Explorations-Top Ten

Durham, NC


LACK shelves, IKEA


Gattaca, 1997


Washington DC mall


The Fall, 2006


Monticello


Fallingwater


Versailles


Spanish Steps


Hill House, Mackintosh



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coming full circle

These are all images from my final studio project. We had to design a lounge to be used for the graduate students, that gave a sense of both celebration on meditation.






community

This first year of IARC has taught me a lot about community. We all rely on each other for help, inspriation, and friendship. In a greater sense, we are learning how to contribute to our global community. We are creating spaces that people will live in, work in, and use regularly. We have to understand the needs of the community and environment in order to successfully design for it. The images of my studio project show that I created a place the graduate students could enjoy together as a community, whether they are gathering together or alone.

stewardship

"The conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care." (source) We are currently in a new era of design called sustainability, and the goal of this is to design responsibly and take care of our environment. Humans are the ones in charge of this planet and yet we haven't done a very good job managing it. This is the same idea as with community; we have to carefully consider what we are designing and what it's implications will be.

innovation

It takes innovation to move society and the design world along. It takes "thinking differently" to break out of the norm and create something revolutionary. Our history class has showed us many innovative designs from the beginning, from the post and lintel system to the sky scrapers of the 21st century. However, innovation shouldn't be the goal of a designer. I think innovation is a result of trying to create a good design.

authenticity

Designers need to strive to be original and true to themselves, or else it's boring if everyone is designing the same thing. Everyone has an individual aesthetic that is just as interesting as the next person. Sometimes it can be hard to be yourself and you want to change to be accepted. However, you have to be yourself and possibly fail, because it's even worse if you fail while trying to be something you're not.

[pair]ing down...opus 13

meditation/celebration

Our assignment for the light habitat project was to create something that showed the duality of meditation and celebration. Above are photos of my final project. I created meditation through the soothing color and texture of the papers. There is a graduated rise to the center of my window which creates both meditation and celebration. This central focal point creates drama and energy, hence celebration.

light/shadow

I used different forms of paper to create different light effects. The white poster boards on the corners of the windows create more importance to the open triangle windows, which let in direct light. I chose the lace paper because it had a triangle pattern that mimicked my design. I wanted it to have a delicate look, yet have strength to resist tearing.

transpose/juxtapose

These words have to do with how you orient objects in a composition. My inspiration/precedent for the light habitat was the cuts of a gemstone, so I attempted to take those patterns and turn them into something more abstract. I changed the orientation of the triangle shapes found in those designs to create something that was my own. This involved moving shapes to be side by side.

literal/abstract

The balance of literal and abstract is something that we have dealt with a lot in studio this semester. We started out drawing inspiration from stories and trying to abstract them down to their essence. This principle is something that I now deal with through all my projects. It's very easy to get trapped in a design that is too literal, which is why we are always encouraged to abstract more.

monologue/dialogue

How objects relate and communicate with each other in a composition creates a monologue or dialogue.

ACTION VERBS Opus 12

The words for this weeks opus are action verbs, the things that we do in this program.

SPECULATE

Speculation has to do with thinking about and reflecting on a subject. This is the number one thing we have to do when designing. We have to think about the implications of our design, what it means, represents, and why we're doing it.

COMPOSE

Composition is something we have to deal with constantly, whether the design is 2D or 3D. We had some practice with this in Suzanne's class with our boards representing the places we visited on the trip. The point was to compose the drawings and the super graphic in a way that created fluidity. This is a holistic approach to design and composition.

ENERGIZE

Energy is something many of us are lacking in these final weeks, but it's essential to our world as designers. We need to have energy and passion for our work, as its impossible to create something without any love for it. That energy will show in your work through a successful composition.

SHAPE

This is my light habitat project from studio, of which shape was extremely important for me. I created a 2D shape that was custom to the window and then brought that shape into 3D.

STRETCH

Unit Summary: Reflections

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The reflections unit represents the Architecture parlent idea that came about at this time. This was a period when the rules of design were being re-written. Many changes were happening in the world, from revolutions to imperialism to technology. These events had an effect on how buildings and cities were designed, causing a new language to form in architecture. The major architectural movements that occurred at this time were classical revivals, Georgian, glass & iron use, Japonisme/Eastern influences, and the sky scrapers of Chicago and New York. The overall theme of this unit is that communication between countries created styles that imitated each other, yet encouraged them to find a unique aesthetic.

