COMING FULL CIRCLE: [OPUS 14]

COMMUNITY

A community is a particular place or area considered together with its inhabitants. Botta, for example, suggested, “there was a need for images, for emotion in architecture, a need for architecture to speak once again to people” (ROTH 587). His idea of good architecture was structures that integrated the idea of community into their design. Contrastingly, Meier decided not to incorporate the idea of community into his designs as he “shifted radically to a quite different theoretical base…in his first independent buildings he developed a purely formal rectilinear architecture, totally devoid, he insisted, of any connection to outside systems of reference” (ROTH 571).

This space is one that welcomes community or social events. This 'celebration' space is a good example of how a sense of community can be brought inside a building.


STEWARDSHIP

A steward is an appointed official who supervises arrangements and keeps order at an institution, club, or event. Robert Stern was able to take the difficult landscape the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and create elevated dining rooms. Stern “used brick arches and white Roman Tuscan Doric columns in an innovative way sympathetic to Jefferson’s nearby original campus buildings” (ROTH 594). The reason behind the usage of Roman Tuscan Doric columns was to distill a sense of order and arrangement to the building and to the surrounding campus; much like the job of a steward.

This floor plan shows the technicalities and order to a specific space. It is the drawing referred to to keep everything in order, much like a steward.



AUTHENTICITY

Authenticity is something that is of undisputed origin – something that is genuine. An authentic object or design is usually one that is the first of its kind and serves somewhat as a prototype for future ideas. Allan Greenberg utilized an authentic classical style when creating the diplomatic reception rooms at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. but also “introduced subtle, modern touches” of his own (ROTH 591). The classical style of design is definitely an authentic one that reoccurs and emerges throughout the history of design. Greenberg, however, was able to take a timeless design concept and add some aspects of current design to create a new design idea.

This 'meditation' space utilizes a raised floor with sand around the edges to create a tranquil place for anyone to sit and enjoy the scenery and the interior space.


INNOVATION

An innovation is a new method, idea, or product that helps to further the growth of design. During the era of fundamental or essentialist classicism, architects moved towards more abstracted forms, “seeking to reduce buildings to the purest geometrical constructs, in an effort to achieve ‘natural’ essential truths” (ROTH 587). This concept of simplicity in form and structure was a new and innovative design that influenced further explorations of simplistic architecture.

Pulling from my last project, "Light Habitat," I used an innovative design to slope panels outward and upward to help diffuse the strong morning sunlight south side of the building.

SYNOPSIS

All of the words for this week's prompt come together and portray what design should encompass. Authenticity - or the revival of older and classic styles, stewardship - incorporating the idea of structure and rigidity in design concepts, innovation - putting a new twist on an old design, and community - being able to create a sense of togetherness and completeness in a space.

[PAIR]ING DOWN: [OPUS 13]

TRANSPOSE/JUXTAPOSE
To transpose something is to cause two or more things to change places with each other. To juxtapose is to place something close together for contrasting effect


LITERAL/ABSTRACT

‘Literal’ refers to taking something in their usual or most basic sense. ‘Abstract’ refers to existing in thought or as an idea but not having physical or concrete existence. As modernism continued to grow, philosopher Hannah Arendt stated, “Utility established as meaning generates meaninglessness” (ROTH 539). This quote suggests that a building made for a specific utility or purpose loses its true meaning and is therefore meaningless. A building constructed with no set purpose or utility, however, ends up with more meaning than intended upon.


MONOLOGUE/DIALOGUE

A monologue is a speech by one single person while a dialogue is a conversation between two people. With the advancement of industrial production in the United States, Mies van der Rohe was able to complete his vision of the glass tower and “instead of creating one single, extremely tall shaft, he created two identical towers, each with the classically proportioned bay structure of three by five” (ROTH 537-538). Rather than construct one building that would carry a mere monologue about its own structure, Mies expanded his concept with the resources available to him to create two structures that created a sense of dialogue within the city.


