Counterpoint Projects

Point : Alternatives

The topics of the church that we discussed this unit was interesting to me. The ideas incorporated into the architecture was something I thought about, but never understood. We talked about long churches vs. circular churches, both of which communicate important aspects of gathering to worship. Circular churches generically have better acoustics, but also communicate equality because of it's shape. Because building concepts weren't developed that well, these spaces could only accommodate smaller groups of people. Circular spaces usually contained a dome, which spoke a strong language of verticality connecting humanity to heaven. The pro's also create the con's in this case; since there is the idea of equality, how do you designate the power of the alter? It also does not allow large groups to worship. Long buildings however, show the progression of initiation to death and show a clear leader. Then, over time, circles and squares began to combine.

[Taken from notes]

For example, the Hagia Sophia stacked circles and squares.

After the Gothic era began to subside, the re-birth of Renaissance was thriving. Humanity was revived, and also was man as a measure. The idea of controlling the view was key, and having a horizontal shape enabled this. The Villa Barbaro displayed this new concept very well. Reach, scope, and size are three words the described the goals of the building; 'reaching' across the land, having a broad 'scope' of sight, and scaling down to human 'size' and having man as the measure.

After the Renaissance comes the Baroque period. This period is about breaking all of the rules the Renaissance created. In the S. Maria Novella, the front facade was extreme and 'squished' onto the front, but was completely lost throughout the rest of the building. There was only surface decoration, no depth. In the Ospedale Innoceti (hospital), accidents are celebrated in the structural columns around the front. The corners were exaggerated by having an extra column for stability. Symmetry is thrown away as this era carries on. The Palazzo Medici is completely asymmetrical, especially on the first floor. The ideas of an ideal city were disappearing.

As the baroque period moves on, the front facades begin to over flow into the rest of the building. The palace of Versailles push the boundaries and bring the outside in by creating a holistic experience. The hall of mirrors and decor of flowers and nature almost make the walls themselves absent. While in France, the Renaissance stays strong. The Louvre is classicism repetition and almost 'waters down' this characteristic because of it's grand scale. This creates an idea around architecture to create things more 'grand' then they actually are. The Palace de Vosges was built for the middle class as a residence. It's very grand in it's exterior facades, but pretty normal on the inside. It was created to look better then it actually is.

We are still in the Renaissance today. Designers are still experimenting with boundaries and rules. We have grasped the concept of having ideas, and simply leaving them just an idea. Boullee designed a cenotaph for Newton. It was rather large, and practically impossible at the time. Architecture at the time was in a revolution.

Revolution: "a drastic and far reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving"

Nothing is ever impossible,

and there are no such thing as rules.

Reading Composition No. 4

[1] In the 18th century, many of the artifacts have the same characteristics. Geometric shapes such as circles on the canopy of the Osterley Park bed, and symmetry
and balance in the Windsor chairs were introduced and copied. Obviously not all artifacts are going to identical; they each portray their own style touching on naturalistic, minimalistic, and intricate characteristics, but there is always some characteristic that is carried on in all of them.

“The purest architecture, that most suited to fundamental human needs and basic human society was what had appeared at the dawn of civilization,” (Roth pg.443). I believe this refers to the beginning of architecture when the needs of human beings was the sole purpose of all buildings. delight, balance, harmony, scale, symbol, were never taken into consideration. The 18th century begins to incorporate these elements into their civilization, which then also effected the architecture. The Nathaniel Russel house exterior was created with the idea of great summery and balance in mind. The windows on the second and third floors were evenly spaced beside and on top of each other. It is very naturalistic, but delightful at the same time. The interiors begin to introduce surface decorations.

Surface decorations elaborated the space, some more extreme then others (Gunson Hall vs. bedroom of Marie Antoinette). All surfaces began to show more decoration, while the interior stayed modest and symmetrical. Surfaces such as window frames, walls, door frames, furniture, fabric, everything began to flourish. I believe this was society's idea of breaking out of their shells architecturally and adding interest to their spaces they created.

The civilizations all had their own meaning for their purpose of their architecture. America was demanding attention to the fact they were becoming more independent, while England uses the decoration as a tool for education. They used their resources well (Eastern influence), and just enhanced what had already been done. All civilizations are growing at this point and the architecture is only growing along with it.

[2] In the 18th century, architecture has become less vertical and gaudy, and has transformered into more simple, interesting design. In stead of building up, we begin to build out. Buildings ar less refined and more naturalistic. Stone is out, wood is in. Balance of plans is developed and the true focus of human needs becomes evident and becomes more practical. Upper class is no longer the focus for architects, but instead, the needs of the middle and lower class are most important.

For example, in Boston the idea of drenching the spaces and furniture with decoration is simplified by just simple circular shapes. Cheaper materials are used. Boston adapted English influence from the idea of overhangs. England used the over hangs to protect by passers from waste in early morning. Modest fabric is being used more commonly, but only as rugs. Furniture now has no upholstery.

