5. D., Francis, Mark M., and Vikramaditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. Wiley, 2010. 518-519. Print.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
"Happy Place" BP7
I think "Architecture of Happiness" is defined individually as a series of guidelines that can be found in spaces that make one happy. For example, my guidelines would state that a space (usually, at least) should be simple, bright, clean, warm, and memorable. On campus, I have found a few places that follow my guidelines, one is the meditation area that is located in the EUC. This space has blue-grey walls and a very simple carpet that enables the room to have a calming effect. It utilizes both ceiling and natural light to create a bright glow to the room. Every time I have visited it, it has had the perfect "not too hot, not too cold" temperature. It is kept clean by the EUC staff. The meditation room follows all of my guidelines and I definitely feel happy when in this wonderfully created place. I believe that each person has their own thoughts about what the architecture of happiness is, it changes because people have different styles and personalities.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Small Group Ecology -Robert Sommer
The theory reading for this week was focused on the sociology surrounding small groups and the spaces they are put in. Sommers defines a group as "face to face aggregationof individuals who have some shared purpose of being toghether." The studies performed showed that certain arangements of people are good for specific activities but not for all. Additionally, people chose to sit face to face rather than diagonally for casual conversation. Comfortable seating arangements consider both physical proximity and visual contact. This article helped me make decisions about the size and shape of the table in the space i am designing and the space needed for each person to be comfortable.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
"The Tomb of Sultan Qalawun" (RR6)
13th/14th century A.D
On a street in Cairo sit five madrasas. A madrasa is defined in Ching's book as "a Muslim theological school." These buildings are built directly beside one another, not far from the Sultan's palace. All of them facing Mecca, the Islamic sacred place. Although most tombs were not allowed to be inside the city, these schools were each linked with the mausoleum of a sultan. 
One of the most magnificent tombs belonged to, and still does in his death, Sultan Qalawun. I would describe the tomb to be gothic style with an egyptian twist. The main structure is rather octagonal while the tomb itself is very close to being completely square. Inside the tomb, a set of eight piers and columns refer back to the octagonal architecture. Atop the piers and columns are pointed arches that support an enormous dome. The columns are Corinthian and made of marble. The walls are said to be covered with astonishing decorations of mosaics and marble.
http://nmhtthornton.com/mehistorydatabase/fatimid_mamluk_architecture_cairo.php
D., Francis, Mark M., and Vikramaditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. 2nd. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. 412-413. Print.
"Medieval Cathedral" BP6
After splitting up into groups on Friday, my group took a look at the Salisbury Cathedral in England with the Duomo Cathedral in Italy. We used our first impressions of the buildings to help us find comparisons and contrasts between them.
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| Salisbury showing symmetry |
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| Salisbury looming over everything else |
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| Duomo looming over everything else |
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| Duomo showing symmetry |
-Both are massive structures.
-Both are very symmetrical.
-Both have a wide nave and a set of transepts, the Duomo has wider architecture than the Salisbury.
-Both have exquisite surface decoration on the outside of the building.
-Both have arches.
-The Salisbury Cathedral has a stricter looking style of architecture while the Duomo has a bubblier style of architecture.
-Both have large arches, but the Salisbury has pointed ones and the Duomo has rounded ones.
-The Salisbury has a lot of sharp edges, but the Duomo seems to hide it's edges by making shapes similar to circles, like octagons.
-Circular windows can be found in the Duomo unlike the tall skinny ones of the Salisbury.
-Both pieces of architecture are huge compared to other architecture around them.
-Both have large, open, spaces.
-Both have amazing murals painted on the inside.
I believe that both of these structures represent the region they were constructed in. For example, both of them were rebuilt at a time when their cities were growing and changing as well. Moreover, The Salisbury was built quickly and stuck to it's gothic style while the Duomo was built slowly and changed from gothic to roman style over time. Furthermore, the fact that they are in the center of the city, surrounded by everything else symbolizes that the church had a lot of power.
This is a depiction of the Medieval Times. Basically, in the middle of the circle is a church combined with a castle, this shows that both Royalty and the Church had power over everyone. Surrounding the castle/church is food and money, brought to them through tithes and taxes. The little pentagons represent the small, bland, houses of the peasants.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Unit Summary
And we are on to Unit Two! The following is a summary of my depiction of Unit One.
- UNIT ONE
- "There is a great need to revise and broaden our view of the human situation, a need to be both comprehensive and more realistic, not only about others, but about ourselves as well." - E.T Hall
- Description, Deduction, and Speculation as well as Double Meaning, Maps of Meaning, and Subculture.
- Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay, a short book about interpreting the past, 3000 years after the world is destroyed in 2011. It is really interesting and shows how very wrong we could be about how we interpret archeological finds from the past.
- Plurality, rather than singular ideas.
- Stone Henge, what is it about? Stone Henge is a series of standing stones in a perfect circle. Some of the stone openings align with certain aspects of outer space. There are about 500 other Stone Henge-esq, circular, stone organizations found on earth. Apparently 20 miles away from stone henge a wooden model it was found, The model was precise and exactly the same size and scale as Stone Henge! Stone Henge was NOT a burial site.
- We began to look at what the design concept of a circle might be. It marks something that isn the center as sacred. Is it religious? You can either be inside or outside the circle, some things or people are included and some are not. A circle geometrically and structurally relies on all of the parts.
- PYRAMIDS! Pyramids are like upward arrows. The size and weight mattered greatly. They are light weight (respectively) because you had to carry your tomb when you got to the after life. Heliopolis: City of the Sun.
- Elements of design: CIRCLES, GROVES, STACKS, PEOPLE:
- CIRCLES: sun & moon, sacred spots
- GROVES: groves of trees, reaching vertical, groups of people
- STACKS: mountains, gathering recourses
- PEOPLE: emulating the human body
- Prototype vs. Archetype
- Archetype: The original pattern or model
- Prototype: Something that follows the pattern given by the archetype
- First civilizations looked at nature for things to emulate.
- Repetition can lead to:
- contrast/unity
- emphasis/harmony
- balance/proportion
- We thought about if environments influenced rituals or vice versa, it's virtually impossible to know. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
- Greek Temples and Palaces:
- Minoan: 3000-1400 BCE
- Mycenae: 1400-1200 BCE
- Helenistic: 500-30 BCE
- Greek temples and palaces use the archeological qualities of both Stacks and Groves
- Their relationship between ratio, relative importance, and balance.
- Columns
- Doric
- Ionic
- Corinthian
- Tuscan
- Composite
- We looked at the temple of Hera and the two temples of Athena of Nike
- How do we view sculpture?
- It is usually unpainted
- Terracotta Army, two thousand out of eight thousand warriors have been uncovered and not two sculptures are the same.
- As a group we compared the Acropolis vs. the Xianyang by looking at space, power, precedent, order, experience, principles, site, scale, technology, and surface.
- COMMODITY, FIRMNESS, AND DELIGHT
- Utilitas: (commodity) useful arangement, quality, and interrelationship of spaces.
- Firmitas: (firmness) performance, stability, integration, safety.
- Venustas: (delight) ability to create a sense of place, a positive effect, aesthetics.
- Rome
- Plan: Cardo+Decumanus
- Road: All roads lead to Rome
- Aqueduct: aqua vitae
- Bath: architecture + ritual
- Basilica: gathering place
- Temple: adaption, frontal orientation
- Column: Wu-wu
- Market: edge
- Forum: major open space
- Amphitheatre: atop landscape instead of in it
- Colosseum: bread and circuses
- Dome: bring the world under one roof
- Rome was primarily a military society.
- Roman urbanizations used a grid method, much like our cities today.
- Aqueduct translates as "water over water"
- How to create a Roman City:
- First roads, then water
- Include baths that help show social status by the time that you are allowed to go
- Use color
- Wu-wu columns, they were built to represent one's power. The bigger the column the more powerful the person. It's not difficult to figure out why it is referred to as a "wu-wu.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Solstice Celebration
It is June 21st, 2015 and it is a busy day for my family. We wake up early and begin to get things ready for the International Summer Solstice Celebration that will later be held at my house.
Two months ago, my family and I joined the new social networking site: “International Solstice Socialization” in preparation for ISS day. Through the site, we were assigned a family from each continent. Then, through Skype chat and video calls we got to know the families. We explained our traditions to one another and traded our favorite holiday recipes.
Today we are hard at work, cooking and cleaning. My grandparents will be joining us for a meal, which will be served at precisely 4:28 this evening. Seeing as it will be after lunch time but not quite be dinner time, we just have snacks all day long and save our appetites for the big meal. We collectively prepare six dishes. Those six are recipes that were given to us by and are special to our friends we met through ISSocialization.com. In addition to those dishes, we also make things that we traditionally enjoy.
At four o'clock my grandparents arrive at my house and we all visit for a little while. Just before four thirty we set the food on the lazy susan in the center of our large circular dining room table. Everyone takes a seat and we turn on the screens, each one connected, through Skype, to each of our ISS families. Each family takes turns explaining traditions.
By the end of the meal everyone is happy and full. As we say goodbye to our guests through technology, we look forward to seeing them once again in December for the Winter Solstice Celebration.
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