Blog Post 10

MUSIC

For my designed object I selected music and all of the objects used to listen to it and to play it.  It have advanced tremendously from the time that it was invented until now.  I  believe that because of all of these changes it carries a message of revolution.  This is revolutionary because it has been around for such a long time and it is something that whether we like it or not it is a part of people's daily lives.  It has a great impact on the world and the history.  Just like everything else it changes gradually over time to fit in with how the world is advancing.  It began by being something you play music with could only be played from a room in a house or other buildings, then portable devices were invented but you still had to carry the "cds" for example with you.  But now everything is all on one device already loaded onto it, making it very convenient to listen to music from where ever you may be.

Reading Response 10

The Bank Of England

The bank was designed and constructed because the English economy was in a state of crisis in the early 19th century.  At this time the country had to borrow often and in large amounts from foreign banks.  Due to this a Bank of England was much needed to be built and very important.

-  it was located in London, England

-   commission of building went to John Soane

-  he was influenced by Giambattista Piranesi

-  in 1791 he began receiving large commissions when appointed to the Office of the Works

-  neoclassicism had not risen at that time even though it was favored

-  Bank Stock Office was designed from 1791-1793

-  this was the first part of the bank to be built

-  the designer Soane invented an architectural language

-  this was based on pendentives and flat vaults

-  the interior seems papery and light

-  has small passages contrasting with larger spaces

-  picturesque form of classicism 

-  deals with classical forms in a quirky and arbitrary way

-  championed as proto-postmodern

-  avoided use of Greek and Roman ornaments

-  uses segmental and semicircular arches

-  Soane believed in the tragic nobility of architecture

-  this bank was represented as a finished building and as a ruin

-  it anticipated the view backward from some future age

The above images show first the exterior front view of the building looking directly at it.  The second picture shows the interior of the bank showing the features of the inside as well as the details of the ceiling and wall structures.  The last shows the plan view of the bank.

Reading Response 9

Chateau de Versailles

The building of this began in 1661, but went through several phases and the site of it was an old hunting lodge.  The redesign of this into a grand palace by Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
Some Other Facts:
-  Andre Le Notre began work on the gardens and fountains
-  a new building was wrapped around the old one
-  has a series of forecourts with a U around a central court
-  the courts are located on a hill
-  proclaimed the royal capital by the king
-  has three avenues
-  20 kilometers southwest of Paris
-  central and northern avenues lead to Paris
-  carriages passed through the avenues to the first gate
-  the ground floor contained apartments
-  apartments were for royal guards and administrators
-  stairway led to principal reception rooms
-  the king lived in those rooms
-  a long hall of mirrors faced a gardens to the west
-  King's Building Office designed, planned, and executed the building
-  construction was never halted after the architect died
-  very well set up and organized building
-  gardens were laid out on a grid and aligned with the palace
-  the garden was used to celebration
-  this included horsemanship events, banquets, plays, music and fireworks
-  Jean-Baptist Tuby's Basin of Apollo was added on the western end

The interesting thing to me about the Chateau de Versailles is that when our class broke up into groups a few weeks ago to talk about a word, sentence, and phrase, this is one of the buildings that the group I was in chose to discuss.

The above images are of the exterior of the building and also of the interior features.  The interior includes the ceiling details and the lighting. The exterior shows the structure of the building and the details of it.

Blog Post 9

Colonial Expansion

What came to my mind when thinking of a building that represents colonial expansion to the United States is that of cathedrals.  This is cathedrals in general of all kinds.  In the United States there are many old churches that resemble the same general structure as that of the cathedrals in England.  They used to the same tall pointed like structure giving it a great sense of height.  In my opinion they both have a very dark and distinguished feel to them.  Also they were used for the same religious purposes.  I think that the US may of copied this type of cathedrals because when our country was first getting started we had nothing else to go off of, there for we did what had already been done because that is safe.

This is a cathedral in England.

This is a cathedral in the United States.

For the colonial expansion from the United States to many other countries is that of the sky scrappers that we have in our country.  They were first started to be able to accommodate lots of things in one building without taking up a large portion of the landscape.  Therefor, instead of making buildings so wide in these large cities, they decided to build upward making the buildings go toward the sky more and more, calling them "skyscrapers".  They are used in large cities where land is very valuable.  Other countries began using this same idea when constructing a new building.  It is still used in America today as well as in every other large city around the world.  It is also said that the taller the building the more powerful and more prominent it is.

These are skyscrapers around the world.

Reading Response 8

 St. Peter's Basilica

The St. Peter's Basilica is located in Rome.  The real name of it is The Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano.  It has a very large dome like structure at the top with two smaller ones on each side of the largest one.  It is the combined effort of numerous architects because of the reign of a few different popes.  

~ started being built in 326 CE 

~ built over the tomb of St. Peter under Constantine The Great

~ first pope to reign was Pope Julius II

~ first architect worked from 1444-1514

~ first stone was laid in 1506 by the pope

~ half a century was spent reducing the scale of the building

~ work on the new model began in 1535

~ Pope Paul III was the second to reign

~ he assigned Michelangelo to be the architect in charge

~ although working with the initial structure, some walls were tore down

~ Michelangelo died in 1564

~ the rest was done by many architects working at different times 

~ the design became simpler

~ building is to be viewed from the bottom upward

~ appears as a undulating cliff surface moving both toward and away from the center

~ dome was raised onto a higher drum to be seen from the piazza in front of the building

~ has five entrances

~ three have lintels and two are round headed

Blog Post 8: Nautilus Shell

Baroque

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Gothic

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Renaissance

The three time periods that I selected as being similar to each other and using many of the same design traits and characteristics are the Renaissance, the Gothic, and the Baroque.  The most common and noticeable trait that all three of these buildings in three different time periods possess is that they all have pointed like structures near the roofs of them.  They all are very tall in size emphasizing that they wanted people to see and notice them making the particular building the most important and dominant.  Each of these buildings use the stacking method, making one clearly be able to see and point out the various layers of the building.  They all seem to copy the other by using the same color scheme, each have very dull and brown or tan colors. 

Sources:

- http://www.capital-calling.com/london-areas/london/westminster.htm

-http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0293-rome.php

-http://www.igougo.com/journal-j29623-Fulda-Baroque_Fulda_on_a_winters_day.html