Reading Comprehension 6

1. Art Nouveau was an experimental style of design where historical styles were rejected and motifs were used as a different approach to architecture. Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France are both places where this style is seen in. Antonio Gaudi had designed many buildings of this style in Spain. One of the more popular is Casa Battlo, an apartment building that he restored. Gaudi was interested in surrealism and the concept of skin and bones. He used this idea of bones and the human body as a motif for the new façade of the building that he was designing. Hector Guimard was a French architect who was also a key member of the Art Nouveau movement. He designed stations for the new electrified underground Paris mass-transit railroads, aka the Metropolitan (Roth, 514). His station designs were inspired by plants and made of cast iron and ceramic parts.

allposters.com

en.wikipedia.org

2. “A house is a machine for living - it should be as practical as a typewriter, a telephone, an automobile” – Le Corbusier

Practicality and convenience is something that the modern movement was bringing to people. Typically only those who could afford it were receiving this sort of luxury. Le Corbusier designed an apartment complex in 1946 in France, for middle class citizens to live in – the Unite d’Habitacion. It was extremely practical, including daily necessities like an internal shopping street halfway up in the complex, a recreation area and children’s nursery on the roof, a grocery store, and more. These things, along with cheaper prices for a unit, made this residence a true machine for living – it was just easy to do. In my opinion, the idea of “less is more” can be related back to commodity, firmness and delight. As long as a building has those 3, I don’t think it needs anything else. Unite d’Habitacion is as simple as that. It has commodities in all the conveniences included for the residents. Firmness is there in the good construction, using concrete and a frame to built it, it stands several stories high and inhabits 1600 people. And lastly, the building is certainly delightful to the eye, using all Le Corbusier’s five points of architecture (pilotis, ribbon windows, free plan, roof space, and inspiration from the machine).

galinsky.com/buildings/marseille

galinsky.com/buildings/marseille

I think this building and overall style of how it was designed was a huge inspiration for similar buildings today. The idea of conveniences and making things more practical for people is seen everywhere. A local example would be the Spring Garden Apartments on the UNCG – there is a food mart on the first floor, making it convenient for the residents to do grocery-shopping right there. The Bryan School of Business Building on campus also has a food court inside it to make it convenient for students there.

3. The conference room at Casa del Fascio by Giuseppe Terragni is shown (Massey, 87) in black and white. This modern interior is far from that, with a brightly colored graphic wall finishing off this conference room.

Massey, 87

Reflections Summary

The three people I chose to look at all used photos that were more a symbol of what the unit represented to them, unlike others who picked a building or space to show reflections.

Caitlyn represented the reflections unit as a rubix cube, showing the way different colors could come together just like different design languages come together. This is what first caught my attention about her essay. She talks about more current capital buildings getting inspiration from buildings like the Parthenon and other Greek temples. Also, there is inspiration from Palladian, Roman and Greek styles. Then she goes on to talk about The Crystal Palace and Worlds Fair, how it brought together so many different styles into one thing that people could celebrate. These all relate back to the rubix cube and how it brings together all different aspects to make one overall design.

http://www.dimensionsguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Rubiks-Cube.png

Katherine wrote about the reflections unit in terms of a cartwheel to show revolution. Like we talked about in class, this is a good way to show the cycle and the different steps involved. Her essay is primarily about this idea of changing and flipping the world on its head. She mentions how designers look back at history and ponder on what could be done better and what comes next.

Lastly, Jasmine related this unit to an amusement park and the rotation involved. She starts by talking about foundations and how they start out as just a thought and evolve into something greater. She then goes on to discuss how all different cultures merged together, creating new ideas and trading ideas collectively.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2374/2052318808_c35e9ad90c.jpg

Alternatives Summary

Kayla related architecture to pizza and how it has changed from traditional Italian pizza, to what is found in the freezer department at grocery stores. I think this represents the alternatives unit very well. Her main point is how people look back at the foundations of architecture, while looking forward and seeing how the boundaries can be stretched and eventually even broken.

Nathan chose a picture that represents the unit well, the two statues of David, one by Michelangelo and the other by Bernini. This perfectly shows how things became out of the box, by taking one thing and doing it a completely different way. He talks about movement and how it was relevant during the Baroque period.

http://www.homeschoolonline.co.uk/images/stories/art/baroque/comparison-of-michelangelo-david.jpg

In Sharece’s essay, she explains alternatives in history as the recognition of rules followed by breaking those rules and rebellion. This simply puts the unit together and describes what its about. She talks about different time periods like Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque and how they have changed. Her picture is a symbol of the unit, showing arrows and how there are many different directions presented to us but it doesn’t mean we are forced to follow those paths.

http://www.norcalblogs.com/sustainable/2008/10/

Point: Reflections

A revolution can be defined as a dramatic and wide-reaching change in the way something works or is organized or in people's ideas about it. In class, we talked about revolutions in design, one of the key aspects of our reflections unit. A revolution has four main steps that are involved: 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). This revolution cycle happens every time there is a change.

The revival is something that is more noticeable in the cycle of revolution. There have been many revivals around the world. One that we looked at specifically in class was the Gothic Revival. Strawberry Hill in England is a great example of gothic revival. The library specifically uses gothic fanned arches and elements that point to heaven, popular of the gothic style.