St. Augustine was influence by the Spanish. Minimalistic patterns were derived from their excesively decorated ones. There is great contrast between the wood floors and the neutral walls. Iron as a material is introduced, and is used to create art in the doorways (Spanish influence). Spain has always influenced Florida (Spain discovered Florida), and it is very evident in their style of architecture.

New Orleans, in contrast to the other two American states discussed, veered away from circular shapes and focused more on rectangular. Wood and natural themes still occur. Storage is booming. Their cabinets adapt the double door, two story, compartment, just like the historical one we discussed in class. Verticality is still out, and they focus more on the horizontal way of building. Steep roofs are used more commonly, thanks to the French influence.

New York breaks up the pattern and decides to stick with verticality as key. They create an empire using scale and greatness, which has still made New York City such an impact today. Still today, all you see is LARGE skyscrapers. Balance and symmetry is still portrayed in these building though.

As you can see, each US State has carried a little bit of the cultures from the Atlantic over into the new world, whether it's the idea of simplicity, verticality, or naturalism, influence is definitely shown. All classical influence was not evident, just gaudiness and clutter. That is why it was good for the new world to refer back to civilizations from the 18th century not just for architectural influence, but government as well, just as Roth says to “To reinforce the nature of republication government” (pg.459).

[3]

The idea of balance and shapes is how I created this floor plan. It flows for human needs and keeps the center of the house sacred. Rooms for storage, sleeping, eating, reading, entertaining, and such are placed around the center of the home. Porches incorporate the nature and extend the symmetry beyond the walls of the home itself.

[4] The idea "Flaunting" and theater became ideal during the Baroque period. The dramatic architecture was flamboyant and made bystanders interested. The Catholic church was growing and the reformation happened during this period. The church was rather bland before the idea of drama was introduced. The church became infatuated with the publicity of this theatrical style that was abruptly being introduced. To bring society into the catholic church and turn them away from protestant religion, drama plays and skits were used in the catholics favor. The 'old fashioned' idea of love and manly chivalry was being brought back into the eyes of society through the drama plays. "Theater became a metaphor for social role-playing as well as a school where spectators learned to improve their own performance at Town or Court.” This new idea to influence society was an asset to the catholic church, thanks to the newly introduced idea of "theatrical architecture".

Point : Foundations.

For the foundations chapter, I feel we really focused on the idea of culture shaping different pieces of architecture. Different traditions are carried on while others are forgotten and replaces by newer, modern ones. The limits of buildings are tested. The idea of Minimalism and just focusing on the simple demanding needs of a human being are now being exaggerated and made more into an art form of more then just 'necessities'.

New methods are developed for more efficient firmness and for larger scale. Square is out, circle is is. Arches, vaulted ceilings, and domes are introduced. Scale is larger then usual, creating verticality symbolizing something more. In Cathedrals, verticality stands for many things; strength, christianity, and heaven. This symbolism is there for humanity to feel like they are 'connected' to God. Stacking is also developed. This idea of design was efficiently shown in the coliseum in Rome. The stacking enabled this building to be easily emptied in just 15 minutes. Arches were also used. Arches and stacking enabled the scale to be large and wide. This is contrasting to the coliseum in Greece, where instead of being built on top of the land, it was built into the land. I still feel they used the idea of stacking with the seats, but it played not nearly as big a role of firmness as the stacking does for the Roman coliseum. Stacking doesn't only serve the purpose of firmness, but also symbolizes power; the higher up you go, the more power you obtain. Steps always mean something. Whether it is getting you from one place to another, it is also leading to greatness.

Mesopotamia started to develop the idea of temples, axial progression of initiation to death. Teotihuacan ("city of the gods"), contained a sun temple, a moon temple, which signified that of the living and the dead. They developed the sub-theme of graphics which told stories of how their world worked. The mountain of the city (which was man made), was of large scale and separated the sun and moon temple. Next in line would be the Egyptian civilization. They were very stable and it is shown in the detail of the buildings. In the hypostyle hall, the massive columns have swirling stories of pharaoh's and their power. Size does matter! The pyramids are another demonstration the pharaoh's power in Egypt, but only this time, is displayed after their death, while they are in the 'afterlife'. Largeness=Power, more largeness= more power. The beacon at the top was made of gold and was put there to shine in the sun and supposed to shine down the four corners of the pyramid to extend to the four corners of the earth. I found this concept extremely brilliant and symbolic.

Another very important thing we talked about during this unit were the principles, elements, connections, and amplifiers of design.

Principles: balance, unity, harmony, contrast, repetition, proportion, unity

Elements: line, space, form

Connections: organization, coherence, clarity, parts to a whole, order

Amplifiers: color, texture, value (light)

The lectures and projects of this class keep opening my mind expanding the way I think about things. I like that we exaggerate on the ideas of architecture we may or may not know. I like hearing it and I love learning more and more about the ideas, concepts, details, everything of historical architecture and how it still ties in today with our surroundings.

Our modern day pyramid.

the LOURVE.