Summary

Technology

Religion

Afterlife

Power

Foundations

Survivial

Language

Pattern

Stories

Location

Reflections

When one reflects they are looking back to past accomplishments or mistakes that have affected the end product. This unit has been about how architecture has improved and changed. The architects of the time looked back on past accomplishments and mistakes to improve their personal work. This lead to a revival in American architecture. In some instances architects took work of ancient cities and recreated them to suit their own taste. With this change came the usage of new materials such as glass, iron and concrete. These materials were used often in a large scale and the buildings that utilized these materials stuck out among the city they were in. The Crystal Palace is a wonderful example of one of the first attempts to used a cast iron frame and the concept of walls made completely of glass. The Crystal Palace was built simply to house the Great Exhibition of 1951 and since has been taken down. The Eiffel tower is an example of the use of iron in an unusual way for the time. It is made simply of iron and is a structural tower that continues to marvel people. During the reflections unit we talked about the constant competition between New York City and Chicago to have the tallest building in the United States and sometimes even the world. This still continues today and it seems that either of the two always take the prize for having the tallest building. This reflects back to Greece and Rome where tall columns were used to show hierarchy and power over others. We call this a wu-wu in class because the columns represented the male genital area. The tradition still plays on today and probably always will. This unit has really portrayed the movement that happened in design between the times. The architecture has changed and so has the way of thinking for not only the architects but the people of the world. The architects look to the past for ideas and methods for creating buildings but also look for individuality in their own work. So they take the foundations and build of them to create a new design and style that could in the future be the foundation for other architects work. A quote by Confucius says “By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter.” This quote sums up design and shows that reflecting on others works is often the best thing to do because it shows you care about keeping traditions alive even if these buildings are actually recreated.

Precedent Analysis

The Glass House a famous piece of architecture built by Phillip Johnson is a home that leaves nothing to the imagination. The house is made of glass and encompasses no interior walls. This house sits alone on land filled with woods and fields and was made to create a sense of being one with nature.
Phillip Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 8, 1906. He attended Harvard College where his main concentrations were on classics and philosophy he graduated in 1930. Ten years later in 1940 Johnson discovered a love for architecture and returned to Harvard to study it. From here he went on to build some of the most influential works of his time, right up to his death in January of 2005. Some of Johnson’s other works include the Seagram Building in New York City and the Crystal Cathedral in California both of which marvel the people who visit them. Johnson often worked closely with David Whitney another architect of the 20th century. After hearing Johnson speak and visiting his Glass House Whitney and Johnson became partners and friends until Johnson’s death.
The Glass House sits on forty-seven acres of land in New Canaan, Connecticut which Johnson bought some of in 1945. The house was to be a product of what Philip Johnson thought of as peaceful because he built the house for his own personal use. He was inspired by Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth house, which was also built using mainly glass. The two houses are very similar; they both incorporate glass and steel into their design and have no interior walls so that the view is not obstructed.
Construction for the Glass House was started in 1948 after Johnson had designed the house to suit his style. Being that the house was relatively simple to build it was completed just a year later in 1949. In the making of the Glass House Johnson used three main materials for the design. The exterior walls were made of nothing but glass and are supported by steel painted in a charcoal color. The brick is used as the floor for the home and also is used in the circular element Johnson incorporated into the home. The circular element runs from the floor to the ceiling and houses the fireplace and the bathroom. This is the only wall-like structure in this house and is used to keep the bathroom private and to contrast the rectangular house.
This house was built to bring nature inside by using glass walls the sense of being in nature is heightened. Johnson had two major choices he could either build a house that related fully to the nature that surrounded it or he could contrast nature by making the house completely different. Johnson chose to contrast nature. He used a rectangular shape and materials not found in nature to make the home stand out amongst its surroundings. While the house stands naked to the world Johnson placed the home where he would be surrounded by nothing by nature as a place to be free from everyday life and to unmask ones true self.

