Opus Week #3

Section

A section is a representation of an object as it would appear if cut by a plane, showing its internal structure. This week, we’ve been drawing plan and elevation views for our Pat’s Chair. By displaying the ¾” MDF in a note and as a double line on our drawings, we are able to draw and poche the section drawing where it is cut. The internal structure is shown, and further explains different parts or “sections” of a drafted drawing. 

 

Another example of scale discussed over the last week is Patrick’s all famous “PORCH+COURT+HEARTH” lecture. The theme of every building or space having a porch, court, and hearth can be traced in all building forms from the Early Greeks onward. It stands as a prototype for future endeavors as well as defining historical spaces as well. The structure or sections of a home is a “tripartite arrangement [that] begins with the reception spaces and is followed by the great hall and a private section. (Blakemore 6). Each of these components of a space unify it and pull it all together to be a well designed space to fit the needs and exploits of its inhabitants. Frank Lloyd Wright, for example, centers all of his designs around this three part theory. The hearth tended to be the fireplace or some other sort of living area. Its all unified together by displaying these three components and demonstrates the different sections of the space. 

http://www.wrightnowinbuffalo.com/whattodo/wright_legacy.asp

Unity

Unity is the state or fact of being united or combined into one. It deals with parts of a whole that come together to form a well-designed space. An example of such a space unifies different uses would be the temple of Amon at Karnak. The Egyptian temple was the most important building of the time. It served as more than just a place to worship in a religious sense. It also “was the residence and training ground of the immense bureaucracy that ran the country… The large temples included schools, universities, libraries, and archives;… The temples were also the site of elaborate, prolonged theatrical religious festivals celebrated…” (Roth 203)  Roth shows how though this temple is used for several different reasons; they are all unified in their operations. 

Vignette

A vignette is an engraving, drawi

ng, or photograph that is shaded off gradually at the edges so as to leave no definite line at the border. Lately, we’ve been doing a sort of “drawing boot camp” with Suzanne, where she is getting us to draw what we see rather than what we think we see. These vignettes have really helped me be able to see how shapes, forms, people, and silhouettes are interrelated and interactive with each other. I find it a rather relaxing experience to sit down and concentrate on the forms themselves instead of just sketching a quick thing. Allowing the images to be faded out at the corners rather than bordered with restricting lines places emphasis on a particular subject in a scene. It captures that moment and focuses on it’s composition.

Boundaries

A boundary is something that indicates bounds or limits. It defines a space, area, or composition, making it a distinct place. The Greeks, for example, thought that they were the center of the world. They were bounded by water on all their sides, and then by other landmasses beyond the seas. This defined their exact location, but also made them susceptible to threats through their water sources. The water was used as trade routes and could also pose as an aid for attacks. 

Another example of Boundaries that we’ve covered this week is the planning of the Greek City. The Akropolis was designed in a way that has paths leading out to farms and more flat landed areas with homes and other public buildings. “At the base of Akropolis, paths leading out to the surrounding farms eventually became streets, and along one of these, northwest of the mass of the Akropolis a roughly triangular, open space was set aside as the agora, whose boundaries were defined by surrounding houses and public buildings. The agora was the communal heart of the Greek city, the open living room where trade was carried on, students were taught, and the business of the polis (politics).” (Roth 222) This small paragraph from Roth shows the boundaries of the city and how smaller spaces can have boundaries as well as larger landmasses. 

Scale

Scale is a very important factor and aspect of design. It defines the size of a structure, building, or other part of architecture as well as aiding a designer when drawing out plans and elevations for these designs. Many times, if the scale of a building is rather large, it determines the functionality and purpose of the space as well as its proportion and balance. The Greeks sought perfection, the ideal, the “archetype” to their structures. Their idea of proportion or scale was very important to their architecture and designs. “Perhaps the proportional system most associated with Greek architecture and design, and with classical architecture as a whole, is what is called the Golden Section, or Golden Mean.” (Roth 72) Roth continues on to explain the Golden Mean, and how the materials they chose are proportional and believed to be perfect. Roth also talks about scale as its own entity. “How big a building is, relative to the size of the average human is said to be its scale.” (Roth 75) This relates to the scale figures we’ve been drawing for Suzanne as well as for Stoel. Suzanne has been having us draw people, and one of our assignments was to draw 50 people as scaled figures. This exercise was to strengthen our idea of the form and shape of the person, and enabled us to sketch them as a silhouette in a sense. This continued on to Stoel’s drafting assignments where he asked us to include a scaled figure in our drafting designs of Pat’s chair. It helped us indicate the size of the building to the relative size of a human being, as Roth stated.