Prompt Nine

The two photos of the chairs in class were drastically different. The chair that was before the war contained more curvy lines. The front two legs had a curve to them and a foot. The back of the chair had a intricate design that went down the middle which also contained curvy lines. This chair also had arms on it. The chair that came after the war was a lot more sleek and contained straight lines. the chair also had no arms and had a colored pattern cushion. Montgomery believed that the furniture built after the war represented more of the peoples ways of working and the furniture before the war was a lot more finer and richer looking. I definitely agree with his the furniture before looks more of a wealthy class compared to the more simple chair that was produced after the war.

Prompt Eight

A social revolution that has occurred is the invention of social media such as facebook, twitter, or instagram. These sites were intended to connect to friends and keep in touch, share photos, and to express and market oneself through the use of the internet. In class we talked about the cell phones and the internet being a technological development so this led me to the idea of social media. Social media is definitely a revolution because it changes the way we think and behave. It could possible be considered a reform as well because it is a change for the better in many ways. It of course does has it downfall for example being bullied. It could also be considered a revival because it is taking old ideas such as connecting and bringing them into the light in a new way.

Unit Summary

Retrieved from http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/Colonytraderoutes.jpg

The beginning of this class we discussed how a straw from star bucks is related to many different concepts and represents different ideas. The circle of the straw representing unity and life. By understanding this idea or concept we then applied it to Stonehenge where we looked at the way it was constructed and where it was constructed. Big stone was placed strategically in a circle with two circles within that circle. Whoever built this had the same idea that the straw portrays which is unity and life. After that we moved into Egypt, Rome and Greece where we discussed and learned about circles groves and stacks and how they are seen throughout these three civilizations architecture. The pre history time era can be represented by a circle. Many of the structures built were in this shape. The Egyptian structures can be represented as stacks. The stacks are what give the idea of the pyramids. The Greek civilization which includes groups with stacks on top. This gives the idea of the temples that they created. Rome was represented by circles with perpendicular lines that intersected the circle. This represents the idea of centrality and ultimate authority.  Greece brought to the design world the arch which ended up being a major change in architecture. With the arch being created this led rise to the dome. The buildings in Rome were created using similar structures from Greece. Yet the buildings that Rome created served as the example for future buildings and even some of the same ideas and concepts can still be seen today in architecture.

Heading into the gothic time period cathedrals were the main focus in architecture. In class we demonstrated how the cathedrals were unstable by using coke cans and stacking them. Majority of the cathedrals studied had different aspects about them. Many were used just as religious purposes, some were built before the towns around them were and some were built after the town was. Salisbury cathedral was built in about two centuries, almost collapsed and was only used as a cathedral. The forms that represented the churches were a circle with a rectangle attached, a circle within a rectangle, a rectangle with a small rectangle to represent a cross with a circle located in the middle, and a circle within a square. The circle within a square has a dome which was copied from the past architecture. The stain glass was also different depending on where the church was located. Some glass let the sun pass through and others reflected the light. There are some significant differences in the east and west. The west constituted many diverse types of structures. The architecture from the ancient time was good while gothic was bad. The east on the other hand wanted to maintain the same ideas and concept that they always had and didn’t strive to change that. For them it worked well. During this time period people started to wander the earth and this brought new ideas between the east and west. This also was a start to many new architectural ideas.

The image I chose I think represents unit one because with trade and the expansion of the new world it also brought two different places together. Even in the ancient world trade was an important part of life and the design world.

Prompt Seven

Retrieved from http://bluegrasstrust.org/images/popevilla.jpg

The Latrobe house which was built in the 1800’s by Henry Latrobe has a very similar floor plan to Palladio’s La rotunda villa. Both have a square floor plan with a rotunda in the middle. Unlike Palladio’s villa the Latrobe house has a main entrance and the more decorative side faces the street. Palladio’s impact and influence which carried over to the US may have been the reason that Latrobe decided to use a rotunda in a square floor plan. Since Latrobe was considered the first American architect he probably learned and studied past designs which included Palladio’s work. This may have influenced him to the design he made for this house and many others including the U.S, capitol building.

Prompt Six

 

This picture was taken from http://www.uky.edu/CampusTour/.  From the front view this building is symmetrical. Making three perfect squares. The two side parts and the middle section. Ching had very detailed and mathematical ways of doing proportioning's of buildings. This building more than likely contains the golden ratio which may be the reason why the building is symmetrical.

