Lettering

Opus 1 Build:Design::Tell:Story

TRANSLATION

In Studio we were assigned the project "found in translation," where we read and dissected a grimms' fairytale and used abstract artifacts to translate the story. In history + theory we learned architecture is subdivided into vernicular vs. high style. It is debatable whether solely vernicular style can be consider the art of architecture, because art is interpreted differently based on your previous history, the context, and it is in general a difficult language to understand. Some would say "a bicycle shed is a building, lincoln cathedral is a piece of architecture," (Nicholas Pevsner) while others translate vernicular style in a more abstract way. We also were urged to notice the symbolism that goes into many architectural projects by examining its history as well as its purpose.

MULTIVIEW

(http://image.cinemaclock.com/images/midsummer.JPG)

Perceptions and Communication is pushing us to do more than see, to really know/experience/investigate/observe when we draw. Interior Architecture has many different facades, but one of the more simple ways to look at it is where inside and outside meet. When designing it is also important to look at the spaces in many different views, Aedicule is "a unit of space to help divide and understand a larger space" because "seldom is a building devoted wholly to one function." (Roth 18) Whether it is a 2-D plan, a 3-D section, or how the design will be seen through time. A Midsummer's Night Dream has four different sets of stories that all intertwine together. By showing the characters interact through different perceptions gives you the power to hide or reveal certain information, depending on the view. In design graphics, Pat's Chair is designed to be different from all four directions, which will in the end make the desk more dynamic.

CYCLEIn Grimms' fairytales we encounter archetypes that have been recycled all over the world in countless scenarios. History does have a habit of repeating itself, the past molds the present and future. The further back in time you go the easier it is to see the patterns that have rippled. In history + theory we learned about the design cycle. Designers have a cycle, their creativity peaking in their 50-60s. But buildings go through cycles too. A style of architecture's popularity is best described as a bell curve. Different styles do overlap however, some being hugely fashionable but burn out quickly. While other classic styles may never reach the same hype, but stand the test of time and become standard throughout history.

ARTIFACT

"Architecture is arguably the most accurate, the most truly revealing, human cultural artifact." (Roth 12) The study of material culture and the semiotics, ideologies, and signs that encompass it divulges into how tightly linked memories are with tangible objects. Roth suggests "perhaps the most fundamental concept is that the mind, particularly the human mind, is programmed to seek meaning and significance in all sensory information sent to it. (67) After translating our fairytale into an abstract quilt/board, we were asked to make an artifact grasping the essence of the story. This is very important in design, picking materials that bring out the story of your design.

STORY
Architecture expresses itself as a "form of dialogue with past and future." In studio we are learning how to let our designs tell their own story. History can be defined as the interaction of humanity and nature. We distinguish ourselves by telling stories, it is necessary to who we are as people. "When sight, hearing, smell, and touch are completely unstimulated, as in an isolation flotation tank--the mind will eventually invent its own stimuli, and hallucination will result." (Roth 69) I thought this quote was interesting because Stoel also referred to stories as "lies," which hallucinations are as well. Patrick referred to a quote that argued that out of a book of words, deeds, and art, art would be most honest. It reminds me of a Picasso quote, "art is the lie that tells the truth."

SUMMARY

The word "story" requires all of the other four words: multiview, translation, cycle, artifact to function as a whole. They are the sum of its parts, each an aedicule that make up the chapters. Every story has a cycle; a beginning, middle and end. There is a deeper meaning usually disguised in symbolism, sometimes they are people but many times artifacts, which needs to be translated. Multiview is "stories within stories," seen through different perspectives. Embodying these prompts in my design process will lead to a more "holistic creation, development and completion of space for human use." (John Kurticht and Garret Eakin)

IAR221 Timeline 700BC & 700AD

700AD

institutions

Arabic replaces Greek as official language of Egypt
Buddhist monasteries become center of culture (Japan)
Construction begins on the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
Climax of the Zapotec Culture
Beginning of Punuk/Birnick cultures in the Arctic
Teotihuacán destroyed by fire and deserted by its inhabitants
Easter Islanders begin to build stone platforms which form part of ceremonial enclosures

technology

Metalworking techniques reach Costa Rica from Colombia
In Eastern Arizona, Pueblo people live in houses above ground for the first time
Mississippi Native Americans build flat topped mounds as temple bases
Introduction of pagodas in Japan from China

governance

Umayyad forces destroy Carthage and Utica
Islamic army conquers Sind and found first Muslim state in India
Srivijaya takes the Melayu kingdom at Jambi; sends an expedition against the kingdoms in Java
Suwawa kingdom flourishes in North Sulawesi
Avar and Slavic tribes conquer Byzantine territories in the Balkans, occupying lands as far south as the Peloponnese in southern Greece
Arabs invade and occupy most of the Iberian peninsula except for an area in the far North

commerce

Copper and silver coins officially issued by Nara court (Japan)
Sumatran kingdom of Shrivijaya extends its trading network as far as the Moluccas and western New Guinea
Trade along the coast of East Africa expanded and promoted the founding of such settlements as Kismayu, Mogadiscio, Gedi, Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwas and others.
Construction of a new, and permanent, capital city in Nara (Heijôkyô) begins in Japan
Abd al Malik issued the first pure Islamic coins


700BC


institutions

Around this time the poet Hesoid writes the Theogony, and Works and Days
Cities are rising in the Ganges Valley
Early Celts start burying swords with their dead

technology

Aqueducts in the Middle East
New Orientalizing pottery shapes emerge in Corinth, Geometric period ends
Writing systems brought to Mauryan kingdom from Arabia and Persia
In China, boiled water is safer to drink than untreated water, and tea becomes popular, accompanied by the belief that tea has medicinal properties
Exotic Near Eastern animals, monsters and other motifs increasingly used in Greek art
Chariots introduced into Italy by Etruscans

governance

End of the First Messinian war; Sparta enslaves the Messinians, known now as helots
Assyrian army lays siege to the city of Lachish in Judah
Arrival of Gaels in Ireland
Emergence of Etruscan city-states in Central Italy

commerce

Increase in trade between Greek cities and other cultures exotic
Launacian' bronze industry flourishing in southern France
Romanians expand trade routes bringing Greeks to the Black Sea
Aryan migrations into the Ganges Valley are over or coming to an end
In the West the Lydians (Turkey) are the first to make coins

works cited

http://www.historyexplorer.net/?World_History_Timeline
http://www.camelotintl.com/world/
http://www.worldtimelines.org.uk/
http://ehistory.osu.edu
http://timelines.ws/0600AD_999AD.HTML
http://www.fsmitha.com/time-bc3.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001209.html