I chose an image from the 1893 World's Fair to represent this unit. The purpose of world fairs held at this time was to show off your country. We learned about previous ones held in Europe that were glass palaces, taking advantage of the glass and iron that were now available. This one held in Chicago was built in a classical revival because the architect who designed it was from New York. Chicago's design aesthetic at the time was searching for an "American" style, something that was different from the rest of the world. The buildings usually don't have a lot of ornamentation or classical details. The style in New York was highly influenced by Grecian and Roman revivals due to what those styles represent. Even though the World's Fair was held in Chicago, the organizers went with a New York designer so that it would have that kind of aesthetic. Perhaps they wanted the rest of the world to see classically designed buildings to show how important the U.S. was. For them, it was more important to show that the U.S. could stand up to the rest of the world, not necessarily the new design aesthetic we were creating.

Road Trip...Opus Eleven

Compression: Release

The growth of urban areas in the 19th century represents compression in society. Thousands of people were moving to big cities in America and Europe. The cities weren't designed to hold that capacity, so they had to be redesigned so that spaces weren't cramped. Napoleon had Paris re-planned, including new streets and water systems. "Numerous small parks were built throughout the city, and two enormous park preserves were created from royal hunting grounds were created at the west and east edges of the city; these Haussmann called 'the lungs of the city.' " (Roth pg. 491). The fact that the designers wanted to create an open space for people to enjoy showcases release, which is the exhale that comes from compression.

Materiality

The Industrial Revolution completely changed the world of architecture. Along with the need to provide more structures for more people, improvements in industry itself provided new materials to work with. "Architects were also presented with new building materials, cast and wrought iron as well as glass, in quantities never available before, thanks to improvements in mass production." (Roth pg. 471). Iron and glass affected what and how designers created. New possibilities in form were presented because of the pliability of iron. Glass allowed for huge buildings that reflected light as well as let it inside.

While working on our drawings for Suzanne, it was important to accurately render the materials used. In the above rendering, I showed materials such as wood, steel, fabric, and stone. The key is to give visual clues as to what the material is. When rendering the stainless steel refrigerator i left vertical strips to indicate light reflecting on it. Using gray over the whole image wouldn't have made it look like it was shining.
Roots

We use roots to understand how it is something began. Relating to history, the use of iron began for specific reasons. England did not have enough wood for the amount of people on the island. The use of iron came just in time to create new structures. "At the very time that the need for iron began to rise, the English forests were fast disappearing into the charcoal furnaces." (Roth pg. 462). The humble origins of using iron for building eventually became a hugely popular style, as evidenced by this structure:



Congruence

Design in the early 21st reflected many styles, some that were combined. Structures from previous centuries remain in many parts of Europe, and the Parliament building in London is no exception.

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"The Gothic details of the new work allowed it to join with the surviving medieval portions in such a way that the line between the two is nearly indiscernible." (Roth pg. 477)



Concept

It's extremely important to have a concept when designing something. Sometimes you have your idea or concept from the beginning, or sometimes it's something that gradually comes through in the design process. Regardless, a concept is something that helps guide you along in the process and make decisions. Why is it that many government structures in the U.S. have a classical style to them? An explanation from Roth: "Or a new governmental building might be Grecian in style to relate to the contemporaneous political struggle of the Greeks in the 1830's to rid themselves of centuries old Turkish domination." (Roth pg. 469) This quote explains using a historical precedent as a concept.

Between Silence and Light - Opus 10

craft

The trip to Falling Water and Monticello provided many lessons in the importance of craft. First, walking through Thomas Jefferson's house gives you a sense of all the hand-crafted elements created by woodworkers, artisans, and basically everything built. The different work places for wood, gardening, kitchens etc.also help you understand that everything found there was created locally and by skilled craftsmen.



The lesson at Falling Water is all about how a revolutionary technology at the time, steel reinforced concrete, was both a failure and success. Frank Lloyd Wright believed in his design, that the physics of the structure would work. However, there have been structural improvements in years pass to raise the cantilevered terraces. Yet even though the engineering wasn't perfect, it is still one of the most important pieces of architecture in the world. This is due to the fact that it is seamlessly integrated into the natural mountain environment. It is nestled into the rocks, which are even featured in parts of the house.

public/private

This is a photo I took at Monticello that I showed in my last opus:

I'm showing it again because it perfectly exemplifies the concept of public and private space. Jefferson reorganized the typical home at that time, so that the service areas would be hidden from guest. The work stations were located in two wings on the side of the home under ground. This way guests entering the back or front of the home could not see the workers.

