Friday, April 15, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
IAR221- Blog Post #12- artifact represents good design
An artifact representing good design is in my definition one that serves all people, reasonably priced, and provides some form of comfort and positivity to ones life. The "good design for all" artifact that I choose is the T-shirt.
T-shirt: a thin, knitted shirt which is pulled over the head to cover most of a person's torso. It is ususally buttonless, collarless, with a round neck and short sleeves.
Made back in the 19th C. for the use of undergarments, the t-shirt is now used for a variety of uses. It was first used by miners and stevedores to help cover the body in the hot temperature months. It was made comfortable by its absorbensy, durable quality, ease of cleaning, and breathable textile. The US Navy then issued t-shirts as uniform during the Spanish American War, making the shirt popular in the US. Workers of all occupations began including the t-shirt in their work attire. It was then included in boy attire. In the 1960s, the t-shirt took a hit. It now became used as a medium for wearable art and expression. Today, they are used for politics, protesting, art, pop culture, and memoir. They are even used to advertise for businesses, schools, corporations, etc.
What makes this object/artifact so design great is because of its inexpensive, comfortable, multiuse qualities. People can even create their own designed t-shirt through tie-dye or even using markers or paint. This is a good design artifact.
sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shirt
http://www.t-shirtcountdown.com/t-shirts/history.html
http://www.markedixon.com/new_page_10.htm
http://tshirtriches.com/
http://tcritic.com/archives/tide-selling-vintage-washed-t-shirts-for-charity/
http://www.rockbrookcamp.com/blog/summer-camps-craft.html
http://www.asapshirt.com/tie_dyes.htm
http://sales.buysmrt.com/UNC+Greensboro+Spartans+T+Shirt+Nike+UNC+Greensboro+Spartans+Navy+Blue+Ladies+Team+Logo+T+Shirt
T-shirt: a thin, knitted shirt which is pulled over the head to cover most of a person's torso. It is ususally buttonless, collarless, with a round neck and short sleeves.
Made back in the 19th C. for the use of undergarments, the t-shirt is now used for a variety of uses. It was first used by miners and stevedores to help cover the body in the hot temperature months. It was made comfortable by its absorbensy, durable quality, ease of cleaning, and breathable textile. The US Navy then issued t-shirts as uniform during the Spanish American War, making the shirt popular in the US. Workers of all occupations began including the t-shirt in their work attire. It was then included in boy attire. In the 1960s, the t-shirt took a hit. It now became used as a medium for wearable art and expression. Today, they are used for politics, protesting, art, pop culture, and memoir. They are even used to advertise for businesses, schools, corporations, etc.
What makes this object/artifact so design great is because of its inexpensive, comfortable, multiuse qualities. People can even create their own designed t-shirt through tie-dye or even using markers or paint. This is a good design artifact.
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| wear it in all colors |
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| represent school pride |
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| advertise |
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| Its a perfect craft for all ages! |
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| create art with a t-shirt |
sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shirt
http://www.t-shirtcountdown.com/t-shirts/history.html
http://www.markedixon.com/new_page_10.htm
http://tshirtriches.com/
http://tcritic.com/archives/tide-selling-vintage-washed-t-shirts-for-charity/
http://www.rockbrookcamp.com/blog/summer-camps-craft.html
http://www.asapshirt.com/tie_dyes.htm
http://sales.buysmrt.com/UNC+Greensboro+Spartans+T+Shirt+Nike+UNC+Greensboro+Spartans+Navy+Blue+Ladies+Team+Logo+T+Shirt
Friday, April 8, 2011
IAR221- Reading Response #12- Bringing Nature to the City
Sources: Ching,Roth
http://mappery.com/Central-Park-Map
http://americanthings.wordpress.com/2010/12/
http://www.centralpark.com/photos/show/12862/fun-in-central-park
http://andrewprokos.com/photos/new-york/central-park/central-park-waterfall-autumn/
http://fwymedia.org/news-and-views/
IAR221- Unit Summary #2 Reverberations
In focusing on architecture and the elements it possess as
well as the elements it gives to the earth, one can see that architecture has
flow, rhythm, unity, and tone just as the way music does. One knows that music
is a cultural thing, and that music works within a specific setting to come
across appropriate. Architecture is the same way; it must work within the
setting it takes place. In fact, architecture may be called “frozen music”. It
is the “music in space, as it were, a frozen music.” (Friedrich von Schelling).
An architectural “music” in Mexico may have a drumming tone, while one in India
may have a harp like features and tones.