MEDITATION/CELEBRATION

Meditation is the act of calming and focusing ones mind as a method of relaxation. Contrastingly, a celebration is a social event that includes rejoicing. In the midst of modernism, Aalto attempts to define architecture as he states “ Its purpose is still to bring the material world into harmony with human life” (ROTH 547). Human life symbolizes nature or the natural world and illustrates a sense of serenity or meditation while the new idea of materialism is celebrated and still being explored. Bringing these two elements of meditation and celebration together is what creates good architecture.



Not only is the idea of meditation and celebration seen in architecture, but it is also seen in the designs of the interiors as well. Eva Jiricna’s design for Joe’s Café in London “incorporated industrial materials like aluminum, matt-black cladding and tensioned-steel cables to produce a mood of control and understatement which has now been widely emulated” (MASSEY 201). Materiality, in conjunction with the new industrial movement, helps this space capture a sense of meditation and serenity.


LIGHT/SHADOW

Light is a natural form of illumination while a shadow is the dark area created when an object comes in between the rays of light from the sun and the surface or ground. To play with the effect of light, Le Corbusier designed the interior of the Notre-Dame-du-Haute chapel in which, “the thick concrete walls are pierced by small coloured windows to create the dramatic effect of shafts of coloured light falling on the congregation” (MASSEY 152).


SYNOPSIS

This week's opus is all about pairs and how opposites are somewhat similar within context. Two elements can work together in one space to create something completely different, such as light and shadow, monologue and dialogue, and meditation and celebration.

ACTION VERBS : [OPUS 12]

COMPOSE

To compose something is to form or create something by ordering or arranging the parts to make a whole. During the Modern Movement, one of Adolf Loos’s plans of volumes, or Raumplan, involved “the complex ordering of internal space” (MASSEY 64). By arranging the interior of spaces according to strict order, a sense of completion and entirety is created that helps illustrate the unity of the space. Another example of good composition is Le Corbusier’s ‘Five Points of Architecture’ which includes “pilotis (free-standing structural piers of reinforced concrete),… a free plan,…[unrestricting] supporting walls,… a roof terrace,…[large] windows,…a continuous element of the exterior wall,…and a façade [consisting] of one smooth surface” (MASSEY 79-80).


SPECULATE

To speculate is to form a theory about a subject without firm evidence. For example, it is speculated by many that the “exhibition established the Bauhaus’s reputation as the leading force in the creation of a new functional aesthetic” (MASSEY 74). Even though there is no solid proof or evidence to support this statement, the aftermath of how the exhibition and the Bauhaus began to impact history tells us that this is a true statement.


ENERGIZE

To energize is to give off the sense of vitality and enthusiasm. Walter Gropius, for example, was “convinced of the importance of individual creativity and artistic integrity while supporting a Modernist aesthetic” (MASSEY 66).

STRETCH

To stretch something is to change its shape or to make it longer or wider without tearing or breaking.


SHAPE

A shape is the external form or appearance of something. Another definition for ‘shape’ is something that helps to define an era or concept. “Mass production,” for example, “was now established as the means of manufacturing consumer goods, and Modern Movement theorists were inspired by the concepts of rationalization and standardization” (MASSEY 63). Mass production helped to shape the new industrial society.

ROAD TRIP [OPUS 11]

ROOTS

A root is the basic cause, source, or origin of something.
On the verge of reshaping modern architecture, Le Corbusier stats, “It is a question of building which is at the root of social unrest today: architecture or revolution” (ROTH 530). As architecture was turning towards more modern designs, the industrial revolution did a great deal in shaping the world of architecture and design by creating machinery that allowed for mass production.




CONGRUENCE

To be congruent is to be in agreement or in harmony with something. The twin towers in New York were constructed in the same manner and looked the same, which made them appear to be congruent to each other.

During the rise of modernism in architecture, two new design ideas formed that were vastly different from each other. Although the ideas of functional and structural determinism and dynamic personal invention are completely opposed philosophies, the two held a common “driving passion to sweep away the Old Europe and to build a new utopian world, a new social and moral order” (ROTH 520). These ‘opposing philosophies’ are congruent in their long-term goal of creating a perfect world.


