Point: Explorations

In our final unit of the semester, everything came together and worked together. "Looking forward or backward?" was one of the first questions Patrick presented for this unit. Even as with a "new" design era breaking through every decade or so, the basis of all new designs can be traced back to prior eras. Similarities are found between all styles.However, with the newest Modern era breaking through, the designers are trying to throw away any prior design styles that may be tied with the past. They may search for inspiration but their designs and techniques are completely a new turn on the entire design field.

Throughout this semester the most influential era for me was the Renaissance era. No building was one style (like Gothic, Rococo, etc.), wonderful harmony through repetition, and the invention of new tradition to meet the classical past. Beautiful structures like the Villa Capra follow the rules and boundaries of the Renaissance and this villa alone, was the most influential building. Constructed of simply combining squares and circles, allowing each side to view the outdoors and the dome atop connects the overall idea of "man is the measure of all things."

Counterpoint : Machine

Final Studio Project

Reading Comp #7

As part of the Red Sea group, we were given the specific section of "town & country" to focus our assignment on. The display had a wide range of mediums and criteria. Pictures of the city "burst with energy, humor and reveal the artists; devotion to classical ideals of balance, order and harmony." My eyes were drawn to the smaller sketch by Kenneth Hayes Miller called "Conversation" that he created in 1932. The image was an etching that had no color. Another copy of the image was placed right below the other, identical yet drawn with ink and pencil. After drawing a short, small sketch of the scene, I stepped back and realized the large canvas painting of the image hanging right beside the two smaller thumbnails. This painting was made of a combination of watercolor and gum arabic emulsion on sheet rock (I couldn't image carrying that!).

I love the old fashion that women wore during this time, from the furs and pearls to the colorful hats and gloves. The style was all together classy. The largest painting became my favorite, after already loving the thumbnails, because of the contrast the colors created. The green umbrella. Pink hat. Blue hat. Warm, tan fur.

When I think of how I would diagram this painting using the principles and elements of design, I remember how I first viewed the painting as an etching, with no color. The main outlines that I sketched were the umbrella, hats and fabulous foxtail draped around ones neck.

Reading Comp #6

[1] A common theme of the early twentieth century found in Roth, Harwood, and Massey set the tone for an understanding of styles in architecture and design influenced by fine art. Selecting either Arts + Crafts or Art Nouveau, TRACE the influences of the selected style in more than two nations. In your answer, you should include evidence from the readings and at least two annotated images as support for your analysis of influences.

"Art Nouveau is a complex, eclectic international movement that comprises various styles in Europe and North America." (Harwood pg. 482)

Rejecting historical styles and adopting new ideas was the basis to every designer embracing the Art Nouveau style. The era was greatly influenced by fine art and the Industrial Revolution developing in Europe and the United States, but short lived from about 1890 to 1910.

In Paris, Hector Guimard introduecd Art Nouveau in the Paris Metro entrances with the combination of glass, iron, and stone creating a display of "quality vernacular romanticism with organic, fluid designs" (Harwood pg.498).

Paris Metro

While in places like Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi is creating structures that depict human bodies by moulding pillars and beams into organic curves that capture bone like forms, supporting the body of work.

Casa Batllo

[2] Originating at the Bauhaus and in the work of LeCorbusier, the so-called Modern movement deeply influenced design and architecture of the twentieth century. The great debate raised by this new approach to design involved the presence of the machine in the design process and final products. SPECULATE about the implications of “machines for living” and the famous dictum “less is more” on design today. Use at least one ARTIFACT, SPACE, or BUILDING in your answer, providing a salient image (cited) and annotation to help bolster your argument. [10 POINTS POSSIBLE]

When I think of modern, I think of simple forms, crisp edges, and the bare minimum needed to have the form function as desired. I definitely think that "less is more" in the modernism era and designers of furniture, residential, and businesses began to implement flat lines and basic geometric shapes. Historical forms and structures had no impact on structures of the twentieth century, unlike all the previous design eras. Modernism can be displayed in numerous forms but I think of the unique buildings that are built during this time.

Summary of Alternatives & Reflections

In reading and comparing Kacie, Anna and Daniel's responses to the Alternative section they all appeal to the unit breaking the rules of design. Although Kacie focused on how Baroque and Renaissance mashed together in being similar yet bending the rules further than the style before, Anna continued on the importance of cathedrals and the basis of having basic shapes to design structures. Daniel describes how the meshing of every design era together was the main goal of many architects and designers, basically a "collage".

Natalie, Julie, and Caitlyn's responses to the point summary on our reflections unit, all brought up connections that I felt were significant and enjoyable to read. Natalie pulls examples of artifacts changing due to women's fashion or the experience people entail while going to an opera house, both of these seem more aesthetic to me. While Julie expresses the reflection unit to be larger in change of material with iron and glass that speak different design languages and how the effect of constructions change eras from victorian clutter to more simplistic design. Caitlyn focuses on the change in design periods yet how they all tie into structures that also use the new materials introduced in structures like the Crystal Palace.

Point: Reflections

Reflections unit has shown the numerous ways that design pulls techniques and styles from past foundations and other countries, while shifting the rules to impact the designs to what they believe to be the "new, better look". With the availability of large exhibits full of traders from different parts of the world, textiles continued to enter the Americas, allowing individuals and designers to enlighten their houses and guests with the foreign objects. A revolution can be defined as a dramatic and wide-reaching change in the way something works or in the way people view it.