As the first millennium ends and the new modern world begin,
we are approached with the “dark ages”. It is when the “maps” begin to unfold
and the mental processing of location takes hold. People are beginning to
acquire, code, store, and recall information about relative locations and
attributes of everyday environment and use it to their advantages. One way in
which this was made possible is through the importance of the church in the
city, where it was located, and the features that make it stand out connecting
it to the music like features. It is during this time period that the church is
a large-scale communal ritual space overlapping with the message of imperial
glory. It becomes the center of all around it and the most important place to
be; the one location that links the people to the church and allows them to
have connection with God. We see the importance of religious faith and the
trinity in the combination of windows in groupings of three and the embedded
material and carving to help relate and retell the stories of the Bible. The
church is the place people can go for hope and light in a time that is “dark”.
It gives a happy “noise” and rhythm and sound of security. This “light” and
security is represented through the use of natural light directing one through
the space and to the alter. It is also represented through the verticality of
the windows, columns, and space uniting all cathedrals. By the rules being set
through this structure people began to feel constrained.
People began to think that breaking the rules and having the
church the main focus was no longer desirable and sought to go back to having
rules. It was time for a “rulebook” to be established and for the classical
ways of architecture be brought back. In the western world, the challenge was
to re-link to the ancients. They begin to say that everything should be
rational and clear, contain groves and stacks when possible, and place the man
at the center. They started to focus on perspective drawing and the “ideal
city” and look at the map of settlers travel. An example of the Westerns new
theory of thinking of architecture and the “rules” in which they assigned is
the Palazzo Medici. As one moves their eye vertical upward can see that the
roughness of the structure get less and that the openings and scale does the
same. Also, this is a representation of the use of groves and stacks. While the
western world is focused on re-linking to the ancient world, the east continues
to focus on the past. They continue to hold onto the same building forms
throughout time, focusing on their importance. They replace the parts that are
out rather than coming up with something new, they continue to layer in groves
and stacks, celebrate the surface and materiality, and focus on nature and
community needs. An example of this continuation cycle of the past and the “rules”
they follow can be seen in the guwwat-ul-islam mosque.
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| Palazzo Medici |
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| guwwat-ul-islam |
Now that the west finally has rules to follow, they begin to
bend and break them. They start to play around with the different ways of doing
things. The palazzo del te in Italy is an example of the breaking of rules. It
also goes back to the idea that architecture is musical and like music “frozen”
in time. We see the musicality in the columns and arches giving a since of
rhythm. Another example of the new idea of breaking the rule is in the Villa
Rotunda in Italy. We see the breaking of rules in that the building has four entrances/facades.
This poses a problem with where to enter and with the direction of the sun in
relation to the building.
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| Palazzo del te |
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| Villa Rotunda |
The cause of these new ways of designing is in part due to
expanding the colonial world and breaking away. This colonial expansion brings
ideas and people around the world together. It is because of an existing hidden
set of rules and conventions that meanings to a particular social group are
made universal. This allows the uncovering of everyday lifestyles and cultures
which all posses’ value. It is now that one sees how persuasive architecture
is. One uses objects, spaces, buildings, and places to “write” about these
cultures and show how different they really are. People begin to incorporate
and distribute architectural ideas, making the ever cultural world global and
as one. We see this through the use of Roman architecture in our Capitol
building in Washington, DC and in the plan of the city as well as our (US)
contribution by the invention of the skyscraper. Though cultures combine other
cultures ideas and designs they maintain their own unique designs making them
ever more important and meaningful.
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| capitol building, washington DC: shows roman architecture being used in America |
The combining of cultures and now being able to see globally
without going away has brought cultures to advance. And it is due to this new
knowledge of what is out there that a revolution in America begins to unfold.
America begins to compete with others in making mass production faster than
before. We start to make things advance technologically making everything
modern and easier to build. It at this time that modernism arose and begins to dominate.
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| Factory during American Industrial Revolution |
http://blog.ratestogo.com/top-20-things-to-do-in-florence-i/
http://italia.pordescubrir.com/palazzo-de-te-obra-de-artr-en-lombardia.html
http://travel.sulekha.com/quwwat-ul-islam-mosque-photos.htm
http://www.newurbanarchitect.com/tradarch/villa-rotunda-vicenza-italy
http://www.freemasonrywatch.org/blog/
http://www.303rdbg.com/pp-cologne.html
http://industrialrevolutionresearch.com/
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
IAR221- Blog Post #11- Modernism in architecture
The underlying question facing the rise of modernism in the 20th century is "why is it so important for people of the beginning of the 20th century to be working so hard to be modern?"
The answer is that they felt "traditional forms of art, literature, religious faith, social organization, and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political conditions of an emerging fully industrial world."