COMPRESSION/RELEASE

Compression refers to the reduction of volume of an object and release refers to being set free from confinement. The Richmond Place house in Dublin “exploits its section to create a series of interconnected but separate spaces of varying height and dimension, creating a sequence of compression and release as one circulates through the plan.”

The idea of using different depths, height, and material allows for the designer's true character to show through the building. In some spaces when walking through the house, one might feel claustrophobic or compressed into the space until walking through a doorway to the next room that is wide open and gives off a sense of release.

MATERIALITY

Materiality consists of the use of different types of materials for different projects. For example, during the rise of international modernism, both the Barcelona pavilion and the Tugendhat House were composed of the best materials; “golden and green onyx, travertine, marble, macassar wood veneers, smoked glass, chrome-plated steel, and raw silk” (ROTH 527). Different materials allow for better craft, different design concepts, and different textures.

The dome on top of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany was rebuilt in 1995 and utilizes steel and glass in order to convey the idea of Germany's reunification after the war.


CONCEPT

A concept is an abstract idea or general notion. From Behrens, Mies learned that “the concept of the artist as the agent of the taste of the age, and of architecture being an expression of technical power” (ROTH 526).


At the beginning of the 20th century, philosophers and art historians “developed the concept that history evolves as the result of an inner spiritual necessity, and that each period in history is shaped by its unique zeitgeist, the spirit of the age” (ROTH 519). The Reichstag building in Berlin stood as various different symbols pre-war, during wars, and post-war. The spirit of the city was a direct link to what the Reichstag building symbolized for the public at any given time.


SYNOPSIS

This week's opus allowed me to analyze a piece of architecture literally, by looking at its materiality, but also helped me analyze buildings in a more in depth manner. How the building goes about making its viewer or inhabitant feel (the idea of compression and release), what roots the design concept evolved from and how it is congruent to other buildings or its surrounding area.

BETWEEN SILENCE AND LIGHT [OPUS 10]

CRAFT


A craft is an activity involving skill in making things by hand. Throughout different eras of architecture and while new materials were being introduced, structures had to be crafted differently in order for them to be successful. In the houses of parliament in London during the Gothic Revival, for example, “large plenum chambers were created over the meeting halls…to provide for better ventilation – one of the great faults of the original buildings” (ROTH 477).

As industry started to become more prominent in the field of architecture, new ideas and ways of construction were used. Built to house the industrial exhibits at the World’s Fair in 1889, the Palais des Machines had trusses that “were hinged at their bases and at the crown, so that they might bend and flex at those points and not tear themselves apart” (ROTH 490). Using new kinds of material, such as steel and wrought iron, new concepts were created to allow the structure to stand on its own yet still look delightful.

The dome at the top of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, utilizes only glass and iron with a spiral of mirrors in the center. The craft of this cupola is impeccable considering its materiality.


PUBLIC/PRIVATE

From researching both Monticello and Falling Water on the internet, it is very clear that there are specified spaces for the public and ones that are kept private. Even in the setting and surrounding landscape of the building, it is somewhat obvious that Falling Water is a more private home, set back in the woods, while Monticello is more of a public place that offers a great deal of history. Also, the use of darkened hallways at Falling Water inferred a private space and keeps the public from entering it. Shying away from the idea of private spaces, “Neoclassicism became firmly linked with public service and educational aspirations” (ROTH 475).


Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water is a good example of a private space, mainly due to the fact that it is set back in the woods and utilizes a lot of horizontal construction.


TECHNIQUE

A technique is a way of carrying out a particular task. Certain forms of art, including architecture, are meant to be carried out with a specific type of technique. During neoclassicism, “American sculptor Horatio Greenough…pointed out that his countrymen were going about architecture backward, trying to bend the Greek temple into contemporary needs” (ROTH 475).