Alternatves

Alternatives are another way of thinking about architecture. The alternatives while incorporated design from the foundations unit were a new style all their own. In this unit we have discussed three periods during history, the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and the Baroque period. These time periods give newer and different options rather than the architecture of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman times. In the middle ages the architecture was focused on a new way of architecture and was focused greatly on religion this was Gothic design. With cathedrals that reached toward heaven the people of the church had hopes of being closer to God. The cathedrals were often the heart of the city that surrounded them and they were the main attraction and focal point of the city. Religion was extremely important to the people of this era; this is why so much care was placed upon cathedrals both inside and out. The exterior was designed with great detail and were supported with flying buttresses made of steel and the interior was filled with vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows all of which gave the cathedrals character. In class we compared cathedrals across Europe to find the similarities and differences. The Duomo in Florence, Italy was the one that was different from the rest. We also discovered that the pointed peaks were very popular and really gave cathedrals their gothic look. We then moved on to the renaissance period where we discussed cities such as Venice, Italy. Venice is known for being “the floating city”, it uses the water that encompasses it to make the city something incredibly unique and functional. Venice was greatly known for glassware and lace. In some of the buildings in Venice you see that lace-like details were incorporated onto the exterior of the building. We next moved into the baroque period. This was a time when the interiors of cathedrals started to take on stories. Stories were told throughout sculptures and paintings placed inside the church. On the walls and ceilings masterpieces were created by famous artists of the time such as Michelangelo and Bruneschelli. These stories were biblical and created to give you the sense of being a part of the church. Facades were also discovered and the front side of buildings were placed with a decorative and very detailed face or facade. These unique pieces of work caught the eye of people who walked the streets and drew them into the building where then they would proceed to the inside to see what was in store next. The alternatives unit was focused on a new a different way of design. The architects of this time used the foundations placed for them by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to create a new style of architecture that focused on religion and gave the world a new way of looking at architecture.

Precedent Analysis:Part 2

Drawings, scale and materials:

Plan view-1/4 scale- ink on bond
North Section view-1/4 scale-ink on bond
South Section view-1/4 scale-ink on bond
East Section view-1/4 scale-ink on bond
West Section view-1/4 scale- ink on bond
Elevation-1/4 scale-ink on bond
Interior Perspective-ink and chart pack markers on paper
Exterior Perspective-ink and chart pack markers on paper
Interior Vignette-ink and watercolor on paper
Line drawing-Ink on bond

Analytical Essay Outline:

I. Introduction-Architect and building history
A. Architects History
1. Born, hometown, age
2. Other architectural works
B. Building History
1. Date of construction
2. Property
3. Date of completion
II. Process
A. Ideas
1. Ideas for design
2. Ideas for execution of design
B. Inspiration
1. Where the architect drew inspiration from
2. How he used the inspiration in the design
III. Materials
A. What materials were used in the building
1. Type of Glass
2. Type of steel
3. Brick
B. How and where the materials were used
1. Where glass is used in the building and the purpose
2. Where steel was used in the building and the purpose
3. Where brick was used in the building and the purpose
IV. Ending paragraph- Overall design and how it works well- Purpose
A. How the materials used work to accentuate the design.
1.Glass, steel and brick
B. Purpose of building
1. What is purpose?
2.Why people are interested on it

Questions:
1. Can we change out minds about what materials will be used for the drawings?
2. Where will I find the plan and dimensions of the house?
3. What if I can not find all information necessary to draw the house?

The Glass House

The Glass House was built in 1949 by Philip Johnson. The house is located in New Canaan Connecticut and sits on forty seven acres of land. The Glass House is made of glass and steel beams painted a charcoal color. Johnson took his inspiration from Mies Van De Rohe’s Farnsworth house which is also made of glass and steel. Inside the house there are no walls only a circular element that inhabits the fireplace and the bathroom. It is made of the same brick that is found on the floor. The house is simple yet complex and the sense of translucency lets you relate to nature but still has the comforts of life today.












Photo found []