The underlying principles of modernism are:
1. expression of volume rather than mass
2. balance rather than preconceived symmetry
3. expulsion of applied ornament
A great example of this is through Charles Le Corbusier, a great leader of this movement. In his design in the Villa Savoye in Paris we see this importance of modernism played out.
Le Corbusier also incorporated his "five points" of new architecture in his design representing this modernism for the villa.
The five points are: 1) the pilotis elevating the mass off the ground, (2) the free plan, achieved through the separation of the load-bearing columns from the walls subdividing the space, (3) the free facade, the corollary of the free plan in the vertical plane, (4) the long horizontal sliding window and finally (5) the roof garden, restoring, supposedly, the area of ground covered by the house.
As one can see, the use of achieving modernism is of great importance in the beginning of the 20th century as in the same way the "modernism" in everyday things today changes, because it is thought to be traditional and out of date.
The answer is that they felt "traditional forms of art, literature, religious faith, social organization, and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political conditions of an emerging fully industrial world."
The underlying principles of modernism are:
1. expression of volume rather than mass
2. balance rather than preconceived symmetry
3. expulsion of applied ornament
A great example of this is through Charles Le Corbusier, a great leader of this movement. In his design in the Villa Savoye in Paris we see this importance of modernism played out.
 |
| http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/france/poissy/savoye/corbuindex.html |
The five points are: 1) the pilotis elevating the mass off the ground, (2) the free plan, achieved through the separation of the load-bearing columns from the walls subdividing the space, (3) the free facade, the corollary of the free plan in the vertical plane, (4) the long horizontal sliding window and finally (5) the roof garden, restoring, supposedly, the area of ground covered by the house.
As one can see, the use of achieving modernism is of great importance in the beginning of the 20th century as in the same way the "modernism" in everyday things today changes, because it is thought to be traditional and out of date.
IAR221- Reading Response #11 - The Father of Organic Architecture
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| Sources: Roth, Massey, photo sources with pictures |
Monday, March 28, 2011
IAR221- Blog Post #10- Revolution of the CLOCK
As an object that represents industrial revolution and the revolutionary time period, I chose the clock. Though the first clocks started back at the beginning of time, they are still equally important today. It's because of the Industrial revolution that we can have multiple ways and ease of knowing the time today. A few concepts stay the same, but changes continue to take place to make it even better than before.
The first look at the clock and its function can be seen in Stonehenge. Stonehenge uses a circle shape to represent the roundness of the sun and the arching the sun makes around the earth. The stones are used as "dials" to help direct the shadows to help understand time of day.
As years go by the invention of the sun-dial begins to strengthen and smaller versions begin to exist. However, there is a problem with this form of telling time. When the sun is not out, the sundial is of non use. This encourages the use for other techniques. Then the start of water clocks began.
Mechanical clocks begin to form after, and it is this form of clock that allows the industrial revolution to take control. The round nature of the clock with its repetitive movements help symbolize the sun and the roundness of it and the earth. Today we continue to incorporate these things, but create more efficient and easier ways today. Below are pictures showing the way the clock has developed since the industrial revolution and how they are made so often that practically everyone owns one. If not, they are able to see one everyday. Clocks are now everywhere and on everything thanks to the revolution and industrial practices. They have moved from a sacred important spot to something we use multiple times a day. They not only tell one what time it is, but help schedule around those times.
PS- another linking the clock has is to the railroad system. It helps transportation with the railroads be more approachable and usable providing arrival and departure times.
The first look at the clock and its function can be seen in Stonehenge. Stonehenge uses a circle shape to represent the roundness of the sun and the arching the sun makes around the earth. The stones are used as "dials" to help direct the shadows to help understand time of day.
As years go by the invention of the sun-dial begins to strengthen and smaller versions begin to exist. However, there is a problem with this form of telling time. When the sun is not out, the sundial is of non use. This encourages the use for other techniques. Then the start of water clocks began.
Mechanical clocks begin to form after, and it is this form of clock that allows the industrial revolution to take control. The round nature of the clock with its repetitive movements help symbolize the sun and the roundness of it and the earth. Today we continue to incorporate these things, but create more efficient and easier ways today. Below are pictures showing the way the clock has developed since the industrial revolution and how they are made so often that practically everyone owns one. If not, they are able to see one everyday. Clocks are now everywhere and on everything thanks to the revolution and industrial practices. They have moved from a sacred important spot to something we use multiple times a day. They not only tell one what time it is, but help schedule around those times.
PS- another linking the clock has is to the railroad system. It helps transportation with the railroads be more approachable and usable providing arrival and departure times.
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| today |
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