Not only does technique come in handy when following a set of rules for creating something, but it is also in tact during any kind of presentation. In his book Contrasts, Pugin “presented side-by-side drawings of fifteenth-century buildings with their nineteenth-century counterparts” (ROTH 480). Pugin’s technique of showing the contrast between a building in the fifteenth-century and the same building in the nineteenth-century is a good way to illustrate the key changes and important aspects within the building and design itself.

In drawing class, we drew a perspective or a room and used different techniques to render different sections of the final drawing.

Rendered in pen

Rendered in Prisma Color markers

Rendered in colored pencil and Prisma Color markers


LANGUAGE

Language is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. In a literal sense, a space can allow for people to communicate to each other. During creative eclecticism, for example, Charles Garnier “used a traditional horseshoe auditorium with layered galleries around the auditorium so opera-goers could better see each other” (ROTH 483).

The language between the landscape and the architecture at Monticello is one of the things that makes it such an interesting and beautiful place to visit.


VIRTUAL

Because I was unable to go on the Monticello/Falling Water trip this past weekend, I began to look at images on the web to learn about the two places and was able to take a virtual tour of Jefferson’s Monticello. Although visiting the building in person would have been ideal, the virtual tour helped me to understand the building and begin to draw it.

A picture of Jefferson's Monticello that I drew from a picture I saw on the same website that I took the virtual tour.


SYNOPSIS

From looking at Monticello and Falling Water, this week I was able to see how architecture can be so different yet fulfill some of the same concepts. Both Monticello and Falling Water deal with the aspect of public versus private space and have impeccable craft, technique, and language. Even though I was not able to go on the trip and see the buildings first hand, I was able to gain a lot of information about each of the structures through the internet and through classmate's personal photos. Both Monticello and Falling Water find a balance between silence and light that is very different, yet very successful.

[RE]ACTIONS: [OPUS 9]

MOVEMENT

Movement is defined as the changing of an object’s physical location or position. Rather than rotating an object, movement involves physically changing its location and possibly its orientation as well. Movement in design takes the concept of a two-dimensional idea and creating a sense of motion within it. The Arts and Crafts style of the nineteenth century “is characterized by the asymmetrical whiplash line that gives a sense of dynamic movement wherever it is applied” (MASSEY 32).

“The influence of the British Arts and Crafts Movement led Continental architects and theorists to approach the planning and decorating of interiors with a respect that had traditionally been reserved for the exterior” (MASSEY 32). The literal movement of Arts and Crafts advanced the development of exterior ideas being integrated into the interior.


REFLECTION

A reflection can mean many things. It can refer to how people reflect themselves towards the rest of society, a person’s perception of a person, place, or thing, or, in a more literal sense, a mirror image of a space or object. In the nineteenth century, “the appearance of the interiors of [the Victorian middle class’] modest three-story homes and the way in which the inhabitants conducted themselves within were dictated by elaborate codes of behavior” (MASSEY 7). People of the Victorian middle class, settling in new suburban cities, found it important to be able to expose their wealth, social status, and behavior skills. Exposing themselves like this allowed others to see who exactly they were; they were illustrating themselves through their homes.


ILLUMINATION

Illumination is a means of adding light to a piece of work or simply enhancing a specific element of a project. In the nineteenth century French revival style, rooms on the first and second floors “were lighted by inset windows; some were top-lit instead” (BLAKEMORE 378).

“a skylight illuminated a centrally places staircase of white Carrara marble which forms the centerpiece of the whole design” (MASSEY 37).


SOURCE

A source is a person place or thing from which something comes or can be obtained. Sources are often used as inspirations for new ideas and concepts. “While designers imitated past styles” during the second empire in France, “they also made a conscious attempt to develop a new fashion” (BLAKEMORE 380). Taking some aspects of past designs and styles, new ideas are formed using these outside influences as a main source of the new idea.

“The Victorian Gothic revival was mainly inspired by Pugin and his interiors for the new Houses of Parliament building designed by Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860)” (MASSEY 9).

