blog post for monday, 28 february 2011

debotton suggests that there is an architecture of happiness. what do you think it means to have an architecture of happiness? how does the idea of happiness tie to “rules” about architecture and design? profile a happy space and a happy place on campus, with knowledge from your experience and from the campus reconnaissance you undertook as groups. illustrate your blog post with an image of each, being careful to link the images to the idea of rules.

Hercules

Unique Looking Churches in the World

I find it interesting what comes up when you type in a phrase or some keywords in Google.  In my case, I typed in 'unique church' and came upon some interesting images.  A couple of them I found under the same webpage (10 Most Unique Churches).  However, there are two that I believe strongly illustrate verticality.

Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran parish church located in Reykjavík, Iceland, not only demonstrates verticality but the shape also guides your eye to its center which leads your eye up to the heavens.  Another church is the Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida in Brazil and the look, although different, has the same intention that guides your eye up towards.

Hallgrímskirkja in Iceland designed by Guðjón Samúelsson

Cathedral of Brasília designed by Oscar Niemeyer

BP 5: A Poem Inspired by an Empty Cottage Through Musical Description

This poem was written by Michael Reittinger inspired by this old abandoned cottage in Boarhills, Scotland.  This picture is so interesting because of the difference in the clouds on the left and right.  He does great comparing this scene to jazz and the emotion see in the cottage.

A space of value with sweet toned skies
Skies that resemble jazz like feeling
A space of many textures with abnormal emotion
Landscape showing rhythm with beats so cool
A beautiful antique structure showing loneliness and heartache  
Loneliness of the trumpets overpowering the rest of the jazz ensemble
Layers stacked upon layers giving overlooking harmony
A tempo so soft and peace
LOOK! What can you hear?

Wh3Re's WaLDo - CHair Edition..

The beauty and fashion of contemporary style furniture not only interest interior designers but also captures the eye of set designers and producers. Providing tasteful eye-catching pieces to furnish and enrich their sets.

Even though I fall under the designer demographic, I must admit that I’m a little obsessed with chairs… more than I should be and it is always a treat when I recognize a chair in a movie or music video.

Here’s a little “where’s waldo” game I wanted to start in the light of chairs. Throughout the rest of the semester take note of famous chairs that you see used in the media and feel free to blog about it or email a T.A your findings!

I have started off the game with a few images below of chairs that I have recognized a music video or movie.  

                    

 White Barcelona Couch by Mies Van Der Rohe in Edward Cullen's Room from the teenage love flick Twilight.

Mies Van Der Rohe's Barcelona Chair in White from the horror film Silent Hill.

Indigo Peacock Chair from the Dror Studio in New York, featured in Rihanna's S+M music video

Bistro Chair No.14 by Michael Thonet in Beyonce + Lady GaGa's Video phone music video.

The black Ghost Chair by Philippe Stark in Regina Spektor's Fidelity. 

blog post 6 for monday, 21 february 2011

working from the ideas addressed in class and those you uncovered in the readings, take a position regarding whether the specific cathedrals you investigated in your discussion group in class today can be defined in terms of region. in that cathedrals represent both local and universal concerns, speculate a bit about how you can see expressions in design that address both the lofty ideals and the real circumstances of construction in their context. finally, in dealing with the idea of buildings as maps, fashion a cognitive map that tells something of the medieval world from which the cathedrals have been drawn.

and for you, at no extra charge, an example of a meaningful annotation. PLEASE NOTE : your cognitive map should be an original idea based on your understanding of the medieval world as you have encountered it this week.

medieval citizens stayed bound within the limits of their understanding of their world. this ideal vision stood in opposition to the realities of medieval life, one shaped by the church and limited further by local governance. gothic cathedrals suggest key moments on this map (and many others like it) through scale and placement near the center of this idealized world.

Ball-Nogues Studio

http://www.ball-nogues.com/

This is a great website comprising the works of the design duet Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues. I used their work as a precedent study on a 2nd year project I had last semester in which we had to create a product based on a series of folds, patterns, and diagrams. They have a myriad of projects on their website but these are a few of my favorite. Enjoy :)

The Kaleidoscope Effect

http://hkasdesign.blogspot.com/

This is an insightful poetic response provided by Hannah Kasmala on the Chihuly Blown Glass Sculpture located in the Bellagio Lobby at Las Vegas. I enjoy how she let the words flow in free form not allowing the rhythm of her words be constrained by the obligation of feeling a poem "has to" rhyme. Also, I enjoy how she used words from our design vocabulary in extension of the actual word, such as using the adjective form of color instead of the noun via "Colorful". This is the blog post selection for the group Delphinus.