Public and private space is an important duality that designers need to understand. What areas in a home are appropriate for everyone to see and use, and what areas do the owners want to remain private?

technique


The technique we observed at Falling water was the cantilevered balconies, built using reinforced concrete. This is something that was not done before, especially since it was built into the rocks of the mountains over the water.
Since the initial construction wasn't perfect, this house shows that risks need to be taken in design. Frank Lloyd Wright was told not to build this structure the way he wanted, yet he did anyways. It is a continuous lesson in technique, as the new tension system create to support it has to be re-tightened every so often. This proves that there is always more to learn when it comes to ways of doing things.



language

Language is used in design to communicate a message to the observer. Sometimes it takes time to understand, but other times it's overtly clear. When you enter Thomas Jefferson's home, you are overwhelmed with all of the objects on display. This area is like his own personal museum where he can show off Native American artifacts to visitors:


This communicates to his guests that he is well-traveled, read, and studies the world around him. He also revives classic details that represents power and government, a theme found in many buildings at this time.

virtual

The word virtual suggests creating something that isn't really there. Both of these homes were retreats built to escape the real world. Therefore, they were built in places no one would have thought. Falling water was crafted into the side of a mountain over water, whereas Jefferson flattened off a tall hill in order to build Monticello. These structures are almost unreal when you visit them and truly accomplish the goal of hideaway.

[Re]Actions...Opus 9

The 18th and 19th century was a time period of Enlightenment and people really started to study and think differently about the world. Philosophes had new ideas about society and government and there were new scientific and technological developments. Any sort of change that happens in a given society affects the design and architecture of that society as well. We have been studying these changes and new innovations in history class.

Rotation

An example of using rotation in design would be how Thomas Jefferson designed his home at Monticello. He needed a large amount of slave labor to sustain his home, but he didn't want there presence to be overwhelming. This is why he rotated the slaves quarters to the back of Monticello, comprised of two underground wings. That way when looking at monticello from the front or back all you see is the main house.

I took this photo from the side of Monticello showing where the service activity occurred.

Movement

These are some sketches I did of my studio project, which I wanted to convey a sense of movement.
Showing movement in drawings is important because it gives a sense of life to the image. Movement also refers to a physical act, which is something we consider whenever we design something at a human scale. This was the case when Washington DC was being planned in 1792. The idea was to create the city right between the North and the South, as a place to move through easily. It was designed in a grid pattern with cross diagonal boulevards, as this is a sensible way to control circulation.

Reflection

Reflection is about looking at what has come before and looking back on it. This is a theme we have seen many times so far in the history of architecture and it was no different during this time period. "By the beginning of the 19th century, architects were turning increasingly to specific source models, in a wide variety of historical styles, resulting in revivals of Greek and Roman Classicism, medieval and Gothic architecture, as well as Egyptian and even more exotic re-creations" (Roth pg. 461). For example, the Americans were establishing their new country and needed a style to build in. They chose to go back to the Greek style which came before the Roman. Roman structures were found all over Europe, which is what America was trying to disassociate from. The Greek style represented a more pure building form that better represented America.

Source

For studio this week, we were to design an artifact that used light and relied on natural light. That mean that whatever we created had to harness the natural light source that is available and use it in an intersting way. These are some of my sketch drawings:

My idea was to play with the light shining through cutouts and creating a pattern of light. Taking advantage of the natural light that is available to the world is something that is integral to design and architecture.

In history, we have been learning about how the industrial revolution had a huge impact on the architecture at this time period. New technologies such as glass and iron opened new possiblities for structures. Specifically, glass provided the opportunity to create huge glass buildings that let the sun pour inside. Some examples of this were greenhouses and the Crystal Palace in London:


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Illumination


In drawing class, we often learn techniques to show light sources in our drawings and how to illuminate drawings. These are some furniture renderings that I did:


We started learning the techniques to use markers and create successful drawings with them. To do this you have to use light and shadow to add depth to the objects. Leaving white spots gives the illusion of light shining directly on the furniture, while using grays to create shadows shows that that spot is not lit.

The word illumination also brings up the idea of shedding light on something new and looking at it in another perspective. In the 18th century, an architect named Ledoux had ideas for normal, industrial buildings that were much more creative and engaging than the ones that were typical at the time. Viewers of a house he wanted to design for a river surveyor noticed how "the boldness of this new architecture is contrasted to the old mills and their water wheels visible in the shadows in the foreground" (Roth pg. 450). He wanted to show that it wasn't just churches that called for interesting architecture and design.

Unit Summary: Alternatives

The previous unit, Foundations, taught us about the basic architectural structures that dotted the landscape of our world. They included the post and lintel system, the orders, arches, and “wuwus.” The Alternatives unit exposed what came next. How did people beginning in the middle ages take what came from the Ancient period and transform it into something new?

