OPUS: [ROADTRIP]

Progression Models
Opus: Road Trip
Roots—
The root of design lies in the beginning of time. The roots begin the growth of a plant or tree and can be used figuratively in the sense of planting a new beginning. Within the history of design, we can see the roots of the middle class reflecting the upper class, the start of sky scrapers and the “white picket fence” homes of today, all the way to the extravagant periods of baroque and the details the of cathedral ceilings in Rome. Roots are beginnings that take hold and grow more and more and more until they develop into a grand creation. What better way to characterize the design process?
One of the great beginnings in exotic design was a result of the Industrial Revolution. When travel began to become apart of life, so did importing and exporting materials across countries and continents. European design started to resemble Asian design down to the interior and exterior details and materials. This fusion was a beautiful romance of culture and influence. Roth speaks on this idea of mixing cultures and ideas on page. 470, “While this kind of mixing had the potential to produce unusual designs or even bizarre fantasies, in the hands of the most intelligent architects, the result was a wholly new synthesis.” The times were changing, as were the design elements, which designers were utilizing in their creations. From door handles to furniture to artwork, to even as dramatic as entire exteriors were decorated in foreign design styles. The western world began borrowing from the eastern world and added their own western twist to make it their own. Roth also reinstates this idea of cultural borrowing on page 471, “First they were of Classical buildings; then and even of exotic, non-European architecture, such as the views of Egypt that excited so much interest after Napoleon’s campaign.” The designs were making way from Egypt to European countries and leaving serious footprints. These old age ideas were becoming something of exotic and sheik elegance and luxury.

A Chair inspired by other countries designs.

Congruence—
When things are similar or alike in some sense. Throughout the semester we have had projects that have been abstracted and pushed further from the original idea. Although the models were changed, they were similar in idea and original intention. To make a replica or a similar design to something that has already been created, one much study the original idea with great patience and critical thinking. Roth gives an example of this on page 474, “In the Altes Museum, Schinkel devised a logical plan and a circulation pattern based on a thorough study of the building’s function of displaying works of art as an educational task, creating around the art a crisply and accurately detailed Greek envelope.” Roth is showing us that even in the past centuries where it seems as though few ideas would have come about in just the 18th century or earlier, that people were able to replicate the older ideas of the past to invent for the future.

Concept—
The thorough thought process and purpose for the design a designer creates. The questions of: Who, what where, when and why can all be answered with intention when the concept for a design is strong. On page 483 in Roth, he talks about the designer’s intention behind his creation of a Parisian opera. He says, “Parisians went to the opera principally for social reasons, rather than to hear the music---they went “to see and be seen.” According to Garnier used a traditional horseshoe auditorium with layered galleries around the auditorium with layered galleries around the auditorium so operagoers could better see each other. But most important, by far the greatest proportion of space in the building is devoted to spaces and lobbies, focused on the elaborate staircase, which provides the perfect stage on which the operagoer’s can parade and exchange greetings.” Designers are asked to think of how the space will be used or rather, the concept of the space and its layout. Garnier was smart and was able to think of the layout and the way the space would be used.

In The History and Theory of Design I am researching Frank Gehry's IAC Building. His concept was for the building to look like sails on the river in New York.

Materiality—
Through the test of time, designers and psychologists have learned that people have different moods based on their surroundings. The ability for something of materiality to have such an impact on the human mind is truly mindboggling. The use of reds and oranges make people anxious and violent, but blues and greens make people feel full of peace and positive energy. Why is this phenomenon? Materiality can play a large roll in a space. A single red panel on a window within a completely white walled and carpeted space would really make a difference and other times, it simply builds on the composition and is another layer of the design. However, no matter if the material is hugely apart a defining factor of the space or if it is a detail, it is still a detail in the room. Without that material being in the space, it is not the same space as it was before.
In the beginning of design history, the use of “stuff” was a defining monetary showcase. However, we have learned over time that all that “stuff” can really just make a chore out of decorating because it takes a lot of money, a lot of space, and a lot of time to dust and clean and maneuver around. The designs of today are much more “streamline” and “clean line” than that of the baroque or Victorian periods. Today, less is more but in times past, this was not the case. Roth pg. 509, “Classicism for collegiate buildings, or, most popular, Georgian Colonial Classicism for residences, schools, and collegiate buildings as well.” Roth is definining the design of the times and how it truly was simplified and not so electic.



Compression: Release—
In Frank Lloyd’s Falling Water, he utilized the idea of getting into the human psyche and literally manipulating every guest to feel a certain way in every portion of the house. The ceilings are kept low and then heighten to make people feel this sense of tension and release in each bedroom and living space. There is a narrow, dark hallway leading to the bedrooms and then they open up into these lit, private spaces with large windows overlooking the waterfall.
The same sense of compression and release does not have to be in ceiling heights and the physical sense of higher and lower spaces. It can also be reflected in style such as the Art Deco Movement. Massey states this on page 91, “Classical inspiration, the use of smooth surfaces to envelop the three-dimensional form, love of the exotic, sumptuous materials and repeated geometric motifs characterize the Art Deco style.” We learn that this movement allowed for a lot of variation and an overwhelming sense of design and various accessories. This can give certain people a sense of compression and release between rooms full of materials and those of hallways and entries that may not be as “cluttered”.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater living room with lowered ceilings.