Unit Summary. Foundations.
Unit Summary
Foundation Unit.
During this unit I have pondered the thought of what does foundation exactly refers to. Foundation is known as something that keeps a building or house stand together, or the foundation of an ideal in which an institute stands for. The word itself brings many concepts leading to different interpretations but at the end it feels like all these different concepts are poured and blend into a funnel that later produces a special product. That special product, as I call it, is support.
I believe that the foundation unit is about support provided to keep houses structurally standing and also to keep ideas, family values, governments, and religion structurally intact. Surprisingly architecture is, like Le Corbuser says, a “cultural instrument” that provides support to the world and like Roth says, “Architecture is the crystallization of ideas, a physical representation, a record of beliefs and values of the culture that produces it”(Roth 159). Therefore architecture is the foundation of time, empire, influence, power, hierarchy, loyalty, firmness, commodity, delight, etc.
Architecture has build a dialogue with history that provides us, students and scholars, with rich material so we could understand that we are influenced by a ancient century and all of what we consist today is because of our ancestors, such as, Greece, Rome and Egypt. In the case of Greece we explore the definition of hierarchy and the different social classes. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, says that in a society there are freemen and then slaves. Architecturally, Greeks adopt a “post and lintel” construction from the Egyptians. Because of the post and lintel construction the Greeks were able to create temples made exclusively for the Gods. Since the Greeks build for the Gods temples had to be build perfect with the best materials and with firmness so that it could last forever. There was also an artistic attention to the temples and columns. There were different columns, from the simplest (Doric) to the most elegant (Corinthian). This idea was to make emphasis in the importance of the building and to be more lavished of artistic delight. But after all, people have come to conclude that the Greeks were the begging of a theory that the Romans took over and put it to practice leaving the Greeks behind. From Romans we discover the cement and the ability to manipulate the materials. The ability to manipulate the materials made it affordable to the Romans to build fast and high with the new technology of the arches. Romans were not inclined too much in decorative aspects but in fact they wanted to build in grand scales. Although, they did have some sense of sculpture and art influenced by the Greeks. This gives us the sense of the power that architecture has among the people and how influential can it be. The Romans focused on the city as its basic constituent element. Aristotle says that Romans were “political animals” and yes they were. The buildings made during the Roman Empire were meant to illustrate the power of the empire and for also for the citizens to enjoy, unlike the Greeks. Buildings like the coliseum and the Parthenon could be a perfect example of such achievements. After the Roman Empire falls, lots of new theories and ideas started to submerge and things like the Gothic era and The Renaissance were created. From these eras, Christian religion and cathedrals with a geometric structure began to be the dominant aspect in architecture. Every building was created with the presence of Christianity. This idea became international, Europe being the primary continent following this new sense of architecture.
All these architectural “movements”, from Egypt, Greece, and Rome to today’s world represent an enormous presence of human development in all senses, that is, religious, political, architectural, etc. Egypt based on slavery, Greece based on slavery and free men, and Rome based on Empire and Families and today a mix of every single piece of these powerful societies. Architecture has provided today’s world a foundation of technology, power, firmness, hierarchy, influence, delight, commodity, etc. that is supported by its own mutating architecture leading us to bigger and new alternatives.
Foundation Unit.
During this unit I have pondered the thought of what does foundation exactly refers to. Foundation is known as something that keeps a building or house stand together, or the foundation of an ideal in which an institute stands for. The word itself brings many concepts leading to different interpretations but at the end it feels like all these different concepts are poured and blend into a funnel that later produces a special product. That special product, as I call it, is support.
I believe that the foundation unit is about support provided to keep houses structurally standing and also to keep ideas, family values, governments, and religion structurally intact. Surprisingly architecture is, like Le Corbuser says, a “cultural instrument” that provides support to the world and like Roth says, “Architecture is the crystallization of ideas, a physical representation, a record of beliefs and values of the culture that produces it”(Roth 159). Therefore architecture is the foundation of time, empire, influence, power, hierarchy, loyalty, firmness, commodity, delight, etc.
Architecture has build a dialogue with history that provides us, students and scholars, with rich material so we could understand that we are influenced by a ancient century and all of what we consist today is because of our ancestors, such as, Greece, Rome and Egypt. In the case of Greece we explore the definition of hierarchy and the different social classes. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, says that in a society there are freemen and then slaves. Architecturally, Greeks adopt a “post and lintel” construction from the Egyptians. Because of the post and lintel construction the Greeks were able to create temples made exclusively for the Gods. Since the Greeks build for the Gods temples had to be build perfect with the best materials and with firmness so that it could last forever. There was also an artistic attention to the temples and columns. There were different columns, from the simplest (Doric) to the most elegant (Corinthian). This idea was to make emphasis in the importance of the building and to be more lavished of artistic delight. But after all, people have come to conclude that the Greeks were the begging of a theory that the Romans took over and put it to practice leaving the Greeks behind. From Romans we discover the cement and the ability to manipulate the materials. The ability to manipulate the materials made it affordable to the Romans to build fast and high with the new technology of the arches. Romans were not inclined too much in decorative aspects but in fact they wanted to build in grand scales. Although, they did have some sense of sculpture and art influenced by the Greeks. This gives us the sense of the power that architecture has among the people and how influential can it be. The Romans focused on the city as its basic constituent element. Aristotle says that Romans were “political animals” and yes they were. The buildings made during the Roman Empire were meant to illustrate the power of the empire and for also for the citizens to enjoy, unlike the Greeks. Buildings like the coliseum and the Parthenon could be a perfect example of such achievements. After the Roman Empire falls, lots of new theories and ideas started to submerge and things like the Gothic era and The Renaissance were created. From these eras, Christian religion and cathedrals with a geometric structure began to be the dominant aspect in architecture. Every building was created with the presence of Christianity. This idea became international, Europe being the primary continent following this new sense of architecture.
All these architectural “movements”, from Egypt, Greece, and Rome to today’s world represent an enormous presence of human development in all senses, that is, religious, political, architectural, etc. Egypt based on slavery, Greece based on slavery and free men, and Rome based on Empire and Families and today a mix of every single piece of these powerful societies. Architecture has provided today’s world a foundation of technology, power, firmness, hierarchy, influence, delight, commodity, etc. that is supported by its own mutating architecture leading us to bigger and new alternatives.
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