After the Roman Empire fell, there were lots of small kingdoms that came into power around the world. The overwhelming force that influenced buildings at this time was Christianity. The main type of building that was being built was the cathedral. Designers and church leaders wanted to push the envelope and builder as high as they possibly could, reaching heavenward. This is the exact same concept we saw in the past, such as at the pyramids at Giza.

Elaborate decoration was used on the surfaces of these churches. Geometric patterns were used on some of the facades, such as at San Miniato al monte in Italy. This type of pattern was used because they believed geometry was the universal language that brings order out of chaos. It also gives more balance to a composition because the parts make sense to the whole. There were also paintings on the walls and stained glass windows that detailed specific scenes from the bible. Most of the general public couldn’t read the bible, so the idea was to show the events in picture form so they could understand.

Light was an extremely important element in the architecture of a Gothic cathedral.  That is why I chose the above image as something that represents this entire unit.  It is the Amiens Cathedral in France.  This photo conveys how light was used in these buildings to create drama and emotion when entering the church.  The enormous height of the ceilings is also shown in this photo, which gives someone in the cathedral a humbling feeling.  These sensibilities of using architecture to create emotion is what characterizes the Alternatives unit.

We also learned in this unit about the Renaissance and changes that occurred in society.  These changes greatly influenced architecture and design of the day.  For instance, citizens began caring about the aesthetic qualities of their cities and the buildings in them.  At the Ospedale Innocenti, money was given by the public to create a foundling hospital.  In Rome, citizens wanted to create a more organized system of roads to make it easier for tourists in the city.  To people during the Renaissance, it was important to create a sense of order.  They wanted to make things more refined and balanced.

Another example of bringing order to architecture was the Palazzo.  This was a building form that organized commerce space, entertaining space, and family quarters.  These areas were separated into three different levels.  On the exterior facade, each level had a different finish and different treatments to the windows.  This sent a message to people viewing the building about what it was used for.

Designers during the Renaissance also reshaped the facades of buildings so that they flowed together better.  This was done at the Piazzo Campidoglio and San Pietro, which in turn created a more regular space the connects to the city.  Middle class families in France also unified the facades of their homes to create buildings that together looked like a huge palace.

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Opus 8 Grammar: Syntax

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This week we focused on the beginning of the Renaissance and how architecture changed from the Gothic period. This time period is know as Baroque. The above images are sculptures of David created by two different artists, Michelangelo and Bernini. Both of these men were fundamental influences to this movement. Even though the sculptures are of the same subject, they have very different results. Michelangelo's is much more calm and rational, whereas Bernini breaks the rules and creates a much more emotional feeling. This thinking outside the box while also considering the classical details is what characterizes the Baroque style.



[re]visons"Renaissance architects of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries endeavored to create a new rational, mathematically describable forms based on what they understood of the Classical architecture of ancient Rome" (Roth pg. 397). Revising means going back to something you previously did and editing it. This concept can be applied to the Baroque period because the designers looked back to what came before them and added to it. They studied and understood what the rules were, which is what allowed them to consciously break them. An example of this revival style is the above drawing I did of the Tempietto at San Pietro. Bramante looks to the classical domes and columns of the past but says something different.

audience

When writing a story, the audience is who will be reading the story. When designing something, the audience is who will be using the space. Michelangelo designed this staircase as an entrance to a library. "In the center of the room, the staircase has three parallel flights (which one to choose?), which fan out toward the bottom, creating a perspective illusion of depth greater than there truly is," (Roth pg. 381). The drama of this space is created as a statement on what the stairs are really used for. They transport people from the street to another level where they will gain knowledge. It even looks like it is an exterior staircase, perhaps saying that you bring your outside experience into the space.

characterCharacter is the warmth and emotion that you feel from a space while being in it. It is the feeling the designer wanted you to experience. An example of this is the palace at Versailles, which has a rich ,grand, and bold character. This is especially evident when looking at the landscape more so than the building itself. The king wanted "a man-made landscape that stretched along the great east-west axis extending from the heart of the chateau nearly as far as the eye could see," (Roth pg. 420). This was to symbolize the absolute power and wealth of the king, who owns everything that you can see far into the distance.

transitionWhile working on my studio project, transition was an important characteristic that I noticed in my natural artifact. The drawings above show the transition of the leaves from the center to the outer edges. The segments move from small to large and the cutouts vary in size. I was very interested in studying the exact patterns and shapes to understand how the system of veins flows. Therefore, I could translate it's sense of transition into the object I make.