“For the grander type of interior the prevalent style was the Beaux-Arts, so called because its source was in the teaching of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris” (MASSEY 31).


ROTATION

A rotation is the act of turning about an axis to form new perspectives or views. The idea of rotating an object is useful in that it allows the viewer to change the way they observe the piece of work, thus permitting them to form different forms of interpretation. A model might have a completely different meaning when turned upside down or on its side.



My last studio project does a good job of expressing the idea of rotation. By turning the object around its center axis, light is able to hit it from different angles, thus creating different shadows on and around the project itself.

GRAMMAR: SYNTAX [opus 8]

REVISIONS

A revision is considered to be the altering of something in light of new ideas. Revisions can occur for many different reasons, such as to fix a problem, to incorporate a new concept, or to add more to the original idea. When Bernini was working with the Vatican palace, he ran into some problems with the existing buildings that forced him to revise his original idea. “His solution was to divide the piazza into two parts, the portion immediately next to the façade being a trapezoid and the more distant portion an oval enclosed by curved Tuscan Doric colonnades focused on two fountains” (ROTH 408).




The first drawing detail I did for the MHRA building in drawing class was a quick representation of the hallway on the first floor.



After some feedback, I revised the drawing , got more feedback, and revised it one last time to compose a final drawing.



In modern day design, revisions are made all the time, as they were during Bernini’s time as well. Some of the drawings I did for drawing class started out as a thumbnail. After quickly drawing the basic parts of the scene, I went back to revise it by enlarging and adding more detail. After a final critique from classmates and professors, I revised it one more time and took into account all of the feedback I received.


TRANSITION

Transition is the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. The transition from one stage to the next shows how a person or object evolves through time, taking their surrounding society into consideration while in the process. As the Gothic era of architecture came to an end, it “became more and more elaborate, with proliferating ribs that eventually became free of the vault surface altogether” (ROTH 398). In a more literal sense, Giacomo della Pota was “inspired by Alberti, and used large, curved volutes to make the transition from the high nave to the lower side chapels” on the façade of the Gesu (ROTH 401). A literal, and visual, transition on the building itself brings the entire façade together and lets all of the varying designs flow as one.
With language evolving and information traveling faster, architecture and design began to move away from aesthetics being considered the most prominent commodity in a design. Instead, structure became more important and aesthetics succeeded it. “By the time Vierzehnheiligen was being completed in the early 1770s… a radical change was already well established in France, an abrupt turn toward a fully rational architecture” (ROTH 435). Rationally, the structure of a building should be the first thing to consider; with non-structural design closely following.


DATUM

A datum is a standard position or level that measurements are taken from. Serving as the starting point for any drawing or form of design, a datum determines the dimensionality of the rest of a project. In assembling a presentation board for the design drawing class, finding a datum was the first step to figuring out how to layout all of our work on the board.



Focusing more on the center of the board, consisting of our two diagrams and the title, the measurements outward are all uniform. All of the drawings around the edge of the board have the same size border and spacing between them. Although not everything design is based off a datum, the ones that are show a greater sense of unity and help tie the entire project together.

Another example of datum is how measurements add up and work together to form an object. In our drafting class, we worked on using these measurements to form different views of houses.







CHARACTER

Character is the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual or the distinctive nature of something. Character can usually be seen through the work and actions of an individual. For example, “Bernini’s prodigious creations in architecture, sculpture, painting, and theater design, coupled with his air of confident buoyancy and social ease, brought him international acclaim” (ROTH 409). Bernini’s confident personality was illustrated throughout his work, which the public commended him on. Bernini let his character show through his work, thus making his work stand out from others.




Cassiano dal Pozzo commented on good architectural designers “who took the true proportions of those perfectly regular orders from Roman buildings. Departing from these always leads to errors” (ROTH 397). The distinctive quality of Pozzo’s time period was to observe and abide by the rules, thus breaking them was out of the question and constituted for an unsuccessful design. Designers today have rules to follow and regulations to abide by, yet there are still those who design outside of the box and break the rules.