The discovery of materials, like iron and glass, on the development of structures was a revolution in itself. It allowed designers and architects to literally bend the rules of a basic foundation, able to add thiner columns, iron arches, and the combination of the glass against the iron creates an experience of nature while still having the stable coverings from the natural elements. Train stations, factories, greenhouses, libraries, arcades, and exhibitions all began to display the use of new materials for their own purposes. Greenhouses benefited from the glass, allowing people in one climate to grow plants in their own climate. While Biblioteque Ste. Genevieve was built with iron arches and skeleton because it was the cheapest way to build the largest library. Overall the Crystal Palace made the largest impact on the world not only for the use of materials but the use of the exhibition center, bringing together extremely different artifacts and materials from all over the world to display for the nation to see and judge and later on take as their own to create a "brand new" mold of the original piece they viewed.

Even with the new discoveries, designers and architects seem to follow the same idea that past eras such as Baroque, Renaissance, and Gothic are basics for all structures to be build and messing them together has an effect that compliments any building or artifact. A cycle of the design eras in always continuous and always changing if many like to think that some have concluded but the truth is that individuals are always looking for ways to enhance, increase, and entertain the idea of a better design than the last!

Reading Comp #5

1.[Select an artifact and the type of revolution it symbolizes.]

-Chairs to Sofas. The transformation of seating in the form of chairs to sofas is in part contributed to the change in fashion. Women's dresses began to evolve into larger, fuller skirts. Therefore, the women needed more seating/cushion space. Motif designs also changed from Directoire to Empire, favoring a body silhouette of a round belly and full hips. Harwood said, "Overall design quality begins to deteriorate as furniture becomes larger, bulkier, and more curvilinear.

2.[Locate & Analyze an image of an artifact, a space, a building, and a place, where the east/middle east has an influence on the western word of design and architecture.]

-Space: Japanese Tea Room in the Congress Hotel of Chicago.

The room is filled with dark wood, hanging brass, embroidered carpet and pink blossom flowers all ad to the Japanese look in this room.

http://www.historicchicagohotels.com/Congress.htm

-Artifact: Ceramics: Blue & white porcelain

Blue and white porcelain is very common in Japanese ceramics and began to be reproduced in Europe for use. The most commonly used style used in Europe was the Kakiemon style, like the image above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonism

-Building: Falling Water in Pennsylvania

Luckily, I was able to go on the IAR field trip last year to visit this site and was able to see strong connection between man and nature, as well as the emphasis on the exterior. The sharp lines, extension into nature, placement above the waterfall all continue the Japanese style in Frank Lloyd Wright's design.

-Place: Heale Gardens in Wiltshire, England

The image above is the Japanese tea house in the middle of the Heale Gardens. Underneath the tea house is a flowing stream bringing nature closer to the interior, the Nikko Bridge overtop the stream is steps away. "The Japanese garden was build by laborers brought over from Japan."

http://www.healegarden.co.uk/

Counterpoint : Perspective

Counterpoint : MAP

Our first COUNTERPOINT was to use all four of the FORMS (2D, 3D, word, & paragraph).

....practice makes perfect!!! Not my favorite!

Perspective Fun

A place for waiting

A place where people relieve themselves!

A place for eating, sleeping and relaxing

Point : Alternatives

This unit was all about reaching new heights, breaking rules, and moving towards a new era. Cathedrals reflected towards the heavens and continued the ideas of having a place for people to gather, worship and collectively give thanks to their believes. While the Renaissance changed everything with introducing new figures and finding alternatives to what the Gothic era believed with the the right way of assembling sacred forms while using more than one style. Villas stuck with the basics of geometry and bringing in the importance of nature.

Cathedrals defined the Gothic era, using features like the pointed arch, flying buttress, and distinct vertical elements. They differed among cities but all related back to one another in some form. The main idea was to climb higher toward heaven and the One. Cross appearances were use as the ground plan of most cathedrals, lining the walls with stain glass telling biblical stories. Most cathedrals started with the basis of a "golden square" that lead to the importance of the center bringing together the two halls, defining the boundaries of the central point, and repetitions of the geometric form created a flow within the cathedral. The Florence Cathedral in Italy made the decision to break the rules of Gothic architecture when built.

Lacking the common Gothic buttresses used on other cathedrals, Florence Cathedral's builder, Filippo Brunelleschi, found them unnecessary to the foundation. The addition of the dome started a theme of the Renaissance that was used within villas. Most villas relied on the simple geometries of squares and circles, while still using an architectural feature, like the dome, to guide upwards. Villas tied in the aspect of nature with the addition of porches looking outward and long galleries placed on the side of the structure that allows the most light in and looking toward gardens, like the one at Hardwick Hall in England. The idea of allowing there to be one main facade that was decorated more than others due to the placement towards the seaport or market. The Renaissance also showed values of society with the separation of public and private in residence buildings.

Even though the Renaissance era began, the presence of Gothic roofs were mixed in with structures and Baroque features made an appearance in ways such as curvilinear staircases. Therefore the Renaissance can also be defined with the idea of one building can contain more than one style. Textiles began to enter as evidence inside the building to which style or combination of styles where used to decorate the structure.