VOICES

Presence
Physical objects such as furniture have little presence as they stand alone. Yet, with the addition of people furniture gains a presence. This week in drafting and drawing class we learned how to add scale figures to our drawings. This addition really brought a sense of presence to my drawings of Pat’s chair. When I added a person they seemed to come alive.
We also studied the presence of buildings. As we studied cathedrals, we learned that size and ornamentation increases the presence of a building. This is why the cathedrals were so large and well adorned. In France, this attention to ornament appeared in decorative forms, particularly in the stone tracery of stained-glass windows.” (Roth 342)


Pat's Chair Drawing


Church Mosaic

Precedent
In history class this week we chose a building to study for our precedent analysis project. I chose the Villa Savoye of France by the architect known as Le Corbusier. This home is the final from a collection of white houses. I am so excited to learn more about this home because it is exactly the type of design that interests me.
This year I have learned that a precedent helps designers gain ideas and knowledge about designs that allow them to create new ones.
We learned that the Romans depended on Greek Architecture for precedents. This is evident in Roman structures such as Colosseum with the use of column orders.


Villa Savoye

Moments
In studio this week we learned about finding effective moments in our passageway projects. I found this exciting because I got to zero in on pieces of my project that I really liked and emphasize them in a graphic form. It was interesting because my work came out looking much more illustrative than looking like my project.
“ In the baths of Caracalla, the largest in Rome, more than 1,600 bathers of one gender could be accommodated at one time in its sprawling 33 acres.”(Roth, 267) After Carcalla, came the newest and most extraordinary baths, those of Diocletian. The special moments housed changing rooms, gymnasiums, libraries, meeting rooms, theaters, concert halls, sculpture gardens etc. (Handout, P. Lucas)


Drawing of Moments from the Passageways Project

Duality
Duality is defined as being two or twofold; dual character or usage. (dictionary.com)
In our studio projects this week we worked with duality by using only black and white paper to create passageways. I found this interesting yet difficult because it was sometimes hard to convey the essence needed and to work with the materials we were given at the same time.
In History we learned that the structure of Hagia Sophia has a duality of parts. These create a whole, which is much stronger than the parts separately. Hagia Sophia’s Combination of a dome and cube is a kit of parts that represents the duality of heaven and earth.


Passageways




Hagia Sophia (Dome and Tower)

Metric
Many people think of metric as a system of measurement, but it can also be described as the metric of a space, which is the way something is organized to create a system. The best examples of such a system are the Baths of Diocletian. These were organized on 32 acres of land as the largest and most gorgeous bathing establishment in Rome. I found it very interesting that such amazing innovations could be established in 289 A.D. (Handout, P. Lucas)



Overall, this week was very informative as far as merging design classes with the history class. We did alot of drawing which is helping me increase my ability to draw well. I am excited to see what next week brings.