Coming Full Circle

Community

A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.  The UN Studio is a community because they work together to design great buildings.  They designed the Mercedes-Benz Museum and created something great! 

Stewardship

A person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.  When we designed a room with a kitchen and living room we had control of where things when in the space.  Then we traded with another student to design the room for them the way we wanted to.  We had the stewardship of the room when we were designing it for the other person because we were in control.

Authenticity

The quality of being authentic or of established authority for truth and correctness.  The Crystal Palace, in London, was designed by Joseph Paxton.  It was designed to be build around a tree so that it wouldnt be destroyed when built.  It was designed with authenticity because it didn't harm nature.   

Innovation

The act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods.  In studio we were to design a sacred space for the grad students that was public and private, and showed celebration and meditation.  In my design I made the public side more celebrating where the students can eat and talk to each other, and on the private side it was more meditative so that the students could go there without distractions and think by themselves.

[Reflections] unit summary

The Crystal Palace

This unit was about finding modernism.  In the early 1800s architects started working with glass and iron.  The most known building that was built of glass and iron is the Crystal Palace, in London.  It was designed by Joseph Paxton in 1851.  Paxton designed the building to be built around the trees that were already there.  Then America wanted one so they had a foe one built in New York in 1853. 

            Then in the later 1800s they added concrete to the glass and metal.  In Chicago five buildings were built.  The Marshall Field Warehouse by H.H. Richardson in 1885-1887.  The Home Insurance Building by William Jenny in 1883-1885.  The Monadnock Building by Burnham and Root in 1889-1891.  The Reliance Building by Burnham and Root in 1883-1885.  The Marshall Field & Co. by Daniel Burnham.

            Then in the early 1900s, the race for height started and used concrete, steel, and glass.

            Frank Lloyd Wright was a famous and great architect in the later 1800s, early 1900s.  He designed using horizontal lines.  He designed his house and studio in Oak Park, in 1889-1909.  He designed lots of houses and churches.  His Robie House, built in 1909, 

Road Trip

Roots

Are the fundamental or essential part or the source of origin.

Compression/Release

Compression is the process or result of getting smaller or pressed together and more compacted, release is to be let go or freed from confinement.

Congruence

Agreement, harmony, conformity, or correspondence.

Materiality

The quality or state of being material; material existence; corporeity.

Concept

An idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct.

Analytical Essay

Mercedes-Benz Museum

 

Mercedes-Benz Museum is located in Stuttgart, Germany, where the first automobile was invented.  It was designed by UN Studio, starting in 2001 and completed and opened in 2006. 

It is a very large building taking up 16,500 square meters of space on only 4,800 square meters on the ground.  Its facades are covered in aluminum and glass.  It takes the shape of a three-leaf clover using three overlapping circles with the centre removed to form a triangular atrium. This design compliments the nearby highways B14 and B10 forming a clover shape also. The building is made up of only rounded forms and curves, no right angles.  They aren’t any pillars used for support.

In 2007, 860,000 people visited.  Admission is free for everyone.  It would take about two hours to tour the nine levels of 160 cars and 1,500 exhibits. 

            I chose this building because I enjoy cars and this is a new exhibit to show of they many unique cars that were designed.

 

 

 

 

www.unstudio.com/projects/year/2006/1/139

 

http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/mag5/art20060615/htm/tourisme-mercedes-museum.htm

Between Silence & Light

Craft

Craft is how well something is thought about and made.  In our studio classes we are partly graded on our craft of our projects, like if the glue shows or how well we cut the paper.  This weekend on our trip to Fallingwater I think that Frank Lloyd Wright designed a well-crafted house for the Kauffman family.  He designed the furniture to fit in and around the house, and used the land to build.  One particular craft he thought about that I remember well is the windows on the second and third floors in the corner, the steel frame disappears when the windows are opened to allow for a panoramic view looking outside.  Another is how the cut out on the desk allows for the window/door to open.

