Action Verbs

speculate - A speculation is in other words an accusation; to claim to know something without hard evidence. In science, to speculate, is to hypothesis. Architects speculate in order to find truth in artwork, architecture, and the needs and wants of the human. Coming towards the middle of the twentieth century, architects are speculating that modern architecture is not meeting proper needs. For example, the Guggenheim caused a shakeup in the history because Frank Lloyd Wright is not creating architecture for the human's need, but for decoration.

compose - To compose a piece of art, architecture, or anything creative, we must know exactly what we want. We must know where to put a door in a room, a office space in a building, and a skyscraper in a city. We compose everyday by imagining what's the best place to organize and create a flow of things. Musician's compose music to show their talents and the beauty of hearing. In Suzanne's drawing class we had to compose a 18x24 piece of either Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater or Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Although, the majority of the class decided on Fallingwater, I sincerely adored the landscape and the mood the Monticello gave off. In artwork, to compose means to have a meaning for things. Suzanne's goal was to give the feeling we experienced in either of the two. I decided to watercolor the background of Monticello purple due to its energetic and royal feel.

energize - In the beginning of the year we learned about how to energize lines and make them more vivid. We practiced by doing multiple blind contours which I found to be exciting because the end product had more "energy" than normal. As I walked around studio I found multiple portraits of (I'm assuming Stoel) in energized form. The lines were not straight, they were not flowing, but they were staggered and rigid and intentional. I found those pencil drawings to feel more lifelike. In designing interiors we have been exploring color to energize rooms. The most common is the color red. The color red energizes a room because of its boldness and at times vibrant color.

shape - In Environmental Design, we were chewed out because of our lack of sketch models for our current project - 2 Room Interior Design. The teachers were disappointed not only in the lack of sketch models but also in ideas. We, as a class, had hard times designing because we were "trapped in the box". The constraints and limitations held us back from being original and creative. Suzanne showed us a presentation where many architects have broke limitations and created outstanding buildings. They were vibrant, energetic, and integrated the wall in ways no ones ever dreamed of.

stretch - As we stretch to our bodies grow weak from countless projects, we're learning to adapt and keep going for the next two weeks. Stretch a form means to hyperextend an object past limitations. Elastic bands, are capable of withstanding many curves and extensions due to its stretchiness.

ROAD TRIP!!

Roots – Roots was a television series back in 1977. But that has no relation to architecture; so on with OPUS. Roots, in ARCHITECTURE, can be known for its origin, what contexts it’s in, and what experiences it’s been through. For example, some parts of the Peabody forest in UNCG, has been destroyed due to expansion of the university. The first Curry building was an all girl school that housed the school of education. After it was burned down, a new building had to be erected for the university.

Congruence – Congruence is a similarity between two objects or ideas. Today we discussed a student’s precedent analysis and described how a dome signifies unity and togetherness as a whole. A dome in the terms of congruence is detailed by the shape and formation of a dome. In other words, the domes circular shape brings the material into an overhanging sculpture at a specific monumental point; which is the alter. Congruence plays a very important role in architecture.

Concept – As we had conversations on our precedent analysis, our teacher had some of the students give a concept about their building. A concept is an overarching series of ideas that come together to form a larger more broad idea. The concept of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai is hierarchy and peaceful. Tom Wright, the architect and designer of Burj Al Arab, has created a fascinating hotel with the design of a sail. The sail represents one of the many ideas that Tom Wright tries to accomplish. I will give more information on this with my precedent analysis.

Materiality – Wood, steel, metal, and concrete are materials that are extremely architect friendly. Designers use materials to express themselves and show creative thinking and in some cases like Tommy Lambeth say, “creative problem solving.” In our current project we are learning how to manipulate MDF to form designs that are light impacting. MDF is a sturdy wood material that provides no transparency so the challenge is there.

