3.25.2009

Opus 8, Grammar: Syntax

PROMPTS

[RE] VISIONS


To really help understand what this word means I like to break it up into its basic structure. I see -re, revise, and vision and I believe that sometimes an artist has a vision or as we were talking about in my Design I class an intention as it’s called. The realization of that vision that though may require re-do’s or revisions unto that piece all together. Whether it be something small, or something very significant that completely rearranges the whole design all together. I believe that our intentions are what gets us going, and motivated but really at least to me. My intentions usually end at the beginning process because after that I end up with something different in so many ways. But the realization of that intention is what is so vital, because we know what we wanted but getting something different out of that, definitely isn’t always a bad thing. “Renaissance architects of the fifteen and sixteenth centuries endeavored to create new rational, mathematically describable forms based on what they understood of the Classical architecture of ancient Rome.” (Roth 397) I believe when the Baroque and Rococo style’s started developing into what it is today, all they did was change revise what we though of the ancient Rome and they turned it into a whole new classification of design and structures.




AUDIENCE


“The sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini summarized most clearly the impact of the Council of Trent and provided the prototype for the emotion-inducing function of the arts.” (Roth 402) Another word I can seem to relate to Design I, because today we were actually talking about the famous Marcel Duchamp and he was stating that your artwork is about 50% of the entire experience, the other half is what the audience feels about your work. And Bernini of course I’m sure had to experience this feeling of uncomfort several many times when he had an audience viewing his designs. An audience can really make or break a piece I believe because you can think your art or design is the bee’s knees or whatever, but the audience can think the opposite end of the spectrum and they will express that if they feel so, at least some will. And in particular your audience in architecture is your most important thing to incorporate because they are the people that actually experience your structure and breathe life into it, and live there or work there. They will be the ones in particular to relate and interact with your design and give it meaning and stories and encompass within that very structure, so much life which I find extremely pleasing to know.




CHARACTER


When I tend to think of this word, I see people getting into character... acting if you will. They master the character they will be portraying or at least attempt to and they try to be like that person in every way possible. In design and art, I believe character is what a structure or piece of art has, it has UMPH!, if that’s even a word, something about it that immediately catches your eye, it draws your attention and you’d like to know more if you can. “Bernini also used an oval to solve his largest building project, the great piazza in front of Saint Peter’s basilica in Rome, which finally brought this ambitious church to completion in 1667, a century and a half after it had been started by Bramante.” (Roth 408) I think what Bernini did was a great example, because he has a dilemma and him putting a large oval in the design helped characterized the building as we really know it today. And I’m sure you can think of many buildings like this, their characterized by one single trait you can somehow always remember, it’s the most fruitful and comes to your mind as soon as you think of that specific structure.




TRANSITION


Everything in my mind has a point at which it must make a transition, it’s just something everyone goes through and needs from time to time. In architecture this really bring mind Saint Paul’s Cathedral and how it transitioned from the “old” to the “new” cathedral as we know it as today. “Wren’s greatest achievement was the rebuilding of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, whole Gothic bulk formerly rose over old London.” (Roth 423) Before the great fire and the cathedral was destroyed it was all original and it wouldn’t have transitioned but it did, and it was a force of nature which could not be controlled and thus years later, it’s transformed into the beautiful cathedral we know it as today.



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DATUM


So I honestly have never heard this word until now, which led to me just doing a Google search and I came up with the definition in the design sense was, “a fact or proposition used to draw a conclusion or make a decision.” And I think this could apply in the critiquing field of art/design appreciator because your audience are witnesses to your pieces and they pull from your work a conclusion or an opinion as it’s more frequently called. That’s the point in any kind of art in general, is to get people to talk and discuss and argue about how and what they feel from a certain piece. We are constantly looking for something to change the conversation I guess as it could be called. Also there are datum lines, which are fixed, or measured lines and this applies to drafting your designs and the precision that often is involved in a single drawing.



REFLECTION


We are now getting close into the revolutions of the world and getting into modernism. “Modern architecture is a product of Western Civilization...” (Roth 439) Through this week we got out of the Barque and Rococa style’s that were popular in past centuries and we are now beginning to get a glimpse into the present with design and how much the Eastern area it incorporates within it. I am interested in the modern era, but sad to see the past go but I know that the new age will also bring up the past styles that were popular back then. Although this week we did in fact have to re-do some of our old words we had done in previous Opus entries it is nice to visit these words again, and see how we define them differently now, thanks to what we have learned and gain thus far.




Christopher Alexander's 15 properties presented in The Nature Of Order


Citations

Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History, and Meaning


Leland M. Roth

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