Illuminating Ourselves

Illuminating an object or making it clearer by using lights to highlight it will make it better for the viewer.  “Perhaps the most powerful element in our perception of architecture is light.  Louis I. Kahn insisted that there was no true architecture without natural light”  (Roth, 85).  In one vignette I did a drawing of my closet, and I painted watercolor only on my clothes to illuminate them and you would know what I was meaning when I wrote on there “So... I’m kinda addicted to shopping!”

Idiom is when you have something that might not be what it seems.  At the beginning of architecture, we find lots of stone structures “stone vertical columns in circular patterns or parallel rows, marking a spot for some ritual purpose whose precise meaning is now lost to us.” (Roth, 169) The most known is Stonehenge.  We don’t exactly know what the purpose of Stonehenge was we have different views on what it could have been used for though.   

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Materials we have to make or create an object can often symbolize something. Blakemore wrote, “…materials and design details exemplify royal status in life” (Blakemore, 19).  The patterns and designs on a royal throne can represent the king’s past or victories.  Some colors such as gold can be a symbol of a higher status.  Also the materials we have can determine the strength of the design.  If you design a chair and want to make it strong enough to sit in then you would want wood or metal rather then cardboard. 

Commodity, Firmness, Delight

Sir Henry Wotton said in The Elements of Architecture, “In architecture, as in all operative arts, the end must direct the operation.  The end is to build well.  The building hath three conditions: commodity, firmness, and delight.”  We design items and building structures so that the artifact will be utilitarian and have all its needs, which is the commodity.  We want it to stand the test of time and last for as long as possible.  The structure design will help for it to last.  We also want it to be pleasing to the eye by giving it visual appeal with the texture and color.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.katherinesalant.com/imageLib/thumbnail/A008.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.katherinesalant.com/byh_the_production_house.html&usg=__O_Kg0IhzAxi5_6WsXGMY4Yiy7no=&h=197&w=135&sz=8&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=d2Q6t94HDqCcdM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=71&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcommodity%2Bfirmness%2Band%2Bdelight%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN 

 

To summarize this week, we as designers need to be aware of how we design.  We need to make them illuminate and stand out from the ordinary.  Also if we know how to work with our materials then the design we do should reflect the three building guidelines: commodity, firmness, and delight.