In the theories unit, I learned that commodity, firmness, and delight are a part of every building structure. You must think about these three in order to have a structure or building that looks appealing to the eye. I now look at every building and ask myself if it has commodity, firmness and delight.
The foundations unit is all about how systems and basic structures came about. It is also about the meanings behind the structures and why they look the way they do.
The Egyptians relied on the Nile river for their passageway for transportation. The Nile however would flood a lot and materials were restricted for transporting. Hieroglyphics are a passage to telling about stories on columns. A great example would be the Hypostyle hall.
Many things follow the post and lintel system. Even today it is used because it is the basic building block for a successful, well-built structure. It has posts that stand on the ground running vertically and lintels that run horizontally on top of the posts. Stonehenge used the post and lintel system.
The Khufu are famous pyramids that represents the male. Hatshepsut represents female because it is family related in the fact that it is built in with the land and born into that position. Khufu is male because they stand independently and are on the land. It is very welcoming because it is out in the open making it an intimate setting since the pyramids are close together. The taller pyramids are male and the smaller ones are part of the family because the taller one has a greater hierarchy over the other family members.
Speaking of hierarchy, chairs were made with meaning to the class it was built for. For example, the taller ones were for high class and the ones closer to the ground were for the lower class. Also, in the Trajan Markets for male and female, the wu wu represents a column that is a male part and an arch is female that represents the female part. The males are columns because they are taller and have more hierarchy over the females.
The Greeks were all about city rule, water, and localized buildings who borrowed freely as the Empires were like our modern cities. The Greeks used aquaducts to transport water into the city and it became a part of their everyday life. In the Acropolis, there was hierarchy that had order. The columns had order making the tuscan order the archetype/ideal, the Doric order the prototype/gets you to ideal, and the composite order the hybrid/steps to get to ideal.
Pompeii has some of all building types talked about. It is eclectic because it borrowed freely from others. It is functional because of the greater diversity. It was structural because of innovation and techniques. It was international because it had existing stone only and borrows on language. The baths were made of stone, mosaics and concrete and they represented a place of gathering, political speeches, and law court.
Stonehenge is an example of the post and lintel system and it is a system that is still used today!
http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Stonehenge_Inside_Facing_NE_April_2005.jpg/180px-Stonehenge_Inside_Facing_NE_April_2005.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment