Unit Two Summary

Unit Two started off learning and understanding Proportioning and scale which was explained by Ching. In this proportioning system one concept or idea was the golden ratio which a lot of the cathedrals were based on. Using the golden ratio it helps makes buildings symmetrical and in many buildings built during that time the golden ratio was used. In class we also learned and discussed the impact that Palladio made. The houses that he built called the villa rotunda which featured a rotunda in the center floor plan, was a building block to future building plans. Also all of his work and drawings were used to teach future architects. Looking at the three types of house styles early, Georgian and federal they were all built differently because they were all located in different locations in the US. The south still had a strong connection to England so many of the styles represented houses of England. Compared to the houses up in the north they were drastically different. The houses up north had a monochromatic scheme , very steep roofs, huge chimneys, and were usually made of wood. The building materials in the south consisted mostly of brick. The reason the materials were drastically different is because of the weather conditions. Learning how the design cycle works and what it consists of helped to understand the changes that occurred in design after the American war. The furniture before the war looked more richer and wealthier than the furniture after the war. The furniture after the war was made to represent the working class which Montgomery thought was the case as well. Next we covered how the first national style of America was Greek/Grecian revival. Revival meaning coming again into activity, most buildings built contained a rotunda. Had columns, and also was white or a cream color. The idea that we had at the time was to build another Athens. America wanted to recreate Athens and they tried to achieve that goal by reviving the Greek design and buildings. During this time America was figuring out if they were going to be a factory or agricultural producer. In the end they realized that both was possible. With factories being created so was new ways to produce products. Many other countries didn’t like the idea of factories making products because it was no longer handmade. With these factories bigger sheets of glasses were able to be produced along with cast iron. These were used as new design materials. Last topic covered in class was the art movements between the late 1800’s to 1900’s. during this time period artist such as Picasso, Seurat, and Van Gogh created artwork which reflected the time they were living in. During the depression art worked was very different compared to the artwork made in the later 1900’s. The idea was that as we moved forward into time people set their ideas and goals toward the future to new ideas instead of looking to the past for ideas and designs.