AUDIENCE

An audience is a group of assembled spectators or listeners at a public event or meeting, or simply people giving their attention to something. In the early Georgian period in England, “Versatility in planning to accommodate social events was the motivating force” for the change in space planning (BLAKEMORE 250). Hagely Hall, for example, “was flexibly arranged to accommodate guests of different numbers” (BLAKEMORE 251). The change in social gatherings affected the society so much so that architecture and design evolved from the purpose of structure and shelter to pleasing an audience and showing off wealth.
An aspect of audience is present in every form of media today, whether it be in movies, books, or design. An audience is the most important form of critique for any final product. With forms of transportation beginning to expand, information traveled quicker from empire to empire. So, a critique of an architect or designer’s work from Paris was soon known throughout all of France and sometimes further than that. The progress of language allowed for information, of a piece of work or any other medium, to travel beyond one empire.


SYNOPSIS

This week’s Opus title, GRAMMAR: SYNTAX brings together the ideas of revision, datum, character, transition, and audience, which all deal with the idea of language. In a prototype of any design, feedback is given, and revisions are made in order to better the quality of the product by taking the criticism into account. Without the language of feedback, revisions would not be as meaningful and necessary to a project. A datum, serving as the starting point of a project in which everything else derives from, represents the language within the piece of work itself. A datum unifies a project because of its relation to everything else in the design, thus there is a strong language between the datum and the remainder of the project. The character of an architect or designer can often be seen throughout their design, which lets their product stand out from others. The language between the designer and the design is a strong one that allows its audience to understand their thoughts through their design. Both a literal transition or color or form, and a transition from idea to idea show how the surrounding society influences the world of architecture and design. With information and language traveling through the expansion of transportation, an audience is able to voice their opinions or carry conversations with others about a piece of work, thus circling back around to giving the designer feedback for revisions.

P Week [opus 7]

PERIPHERY

Periphery refers to the outer limits or edge of an area or object, or a boundary. A gate, for example, serves as a good periphery, or outer edge, to a city or a building. The periphery of an object or a space is used to define what that object or space is.


PERSPECTIVE

Perspective is the art of drawings objects on a two-dimensional surface in which all measurements are proportional to each other. It can also be defined as a point of view. In the English Renaissance, Sir Henry Wotton “advocated elimination of excessive ornamentation; orientation of rooms according to points of the compass; adjacencies of rooms of related function… and changed to correct the weakness of the room arrangement whereby the innermost room could be accessed only by going through all the other rooms” (BLAKEMORE 131).

In the era of the Italian Baroque, Harold Osborne commented on the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power that “This…is a triumph of ILLUSIONISM for the centre of the ceiling appears open to the sky and the figures seen from below appear to come down into the room as well as soar out of it” (BLAKEMORE 154). This idea of an optical illusion is a good example of perspective because of how real the painting looks to its audience.


One point perspective


Two point perspective


An example of a building drawn in two point perspective

In a more literal sense of the word, perspective was used in spatial relationships and designs. In the Palazzo Barbernini during the Italian Baroque, “The surrounds of the third floor windows are in feigned perspective” (BLAKEMORE 155).


PROCESS

A process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. In the transitional phases of the French Renaissance “modifications to the floor plan were least affected by the advent of the Renaissance. Gradually, emphasis was given to symmetry, rectangular plans, and uniform spacing” (BLAKEMORE 114). Also in the French Renaissance, “Decorative processes included marquetry, inlay, carving, and polychrome enhancement” (BLAKEMORE 121).


PROFESSIONAL

A professional is thought of as someone who is engaged in a specific activity as their paid occupation rather than a pastime. Last week, we had the pleasure of attending the Design, Art, and Technology Symposium at High Point University where we heard Alexander Julian talk about his professional life.

