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.