Unit Summary: ALTERNATIVES

ALTERNATIVES UNIT

"We are searching for some kind of harmony between two intangibles: a form which we have not yet designed and a context which we cannot properly describe."

Christopher Alexander

The first reading we did into this unit of our 221 class was titled "millennial observations" which started us off into the oh so famous medieval architecture era. And to be quite honest, this was probably the section I retained the most information in because the structures and intricacy of their designs were simply gorgeous in my eyes and just involved within them so much time and attention devoted strictly to them alone. I got a great chance to experience this first hand during my Spring break with fellow IARC major, Phillip Snider. We traveled up to the capital Washington, D.C. And during day three of our four day trip I guess you'd say, we decided to go see the National Cathedral outside of the city that was just completed in 1990. First thing when we got there that caught my eye was just the overall feeling you get, it's just something so profound and I just admired it tremendously. Everything that I could touch there I would, because the textures on the stone work and floors were gorgeous by all means, and so smooth to the hands and although outside there was a rough sense to it, a nice variation nonetheless. And the next day we went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception which is the largest basilica in America and it was beyond amazing literally. From the golden dome structure on the exterior to all the mosaic work within the structure, we were greeted at the top of the steps to huge doors and walked into an amazing nave area and the ceiling work was gorgeous in every single aspect. But the Medieval section for this very reason was the one I seemed to enjoy the most and I find it to be very beautiful and that certainly helps out. Richard T. Feller said that "the Gothic style historically, more perhaps than any other, released architecture from its earthbound confines." Next we covered Renaissance architecture and this is where what cathedrals we covered such as the Duomo in Florence and Amiens, Salisbury... this is when these structures all begin to rise thanks to this period of time. I learned that a very vital book around this time was Vitruvius and his ten books on architecture. Palazzo was actually a new design to me, mean I'd seen buildings such as this before but I didn't actually know there was a term to define this specific type of structure so I was interested in usually these three different level buildings. One of the 15 properties discussed throughout The Nature of Order by Chris Alexander was levels of scale, and I noticed the palazzo's definitely incorporate this property in a big way because the bottom level is almost half of the entire building and the other two floors are significantly smaller in scale. Last section within the unit we covered was the Baroque and Rococa style which Henry Millon stated, "the Baroque building can only be grasped through one's experiencing it in its variety of effects..." And what we studied in this was when is it appropriate for a culture to take a past style and re-amp it in a way that's new and exciting but you still get a sense of resemblance on the count of its Renaissance ways. Several things this style encompassed was a more dramatic use of lighting and its surroundings and often there was tropme l'oeil where they use optical illusions to create a sense of depth to whatever it may be, for example is the Jesuit Church in Vienna. Lastly there was quite a nice jump in scale in some different aspects. There too was different versions of the Baroque style, such as the Vaux-le-Vicomte was a more laid back, chill version of the style, and in Germany the style included a strong sense of geometry and it was a retraction for the style itself. So that pretty much sums up this unit to the best of my abilities, and we are now moving into the Modern design era as it's called and getting into all the different revolutions, so I am definitely looking forward to getting more into the modern way, but I'm sure things will come up from the past... as it always does. 

I believe the Duomo in Florence best represents what we learned throughout the Alternatives unit of 221.