"Architecture is music in space, as it were a frozen music."
-Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling
Starting with my first week at UNCG, we started with the great, historic Stonehenge, and we moved into later civilizations such as Egypt, Greece, and then Rome and then into Pompeii where architecture and designing in general was becoming much more grand and elaborate. And the last week was ending up our Foundations unit which we talked about baths and cathedrals and their beauty and overall ability to shock and awe. I'd say much of the most important topics I feel like I've learned about, would be light definitely! Light really affects so much of a structure, and it can make or break a great design as compared to a mediocre design. You really get a sense of greatness when a piece of architecture changes drastically throughout the different times of the day. You pay much more attention to the subtle changes and details, and you have a greater appreciation for that work, I believe. Light especially is key when we started looking at cathedrals, and structures like the Pantheon is Rome. The Pantheons oculus, was so innovative and it was built to facilitate as a source of light. Mostly what the function of it was for was purely for the Gods and it was almost as if all the Gods were peering down into that structure and monitoring the modern day civilians. The cathedrals relied so much on light to really make their building stand up and be unique; one that really stands out in my mind is the Amiens cathedral. This cathedral of all the other ones, had a massive gorgeous rose window right upon the front facade, and these of course rely heavily on light and throughout the day they will change depending on the amount of light that passes through and it really can create an amazing color variation.
Next I'd say possibly one of the probably if not the most important would be the three part, commodity:firmness:delight idea. "In architecture, as in all operative arts, the end must direct the operation. The end is to built well. Well building hath three conditions: commodity, firmness, and delight." As said by Sir Henry Wotton, this theory of all great architecture encompassing these three fundamentals I hold to be true for the most part. Every single great piece of architecture in my mind, has embedded within them from start to finish these three ideas. Commodity is referring to the ability to accommodate and serve as it's function, it's needs to serve it's purpose from the idea process all the way up until it's diminish. And firmness is basically what it means, the structure or whatever it is has to withstand whatever obstacles the environment experiences. Most idea's of firmness today are pretty solid to my knowledge, I think that designers put much thought into the sustainability and strength of their designs nowadays, possibly more then the overall aesthetic appearance. Because a building can be very elaborate and intricate in detail but there is absolutely no point to invest so much time building a structure if it's not going to be structurally stable several years later. Detail is probably what most people look for in anything really such as a house, care, significant other, vacation, pets, anything really... This part of the three part system is usually the most rewarding of the three because it's what really makes someone fall in love with whatever it may be. If you can accomplish even delight, you've got yourself something special, something to work with, something to continue and grow with.
I believe Hagia Sophia holds within it a great example of LIGHT
The Pantheon in Rome in my mind represents COMMODITY:FIRMNESS:DELIGHT
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