Group Analysis-Cologne Cathedral

Foundations summary

The beginning of Theory and History of Design class has been on foundations. We have looked at early time periods and the progression of architecture throughout these eras. We first looked at ancient Egypt where we studied pyramids such as The Pyramids at Giza and Hatshepsut’s Tomb. In Egypt pyramids were built to house the bodies of pharos and their belongings. Sometimes pets, slaves and wives were sacrificed so that they could join the pharaoh in the afterlife and were also placed in the pyramid. Most were built with polished limestone with a gold point on top. These materials were used to help the pyramids stick out among the sandy terrain of Egypt. They were also used to intimidate the commoners of Egypt, telling them that they were to stay away because they were of little importance compared to the pharaohs. We then moved onto Greece where we really started to see architecture take a stylized form. While discussing Greece we talked about The Acropolis. Athena’s home the Parthenon sits on The Acropolis as the most important thing. When you walk onto the Acropolis it is set up so that you see the Parthenon first. It is the largest building and all other buildings lead your eye to it. For example on the Porch of the Maiden’s the maiden’s breasts are pointing toward the Parthenon. The Parthenon is the only building that has Doric columns again showing you visually that the Parthenon is important above everything else. We learned in this section about the three main parts of any piece of architecture. They are the porch, court and the hearth. The porch is the first thing you come to and it lead into the court, the court is where people will most be found in Greece the courts were mostly used for political speeches or religious purposes. The hearth however was strictly for the main person of the household in the Parthenon the hearth would be Athena’s bedroom. The last stop we made in the foundations unit was Rome. We saw that Rome used Greece as a precedent for their building style. Rome was focused on competition. We learned about the competition between Roman leaders to build the tallest and greatest columns; we compared this to the wu wu or male genital parts. In some cases the columns were stolen. The Romans also believe in heaven and the idea that they could reach heaven. In the dome of the Pantheon there was an oculus that was open to the sky, the Romans believed that his was a gateway to heaven. The inside of the Pantheon was made of tile so the weather that came in through the oculus did not have a degenerative effect on the interior. The idea of architecture started off with building upward forms with some unfinished interior spaces and transformed into large buildings with great detail. The foundations unit showed the beginning of architecture and helped me to better understand why architecture is the way it is now.

The building that I think best describes the foundations summary would be the Pantheon. In Rome they really began to understand the idea of making interior spaces functional. The Pantheons most noted feature is the oculus which is always open to the weather. The inside is made of tile showing you that the Romans thought about the materials they were using and how they would withstand weather. Rome had clearly captured architecture and all architecture now has been based off of the foundations of Egypt, Greece and Rome.












Photo found at []

Building Selection and justification

My building selection is the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Frank Lloyd Wright, an architect among other professions who avidly believed in organic design, created this visual wonder. In 1943 he was commissioned by Solomon R. Guggenheim to build a museum that would exhibit his collection of artwork. Construction started after Wright made plans and drew many sketches. The construction lasted for fifteen years. The museum was opened in 1959, neither Wright nor Guggenheim were alive to see the finished project.
This building has had a positive effect on design, even today this building influences architecture around the world. Wright never agreed with Guggenheim’s decision to build the museum in New York once saying "I can think of several more desirable places in the world to build his great museum."[ ] Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea for this building was to incorporate some organic feel into New York City because of its fast pace environment. The Guggenheim stands in New York on 5th avenue and is very unique to the city. The circular rings Wright created give the museum character and the color white makes it stand out among the grey tones of its surroundings.

Photo found at:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/about-us/frank-lloyd-wright-building

Nautilus shell

On the first day of Patrick's class History and Theory of Design we were shown a picture of a nautilus shell. We were told that this was a form of architecture because the mollusk inhabits it. I thought this was very interesting and would have never thought of this shell as being architecture. I decided to draw the shell because it seemed like a very beautiful piece of architecture that should be appreciated.

Timeline 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.

500 B.C.

Institutions
- Rome creates the Office of Dictator.
- Carthage emerges as one of the richest and most powerful cities in the Mediterranean.
- The valley of Oaxaca grows rapidly into the major regional center.

Governance
- Cleisthenes starts what will become democracy in Athens.
- Confucius is appointed governor of Chung-tu.
- Cerro Narrio in Ecuador is a powerful center with extensive commercial work.

Commerce
- Trade items from Massilia a Greek colony on the Mediterranean travel up the Rhone Valley and were welcomed as prestige objects among the Northern Europeans.
- Carthaginian ships carry metals, oil, wine, grain and other products to points throughout the Western Mediterranean.

Technology
- Decoration of Lapita pottery ceases and Lapita cultures begin to diversify into recognizably Polynesian forms.
- Foreign craftsmen from Iran help construct Persepolis using architectural and artistic styles from Iranian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Lydian and Greek traditions to produce a distinctly Achaemend form of art.


500 A.D.

Institutions
- Semi-subterranean chambers (Kivas) are built in the American Southwest for ceremonial purposes.
- Nestorian Christians settle in large numbers in Eastern Mesopotamia.
- Shaft tombs at La Florida hold many burials and offerings.
- Center of Cahvachi in Nazca Valley, South America becomes a burial ground.

Governance
- Egyptian Sain Menas’ cult spreads throughout the Byzantine Empire.
- Africa is in the hands of the Vandal Rulers.

Commerce
- Gold objects and raw gold are traded for food and materials in South America.
- Gold working is fully established in Central America.

Technology
- Bow and arrow are used in Great Plains
- Stairs are put on all four sides of the pyramid, Tlachiualepetl for easier access in Mexico.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hm/05/hm05.htm