Voices

Above is the most recent model that originally derived from my fairy tale in the beginning of the semester depicting journey. I imaged this twelve feet in the air and very treacherous; something a pre-teen or teenager would find really exciting and adventurous.


My abstracted studio work done in strictly black and white materials has served as a perfect place to begin this opus. My model represents the treacherous aspects of the fairytale journey as well as the good news and revelations that are revealed within the tale. This idea of journey as a rough transition but upon reflection was a good thing, as well as the black and white combination of color creates this sense of duality within the piece. Duality is everywhere we are from couples in love, bikes need tires to move and support the metal framework, food and drink, etc. Duality uses two ideas to create a sense of one central idea. In a geographical and cultural sense of the word, duality can be in nature, cities, architecture and so on. In the words of Blakemore pg. 45, “Among the most affluent of cities established by the Greeks were Syracuse and Taranto, the former on the island of Sicily and the latter on the southern coast of Italy. Of the two areas, Sicily reached great heights of development than the settlements of the southern peninsula.” The quote goes on to say, “Thus began the assimilation by the Romans through their conquests of the more refined civilization of the Greek colonies in southern Italy.” She also references Roman arts and culture; “The interrelatedness of the influencing factors illustrates the dependence of Roman arts on the cultures of other races.” The concept of being interrelated, having dependence on another, and the coming together of two parts is what duality is all about. The sense of relationship is vital to its definition.

Above is a plan for a bath of the Diocletians [2]

A historical moment that encompassed two ideals was the baths of the Diocletian that date back to 289 A.D. These baths were a way to connect community to city and a cultural practice to be reinvented to accommodate many and make beautiful. Roth (pg. 275) discusses this idea of the baths leading to greater architectural accommodations and construction of other common spaces, “As a result, new building needs arose, necessitating new building types. Courts administration buildings, and houses continued to be built as required, and real architectural innovation shifted to solving the problem of how to house communal groups of worshippers.” He is saying that after the baths, there was a need for other common spaces for the population. The next step was church spaces. Also, Roth states on pg. 279, “At first, there was no need for specialized architecture, for the small Christian groups adapted their worship to the available spaces in private homes.”

Above are potential doorframe design ideas. I am to incorporate the black and white models of my group members and the Pyramids of Giza into our design.

Baths were a wonderful example of common area architectural precedents of architecture. There are precedents in our current era such as in my current project of designing a doorframe for studio. I am to construct a doorframe that pulls from two precedents, one being the fairy tale I was assigned at the start of the semester and the projects that have steamed from them as well as the Pyramids of Giza. Precedents are vital for project planning and innovation. Precedents are already invented, created “things” that helped to influence your original idea. In history there are several starts and beginnings, which began precedents. Roth brings this to our attention on pg. 279, “At first, there need for specialized architecture, for the small Christian groups adapted their worship to the available spaces in private homes.”

Above is an image I drew depicting an alter at a church celebrating a quiet time and place for prayer. The large cross and banner with candles and a sign have a strong presence in this space.

Presence is the shaping or offset of tone in a space; what a space gives off and how it gives to a space and to its inhabitants. Roth gives a prime example of presence on pg. 282, “In the Eastern part of Constantine’s empire, new churches took a slightly different form, representing centralized martyria, the buildings erected on the spots associated with the life and death of Christ.” Roth is showing us that these new forms created representations for this understanding of what a presence is.

Above is the metric system! I drew out a way to remember this system used around the world with: King Henry Died While Drinking Chocolate Milk [1]

A system, measure, rule. Metric is utilized worldwide as a recognized system of measure and a style of marking. In architectural drafting and other such mathematical systems of drawing or scale planning, metric systems of measure must be in place in order to translate the scale and make sense of the measures. It is a language in and of itself.

What ties these words together is their connection to forming a precedent. When systems of measure began such as metric and we began to create different things that gave off this sense of presence. A way that we have formulated this ideal of precedents into our own moments is through duality and other forms of innovation.

Respected and Acknowledged Quotes That Inspired Drawings:

[1]http://academic.yorktech.com/department/tutor/Scaned%20Handouts/Metric%20System.bmp
[2]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Baths_Diocletian-Lanciani.png