Alexander Julian


PORTFOLIO

A portfolio is an encasement for a set of drawings, papers, or other types of loose document. It can be a physical case, like the one drawn below, or it can be a digital portfolio.

Rather than a simple collection of every piece of work done by an artist, a designer's portfolio contains a set of well-crafted and revised projects, drawings, and other work that can be used to illustrate the designer's full potential.


SYNOPSIS

This week’s opus, entitled “P-week” brings together the ideas of periphery, portfolio, process, professional, perspective, and portfolio. The idea of proportion, however, fits with this week’s words as well. In the French Renaissance period, “proportionate relationship between form and decorative detail” was a key factor in furniture design (BLAKEMORE 121). In the English Renaissance, “the precise tenets [of design] revolved around order and proportion” (BLAKEMORE 130). During the Italian Baroque, “grand proportions of rooms were typical of Baroque interiors” (BLAKEMORE 157). All of these words together can be used to describe what we should be thinking about upon obtaining a professional career.

MICRO : MARCO [opus 6]

PORCH : COURT : HEARTH

The idea of Porch : Court : Hearth is that there are three main areas to any space, the gateway, the large (and usually open) common area, and the most important feature or attraction of the space. An area is “often opened from a great court, a feature continuing into later residential architecture… a porch, an optional anteroom, and a hall (the largest space) with the center of the hall being “a circular hearth set with a raised edge” (BLAKEMORE, 31).

Another example is in Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, where “the entrance to the hall was from the screens passage at the lower end of the hall…which led to courts on either side of this nucleus of the medieval house. The purpose of each of these was to divert drafts from the central hearth” (BLAKEMORE 71). Whether it is found in a specific building or by looking at an entire city, almost everything contains these three components both in the Middle Ages and in modern day.

IMPRESSION

An impression can be described as an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, an imitation of a person or a thing, or a marked impressed on a surface. Printing is an example of an impression because the words are literally engraved into the paper. In the Italian Renaissance, “Engraved wood blocks and copper plates were new printing techniques that stimulated the dissemination of information from these treatises and spread new designs to other areas of Italy and Europe” (BLAKEMORE 92). Impressions were not only used to convey information, but they were also used as artwork or details in architecture.

DETAIL

A detail can be described as an individual feature or item. Interior architecture and decoration in the Middle Ages illustrates “enhancement with paint was through flat color application as well as decorative treatments, among which were simulations of masonry by using colored lines on plaster washed, ornamental detail applied to friezes, and figurative events on such areas as friezes or murals on walls” (BLAKEMORE 75).
Although details seem as though they are used for the sole purpose of aesthetics, they can also be used and manipulated in a way to make a space seem larger. In the Italian Renaissance, “both woodworking techniques and painting were used to extend space” (BLAKEMORE 97).

Detail can be found on anything; walls, furniture, etc. and incorporates ideas from outside sources as the amount and style of detail continue to evolve. “Ornamental detail for interiors and furniture largely revolved around the design vocabulary of the classical Roman period” (BLAKEMORE 112).

COMPOSITION

A composition is something that is composed of multiple elements. One of the most well known forms of composition, in both architecture as well as entire cities, is the megaron. The magaron is “comprised of three components: (1) a hall, (2) a storeroom at the back, and, later, (3) a porch” (BLAKEMORE 30-31). Composition also has a lot to do with functionality. The composition of something can change based on what it is being used for. “As functional and social needs shifted over the course of the Middle Ages, the space finally became an entrance hall in the late Tudor period in England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603” (BLAKEMORE 71). The overall composition of the area changed as the social needs and function of the space began to evolve. In any design, composition needs to be taken into account by means of how the client wants a space to be laid out, what feelings the client wants the space to portray, etc.

DIAGRAM

A diagram is a means of showing a space's use or intended use.
In the Renaissance period, for example, “the plan consisted of an octagonal star-shaped city with streets radiating from a central market square. Antonio Averlino… was the first Renaissance designer to use the ideal form of the circle as the basis for a city plan” (ROTH 360-361).



