I started out learning about scale last semester when studying the Gestalt theories. In Communication and Perception we were introduced to drawing people by doing loads of one-minute figure sketches. I started these by drawing the head, then the shoulder line, then the line of the hips, then knee caps, elbows, hands and feet. Scale is really important when drawing figures in order to make them proportional and realistic. We played around a little more with proportions when we touched on foreshortening. People populate the spaces that we design; they are what set interior architects apart from architects.
As we continued work on Pat’s project we dealt with different scales as well as more perspectives. We embarked on a new assignment of researching various types of walls and building a model of a wooden frame wall that would incorporate a model of our wearable artifact. After researching all the pieces and parts I bought and cut materials to scale to make my model. It was interesting trying to create to scale materials for those of actual size. My wearable artifact was a mask, in order to recreate this artifact at a smaller scale I bought a dollhouse figure and[creepy-I know…] had to cut its face off :( to further decorate it to look like the actual mask. I was going to use a carpet sample for the floor in my model but although the size would have been right the scale of the carpet knit was not. Therefore I decided to the draw hardwood floors on my sheet of plywood.
In design history and theory we continued learning about the Egyptian pyramids and started into Greek history and the Parthenon. In Greek architecture “The module for heights of the parts was determined by the diameter of the columns.” (Blakemore 30) The Hypostyle hall is a good example of scale. Its enormity in scale is part of the attraction to it. Also in Patrick’s class we continue to talk about numerous structures and the scale of them ranging from individual scale to that of a room, a building, a community, a region up to a nation. Scale ties back to last week’s discussions of the first attempts of architecture. The scale of the structure combined with the restricted materials and lack of technology is what makes the construction of these attempts so phenomenal.
Throughout this Design History and Theory I have noticed unity between architecture and design of various areas through their culture. Many cultures revolve their structure around their community’s beliefs and hierarchy. Port, courts, and hearths are a unifying structure that can be recognized on all scales. You can find these three parts in early architecture as well as modern day homes. The porch is the entrance usually surrounded by four columns. The court is a usually open space that is located before the hearth. The hearth is like the heart of the structure. Comparatively speaking it would be the kitchen in a modern day home. “Egyptian society was highly stratified. At the top of the hierarchal scale was the pharaoh, or king, whose powers were divine and who represented God on earth,” (Blakemore 3)
" To Romans I set no boundary in space or time. I have granted them dominion, and it has no end".(Roth 249)
Some of the structures we have learned about in Design History and Theory remind me of boundaries. In my previous opus post I pointed out how each of the structure although widespread held a specific place for the most important person. There are plenty of structures that make this evident. “Pilasters occasionally marked the boundary of windows and, alternatively, were used to separate windows,” (Blakemore 37).
I should probably touch on our Pathways, Edges and Boundaries project that we are resuming but the walls that we researched this week were really what made me think deeper about the word boundaries. We learned about seventeen different types of walls. One that really stuck with me is the Berlin wall. We usually think of walls as just a way of visually creating a boundary. Walls can be territorial, political or artistic. The Berlin Wall encompasses all three of these purposes. First put up for political and territorial reasons, the Berlin Wall was used as a blank canvas for the public’s artwork both before and after it was taken down.
Sections of the Berlin Wall are now spread across the world as art pieces. Some stand-alone with the artwork painted on the large jagged stone. Some have additional sculptural pieces added to the wall section.
In Drafting Design we completed a section view of Pats project. We played with different methods of pochèing and line weight. Amongst the methods that I thought worked well were drafting diagonal lines with a very fine drawing pen or pochèing in black marker on the back side of the vellum so it would only shine through.
In ancient Greece, the megaron was comprised of "three components: (1) a hall, (2) a storeroom at the back, and, later, (3) a porch" (Blakemore, 31)In Suzanne’s class we have been occupying most all of our time drawing vignettes of every imaginable kind. It is hard for me to tell if a vignette would be better described as having no boundaries or actually having a boundary. A vignette is a drawing that focuses in on a certain area of a composition while the outer areas seamlessly fade into the background. In a way there are boundaries in vignettes because you have to make a stopping point for yourself- A stopping point where you stop showing so much detail, you stop filling in the color, you stop with the heavy lines. Yet there is no clean line of where the pen lines stop; they just seem to fade into the page.
Until we actually learned what a vignette was I had never noticed just how many I have looked at overtime on others blogs. Nor did I notice that I had been drawing them all along. I really like the vignette assignment and I think that it really makes you think deeper about your composition.
I found unity within all of these weeks words. Scale and unity were the two that I think have a broad impact on overall design. Vignettes have changed the way I draw and made me look at other drawing differently. I pay more attention to the composition that I am making now. When I hear ‘section’ I usually think of drafting but by trying to tie all the opus prompt words together I discovered a deeper sense of the word. Same with boundaries; usually I would automatically think about our Pathways, Edges and Boundaries project but now I steer away from that and again think more deeply into it.
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