5.0 - book

Open publication - Free publishing

4.0

3.0

2.0 - diagramming: mining for partis

Counterpoint: Clock

Counterpoint: Compass

Reading Comp. 6

[1]


     "art nouveau was a self-consciously modern expression, owning little in a strictly formal sense to earlier historical periods"
                   -leland roth, p.515


art nouveau, also known as other names such as jugenstil all depending on the location, finds its home in france. it was a short movement during the late 19th century, and early 20th century. art nouveau was a movement mainly seen throughout europe and n. america, but who's influence spread throughout the world. i'm focusing on it's influence within belgium, spain, and scotland. 

starting out in belgium, I focus in on the hotel tassel. the tassel is located in brussels, and is designed by victor horta, who is well known in brussels for his art nouveau buildings. horta found inspiration for the building from a visit to an art nouveau exhibit he had gone to in 1892. following shortly after his visit, the construction of the tassel began in 1893. at first, the building seems to fit in with other town-homes in the area, but at a closer look, one starts to observe the curvilinear forms, the columns that seem out of place on the second level, the decorative glass in between the columns, and the semicircular windows trying to escape from the facade. it's not until inside the building, one really begins to see how different it is from the surrounding. the interior has an open-floor plan, curvilinear forms, iron used frequently, and natural light which from the outside, appears to be hidden. 

i find this image which was done a year before the tassel was built to have connections with the building. i think this could be an example of some of the work that inspired horta while at the exhibit. the image of the interior mimics the black and white drawing through the curvilinear forms, and the highly decorated walls, floor, and even the forms in the balustrade.  

next, i travel to spain to talk about anton gaudi's casa mila. construction started in 1905 in barcelona, and it appears to have broken every rule thought of up until this point. gaudi was known to have been greatly inspired by nature, i find this interesting because when looking at the image above, the trees in the foreground seem to completely blend in with the building itself. i also find the building alone to appear not as a building, but some free-flowing form i would expect to find in nature. this notion of biomimicry doesn't end with the facade, but it found throughout the building, roth says its plan looks like "an enlargement of a microscopic cross-section of a plant stem".  

it is known that anton gaudi was influenced by his studies of nature and mathematics, and i think the image above shows connections to gaudi's work. the waves in the image resemble the overall look of the building itself. the waves are flowing and moving in whatever way they wish to, as does the building. the building captures movement with no parameters of form, but the building is successfully constructed only through gaudi's precise and complex system that creates the structure. this is where machine comes into play, and in the image above, the "machine" appears as the ships on the water. 

finally, i arrive in scotland to find the glasgow school of art building. the building was designed by charles mackintosh and underwent construction in 1897. i find the building to be moving forward to more modern times with its simple geometry consisting mostly of a series of squares and rectilinear forms. it does however, have a sense of movement. when viewing the facade, starting with the main entrance, there is a welcoming staircase which leads you to the front door with what appears to be opening arms. there's also some curvilinear forms and iron work found in and around the entrance place. moving on either side of the entrance, the iron work continues in the fence, and the stone gives a notion of waves, capturing motion moving away from the entrance. the image below can connect with the building with the stacking effect of square and rectilinear shapes, through the masonry scale of the building, as well as putting together the shapes and geometry that create the form of the building. 

though all included examples of the art nouveau movement are quite different, they all have similarities and connections to one another. this era was a time where architects and designers did their own thing, they had their own unique ideas, and they showed it throughout their work, this also applies to art work. having said that, the differences among them are to be expected, but some of the things seen in architecture that stayed common were the heavy use of iron, nature, floral, and the notion of movement. 

http://www.laurabielecki.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/victor_horta_hotel_tassel_staircase.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Beardsley-peacockskirt.PNG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Victor_Horta_Hotel_Tassel.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Casa_Milà_-_Barcelona%2C_Spain_-_Jan_2007.jpg
http://picsdigger.com/image/6c5dfdd8/
http://www.cambridge2000.com/gallery/images/PC1313017.jpg
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/images/560/BHC/13/BHC1387.jpg

[2]

"machines for living"

designed in 1929 by ludwig mies van der rohe, the barcelona chair appears to be machine a living space, especially for time period it was designed. the frame on to which the chair lies looks like it was simply extruded from a machine, but was actually the craftsmanship and work of the man was very much involved. this simple design gives a notion of "less is more", it makes the sitting part of the chair appear as if it were floating. on the barcelona's broader context, there is the barcelona pavilion. 

"unrestricted by cost or function"

-massey, p.77 

the barcelona chair was designed to be in the barcelona pavilion, which along with the chair, was built by mies in 1929 and is located in barcelona, spain. the building was built for the 1929 exposition in barcelona. mies' work was considered to be on the high end, and in the pavilion, the unlimited budget allowed him to express that. he used materials such as brass, marble, and plate glass. 

the images above shows how the building looks machine. there aren't any decorations or ornamentation that has been seen heavily in historical design. everything however was placed very carefully, by man. the slabs of marble were certainly cut by machine, but the preciseness of where they are cut, in the way they are put into place, and the way they are harnessed to make sure they stay in place are all done by man. 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/Barcelonapavilion2010.jpg

http://amhhomeinteriors.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/10/b_a_barcelona_chair_mies_van_der_rohe3.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Pavelló_Mies_05.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Barcelona_mies_v_d_rohe_pavillon_weltausstellung1999_03.jpg

[3]

massey, anne. interior design since 1900

page 101

looking at the image in the massey book, this interior with an oversized zebra print rug appears as if were black and white and dull and cold. using the information describing the space, it is actually an explosion of color. 

alterations summary

kelly 

kara 

alyssa 

kelly talks about the alternatives unit as breaking the rules and testing boundaries. ultimately alternating the way in which we build and design. through this, failure is necessary in order to progress. kelly states "failure isn't always a bad thing, it is how we learn from our past experiences". she relates this to her own design work, giving an example of how in order for her to succeed, she first had to go through a failed step in her design. she speaks on the baroque period as being fluid and gives the example of michelangelo's laurentian library which gives a notion of water embodied in stone. 

kara had a beautifully written summary for the alternatives unit. she explains the middle ages, renaissance, and the baroque time periods. the way gothic emphasized light and verticality. she spoke about andrea palladio's design with mathematical proportions, and how the villa rotunda is "the most widely copied buildings in the world". renaissance is "inside the box", leaving baroque to be "outside the box". louis XIV dominated architecture in france. she sums the unit up by saying the alternatives unit "explores the design world's struggle between established norms and their alterations"

alyssa mentions how we talked about gothic cathedrals, onward to the baroque time period. she talked about breaking the rules and how they can be broken only if one knows how. she then relates what she learned to present day things, including the design world to a heart monitor. the flatlining of the monitor represents stagnation in design.

these essays differed quite a bit i think in what was focused on. everyone had their own ideas and concepts in the way they expressed what they had learned which i found interesting. this differed from the reflections unit, where everyone focused on the same topics. in the alterations unit, i found a common theme to be gothic architecture, and the emphasis it had on light and verticality. 

reflections summary

kacie

leslie 

abigail

kacie shows her knowledge about the unit through talking about revolutions, eastern influence on the west, and relates the unit to her own work. she states that "A revolution has four main steps that are involved", and lists them as "revival (something returns into activity), reform (a change for the better occurs), rotation (uniform variation in a sequence), and cycle (a recurring series of events)". she goes on to talk about eastern influence on the west and how all scales, including artifact, buildings, spaces, and places were affected. she says the reason for the eastern influence is for the west to "escape from what they were used to". she relates the unit to her own design work in the way that every new semester begins a new revolution through her progression as a designer. she experiences "revival, rotation, and cycle" every semester.

leslie begins by talking about the baroque time period and asking questions about the holistic environment. talking about revolutions, she says "rules are no longer holding their value" meaning rules are getting broken. she thought about the way baroque explored outside the box through fluidity. she also talks about how glass and iron are being introduced and are used as the main building material for new structures. the american revolution was brought up and she pointed out the connection with england. she ends the summary stating "color, texture, art, decoration, and ornamentation" are ways the east influenced the west. 

abigail's essay is broken down quite nicely beginning with what she see's the unit to be all about, moving through revolutions, and ends with what she has learned. she starts off by saying the unit is "about revolutions, revivals, cycles and reforms" and moves on to talk about how rules are being broken. eastern influence is brought up in the sense that not only architecture is influenced, but fashion, music, art, and culture as well. these things are what were first influenced, before the architecture itself. after breaking down different revolutions and movements including the baroque, moving through to the japanisme movement, she connects all back to grecian and roman architecture. 

all three essays talk and point out different things in some sort of way. some things that are constant that can be found in all, however, can be noted as revolutions, cycles, revivals, and influences. although worded differently, and focusing on different things, all three can be linked together through 

point: reflections

It is often found that ideas and rules no longer have to be kept within the boundaries of the box in the reflections unit. Some of the themes included in the unit are: theatre, boundaries, fashion, revolution, circles, and politics.

Baroque

With attempting to break away from the renaissance, we begin to move into the baroque time period. The rules begin to alter. There are no boundaries after leaving a period where boundaries are very important. Fluidity begins to emerge. Authority is challenged. The baroque period can be looked at as the period of theatre. Michelangelo, being what helped lead renaissance into the baroque was all about theatre, this can be observed in his work. An example of breaking the rules is his laurentian library stairs. They are breaking the rules in the way that before, there was only one way to get to the center or to where one is going, Michelangelo now has offered multiple options.

