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. 

People in Spaces

http://www.urbansketchers.com/search/label/Richard%20Câmara

Matthew Forsythe

http://www.urbansketchers.com/search/label/Vancouver

BJÖRN ESKIL

http://www.urbansketchers.com/search/label/Christian%20Tribastone

Laura Frankstone

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz8jpbbadEbCBxCpHcmro26wTDAOssaNflKQycncNsba7z6IGZY-6zPPYABTC4OYY1LZ3F83TmlEk1ElbIKQ-bm6NJAPLti1V4werKnL4Axppj8CMRhlkI5TFbJcIb7s1heLrZOM0S1V0/s1600-h/IMG_1761.JPG

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostschool/3244258173/

Opus Entry #2 2.4.09

Illuminate

Throughout the course of the week, several of these terms were mentioned and expounded upon in a way that helped me dive deeper into their meanings and understand more about them than I what I previously knew. I was able to associate illuminate most through Suzanne’s lessons with watercolor. Watercolor allows for some items to be highlighted more than others by adding a simple dash of color. It really makes them pop and seem more on display than its environment and/or neighboring objects. Another example discussed this week pertaining to illumination would be the Egyptians’ pyramids.  Firstly, the Egyptians built their structures from light colored sandstone but placed a gold tip at the top of the pyramid, playing with color to illuminate that one aspect. Secondly, The Egyptians had a thorough and deep believe in the Sun God Ra, making their afterlife belief even more pronounced. The way in which they built their tombs and temples (pyramids), was designed around the thought that the soul of the deceased kings would be closer to Ra. “Each of the great masses is perfectly aligned toward the North Star and the perpendicular axis of the sun.” (Roth 196) Roth also shows how Spell 523 relates that “’Heaven hath strengthened for thee the rays of the sun in order that thou mayest lift thyself to heaven as the eye of Ra.’ In other words, the pyramid was the kind’s launching place, the mountain whose gilded summit would catch the first rays of the sun from which the soul of the pharaoh would rise to greet Ra in his eternal endeavor…” (Roth 201) This shows how the Egyptians buried their deceased pharaohs to be exalted even in their death and after life by illuminating their resting places. 

Idiom

This week brought quite a bit of confusion and debate on the accurate definition or example of an idiom. One definition reads “an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, or from the general grammatical rules of language.” Some examples of simple phrases or clichés were tossed up for interpretation this week; phrases that involved things that could be in different ways or contain different meanings or uses. Instead of a literary idiom, I have chosen to illuminate and describe this term with a structure that has sparked much controversy over the last few hundred years. Stonehenge stands as a perfect example of such a thing that can be categorized as an idiom. There has been much debate over the essential use and intentions of Stonehenge. It has been suggested that it served as a way to monitor the sun that rose directly ahead during summer solstice.  Another astronomical suggestion was that it “might have been used to mark phases and eclipses of the moon and other astronomical phenomena.” (173) Another suggestion of its intended use was for religion or some other ritual. “…the manifestation of a social covenant, a symbol of communal purpose.” It has been thought that the Stonehenge was used for a religious ritual pertaining to the dead – despite the fact that no bodies have been found anywhere near the area. These many different interpretations of the intended use of Stonehenge stands as an example of an idiom and how different things can be perceived in different ways for different people. 

http://michael-balter.blogspot.com/2008/06/early-stonehenge-pilgrims-came-from.html

Material

The material utilized to create buildings and structures has a great impact on the overall composition of the entity. It affects the visual appeal, texture, “commodity, firmness, and Delight.” One example I’ve discovered from this week would be the early Mesopotamian civilization. Their architecture seems quite simple, but its actually one of the first versions of building techniques and materials that are repeated and used even in structures today. “An architecture of mud bricks reinforced with straw emerged. Coated with a hard plaster, this material was sufficiently durable in a climate with little rain and some of these structures have been in use for four thousand years.” (Roth 193) The Mesopotamian people were forced to advance in their architecture and use of the materials around them because they were limited in what they could use. They found ways to manipulate what may seem simple and trivial materials to construct a structure that actually satisfied the power of three (commodity, firmness, and delight) but that also has been able to be expounded upon and perfected to be used even today. Below is an image of the Ziggurat of Ur, providing an excellent example of their materials used. 