This is an example of a functional diagram of the first floor of the MHRA building on campus. Different than a normal floor plan, this functional diagram shows what parts of the building are being used for.

SYNOPSIS

This week’s Opus title, Micro : Macro does a good job of describing large ideas like Porch : Court : Hearth as well as smaller ideas like detail. Porch : Court : Hearth is a specific type of composition which can be shown through a diagram. The details that are incorporated within the design, as well as the structure of the design itself, allows the viewer to form their own impression of the space and also illustrates the designer’s impression of what they feel the space is.

Voices: [Opus 5]

PRESENCE

Presence refers to the state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing. “Civil and religious building forms therefore became both heavy and massive defensive refuges from the uncertainties of everyday life and impressive gateways to a promised better afterlife” (ROTH 301). The presence of war and enemies influenced new design techniques and ideas.

This picture, from France Belleville's blog, wagonized, portrays the scene through pencil and shading techniques.

reference

PRECEDENT

A precedent is an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances. For example, “wood paneling was introduced in the medieval period for screens,” and was later modified and “more prominently employed in the sixteenth century” (BLAKEMORE, 76).

Common monasteries that were erected in the Middle Ages served as good precedents for design ideas in the near future. “The origin of the parlor,” for instance, “is uncertain, but it is known that early in the Middle Ages these spaces were part of the monastic dwelling” (BLAKEMORE 72).


MOMENTS

A particular stage in something’s development or in a course of events. “Built at the top of a steeply sloped, rocky knob in the lower slopes of the French Pyrenees above Prades, it is reached only after an arduous forty-five minute climb on foot. A small monastery, its irregular plan is adjusted to the site” (ROTH 310). The secluded nature of the monastery creates a moment once you have reached the top. After a treacherous climb, the sight in itself creates a moment of solitude.


One of our drawing warm-ups in class the other day was to draw blind contour. Not being able to look at what you think is right on the page forces you to draw only what you see and not what you think you see, creating a visual moment that is different from any other drawings.
“A French chair of the fifteenth century is characterized by verticality, a tracerylike design for the cresting of the back, and the linenfold carved on the panels, both on the back and under the seat” (BLAKEMORE, 82). The duality of designs creates a moment for the chair.


DUALITY

Duality is the idea of two parts, elements, or aspects, coming together to form one idea or thing. In the early middle ages, medieval monasteries “became places of refuge from uncertainty in the outer world and the recipients of gifts of land and buildings from local lords seeking absolution from sin or the assurance of heaven” (ROTH 308)“This entire easterly combination of parts – choir, ambulatory, and radiating chapel – came to be called the chavet in France” (ROTH 318).

The interior of the choir ambulatory in Saint – Denis combines “rib vaults and pointed arches with careful resolution of structural forces…architects were able to achieve unprecedented lightness of structure and to open the walls to large panes of stained glass” (ROTH 331).

METRIC

The word ‘metric’ refers to a system or standard of measurement. In this week’s set of words, I feel that metric has more to do with the system than with a specific form of measurement. There have been many successful systems throughout history including the Roman Empire, where “the allegiance to a distant central government and a single emperor [is] a system that has prevailed” (ROTH 305). In France, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, “churches in monasteries set up a network of way stations like a giant fan that directed the faithful toward the Pyrenees” (ROTH 316-317). This system of way stations is one that worked for the French. More literally, scale played a big part in architecture. “The massiveness of Romanesque architecture is well illustrated in the monastic Church of Saint Michael” (ROTH 314).

In our studio projects, a metric scale helps us to envision the moment that our project creates. My focus word for this project was balance and the scale model incorporated into my model shows the relationship between the object and a human being. Without some sort of metric scale, I would not have been able to portray my model and person accurately.


SYNOPSIS

This week's set of words made me think about how people interpret different works. For instance, how a precedent is transformed and incorporated into a project, how their presence is known and seen throughout the piece, the technicalities and system the piece follows, and how those two come together and create a moment for the viewer.