inlays of different colors and different types of wood. This was used in creating different designs, showing contrast, and also creating borders. The location of furniture almost always lined the perimeter of rooms when not in use, and were moved elsewhere if they were being used.

The alternatives unit covered Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo periods. We learned about the language in which design speaks to people, different cultures, and places in the world. This leads to the discoveries of new ideas, being inspired by different places, and the movement of ideas and objects throughout the world. We also came to terms with the fact that we are still stuck in the renaissance in 2010.

http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/Vertige/images/img028.jpg

I believe this image sums up the unit by the way it flows, relating to the different types of architecture talked about and how they build upon one another and flow into a new style. 

reading comp. 4

[1]

Classical elements can be seen throughout. Buildings are symmetrical. When not in use, furniture lines perimeters of rooms. Places borrow and share elements from others. Rooms are oversized and often highly decorative. Characteristics include light scale, mathematical proportions, and geometrical forms. All buildings are symmetrical. Horizontal lines appear on facades representing different floors. All buildings have an emphasis on the entrance. The most common way of expressing this was with porticoes, with the exception of the Russell house. Although the Russell house lacked having a portico, it was still successful in having a defined entrance. This was achieved through having a gate with oversized columns on either side of a walkway, the walkway then leads one’s eye to the front door which stands out in a couple of different ways; the pediment and columns surrounding the door emphasizes it, and there’s contrast among the painted white surrounding the door and the red brick. With most of the artifacts being highly decorative and full of ornamentation, all serve a purpose and are functional.

[2]
Furniture arrangements support room function. Vernacular forms of local materials are used. Houses and furniture are simple. All houses show a strong emphasis on horizontalness. As can be seen in the parson capen house and other New England houses, the upper floor is projected beyond the lower, these are “jettied” floors. This is a technique to avoid sagging. It also creates a horizontal line on the façade representing different floors, much like the lines talked about earlier from across the Atlantic. Box and simple geometric forms are seen in houses and furniture. Horizontal and vertical lines are seen often. “From the time of the Egyptians up to about 1750, monumental Western architecture in any given time or particular region was relatively uniform.” Roth, p441

[3]

Inspired by Frescobaldi's Balletto Terzo and taking from Palladio's villa plans, this is the plan I chose to design. Architectural proportions are argued to be derived from music ones, from that; Palladio came up with ratios as to how rooms should appear in plan. I feel this plan fits best with what was discussed.


[4]
Baroque is said to be the age of theater. I do believe the architecture and design stands as a form of social performance. The Baroque period, in contrast with the renaissance, captures movement. This is seen through all examples of baroque architecture. Theatre of dramatic lighting and color can be seen in Michelangelo’s Laurentian library.

Point: Foundations

Foundation [Merriam-Webster]: 1: the act of founding; 2: a basis (as a tenet, principle, or axiom)       upon which something stands or is supported; 3: an underlying base or support; esp: the whole masonry     substructure of a building; 4: a body or ground upon which something is built up or overlaid

http://www.rama-arya.com/image_library/egypt/pyramids_saqqara1.jpg

The Foundations unit covered various building types, including some that are more than extraordinary. They baffle our minds as to how these magnificent structures were built. This leads me to an important issue, we as designers and appreciators of design should question how these buildings were constructed, and what kind of technology was used in accomplishing these tasks. I believe this unit served as a [foundation] to future architecture and design. Both through the vision of the use of stones, stone being what our present day structural foundation consists of, as well as the different building types introduced giving foundations in design which are still in use today. 

The unit included methods and techniques such as stacking. Stacking can be found in the stepped pyramids serving as a memorial or tomb. It is also seen in the Great Wall of China, where the wall is used to mark a boundary between two empires. This is a great example of how architecture can be used in a more abstract way of storytelling. The wall tells us there were political and social issues among these two empires. 

Male: Female 

The subject of male vs. female was discussed, with one case being the observation of differences between the Pyramids of Giza vs. Hatshepsut's temple. In comparing these two, the first thing to point out could be the fact that the pyramids "stand out" and Hatshepsut's temple seems to "fit in" with the natural environment. We're also dealing with polytheistic religions where there's an established dominance with male gods over  female gods. 