http://www.dl.ket.org/humanities/arch/ur.htm

Commodity

As one of the three main components of design, commodity plays a large part in the process of creating a well-designed space or structure. It can be defined as something of use, advantage, or value. My personal thoughts on Commodity is a space that effectively utilizes the space in a way that maximizes its area and space, as well as utilizing as many parts of it as possible. One example from this week I found helpful when defining commodity was the Village at El Kahun in Egypt. Each residential home was connected to its neighbor, compacting the living area and utilizing less material, making it a sustainable design. In most cases, a residential structure shared a right, left, and back wall with it’s neighbors. “As a study of the Egyptian temple reveals, it is a linear, axial architecture, turned at right angles to the axis of the river. And those two axes of river and sun form the basis of the orthogonal grid of Egyptian fields and cities, exemplified by the city built by the Twelfth Dynasty pharaoh, Sesostris II…at what is now El Kahun…” (Roth 190) This quote describes the design and overall construction of the village of El Kahun. The image below also shows how each individual space is connected to its neighbors, making use of every bit of space whilst still maximizing its space. 

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/towns.htm

Firmness

Firmness simply means, long lasting and securely fixed in place. A well designed structure considers what its future is to be like; whether it will be weathered a century later, what its condition will be, its future usage and changes, and simply whether it will be in existence in future years. The Egyptians considered firmness quite a bit in the pyramids at Giza. These three main structures have withstood the test of time and are still in good condition. The Egyptians also considered its intended use years later. Their strong belief in the afterlife contributed to this. They needed a structure to bury their dead that would allow all their possessions to be safe and secure for them until they returned in their after life. 

Delight

Delight in terms of architecture satisfies the beauty needs and expectations of the eye. Not only does a well-designed structure satisfy both the needs of commodity and firmness, but it must also be visually appealing. It must be delightful to the eye and to its intended use. An example would be my version of “Pats Chair” in Stoel’s drafting class. I have attempted to design it to satisfy the three main points of a well-designed piece of architecture: commodity, firmness, and delight. It is firm, withstanding for its use (commodity), and is also visually appealing and delightful. We as designers must strive for such creations. To effectively create a place and enhance its function, sustainability, and aesthetics, we must consider commodity, firmness, and delight. 

Wearable Artifacts

After our artifacts were created and presented, we were to choose three from the class and sketch them, water-coloring them into a vignette. I had not really had any prior instructions or technique training in water colors before this, i'd simply played around with them myself, trying to learn some by doing. I think they turned out rather well, and composed well on the page. One suggestion Suzanne made to me though, was to try letting more of the natural white of the paper show through, helping to accentuate the lighting. This was one concern i'd discovered from my own ventures into water color, and I believe this tip will help me to not saturate the entire drawing with color so much. 

ARTIFACT

The stitches represent the main theme of the "White Snake." When you help someone else it eventually comes back around to help you in the end. The blue stitching represents this theme, and then the Gold ribbon would symbolize the riches the servant acquires in the end. 

OPUS 1.21.09-1.28.09

STORIES

Webster’s dictionary defines a story as a “true or fictitious narrative, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the reader or hearer.” As designers, we are aware that every idea or design we compose tells a story in its own way. As with every story, designs contain plots, characters, settings, and themes. Each is interrelated, producing an aesthetically appealing and useful space. This week in our studio class, we were each assigned a fairytale to analyze and dissect to find the underlying themes that could potentially be used to generate a successful design. We also analyzed a Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare on a shallow level. We found several “stories within a story”, touching on the lives and tales of the lovers, fairies, actors, and royalty. Designers draw from our own stories, other’s stories, and experiences as inspiration to create and leave our own legacy. 

http://scentofabricots.blogspot.com 

CYCLE

A cycle is any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated over a period of time. A cycle can occur in many forms – social, cultural, philosophical, environmental, etc. Fashion cycles occur over decades, different fashions coming in and out of style. Architecture takes the same form. There are shorter cycles in the world, the cycle of the sun and moon for example. The earth turns on its axis in a perfect phase that allows us to view the sun and moon during an even interval of time each day. The nautilus shell below represents a cycle translated into a story. Over time, the shell was constructed by a natural process that carefully designed this structure as a aesthetically appealing and useful shelter for its resident. 

 Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture Introduction – Architecture, the unavoidable art P. 2 

TRANSLATION

Translation somewhat intertwines with Cycle in an apparent manner. Cycles translate over time, and though it remains a cycle, minor things might alter. Translation is the rendering or conversion of something into a more coherent and appropriate fashion. Translation allows us to transform our designs from simple ideas into a broad range of conceptual proposals. The image below shows a butterfly completing the transformation into a new life as a new creature. This too happens with design. It transforms and converges into something new and more ideal - a more "beautiful creation."

ARTIFACTS

I consider an artifact as anything that withstands the test of time, and yet still contains a certain level of visual delight. An artifact, to me, can be a physical structure of some means, or a verbal representation of something. Stories can also be artifacts in their own way. They have been passed down orally through generations and Translated through time, but still contain their essential underlying theme. An artifact is a symbol of something with a great level of importance and symbolism or meaning to someone. Something of the past, that has a past itself – a story to accompany it.

Www.Timelessmyths.com 

MULTIVIEW

Mutiview is a term used to describe how an object, idea, or situation has several view points or perspectives. This week, I was able to see this idea conveyed through a Midsummer Night’s Dream. The “story within a story” concept allowed this task to become a bit easier as well. Shakespeare did an excellent job writing the script so that the emotions and thoughts of each character was evenly matched to its co-stars. The Lover’s story was shown through each of their eyes, allowing the viewer to empathize with each of them. The same was done through the fairies and actors. One could transport oneself into the shoes of both Titania and Oberon effectively as well as Nick Bottom. Having a multiview means looking at something in an ambiguous way. People perceive things differently, depending on their experiences and way of thinking. As in this inkblot, someone may see a white vase, but someone else may capture the image of two human facial profiles. 

Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture Visual Perception, P. 69 

REFLECTION

Throughout this week, these prompts have gotten me to really consider all aspects of my life instead of simply the design techniques mentioned by my professors. I was able to learn to pull from other aspects of my life for inspiration. My religion plays a large role in my life, and I was able to draw several references from it. I also learned that themes can be drawn from fairytales and other stories or experiences people have encountered. Any small bit of a theme can go very far and be utilized in a way that will both enhance and expand my design techniques. I have also realized that everything in design is intertwined. Each of our prompts(stories, artifacts, translation, cycle, and multiview) were connected in some way, making each an important part of the other. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare played a prominent role in my discoveries this week. It effectively covered each of the prompts in an easily coherent manner, as well as capturing the essence of each one in a way that sparked my interest and desire to learn more.

Timeline 425 BC-425 AD

Institutions 425 BC

• (431) The Greek physician and philosopher Empedocles articulates the notion that the human body has four humors: blood, bile, black bile, and phlegm, a belief that dominates medical thinking for centuries.
  
• (430) First performance of Sophocles’s Oedipus the King
  
• (429) The plague of Athens, a devastating epidemic, hit the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year of the Peloponnesian War, killing nearly 1/3 of the population
  
• (427) Greek Historian, Herodotus, composes Historiae in which he argues for an environmental case of human variability as a cause or adaptation to differing environments.
  
• Pythagoras of Samos, Greek Mathematician, discoverer of the Pythagorean theorem.
  

Governance 425 BC

• (431) the Peloponnesian War begins between Sparta and Athens and their allies.
  
• (428) Mytilene rebels against Athens but is crushed.
  
• (428) Sparta attempts to crush a rebellion on Corcyra, but cancels the efforts when the Athenians try to intercept them.
  
• (427) Platea surrenders to the Spartans, who execute over 200 prisoners and destroy the city.
  
• (427) the Athenians intervene in Sicily to blockade Sparta from the island
  
• (425) Nehemiah institutes the 3^rd and final return from exile and rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem. Later he oversees the political restoration of the land of Israel.
  
• (425) The Athenians invade Sphacteria and defeat the Spartans in the battle of Pylos.
  
• (424) Sicily withdraws from the war and expels every foreign power. Thus, Athens is forced to withdraw from the island.
  