Transition was also important in the Renaissance, especially to create a sense of rationality. There were lots of projects to unify cities and facades. Bernini had the task of creating a more uniform plaza outside the Vatican. "Bernini's problem was that the existing buildings of the Vatican palace intruded from the north, making it impossible to create one large, simple geometric enclosure" (Roth pg. 409). This was an extremely busy space, especially when religious events drew lots of people to the plaza. To create a more aesthetically pleasing transition, they rebuilt the facades of the buildings going down the axis of the plaza. They were all designed the same so that they flowed together.

datum
The entire city of Rome was also rebuilt to create a better transition as you move through the city. "To get to these dispersed ancient basilicas from the Porta del Popolo was difficult and meant traversing large parts of the ruin strewn expanses of the ancient city. Sixtus V resolved to bring order out of this chaos" (Roth pg. 414). Rome was becoming a tourists destination, yet it was awkward to travel the city. The re-designers established new streets and boulevards that had a more regular, pattern. The major tourists attractions, such as the Colosseum, were connected to other attractions with a straight line. This fits with the definition of a datum, which is a position where measurements are taken from. We use datum lines to create a straight edge to line objects up. An example of this is the display boards from Suzanne's class. We tried to line up our pictures on a datum line to create a sense of order:

Opus 7-The Five P's

peripheryPeriphery refers to what surrounds the outside of an object. It is similar to a previous opus word, boundaries. In drawing class, Kalani and I focused on the concept when creating a diagram of the EUC. Our diagram was about the context of the EUC or what environment it is situated in. We wanted to show the surrounding buildings, walking patterns, and trees.

Another example of considering the environment is the city of Venice. They built that city into the salt marsh and make adjustments to the architecture accordingly.

portfolio

We use portfolios to show our body of work to other designers and potential employers. Our blog.folio is a digital portfolio that houses all of the work we have done in school. We learned that during the renaissance, artists started putting together books with examples of architecture.
"Published treatises by prestigious architects ranged in subject from theory to practical applications. Decorative artists and artisans used designs by these and other designers for components of interior architecture..." (Blakemore pg. 92). The benefit of a portfolio is to be able to look back at previous work and see the strengths and weaknesses. It can be used as a reference for you or others.

process

The renaissance saw a new form of architecture arise. Designers disregarded the rules of the Middle ages and came up with new principles to follow. They created a new process of design incorporating the importance of geometry. As you can see in the following drawing, the facade of the St Maria Novella is heavily influenced by the circle and square forms.

"Among the first buildings to demonstrate this mathematical proportioning was Brunelleschi's Foundling Hospital in Florence, designed in 1419 for his patron Giovanni de' Medici and the silk guild" (Roth pg. 362). The facade of the building also uses the natural rhythm and sense created by circles and squares. This gives a feeling of order to a building that is not as calm inside.

Besides the new influence of geometry, architects also wanted to take into account what they building was used for and what it meant to the public. "Here was an architecture rooted in the human intellect, serving not to convey religious dogma but to provide for the very human needs of orphaned children" (Roth pg. 353). The concept a designer has for a building steers the course for the design process of that space.

perspective

The architects in the Renaissance had a new found appreciation for things that had been mostly forgotten in the Middle Ages. This included the ancient scholars and the natural world.
"This new awareness and appreciation of the natural landscape was one of the important contributions of the Renaissance" (Roth pg. 356). This changed the way designers thought about the world the inhabit and how to include it's beauty in their creations. They felt suffocated by the architecture of the Middle Ages that was only concerned with religion. "The humanist scholar architects of the Renaissance, most of them trained as painters or sculptors, sought to create a new architecture cleansed of the mysticism of what they liked to call the crude work of the Goths" (Roth pg. 391). This is what led them to come up with new ways to use geometry and other characteristics of architecture.

professional


Professionalism is extremely important in all of our classes, whether it comes to a presentation or the quality of our work. We had some practice with this is in Suzanne's class when constructing our display boards. We had to come up with sketches first to pre-plan the boards:

During the Renaissance, artists began being commissioned for work. This brought professionalism to a whole new level. "Increasingly, cardinals, popes, and other individuals, especially merchants and bankers, commissioned buildings, sculpture, and paintings for themselves, for the churches they patronized, and for their cities" (Roth pg. 354). If people wanted to be hired for a job they had to show that they are competent and produce high quality work.

This time period is characterized by a drive to change the status quo. Artist, architects, and designers made drastic changes from what came before them by putting more thought into what they produced. We look back to what they created constantly because the designs stand the test of time.