IAR221- Blog Post #13 Scandinavian Modern

Scandinavian Modernism has an important legacy to design today and in the ways in which designers think. Its way of expressing through the use of curved corners, exposing finished edges, yet allowing simplicity and smoothness makes this a desirable form for all. Today the desires for simple yet comforting and smooth is met through Scandinavian design and experimenting from them. A great example of this is the Turning Torso building in Malmo, Sweden.

This building, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, is emulating the turning torso of a human being. It shows the way in which our back turns creating a since of smoothness in flow and movement while producing curves. The tower itself not only showing this but also simplicity in use of color (white), as well as repetition and functionality of residence. The building reaches to a height of 190 meters and totals 54 stories. The building also consists of 9 cubes. each rotating slightly each time it moves upward.  This building also holds 147 flats, offices, and conference rooms, and facilities for the tenants. The functionality of this apartment building is great by the use of amenities, number of elevators, and the availability of the tenants. Also, the building holds high speed elevators to transport the tenants; it only takes them 38 seconds to reach the top floor to help someone. This itself proves of the buildings functionality. The turning torso is a great example of Scandinavian design and through this one can see how people all around the world today try and make their skyscrapers top of the line yet simple just like this one.








 






Sources:
http://inspire.2ia.pl/post/35737357/turning-torso-apartment-building-in-malmo-sweden
http://www.woonq.com/2008/12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/venteco/2720427648/
http://mithhilarora.blogspot.com/2006/12/turning-tower-of-santiago-calatravas.html

IAR221- Reading Response #13- Farnsworth

sources:

http://history-of-architecture-frank.wiki.uml.edu/Exam+2

http://www.architakes.com/?p=3266

http://architecturelab.net/farnsworth-house-opens-for-special-tours-wednesdays-and-weekends-through-october-2008-2311/

http://fourdivisions.co.uk/farnsworth-house-floor-plan-dimensions&page=3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mies_van_der_Rohe_photo_Farnsworth_House_Plano_USA_9.jpg

http://maciejratajski.blogspot.com/2009/12/philip-johnson-glass-house.html

http://fmcog.org/stelle-johnson-county-texas-philip-tinsley/

 

 

 

 

 

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.

wear it in all colors

represent school pride

advertise

Its a perfect craft for all ages!

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

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.

Palazzo Medici

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.

Palazzo del te

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.

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.

Factory during American Industrial Revolution

    Sources: Ching, Roth
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/

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.

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/france/poissy/savoye/corbuindex.html

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. 

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Le_Corbusier%27s_five_points_towards_a_new_architecture

IAR221- Reading Response #11 - The Father of Organic Architecture

Sources: Roth, Massey, photo sources with pictures