Compression : Release – In studio we have been taught to compress are drawings into tiny details and ideas. We have learned how to take an idea and take it from its origin, abstract it, and release it outwards. In History of Design, we are asked to create ten drawings of a building of our choice and expand using less information and more analyzing. The idea to compress information and then release it creates an explosion effect where ideas shatter onto paper.

Between Silence + Light

Craft – Since the beginning of the Interior Architecture program at UNCG, we have learned that great craft still isn’t enough to please the instructors. Craft is the technical term for constructing or building things. For our very first project we were asked to use paper and construct a place for a leaf using good craft. Craft isn’t a one shot deal. It takes practice and dedication to figure out how to manipulate materials to work with you. For example, you can’t make chipboard bend, therefore using exceptional craft, cutting or scoring the board gives you the ability to create a fine and smooth curve. Knowing to score the board only comes with experience, experimentation, and practice. Nearly two semesters later, our class is learning how to manipulate more firm and durable material to our fit. To experiment we are given the chance to work with cardboard due to its sturdy similarities.

Public/Private – In infrastructure, designers are challenged to demonstrate and illustrate public and private areas in the designated location. It is important to label these areas to show hierarchy in diagrams such as plans and informational diagrams.

Technique – Along with craft, technique takes practice. Interior Architecture demands multiple techniques in a variety of situations. For example, learning computer techniques such as photoshop, autocad, and sketchup is valuable in finishing products and design. Learning techniques such as line weight, rendering, and perspectives give the designer a wide range of creativity that a computer can’t comprehend. Practicing and knowing multiple techniques grants the designer a freedom that most artists dream of. A regular artist puts media to paper and calls it a day; a interior architect can put media to paper, plot it out on a computer, make adjustments, and execute it in a grand scale.

Language – My Precedent Analysis – Burj Al Arab – is a building that speaks the language of money because of its high-style luxurious beauty it suggests. The Eiffel Tower is another structure that speaks on a deeper level. To be put in the city of Paris and have it stand as one leaves tourists speechless and amazed. The tower states that it is a unique individual in a large population.

Virtual – Virtual is computer based and is a distortion of reality. Computer science has given the world virtual reality, which is “a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way.”

Burj Al Arab

In architecture, designers create buildings, skyscrapers, and even sculptures to satisfy the societies taste for creativity and spark. Architects strive to have their very own landmark building that sets theirs from others. Gustav Eiffel has the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Frank Lloyd Wright has Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, and Tom Wright – no relation to Frank Lloyd – has the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
Born in 1957, Tom Wright has had a knack for building exceptional and meaningful structures that stand the test of time. He is currently collaborating with the Atkins Team to help design, create, and erect valuable and eye – staggering structures such as the Burj Al Arab.
Where exactly is the Burj Al Arab? Three hundred meters out to sea on the coast of Dubai, stands the massive three hundred and twenty one meter hotel. Dubai, located on the tip of Saudi Arabia, is known for its vivid architecture such as the Burj Dubai, which is an eight hundred and eighteen meter skyscraper and the Dubai Mall, a nearly half a million square foot mall with more than a thousand stores.
The Burj Al Arab serves as a thirteen-story hotel that exceeds limitations in many ways. It holds multiple dining areas for heavy paying customers that wish to feel like royalty. Although most customers say that the Burj Al Arab is a one-time thing, they seem nothing less than thrilled departing the hotel. A guest is capable of enjoying many activities such as Horseback riding, hot air balloon rides, helicopter tours, and even subtle things such as golf.
Burj Al Arab is the first five star hotel and also the highest hotel today. The 321-meter giant unifies and glorifies the city of Dubai. Known for its extravagence and beauty Dubai reaches new heights and ground breaking records to be first in the race of architecture. Dubai is a country to be reckoned with due to its fast moving economy and quick creative thinking skills.
Tom Wright was given the task to design a building that speaks Dubai; a task to speak money. In the shape of a sailboat comes the design of the beautiful and luxurious Burj Al Arab. The uplifting motion and the unification of the sails create a monument that screams for attention just as it juts out of the city of Dubai. The color choice – blue, navy, and grey set the scene by using colors natural to the sky.
Burj Al Arab is a giant to modern society in the United States. It reflects how little and slowly or design process is compared to international countries. I selected this goliath because it’s form and beauty is set apart and is a landmark in design.