A Poem Inspired by the Surreal

Two worlds collide into one

One form shrinking, melting, yet fingers reach for the sun

The other: familiar, clean, and white

The two contrast like day and night

Protected with barred windows from this spiny beast

The feeling of this new world not familiar in the least



Above is the blog post poem from Laura Belding in response to the selected image from the Cassiopeia discussion group. She did a great job in citing the peculiar form of this structure along with it's materiality within her own interpretation of this assignment.

BP5: Connecting Design + Music

Laura Kimmel's Blog post is one to emulate... it conceptually captures the design idea's portrayed in the photograph below. The song she chose speaks the same language as the patterning of the hangers and I can see exactly what point she is trying to put across for the viewer.

 Great Job Laura!

the twisting and spinning composition

with delicate but defined repetition

interacts with the space

at a rhythmic pace

with a weightless but colorful disposition

[assignment]

This week, we have been discussing how music fits architecture, or vice versa- how architecture fits music. In many civilizations, buildings seem to replicate the music they produced. This idea that the music came before the design is based on writing from Friedrich von Schelling in 1803:

"Architecture is music in space, as it were, a frozen music."

This theory can be applied to...

object+space+building+place

The limerick poem above is a response to how an object can be connected to a musical composition, using terms that relate to both design and music.

[photograph]

Paper covered wire hangers, hanging sculpture

at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironrodart/4130841033/

The hanging sculpture seems to take a lifelike form, gaining momentum as the individual forms overlap and the structure spins. It reminds me of the winged maple seeds that twirl as they fall; this action frozen in space. The rhythm this creates resembles music. Personally, I thought immediately of this song by Enya, "Sail Away" (Orinoco Flow).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlkSepPTLUc&feature=player_embedded < link to the song

Pegasus Poetry

http://hvmabry.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/design-music/

The tone is established by a beautiful sunset

You can hear the rhythm from the waves crashing below

The harmony experienced will never be a regret

The lonely structure shows how the tunes from underneath can just flow

A feeling that will never be upset

Oh, this is just an intro..

By: Hannah Mabry

orion

Phoenix Poetry

Today in class, the students in each discussion group chose a picture to write an original poem and post on their blog.  In reviewing the posts from the Phoenix group, I chose to feature Lindsay Grace's poem.  Lindsay chose to incorporate a bit of humor in her poem based on a conversation we had in group when picking out the photo.  

Sixteen blades all in a row,
what they are for, I do not know.
Eight bolts ring a rosie to form a curved shape,
your  surface rusted, filled with scrape.
My mind knows you turn round the void in the mid,
but your stationary oneness sends my confidence a skid.
Your lines are not straight instead they flow,
If only I knew how you go, go, go.

Lynx: Music and Architecture

Today, the students were to fashion a blog post combining an image we selected in class with a poem. After reviewing all of the posts, I chose to put the spotlight on Cory Odell this week from our group, the Lynx. He successfully pairs the image with beautiful words about how Music and Architecture intertwine in his mind, making it obvious that he grasps the relation between the two.



a rhythmic scale flowing up and down like the sun's rise and fall
waves cannot challenge a tempo of these sorts, for waves fall and break
sails try to mimic, but the style isn't quite their speed

up and down my eyes follow the ridges, a man-made mountain raising up into gods sky, but his hand didn't do so much for this creation

his order has been thrown. no longer is his unity in effect.

this is nothing short of visual opera, with highs and lows
with tones that give the skin chills

no beat or lyrics can be heard
but emotion pours out into my soul
and the very echos of the stone call to me to say
music is my legacy, and my existance is part of the worlds harmony.

and just like a clap of thunder, silence falls back into place
and i am left appulading all alone
within my head, and within my heart.

photo of a building in Kansas City, MO
photo credited to Scott Beck

Andromeda Poetry

Carrieanna really captured the essence of this building, showing rhythm and energy in her poetry.

POMPIDOU

(located in Paris)

The colors of your bright bold exterior dance across the eyes of an outsider.

The colors , yes are contrasting but create such unity.

The creative composition of the tubes and pipes create a bold rhythm,

a rhythm that draws you in.

Within your walls you hold something so precious,modern art that is marvelous.

The many angles and the numerous curves create layers of visual interest,

comes across as playful and oh so inviting.

Your form resonates such artistic abundance and you, my fried, are more than a building.

You are like music winding across the page. You are architecture that encompasses so much meaning.

You are what architecture is all about; Creative vision.

see more of Carieanna's work at http://carrieannalohr.blogspot.com/

gothic website link

check out this amazing website, designed by jen yancey, to look at gothic cathedrals and their lasting impacts as reminders of the medieval age.

http://www.uncg.edu/~pllucas/Gothic%20Cathedrals/website%2003.31.08/timelineNEW.html

Orion poetry

TOWERING ABOVE IN SCALE SO LARGE

DEMANDINGIN ANGLES AND LAYERS THAT IT’S IN CHARGE

ITS COMPOSITION HAS A MISSION

IN ORDER, FORM AND REPETITION

THE INCANDESCENT LIGHTS CAST A MIDNIGHT GLOW

ON THE WHITE PATH BELOW

EACH WINDOW DIRECTS ONE’S GAZE

TOWARDS THE SUNSET’S VIOLET HAZE

"I love this blog post exercise, because I simply love poetry"

Shooting so far into the sky
Scraping the clouds as they listlessly fly
Looking below at the beautiful lay
of the land where we all play,
Swim! jump! run!
Its just too fun!