Another main theme of this unit was the way east met west in regards to design language. The east greatly inspired the west in a way that is undeniable, through all four aspects of artifact, space, building and place. The way these other design styles were used in the west was a way for people to escape from what they were used to. There was so much excitement over the eastern style being used – it was like a fantasy land. Chinese bowls and plates were inspiration to western carpets and wallpaper. Silk was imported from China and used for Chinoiserie clothing. The Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England is both an example of space and building inspired by the east. The building looks like it should be in India, while the interior is purely inspired by China. The banqueting hall in particular, shows eastern design and appears as if it has everything shoved into it. A place that has eastern inspiration is The Worlds Fair 1851 in London, England. It was an international exhibition that took place at the Crystal Palace.

The reflections unit relates to my own design work in the way cycles are used. I feel like each year, or maybe even each semester, as an iarc student is a new cycle or revolution in a way. I think I have progressed and changed the way I do things since the beginning of my first year. Even before iarc could be considered a cycle in itself. But at the beginning of each new revolution for me I can see how I have experienced revival, reform, rotation, and cycle.

http://decorartsnow.com/2009/11/

Although I think of Gothic Revival as more of the 19^th century or so, it can still be found today. I chose this picture to describe the reflections unit because it shows that revival of styles that were hundreds of years ago can and do still occur. This castle was recently built in New York along the Hudson River. It was inspired by the Hampton Court Palace in southern England. Not only the exterior, but the interior of the 21^st century castle is also a showcase of Gothic style, including a barrel vaulted ceiling in the garden room, arches through out, and overall style of the architecture.

Reading Comprehension 5

1. I think that the Sideboard table (Harwood p. 503) is a good representation of revolution in design. The skinny tapered legs were a new design used to show wealth. They allowed for a lot of things to be placed on top, looking heavy because of the skinny, weak looking legs. This made an optical illusion to look like there was more weight on top, therefore giving the appearance of more wealth showcased.

2.

http://www.spencermarks.com/html/k514.html

ARTIFACT: This teapot was designed for the governor of Maryland in 1934. It is covered in chinoiserie foliate design that makes the teapot stand out from typical western artifacts. The pot is made by repousse which is a style used with metal where a design is hammered from the reverse side. The pattern includes several motifs that are represented in Chinese art, such as: landscape designs, various pagoda structures, boats, floral designs, and figural swan finials.

http://atlasobscura.com/place/the-royal-pavilion

SPACE: The Banqueting Room at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England has a very Indian inspired style with chinoiserie interiors. The Banqueting Room is extremely busy looking and seems like all different styles are shoved into one room.

http://testnews.camera-images.co.uk/locations/Nature/Gardens/History_Kew_Gardens.htm

BUILDING: The pagoda at Kew Gardens is 10 stories high and each level is octagonal shaped. When it was built, the pagoda had a roof that had a dragon perched at each corner. Dragons are common in Asian design, being a symbol of power, strength, success, luck and honor. The pagoda was also originally very colorful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_interior.jpg

PLACE: In 1851, the first World’s Fair took place at the Crystal Palace in London. It was the first international exhibition of manufactured products.

Counterpoint: Clock

Point: Alternatives

In the alternative unit, architects attempted to find alternate ways of doing similar things that were done in the foundations unit. During the Renaissance period, architecture was all about reviving the classics and alternating it to suit their own needs. The Baroque style, on the other hand, was more about testing their boundaries of what could be done, and breaking rules of the former period.

In class, we talked about what the top ten rules of the Renaissance might be. We came up with these: single decorative façade, revive the classics, man is the measure of all things, separation of spaces, harmony through repetition, geometric patterning, patronage dominates the building industry, no building is just one style, boundaries, edges, and borders are important, and separation of public and private. The Chateau Chambord in France is a good example of how different styles come together to form something new in the Renaissance style. The castle combines two main styles – by having a Gothic top half and Classical bottom. The chateau was originally built as a hunting lodge and was altered considerable during the 20 years after it was built in order to excel. Showing almost (if not all) of the rules of the Renaissance, this castle is an archetype of Renaissance architecture.

In contrast to the Renaissance period, Baroque style is much different. Some rules we came up with were: fluidity, lack of boundaries, challenged authority, innovative, tested limits, and use of drama. The Giardino di Boboli is a great example of the Baroque style. The design of this garden was originally supposed to be of Renaissance style and more classical. But as time went on, the design had changed and captured the drama of the early Baroque period. The site uses all of what is included – the garden, trees, hill, and water with tricks to showcase theatricality. Bernini’s David is yet another example of Baroque and how it challenges authority. This statue of the biblical character can be compared to Michelangelo’s statuary version of David which is of the Renaissance style. A typical example of inside of the box (Renaissance) versus out of the box (Baroque) can be seen here. Michelangelo shows David at a standstill, copying forms of Greek sculpture in the way David is posed. There is very little movement going on and his stance is confident. Bernini’s version of David is very different. David is shown in the midst of movement (movement was a popular study for Baroque artists). Bernini’s David took a spin off of what people were used to and did something new and dramatic.

The idea of creating alternate ways of doing things is something that affects my own design work. I’m pretty sure most designers don’t go with the first thing that pops into their heads when designing something. I know when I design something, it takes many cycles of rethinking and reworking what I already have and eventually coming up with something that works. I find alternative ways of making something work to suit the needs better, just like the architects from the alternative unit did.

tokyo5.wordpress.com

mac.tgbus.com

For my image representing Alternatives, I chose to show a Sony Walkman (1979) and an Apple iPod Touch (2007). The designer of the iPod used what the Walkman and other portable music players could do but alternated it and changed it to be more convenient for its users when it was created.