Real: Ideal 

The Minoan and Mycenaean periods took hundreds of years to reach the "ideal", which was the Hellenistic that lasted only 470 years. The Minoan and Mycenaean were formed by the Dorian, Ionian, and Aeolian people. Following this, the [Megaron] was introduced. The megaron began being a 3-sided structure and ultimately ended in the temple form. This being the [Foundation] of classical architecture which was carried onward to present day. 

Greek palaces were very colorful during this time which is a bit contrary to what we see today. Orders consisted of the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite forms, all of which were getting bigger and more detailed as time passed. Temples were built to give eternal respect to those gods or goddesses for whom they were built.

As you wander outward from the "center", you begin to discover where a lot of breaking-of-the-rules and innovation was happening. The center being the major cities where the majority of development was happening.

Rome essentially included the first vision of focusing on horizontal design. A technological breakthrough arose during the Roman time. This discovery, the [arch], and the widely use of concrete lead to various new building types. The arch, which can be seen in almost all examples of Roman Architecture allows for a much bigger space inside buildings. Then came the dome which was derived from the arch, it essentially was an arch which was rotated about its axis. Bread and Circus structures are seen often throughout Roman Architecture. These were recreational buildings that were designed to help relieve the people of what was going on regarding governmental issues. 

One last thing I would like to include is the discussion on the triumphal columns. These columns, such as Trajan's Column were used as memorial storytelling devices for the leaders they were built for. The more powerful the leader, the bigger and taller the column. A theory which has been passed down from the late David Niland tells us these columns, or Wu Wu's, resemble a part of the male anatomy. Wu Wu's can be found almost everywhere we look. We use these vertical elements everyday as landmarks or for example, as a reference point to guide us in an uncommon city. Below, I've included an image of Professor Niland himself in Disney World and highlighted in red are different examples of Wu Wu's. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5241904&o=all&op=

1&view=all&subj=111413342252261&id=574636327

The theories of design were taken and succeeded by foundations; building blocks in which architecture and design could be built upon. This unit covered an entire host of things including: different methods and building techniques, symbolic reasoning for design, cultural issues, and the overall development of design and architecture dating back to Ancient Egypt moving forth through Medieval Architecture. 

Reading Comp. 3

Cologne:Salisbury
The innovation of using pointed arches and rib vaulting allowed the use of more windows and less structural elements. More windows led to more natural light flooding the interior  space which was very important in the Gothic Era. "stained glass filtered and transformed sunlight so it symbolized divine illumination" as quoted by Roth. The use of glass also created a new way of telling stories. Roth mentions how all other parts of the building tell stories and with the addition of colored glass depicting stories from scripture, the entire building then becomes a Bible for the illiterate. I find Cologne and Salisbury very similar regarding the use of light. Light is of extreme importance during this moment in time, it helps give insight towards a better and [brighter] future. An outlet of less than stellar conditions which were taking place through this time period we're speaking of. Light has taken a vital position in Gothic Architecture. It's uses in the era grow to entail a whole host of things, including but not limited to: natural daylight; an illumination that brings you closer and connects you to Heaven; a story-telling device, breaking away from the sole use of concrete and stone alone to tell stories; and of course the aesthetics of the divine beauty these stained glass forms created.

Cologne:Amiens
 The "Dark Ages" was a time where cultural and economical conditions suffered greatly. Given these circumstances, this period was surprisingly full of structural innovations. A few reasons for this: the people were confident in getting through this hard time; as Roth said, "people looked to temporal life with greater anticipation"; and the church continued to be the "unifying agent across Europe", therefore the buildings which excelled the most were the churches. This bit of information leads me to the assumption that the people involved most were both those who were average civilians and those of higher power in the church. 


Cologne:Florence 
Comparing Cologne and Florence, there are many differences that can be seen. The intersection of the nave and transept show very different conditions. There is this space with several possibilities and Florence for the first time shows the use of a dome. This illustrates the opening into the Renaissance and ending of the Gothic. 




The room in which the woman is working is probably a multifunctional room. There is perhaps an area for sitting and a place for sleeping. It appears to be made up of stucco walls. The windows continue to repeat throughout the room.