C.O.N.T.I.N.U.I.T.I.E.S. [ between widespread first attempts, IAR classes and good design]

This week in drawing we have been working a lot with watercolors.  Suzanne has taught us how to use various values of one color to illuminate our illustration.  This makes the light source stand out and gives dimension to the subject.  We have been working with vignettes therefore fading our colors lighter and lighter into the white background.  One of the best tips from drawing this week has been to let the page shine through.  Much like last week light, illumination and the way it is used seems to be an important aspect of our work. 

photo credit::Ashlee McCullock

[Stonehenge] was a gathering place where each year the recurring cycle of the sun and of life was celebrated by the assembled people. (Roth 173) Light was also important in the ancient Egyptian culture.  They built their culture around the sun and sun god, Ra.  The pyramids were set so that the sun would hit the apex of the pyramid and shine down the diagonal corners.  Louis Kahn suggested that there was no true architecture without natural light. (Roth 85) One reason the illumination of the pyramids of Giza were so successful was because of the materials they used.  Egyptian Pyramids in pointing to the sun had golden tips and white limestone sheathing to increase their sheen (Roth 189-213).  The pyramids, along with the ziggurats of the Mesopotamia and Stonehenge, were designed to stand out from their surroundings because they were meant to service important people and hold precious material possessions throughout ones afterlife.  The illustration below shows how all three of the earlier-mentioned structures had a designated place for high priests.

We studied four kinds of expressions used during the first attempts at civilization; skin stretched over structures, cave-like structure (using the earth and adding decoration), stones in various patterns on the earth’s surface and the development of vertical structures.  The community’s religion and the resources that were within reach influenced the designs spread across the world.  The limited materials made their early forms of technology used in the stages of construction that much more impressive.  The blue stones [used in Stonehenge] are of special significance, since they could only have come from the Prescelli Mountains in Pembroke…nearly 245 miles away. (Roth 171)

What is so mystifying about Stonehenge is how they achieved this task with such restrictions and most importantly: What was it for?  Was it too built around the sun as a type of clock? Was it a pattern meant to be viewed from the heavens?  As I mention previously it was common that communities designed structure revolving around their religion.  Another observation is that Stonehenge was built as a ceremonial space.  Lester Holmes found a wooden ‘Stonehenge Prototype’ and read it as a port way to Stonehenge.  The fact that wood was used in this prototype, along with communal housing, and Stonehenge was made of blue stone, or later sandstone, is said to have expressed the transience of life and the permanence of death. 

Idioms like this one are embedded within all designs.  They are like an underlying terminology made clear throughout the design cycle.  Idioms are expression sometimes symbolized through art.  Hieroglyphics are a good example of an idiom.  

Referring back to my first image, I think that those designated spaces carry their own idiom of expressing or symbolizing the way they thought about people of a higher hierarchy.  We have been working for the past week to illustrate the essence of our grim from the week prior.  We have done so through our illustration board as well as our wearable artifact.  During our wearable artifact critique last Friday I realized how the connotations we associate with certain colors or materials vary from person to person.  For instance, one of my classmates used red to relay love while another used red to symbolize blood.  That’s the thing about these idioms; they are not universal and can differ depending on its context.

Commodity, Firmness and Delight are perhaps the most important terms of this weeks prompt list.  I feel that Commodity, Firmness and Delight go hand in hand.  They are a power of three and  without all three a design cannot be successful.  Everything has a purpose in design and all purposes can be covered in these three categories.  We design something to serve a pragmatic function.  This is the function or commodity aspect and without serving the specified purpose a space is useless.  Likewise, firmness is key to facilitating a space’s functionality.  How we build says as much as what we build. (Roth 52)  A design could not be complete without providing delight to its users.  The delight of a space sets high-style architecture apart from a vernacular building.  As Sir Henry Wolton put it, “In Architecture, as in all operative arts, the end must direct the operation. The end is to build well. Well building hath three conditions: Commodity, Firmness, and Delight” (Roth 11) My first iteration for Pats project had a chair that looked nice[delight] but needed extra support[firmness] in order to be functional[commodity].  Part of the design process is learning how to make your design excel in all three of these categories.

[ R E F L E C T I O N ]

Last week I learned that illumination or light may be the most important aspect of delight and that has proved to be true this week as well.  Light is an aspect of design that can occasionally be overlooked but has ample importance. How we build says as much as what we build. (Roth 52) The materials we use in construction is also really important.  The material must fit the designated purpose[commodity], continue to serve that purpose for a long time[firmness] and be aesthetically pleasing within the overall design[delight].  

Since learning more about commodity, firmness and delight I view the design of everything differently.  The delight people take from our design is what sets great architecture apart from being just a building.  Since people populate the spaces we design it is of utmost importance that they do take delight in the space.  Yet aesthetics wouldn't be worth anything if that space did not fulfill the users needs and part of those needs are to build with robust design.  These terms sum up the essence of good design.