[Re]actions

Rotation

A rotation is a wrap around turn that is measured in degrees. Rotations can be used involving mathematics, poetry, and general science. For example, the planet Earth spins on axis creating multiple revolutions, or rotations. In mathematics, a rotation can be the turning of an object on a grid system. Along with rotation there is also a translation and a reflection. Those three mathematical terms are used to locate and manipulate an object. After doing Orthographic views on our furniture items I find these terms useful to resituate the fixed object on the 12x12 grid.


Movement

Movement is seen everywhere from moving cars, to a busy city, to flying birds. We learned in history and design about the Spanish Steps and how it shows movement by the activity on the steps. Also nearby is Bernini’s Piazza Navona fountain shows movement from the four men beneath the obelisk. Movement can even be seen in structures like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The Eiffel tower has an uplifting motion from the four legs. Bernini’s Baldacchino is also infused with movement in its columns. The columns are twisted therefore drawing your eye upward and then back down to create a spiraling effect.



http://www.dankim.name/photos/images/20061128162517_img_3839pixelpost.jpg



http://www.patoczka.net/Italy%202/images/04a%20%20Fontana%20dei%20Quattro%20Fiumi%20(Four%20Rivers)%20on%20Piazza%20Navona,%20Rome.jpg

Reflection

Have you ever held your pet in front of a mirror and see it’s reflection? It’s amazing how animals are spooked when they see themselves. A reflection is a mirrored image of an object or person. Reflections can be viewed other than mirrors. For examples, you may see your reflection on new cars, windows, and sometimes in bodies of water. Another type of reflection is an essay or statement that shows your ideas, feelings, and reactions to a prior event. Reflections have the ability to show your physical and sometimes emotions that make you unique.




Illuminations

In The Opus Project #2 we were asked to identify the word illuminate. At the time we were studying color pencils and how to illuminate objects to enhance their qualities. This semester we are working with ¼ MDF, which is a type of sturdy board, to make objects that are affected by light and darkness. In history and design we learned how gothic churches and cathedrals and how the natural light illuminated.






Source

In Opus # 4 we demonstrated how a source could be multiple ideas. In Perception and Communications and Drafting class we have learned to find the source of light, vanishing points, and station points in perspective drawings. A source is an origin, or starting location of a specific object. For example, the source of books, magazines, and newspapers could be libraries or bookstores.



Tie

Opus 9 consists of rotation, movement, reflection, source, and illumination. The main commonality in them is the fact that they deal with how or where you view an object. All five words can be combined and separated to dissect and discuss a piece of furniture, buildings, or art in general.

Unit Summary ~ Alternatives

Alternatives Unit Summary

~ Middle Ages (1150 – 1550)

~ Italian Renaissance (1460 – 1600)

~ French Renaissance (1450 – 1600)

~ English Renaissance (1500 – 1660)

~ Italian Baroque (1600 – 1700)

~ French Baroque (1600 – 1715)

~ English Baroque (1660 – 1702)

~ French Rococo (1700 – 1760)

~ Early Georgian, England (1715 – 1760)

~ Early French, Neoclassic (1760 – 1789)

~ Early English, Neoclassic (1770 – 1810)

~ Late French, Neoclassic (1789 – 1820)

~ Late English, Neoclassic (1810 – 1830)