 

Technique

Everyone has their own technique and a way of doing something that is easiest or relates better to them self.  Also it is a way of doing something in a different way.  The technique used on the doors in Monticello to look like wood was actually a foe finish on the doors.  Also the technique used in Fallingwater is to create a since of openness from the many windows in the rooms.  It also allows for more light to enter the rooms, and allows for more of a view.

Virtual

Virtual is the existence of something without actually being there.  Most commonly heard of is seeing a virtual tour on a computer or television.  I think also when you see a brochure and the pictures are so inviting and you want to be there.

Public & Private

We think about rooms and buildings being public and private by where they are located, how they are designed, and what they are used for.  At Monticello, the family room located in the center of the house is more private, it is where they could entertain guests and was big enough for space. The doors that we saw first were two glass doors, but since it is a family room to allow it to be more private there were a set of wooden doors that allowed the family to close in front of the glass doors. 

Language

Is the communication you have between two or more people.  To design Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright needed to communicate well with the Kauffman family so that they were able to get what they wanted.  We noticed that everything was built to a smaller scale and that there were lots of horizontal lines.  The first chairs that Wright designed for the dinning room seating, the Kauffman’s thought that it was too formal so Wright designed another set of chairs that they liked better.

Learning to Render Rooms

The above photo is the first room perspective I did.  I was to design a one room space with a kitchen, dining room, and living room.  I chose whatever I wanted to put in the space.  Then when we rendered the space we were to divide the room in four and use a different media and different types of paper for each section.  On the first section (L-R) I used marker on vellum.  I didn't think this worked well because it was hard to control, hard to hide strokes, and show shadow.  On the second one I used colored pencil on drawing paper.  I felt that this was a good technique, but over larger areas it was hard to color evenly.  The third one I used marker on marker paper.  This was very fun to play with to learn to use and I felt like I did really well showing light and shadows.  The fourth one is watercolor on watercolor paper.  I am still learning to use watercolor, so it was kind of difficult to show light and shadow, but practice makes perfect.

This assignment was called trading spaces.  When it was first new to HGTV I loved this show and never missed an episode.  We were to trade rooms with another students room and take inspiration from theirs and change the room to best suit us.  We could change color, rearrange furniture, or totally change everything. I used Kristina Ragan's room to do mine.  I changed the windows in the dining area, moved the dining area, raised the floor in the kitchen, and added more seating to the living room.  I took green from here room before and then added more color to the room.  I love color, especially orange and anything bright.

3RD SKIN

[RE]ACTIONS

Rotation

It is the act or movement of turning around the center of an axis.  When something is positioned one way and then rotated it will look different or you would be looking at a completely side.

Movement

“Movement is meant to express, the rise and fall, the advance and recess, with other diversity of form, in different parts of a building, so as to add greatly to the picturesque of the composition.” (Blakemore, 306)  Over time there have been many different movements and each one has its own style and sometimes movements will come back for a little while. Especially with clothing styles an older woman will see a younger girls clothes and say I wore those when I was younger.  Same as with design the older styles of furniture will come back in style.

 

Reflection

When I think about a reflection I first think of seeing myself in a mirror.  Sometimes you can see your reflection in a dark window or water.  You often see the reflection of trees and nature in water of images with a lake or river.  Also a reflection can be your thoughts about something you have observed or heard.

Source

It is the direct place where something comes from such as the information you obtain from a book or person.  I often look on the Internet to get a source for something.  When I think of source I think about a light source and the different types of lighting.  A light source can be from a window when it is daytime or the use of artificial lights from a light bulb.

 

 

Illumination

It is to make an object glow or to highlight the important areas by using lights.  It can be with natural or artificial such as candles or lamps.  We have learned a lot this week about the importance of light.  We were to build an object based on how it reflected light.  Also when we rendered our room space we looked at where the light would come from and where it would be darkest and lightest with shadows.

Blakemore, Robbie G. History of Interior Design and Furniture: From Ancient Egypt to Nineteenth-Century Europe. 2nd. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2006.