Playing the Building

[pic]


In this Youtube clip, David Byrne from The Talking Heads creates a giant sound installation in an old New York city industrial building. In fact, the sound installation is the infrastructure of the building itself, becoming the actual instrument. . "The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices do not produce sound themselves, but they cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument." Check out this link to see exactly how he play's the building.

David Byrne's Website for more info

Andromeda

Poem Types

Couplets :A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit.... a PAIR. 

http://www.answers.com/topic/couplet#ixzz1Dfo12Zoy

Free Verse: unrhymed verse of irregular meter and nonmetrical rhythm

 http://www.answers.com/topic/free-verse#ixzz1DfolTtBg

Haiku:A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.

 http://www.answers.com/topic/haiku#ixzz1Dfp6kAge

Limerick:A light humorous, nonsensical, or bawdy verse of five anapestic lines usually with the rhyme scheme aabba.

 http://www.answers.com/topic/limerick#ixzz1DfpSZYof

Quatrain:A stanza or poem of four lines.

http://www.answers.com/topic/quatrain

Lynx

circles + axes....on campus

in the lobby of the MHRA building, looking at details of the balcony in the entrance rotunda. photo credit: brian peck.

natalie and i set a goal that, every week, some aspect of our class would be experiential. last week (in the drizzle), we walked on campus to discover circles + axes, amplifying our conversation about rome and the importance of both of these design approaches to architecture + design today. here's the work sheet from the field visit...

architecture + music

this week, we tackle the idea of music + architecture, a subject that hearkens back to a famous quote by goethe "i call architecture frozen music" (1829). a couple of decades before, friederich von schelling wrote:"architecture is music in space. as it were, a frozen music." (1803) in a publication, philosophie der kunst. david byrne's 16 minute TED talk is quite insightful. i recommend it.

blog post for monday, 07 february 2011

of all the spaces we visited on campus during the field visit on friday, 04 february 2011, justify the single space or moment where you believe commodity, firmness, and delight are at their highest achievement. use details about materials, light, color, experience, and understanding of the principles + elements of design in your response. in that we understand circles (and their corresponding 3D forms) as marking sacred spots, explain whether or not the space or moment you selected achieves this approach to design. in other words, does the space or moment mark something of significance or value in our understanding of the campus and who we are as a university?

Pixies of Pyxis : Greek Astrology

Click on Image to see it larger

Chand Baori in Rajasthan, India : water + architecture

amanda pelon, a student in iar221, passed along this fascinating insight...and this youtube video...

ABAHNERI VILLAGE VIDEO



Regarding our water and architecture conversation - I was reading the newest edition of National Geographic and found a reference you might be interested in. Around the same time period as the Roman Empire in India they were building stepwells.

There is an article in the National Geographic magazine about Chand Baori in Rajasthan, India with a wonderful picture. The article mentions the "Esche-esque"-ness of the wells - when you see pictures you will see why. What I found intriguing were the arched niches that were built into the wells under the steps where people can pause and rest in the shade. Arches...water...at the same time, in India. How cool is that!

Here is link to the tourism board in Rajasthan with information on the Chang Baori - http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/Destinations/Jaipur/Abhaneri.aspx

Amanda Pelon

Our video Response to the Eames Powers of Ten!

The powers of ten video inspired us to look deeper into what truly makes us unique. We photographed ten people at ten different distances and told them to be themselves. What we experienced was ten different personalities, ten different approaches, and ten different reactions to the lime light. Some were shy while others were very confident. 

By: Anna Lance, Sarah Wisseman, Shirlery Bircher

The Powers of Ten: Video Response

Our response to the Powers of Ten video by Ray and Charles Eames focused on an artifact that there seems to be an infinite supply of, yet many deem worthless: the penny. While pennies don't work in parking meters or vending machines, and have even been crusaded against by some politicians, they are still valueable.

So what does this have to do with the powers of ten? Research shows that about 100,000,000,000 pennies have been lost (taken out of circulation) to sewage drains, trash cans, storage, etc. We looked at different values of this number by powers of ten: one penny, ten pennies, one hundred...to see just what these so called "nuisance" pennies could purchase. What if we hadn't wasted those hundred billion pennies?

Laura Kimmel, Jack Kennedy, Alex Pokas

Delphinus Constellation