In Robert Blakemore’s History of Interior Design & Furniture, he separates our classes Alternatives chapter into three main time periods and also, three unique individual ones, the Middle Ages, the French Rococo, and the Early Georgian, England.
In the beginning of our Alternatives section we explored many Gothic cathedrals. They demonstrated how they found alternatives to reconstructing them when problematic occurrences happened. For example, the Amiens Cathedral was built with many flaws in the central nervous point. Because it was constructed without care to pressure, it almost collapsed. Thankfully the following architect saved it after his death. I found the Amiens cathedral to be inspiring and uplifting as the architecture states itself. The video that Patrick showed us in showed how the Golden mean and section was used to build nearly the entire cathedral. It also followed the Court, Porch, Hearth structure that the Greeks used in many of their structures.
We also visited the Villas in the Veneto, which were basically beach homes on country ground. They were giant houses built from the infamous architect Andrea Palladio. Palladio had this idea of taking a landmark from society and pasting it on the front of a normal house. For example, he took the front façade of the Pantheon; refined it, and created the well-known “La Rotonda”. The Pantheon in Rome, like many buildings, has one porch, court, and hearth. La Rotonda however, has four porches, four courts, and one hearth. La Rotonda was built like the Amiens Cathedral because of the proportions and how they were all equal.
Further into the Alternatives Unit we found out how architects were “breaking rules” and testing boundaries. An example of breaking rules would be the Piazza Di S Pietro’s Baldacchino. The columns, instead of straight and motionless, are in a downward spiral, which draws your eye up and down, creating a movement in stone form. The materials, such as the columns and tapestry above, are ornate and are made of stone to show the elegancy of the area. Bernini’s fantastic piece, “la Fontana die Fiumi”, which is sculpture that plays on light, water, and movement. In the center of this sculpture is a giant obelisk that reaches heavenward. Surrounding the obelisk are four men that represent four major rivers, the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges, and the Rio (Romainteractive). The way the light and water radiates on the four statues creates movement that is inspiring. Another piece that creates movement is the Spanish Steps in Rome. It’s amazing how we call flat stairs movement. It’s because the Spanish Steps represent a movement of people because of frivolity and exuberance it creates.
I feel that the Palladian “la Rotonda” is a prime example of an alternative because he uses innovation while still returning back to Roman Architecture. It shows how it breaks the box and still holds its past. It also, not knowing, influenced the Thomas Jefferson house, the Monticello, which still holds the same Pantheon-like front façade.

Grammer : Syntax

[re]visions – Revisions are changes made to a particular piece of work. Revisions can be an act of reviewing and acting. Revisions mean to re – visit and re – vision a composition. Musicians revise their works to make them better or to make it appropriate for an audience. Architects revise work to follow the set of rules or “Architecture Parlent” (Blakemore). An Architecture Parlent is a set of guidelines that were standard in France. The guidelines were rules in how to create specific buildings. They could not be more extravagant and awesome like the ruler. Back then revisions were made to any building that exceeded the rules and guidelines set by the “Architecture Parlent”. Now, however, Architects are breaking those rules and revising their work to satisfy their quench of imagination. For example, the New York Airport is not just an airport but also, a giant bird to distinguish from other airports.

audience – In Performance arts, an audience is the giant mass of people sitting to spectator a show or type of entertainment. In essays and pieces of literature, an audience is the reader and collectively the demographic of who reads the articles. In Architecture however, the audience is everyone. The audience is everyone because architecture is capable of standing the test of time and is admired by many. An energetic building like the Notre Dame is unbelievable because to think that men and women were able to erect a bigger than life, high – style, monument is staggering. An audience is in actuality the buyer in the sense that, if they don’t like it then they won’t buy it.

character – Like a single unique person, a building should have character that stands out unlike any other. The Eiffel tower has character. Its verticality and structure make the city of Paris pop. Downtown is usually a place to find the most creative and beautiful shops that is suggesting character. It’s not like your everyday Starbucks you see on every corner of every street. Its something you can’t find anywhere else. The city of High Point, North Carolina, as a whole, has character because it has a theme. It is a giant fleet of furniture stores in a city. Buildings are transformed into abstract and artistic forms. Adjacent to a design firm is a giant life-size boat as a furniture store.

transition – In music, a movement is the transition between two pieces. It could be a transition from a fast to slow song like Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”.

datum