Circles. Groups. Stacks. On Campus.

After walking around nearly everywhere on campus I saw many objects, spaces and buildings that take the form of circles, groves, and stacks.  I noticed lots of principles such as repetition, contrast, emphasis, unity, harmony, balance, and proportion.  The following examples were ones that stuck out the most to me.  The question that I was supposed to explore was that of do environments influence RITUALS or do rituals influence ENVIRONMENTS?  After reading this question I was ultimately confused about which I thought it was.  The first thing that came to my mind was that it could possibly be both.  I think that it all depends on the situation and the circumstances.  But if I absolutely had to pick one I would say that environments influence rituals.  The reason I think this is because the environment around us basically is huge factor on everything that we do in our day to day lives.  We wouldn't do many things if it weren't for the environment causing us to.

Examples of CIRCLES:

 

The above pictures of the top of the Elliot University Center, the fountain, the steps around the fountain, and the music building all show examples of circles.  The fountain is known as a central location in front of the dining hall where people often gather and meet with others.  All around the fountain is brick steps that get smaller and smaller the farther up, with the fountain at the very top and center.  This shows that the fountain is supposed to be the most important and most focused on aspect of this particular area, being that it is at the top.  Just like how it always has been in previous centuries.  Not only are there circles all around the fountain, but they also provide a great example of stacking.  The water aspect of this fountain gives me a great sense and feeling of the connection with nature.  The top of the music building and the EUC both are a circular shape.  I think this was done because they are both prominent tall buildings.  This makes you look up at them and feel like they are taller than the things around them.

Examples of GROUPS:

The two pictures above show examples of grouping.  The first picture shows stacking because of the six vertical columns that are placed directly in front of it.  They seem to show a sense of guidance as to where someone should travel.  In this case it is where one should enter the building, these help to guide you to that.  They also make the building feel much taller and elongated than it actually might be.  These vertical objects in many cases are to represent people and tree's reaching vertical.  In front of the dining hall there are also vertical poles on each side suggesting that the entrance to the building is in between them.  In the picture the verticalness also gives a great sense of height and they are a highly important aspect in my opinion.

Examples of STACKS:

The pictures above where things around campus that I felt were strong and clear examples of stacking.  Just like the area around the fountain, these concrete step like platforms in front of the building show stacking.  They begin large at the bottom and gradually get smaller as they go up.  Showing that the platform on the top is what one should focus on.  The Foust building is a wonderful example of stacking being that it has many layers, each stacked on top of the one before it.  With each layer or floor having different meanings.  The first floor is for business, the second school and the third is a celebration of everything.  The reason i think they put them in this order is because what is at the highest part at the top is what they intended to be the most important.  The second picture of a residence hall hall has stacking on each floor of it, making it stretch all the way to the top.  This idea is very similar to the Jackson Library because in both of these you can clearly see each level exemplified by stacking and windows.  In my opinion these two buildings aren't about the top layer or floor being the most important.  Each floor seems to serve the same purpose.  You can also tell this because all of the windows on every floor are the same size.  If they were different sizes then it each level would be of different importance.