Prompt Five

The prompt that I decided to use was the Salisbury, Amiens time: affects building practices and the cohesion of each cathedral. The Salisbury cathedral was built over a thirty eight time span making it nearly two generations. It consisted of a single generation of continuous building. The cathedral was used only as a cathedral and that is because of the time period that it was built. The Aimen's cathedral was built before the city that now surrounds it was built. The cathedral was the focal point of the town and was used for many different occasions. The time period in which these two buildings were built shows you the different uses of the cathedrals. 

Prompt Four

The building that sparked an interest to me was the Kings library. I enter into the Lucille library very often and never noticed the classical elements that are located on the King library. Thu building itself is very large. The reason it may have been made so large is for the woman it was made for. In front of the building there is a historical land mark so that makes this building of great importance. The building is red brick like many other structures on campus creating a nice contrast between the concrete accents on the building and the stone walkway in the front as well as the color plants and flowers. All of this creates a nice contrast but still draws the audience’s eyes to the building creating a sense of harmony. The architects may have wanted to keep the central theme of red brick that is timeless and that is incorporated in many of the older building on campus. The designers set up the concrete squares filled with plants in flowers in such a way that it creates an entry walk way into the grand entrance. The entrance of the building includes two glass doors which are normal sized doors. The concrete that is tiled around the door is massive and gives the sense of dominance. The windows that are above the door are very large and have a half window that sits about a rectangular window. This one of the classical elements that is in this building. If you were to split this middle section of the building in half it is perfectly symmetrical. The way that the building is set up it sits directly across the Lucile library which creates a sense of flow and unity between the two buildings. The other two parts of the building are symmetrical as well. There are three rows by three of square windows with the center window having very decorative classical components. Above the window is a half circle decoration with what looks like maybe a top of a column may have. The detail is intricate and repetitive. The designers may have reflected what the design was like when the building was made. It also has a balcony with small rounded columns that look very similar to Doric columns which may be what the designers were trying to achieve. There are two sides that hold up the balcony from underneath and they are very decorative detailed pieces of artwork. I feel that the designers needed the extra support but also wanted it to be more of a visual appealing decorative piece. In between the big windows in the center of the building are four rectangular concrete slabs which represent columns. The bottom has a base of a column as well as the top. They are detailed at the top but back in Greece or Rome it wouldn’t be the most detailed column. This building is not symmetrical because a door is located on the left side. I think when the building was made the designers and architects made this a symmetrical building but over time it has been changed to meet the new needs of the building. This building has quite a few classical elements that relate back to Rome and Greece and designers wanted to continue to bring these timeless elements to life when building it.

Prompt Three

One reason that Johns approach is somewhat incorrect is because just because you know the definition of those concepts doesn't mean that you know how to apply them correctly and in many cases these concepts aren't applied in the same way. He states that using them will make you an artist or interior design when reality that isn't the case. I took an art class last semester and I used some of these concepts in the projects we had to do but that didn't make me an artist. Sometimes I used the wrong concept in my artwork which may have worked out and sometimes it didn't. Understanding these concepts and ideas are a good way to build a foundation to becoming an artist or interior design but understanding them doesn't not define what it is to be an artist.

Prompt Two

After watching the video of the British museum I get the idea that many different religions and cultures based their idea of art off of the Greek culture. They used the Greeks techniques and designs and added to them or perfected them in their own way pretty much by enhancing what was already there. This is an important idea to grasp in terms of architecture and design today because they were the building blocks to which things are made today.  Their ideas and concepts are still seen today in buildings and throughout homes in many different locations in the world. In a way we are still copying their ideas and concepts but add a twist like other cultures did in the past to make them our own and unique. This technique of copying will always continue to live on in the future.

Prompt One

The author Moffat states that over time and many different locations we as humans always want to build bigger and better things. Although we may not know the reason or meaning behind some older structures the consistent theme is that humans have an impressive engineering and creative aspect about the buildings that were created. As we discussed in class the the pyramids and Stonehenge are still a mystery today about their use and how they were built. But it is a great example of humans huge aspirations to build bigger and indestructible structures. Still today we see this same consistent theme that Moffat described and in the future we will continue to see it because as mankind we always want to improve and grown in new directions.