Tuesday, March 27, 2012

BP9

BP9

                            Illuminating the Revolution

Street lights and street lamps provide that wonderful air of mystery and the unknown when in tandem with fog and nostalgia.    But do they also carry messages of revolution?   Absolutely!


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For many of us, streetlights conjure up images of revolution almost immediately as we in America have been bombarded by pictures, movies, etc. of our early revolutionary citizens helping to light the way of Paul Revere (or perhaps Paul Revere awaking revolutionaries, as he rode with a light, illuminating his own way.)  This is certainly one of the ways we perceive a special time in our country's history, and it is revolutionary, but most of what we have been taught was perpetuated through crafty writership, (especially since Israel Bissel did the bulk of the riding to spread the word that the British were coming).   But this is beside the point, street lights, (as in electrified light), illuminating a street came much much later.

So, in that case, what do street lights have to do with revolution?   The revolution of Nikola Tesla.  


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RR10

RR10

Gaudi's Curved Curb Appeal

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"As they studied Greek, Roman, and Gothic architecture, they came to understand by the end of the nineteenth century that these ways of building had begun first as vernacular expressions, which had then been clarified and stylized, becoming cultural expressions rich in meaning."  (Roth p 511)

It has been pointed out (through our teacher) that great nations stand on their architecture.
  • During the turn of the century, design styles were growing from the conception of older norms.
  • One architect that stood out greatly during this time was Antoni Gaudi who lived from 1852 to 1956.
  • He developed an architectural style in Barcelona through the use of molded forms on curved structural walls and thin masonry vaults. 

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"Gaudi created an architecture rooted in Catalonia's Moorish and medieval past --as architecture ablaze with colored tile, exploiting the thin, curved, tile vault constructeion for which Catalonia has long been famous."   (Roth p 513)
  • This particular style of fitting forms on the facade borrowed heavily from that of the Moorish tradition with ceramic tiles.
  • But Gaudi did not simply borrow from this source, he also borrowed heavily from nature.
  • he observed the natural world around him and used these close observations to implement natural styles in his design.



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"Gaudi's fusion of organic naturalism and the structural logic of curved vaults is demonstrated in the large apartment block, the Casa Mila, he designed for Dona Rosario Mila on the Paseo de Gracia, Barcelona, 1905-1910."   (Roth p 513)
  • Gaudi planned the structure with the idea of a plan stem and cliffside as his inspiration.
  • The curvature of the exterior walls are meant to mimic the weathered sea cliffs outside of Barcelona, with details like wrought iron balustrades imitating tangled kelp seaweed.
  • Around the interior courtyards, he designed walls that liken a plant's vascular network.
"It is a unique vision of a functional, structurally utilitarian, organic architecture that could have been created on in Barcelona."   (Roth p 514)

This may have been the case back then, but all over the world, designers and architects have been and are designing more organic and natural looking structures.   The idea being to blend into the surroundings better, and this should be gaining more and more exposure in the coming years as well, as we continue to make transitions into not only environmentally sound structures, but more environmentally aesthetic structures.

*Roth, Leland M.. Understanding Architecture:  Its Elements, History and Meaning.  New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
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BP8

BP8
                                          A Three Dimensional Language

As simplistic as we might consider the globe map to be today, I believe it still speaks volumes as to the unifying language that is the world.

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To conceptualize the immense changes that came from the creation of the Globe map, is to have lived in a world without the computer.   I don't think it is possible for our brains to grasp even a tenth of the importance, significance, and connotations that came with and as a result of this tool, this three dimmensional object, given the rammifications and capabilities of the modern computer.   But, taking a stark look at it (the globe) today, right now, it can still provide glimmers of the wonder and fascination it must have caused back through the ages.   Moreover, it did not simply provide the knowledge of other languages out there, it itself is language.

The Globe channels us to listen to its wisdom, to hear its story, and it does this through its shape, its layers, its detail, and especially through its movement.  

When we look at a globe, immediately we receognize that it is interactive, it desires participation, and we recognize this from its shape.   It is a circle, certainly, which makes it continuous, balanced, repetitive, but because it is three dimensional, it not only cubes these values, our brains interpret it as a touchable experience.  A globe screams "play with me."

Its layers provide history.   The forms on a globe are not geometrically arranged, but because of this, they beg the user to investigate the arrangements that are displayed.   What do the arrangements say?   What do they mean?  They are tectonic, but they are a rhythm that weaves through the whole unit, and these forms are words of interpretations.

The details on the globe provide color, symbols.   The land forms rise up out of the long vast sections of blue, like words between the spaces of white on a page.   The cause interest and inspection.

And finally, the globe's language is better understood through is functional movement.   A globe turns, it rotates, and we know this.   But is spinning a globe really any different than turning to the next page of a book?  Its repetitive nature keeps these "words" in constant circulation, and its language continues today (and because it is so interactive) and will even tomorrow. 
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RR9

RR9

THE BEAUTIES BEHIND THE WIND SCREEN

The Hawa Mahal is still considered to be one of the Jaipur's signature monuments.

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"The Mughal Empire was at its largest under Aurangzeb (r.1658-1707) who annexed all the Deccan sultanates."  (Ching p 626)
  • South Asia was growing in trade and strength because of newly established European trade ports.
  • Sawai Jai Singh III seized the opportunity of this potential growth for his kingdom of Amer.
  • He grew his kingdom from 1699 until 1743, continuing growth and construction. 
"If moderninity can be understood as the forward thrust of transformation and as the production and exploration of the possibilities of the new in negotiation with the values of the status quo, then this was indeed a period of moderninity."  (Ching p 626)


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"The Hawa Mahal (literally, 'Wind Palace') gets its name because the building was considered insubstantial - or made of wind."  (Ching p 627)
  • The grandson of Sawai Jai Singh constructed this structure in 1799, in what is now Jaipur, India.
  • This building is a five story high screen wall which helped earn it the name "The Wind Palace."
  • It was placed at the edge of the palace complex facing down on the main street.
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  • The concept here is that of a grand urban structure.
  • It was designed by Lal Chand Ustad.
  • The elements found in this structure are that of Mughal palaces or other mosques that were built to be screened sections for women.
"[I]t was built to enable the women of the royal household to watch the festival processions on the street while remaining unobserved themselves."  (Ching p 627)

This obviously has meaning in today's world as a lot of these religious traditions and value structures have still carried over today, and this could be "practically" used in several parts of the world even today.  Regardless of beliefs or values, it is a beautiful structure.

Ching, Frank, Mark Jarzombek, and Vikramaditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2011. Print.
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