Commerce 425 BC

• (425) Demosthenes captures the port of Pylos in the Peloponnesus.
  
• Olive oil was the principal fat consumed
  

Technology 425 BC

• (432) Athens adopts a 19 year cycle of synchronizing solar and lunar calendars.
  
• The Greeks invent the Anchor with Flukes
  
• The Greeks invent linear perspective
  
• The Greeks start to use shear-leg cranes for construction and loading of ships.
  
• Trebuchet catapult is the first used by followers of the Chinese philosopher Mozi.
  
• Cast Iron is first used in the Chinese kingdom of Wu with the innovation of the blast furnace, and soon becomes widespread for agricultural tools and weapons during the Warring States.
  
• The Chinese hydraulic engineer Ximen Bao oversees an enormous canal system for agricultural irrigation.
  
•  
  

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Institutions 425 AD

• (425) Buddhism begins to spread to Southeast Asia
  
• (425) last known useage of Demotic
  
• Armenian alphabet created by Mesrob Mashtot
  
• Anglo-Saxon futhorc alphabet used in England
  
• (431) St. Patrick, completed the conversion to Christianity in Ireland
  

Governance 425 AD

• (425) October 23 – Valentinian III becomes Western Roman Emperor
  
• (430) Ilopango erupted, devastating Mayan cities in present-day El Salvador.
  
• (433) Attila the Hun was leader of the Huns
  
• (439) Vandals conquer Carthage
  
• (440) The Anglo-Saxons settle in Britain.
  

Commerce 425 AD

• Unable to find information on commerce at this time.
  

Technology 425 AD

• Horse Collar invented in China
  
• Heavy Plow in use in Slavic lands
  
• Metal Horseshoes become common in Gaul

PATHWAYS-EDGES-BOUNDARIES

These are some pictures of my group's drawings, models, and process throughout the Pathways Edges and Boundaries project. The first three images are photographs taken of the critique set up. (I was a member of the exhibit group, and we worked very hard to come up with a layout for the presentation that matched our conceptual designs of the project as a whole.) The fourth picture is our first model that we created to present. It ended up changing a little bit, but the central concept of the sand waves still persevered. The next two images are of our group's concrete mixing sessions. We had a right amount of fun making the foam models for the box so that we could create the wave effect, as well as fun in casting the concrete. It truly was a group effort and we all had a hand in the stirring, pouring of water, etc. Though we didn't each have our own small model that we cast, we all "got our hands dirty" in the casting process. The next two images are my plan and section drawings of our design. The top view is one foot by one foot, and the section view is one foot, ten inches by one foot. The final picture is our first model that came out. It turned out really well in our opinion, but we learned quite a bit about making our second one. Our second one, for example, had our waves connecting on each side so that they continued throughout the block instead of being random. 

Chapel

As I was beginning this drawing, it seemed to be rather easy to me. I finished the entire roof (the complicated part) and then realized one side was an 8th of an inch off. So I redrew it because I couldnt figure out where I had gone wrong. This time, I decided to start from the end that I screwed up on and ended up messing up on the other side! (Again, I didnt realize it until after I finished the entire roof.) Henceforth, I finally drew it again and it was right, but I realized that I started poche'ing the bond for some odd reason - which is why the chimney and such is darker :o] 

House Elevation

This was my favorite to draw and my best one. It came out very well, and I am pleased with it. 

better perspective drawings

The top image is a two point perspective drawing of the corner of my dorm room. I was very pleased at how this came out. The second image is a one point perspective of Clairissa Anderson's studio desk. Her's seemed a bit more interesting to draw than mine so I chose to do hers instead.

Perspective Exercises

This is a two point perspective of a corner in the critique room. It is a rough sketch, but I feel like it came out better than I thought it would. I am pleased :)

We were sketching a box in two point perspective while playing close attention to light sources. I found it rather hard to visualize the object in this way because it seemed deformed to me. This might just be the angle in which I was sitting in front of the object to draw it. 

North Arrows and Scales

Orthographic Projection Practice

Perspectives

These are four drawings of different points of perspective. We were to take photos of spaces with one and two point perspective, and one with an exaggerated lighting (leaf photo). These drawings turned out really well in my opinion and I learned quite a bit about shading and how the eye actually sees an object.