Industrial Revolution

Rules continue to get broken, shifted, and turned upside down. Conversations are happening among designers, but no one is listening. The industrial revolution consists of additional revolutions, including the sex, and music revolution. Revolution causes a correction. The revolution is not that the rules get broken, but that it returns back to the rules.

Furniture was still pushed to the perimeter of the room when not in use. Furniture started achieving more flexibility with folding tabletops, and being put on wheels. On the scale of buildings, Thomas Jefferson starts to bring back elements from rome, merging with palladian motifs.

Washington DC

DC was a swampy land that was chosen because it was in the middle of the new colonies and was to itself so it wouldn’t belong to Virginia nor Maryland. The design and layout of the city was designed by pierre l’enfant consisting of a grid system with connecting diagonals. Open spaces were reserved for main buildings except for the supreme court, because it wasn’t needed due to the fact no laws were yet passed. Emphasis on the circle is seen again. The circle represents equality, with the dome representing uniting the nation through centrality. Greek revival over roman revival is seen in federal buildings.

Glass and iron

The greenhouse, which was built by people wanting to grow plant life in a climate different from ideal, began influencing design. There were no limits as to how big these structures could be, as long as you had the money, space, and materials. It was the cheapest way to get a big building, and was applied to train stations, libraries, covering streets (in the manner of shopping malls), and most commonly exhibit spaces, as in the crystal palace.

The machine in the garden

Industry arrives in the garden. Trade routes open up to japan and china. Influence from the east are in the form of objects contained in space, because of the easy transportation. Additionally, fashion/clothing, objects in interiors, and interiors themselves are ways influence occurred. Eastern influence occurs and is the thinking about and wanting a place different from your own. 

Reading Comp. 5

Originating from England, Windsor chairs were first seen in America during the 1720s, and were being made in America by the 1740s. The chair began exhibiting new forms once in America. This was a limitation when in England due to the fact that English chair-makers were required to belong to a guild. This ultimately denied any creativity and breaking-of-the-rules of the already established version.

Creating production and capitalism for others, American chair-makers began teaming up with other crafts people and distributing work in a way of subcontracting. Manufacturers focused on quantity and were able to make alterations to speed up production; For example, they eliminated the cabriole legs found in some English Windsors due to the slowing of production. This stylistic revolution allowed for the freedom of exploring and the creating of more innovative solutions.

Though with being from England, the Windsor became extremely popular in America, and is viewed ultimately as an American chair. The American Windsor, with its rich history, has become a revolution not only in American furniture, but also to the production scene. It is to this day one of the most widely copied styles in America. 

artifact: silk brocade

http://belovedlinens.net/fabrics/Lyon-silk1.html

One of the major ways eastern design and architecture influenced that of the west was through fashion. Fashion became a vehicle of displaying eastern characteristics to the rest of the world both through the transportation of materials, as well as seen depicted in paintings and other decorative art. I found silk brocades to be a nice example of how western designs were copied from the east. Silk in general originally came from china and other asian countries. When silk was first used as a type of fabric in ancient china, it expressed chinese motifs and decoration. This decoration continued when silk found its way all over the world. The western world was influenced by the east by borrowing silk itself as a material, and then even continuing to include the designs and patterns found thereon. 

building: iranistan 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Iranistan,_Residence_of_P.T._Barnum,_1848.jpg

The Iranistan residence was built in 1848 located in bridgeport, connecticut. The mansion was an example of the moorish revival, which was one of many revivals that took place during a short moment in history of only a few-hundred years. The moorish displayed orientalism in design as can be seen in the image included. The Iranistan clearly speaks a connection between the western and eastern worlds. With onion domes, minarets, arches, a finial; the building greatly resembles the Taj Mahal.

space: royal pavilion banquet hall 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Brighton_Banqueting_Room_Nash_edited.jpg

The Royal Pavilion as a building is known to have strong eastern connections, and when increasing the power zooming into the scale of rooms, the banquet hall within the building becomes a pretty notable space in terms of eastern influences. This space includes design motifs from all over the world. The victorian time frame had a notion of "anything goes", which can be seen in this room. The space includes dragons and snakes as zodiacal characteristics from the eastern world; flowers in the form of 2D on the walls as well as 3D in the chandeliers; and asian motifs in paintings, frescos, and mosaics. 

place: hyde park 

http://www.ski-epic.com/2007_london_trip/index.html

One place where east meets west is Hyde Park, London. Hyde Park shows examples of eastern influence by the gardens, water features, and the architecture within. It was home to the Great Exhibition of 1851 which is a prime example of east meets west. The Great Exhibition showcased artifacts from all over the world. It was a place where people from all over would travel and see things with foreign designs and motifs. People would bring the objects back or just a mental image and copy what was seen.