Junctions :: Explorations of the Self

Cathedrals of the Gothic Period [Amiens Cathedral]

Cave Formations, the art of nature


My Cornish Rex named Meddle, with her uniquely curly fur and persona.

Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles in France.

Yellowstone National Park's Blue pools.

Japanese Woodblock Prints

Casa Batllo

The Pillars of Creation, stars and galaxies.

My mother's necklace.

Cloth and how it can be arranged into various folds and cast amazing shadows.

[Sources]
Google Images (Click on Pictures to go to source.)

Reflections: Junctions

‘Reflections’ is most emulated in the idea of stylistic junctions and conflicts between ancient revivals and modern materials through France, England, and the newly reformed United States. I think this section is called reflections because the nations looked back to the past for revivals and ideas for future designs, the reintroduction of the Gothic style, the interest in foreign merchandise from trade routes, and the iron and class combinations all helped to spur changes and junctions between styles.

Artifacts of influence in this junction of design styles and ideas appear as trade goods of foreign cultures such as Asian influence clothing and china ware, and the plans from ancient designs. When the trade route from Asia to Europe opened a whole new influx of ideas and inspirations appeared and was appealing to the people of Europe as the designers of both nations attempted to design in a new way. Asian countries were changing up designs from their own china and goods to be more appealing to the traders of Europe while still giving away a little of their design flair. A term, used especially from the inspiration of Japanese trade and woodblock art was called Japonisme.

Space was an important idea to the English, especially when talking about landscaping in the early part of Reflections, based on the classical ideas of Palatio: Indigo Jones and John Vanbrugh re-worked the idea of landscape architecture with the Queen’s House and landscapes of Castle Howard. The English idea was to use the natural part of nature to create beauty in design rather then make nature more ornate then it really was. This less formal idea was a junction in that is transferred the idea of ornate gardens that were ostentatious to the beauty of nature itself.

Buildings such as the Crystal Palace and many other buildings of “Glass and Iron” were junctions in how everyone thought about design from the building materials all the way down to the building forms themselves. Everyone was so used to the idea of concrete, stone, and other past building materials that it was a major culture shock to use the new materials that interfered with the ways of thinking about Design.

The place each epiphany or junction in architecture and design took place in was an influencing factor on what the change was. In the European nations when the trades started from Asia, the people were influence by the Asian culture and the Asians were influenced by the European culture in order to create more appealing products to the people of Europe from the trade route.

The beginning of junctions between the revival periods that brought on the House of Parliament in England and the revolution of new material with buildings such as the Crystal Palace was a direct symbol of change and things to come in the future of design. It was a symbol that design would continue to move forward rather than be stuck in the ways of ancients and older ideals.

Alternatives: Junctions

The chapter summary of Alternatives was filled with very contrasting periods in architecture and art. The renaissance being the period of enlightenment and a junction for knowledge and rules for the people and the Baroque/Rococo bending these newly written rules and focusing on the more frivolous and luxurious side of art and architecture. All this transition between styles and buildings as effect from them are quite a far leap ahead of the previous chapter on ancient civilizations discussed in Foundations, the junction between the two chapters and their periods of architecture and design is vast because of new use materials and people’s ideals presented within them.

[An example of Renaissance Architecture]


[And example of Baroque Architecture]

Between the renaissance and the baroque period of Italy and France, there are many things that contribute to the junctions and intersections between the two stylistic periods. The concept of space within a building was very linear and straightforward in the time of the renaissance and was very blurred and imaginative in the baroque. A best example of this dynamic change in ideal would be between the St. Maria Novella in Italy during the Renaissance, with its ancient world ideas and geometric layout, and the palace of Versailles during the Baroque, with the frivolous curves and overly grand appearance. This junction, being the change in styles between clear-cut and vague, was especially apparent when it came to the lines that differentiated the walls from the ceilings. Artifacts present are simply those elements and ideals of architecture in the two periods, the written rule as mentioned before and the buildings themselves that followed or broke these rules.

People were the cause of the junction between the two periods of the Renaissance and Baroque period. Religion was a major catalyst in the crossroads between the styles along with emotion being added as a key element in architecture especially in the Baroque period. Junctions also occurred within the countries themselves like with in Italy going from a city ruled but the church and clergy to being ruled over with influence from the merchant class that helped to contribute to the city. Materials of the time really didn’t add to the junction between these periods in the chapter, it was more of the ideas used to transform the materials that was the definition of junction, in the Baroque period of Italy and France, plaster was molded into curly and curvy shapes around fresco wall paintings that were key to the frivolity of the period itself while in the Italian and French Renaissance it was more linear or geometric, still taking inspiration from ancient times and their architectural ideas with the column orders and symmetry.

In conclusion, junctions in design and architecture were most identifiable in the stylistic transitions between the Renaissance and the Baroque period, the majority of this junction idea appearing in the forward thinking countries of France and Italy. While this change was also happening in England as well, it was more apparent and contrasting in appearance in France and Italy.

::Sources::
Chateau de Maisons Picture
The Duomo Picture

Foundations: Junctions

Originally posted here on March 1.

[Abstractions of Junctions]

Junctions can be found in and between design along with the culture that influences it. A junction by a definition that is not abstract is a place where two or more things come together, I think that this can be interpreted in a physical state or in the abstract sense of something not so literal in interpretation.

Artifacts

Artifacts themselves are story telling tools for past and present on how a space or something in nature can be categorized as a junction. A literal interpretation are street signs at a major interception, one or more roads coming together, telling the people interacting in the area where to go and how to go safely as artifacts for the space.

Nature

Junctions can occur in natural things as well as things that are man-made. In the beginning of the idea of creating something successful in architecture and design, the early Mesopotamians used nature incorporated with their designs by utilizing the land's curves and building with the land. It wasn't until the Egyptians, later leading to the Greeks and Romans formed a rift in this ideal and started building against the land or on top of it that a junction or crossing of ideas in the way things were thought to be successful design, two ways of thinking, one a more dominate change for centuries to come in the world of design and still a major influence in our own lives and how we view design itself.

People

A way to think about junctions in terms of people makes me automatically think about when we delved into the Roman chapter and learned about the Romans and their superior idea of building things to glorify Rome and make Rome most important. Though a system of roads isn't really anything of great grandeur it is considered a junction in a physical sense because the large distance the roads expand to intersect with neighboring cities and towns to connect all the Roman empire together. It is a junction in that people are constantly walking through the intersections of road and seeing others.

Space

Space withing pieces of architecture can create junctions for people as an idea of circulation through out an area with many people interacting within it. As a modern day example, the Moore Humanities building [MHRA] has a sense of junction within a spacial area. People come and go throughout the normal class day, interacting and intermingling with people coming ad going to class as well as teachers coming in and out. The train terminal of Grand Central station is the epitome of a junction as a space with the coming and going to trains and other systems of transportation from place to place with people in and out of New York City.

::Sources::
Roman Road image and added information