Architecture is “a richly informative cultural artifact” in that its character tells a story of transitions, revisions as well as, both to and of, an audience. (Roth 5)
Both stories and design are audience driven. Architecture is “the environment we build for ourselves, and which, as we grow in experience and knowledge, we change and adapt to our expanded condition.” (Roth 3) Design varies according to its audience. If you were designing a child’s room the color scheme, scale, furniture and material would be different than an office or a nightclub. I read from Roth that Andrew Derbyshire realized that the goal of architecture is “to design a building that [speaks] a language of form intelligible to its users.” (Roth 569) Design is an international language within itself with its own syntax and linguistics that are forever growing and evolving to accommodate different audiences. The language of a design has to translate to its audience in a way so that it is clearly communicated. Numerous revisions create a smooth transition in relaying character to ones audience.
The spread above is some of the brainstorming I did for a current project. I translated the dandelion into abstracted forms and kept revising to translate these concepts into a design.
When studying various designers there are certain characteristics that you can identify with certain designers. For example Frank Lloyd Wright’s style tends to include a porch, court and hearth, the hearth being the fireplace. This idea goes past architecture and spreads wider than just one designer’s character. Character defines an era or style of a space on numerous scales. For example the unique Greek style “the mixing together of aspects of the sophisticated Minoan/Mycenaean cultures with the pragmatism of the Dorian’s.” (Roth 220)
Also throughout the Alternatives unit we have studied new takes on riving classical styles and designs that break the molds of precedent designs. These revisions shifted architecture and reintroduced classical looks in new ways and downturned old rules taking design to the next level. Architecture will continue to change due to these revisions. Revisions translate old style to new style and make up a transitional process that ends in progressive change.
As Vitruvius explains in The Ten Books of Architecture, “Architects who have aimed at acquiring manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a position of authority to correspond to their plans, while those who relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not the substance.” (Roth 122). In other words until you, as a designer, actually use your hands and make something you overlook fundamental revisions that evolve ones design concept. Through my first year I have learned this to be very true. It is the practice of making numerous iterations and revisions that better a design. These revisions can happen on a larger scale such as a revolution that greatly affects the design world. For example this image compares the revolution of a chairs character after the American Revolution.
In Perception and Communication we studied artists’ styles and imitated them in our own work picking up on the little details that gave them character. Whether it was the medium they used, the color or lack of color, the direction or character of line they used or so on. For example France Belleville of Wagonized does amazing things with crosshatching. Stephen Gardner of Sketch of the Day uses mostly sepia, wooden and some green tones in his loose yet expressive style while mainly drawing bar settings. It is in these details that make the overall composition interesting.
Datum lines can be found everywhere and they greatly enhance visuals. “The horizontal line is sensed empathetically as being as rest just as the human body is at rest when horizontal. In contrast the vertical line is sensed as one of aspiration, reaching, assertiveness. There is a sense of dynamic equilibrium as a result of forces at work in the vertical line.” (Roth 71) Datum lines use bilateral symmetry to create order and rhythm in something, which ultimately makes it aesthetically pleasing; which satisfies the delight aspect of commodity, firmness and delight. You can see datum lines in the form of alleys or isles, such as in a church or in the megaron form in which the isle is lined by columns. The datum lines give a clean and uniform appearance to architecture, presentations, art, and spaces. In our recent Perception and Communication presentation we used datum lines on our presentation board in order to make our product look more pulled together and professional. We also use a datum line when hanging things up in the crit room. In History of Theory and Design we previously learned about cultures that use two intersecting datum lines, via the main roads, as a city-planning grid. The roads lead to the most important spaces within the city. These intersecting datum lines were also seen in gothic cathedrals. From the plan views you can clearly see these datum lines, often intersecting in a groin or groin-vault form that connect the nave, transepts and the channel.
[Summary]
Human character is a fundamental audience in the development of architectural expression. The growth, change and development is a crucial part of the design process and is based around a plethora of revisions. We nit-pick and revise our design concepts and in the end we often simplify them to shape and enhance the finished product. Winston Churchill once said “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” (Roth 58) A well-revised, successful design shapes its audience.
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