FROM ROME TO TODAY...BP #4

Friday we took a walk (a very rainy one) around the UNCG campus. We looked at the principles and characteristics of Roman architecture that we've been learning about and how they corresponded to the campus today.

We've been learning about COMMODITY, FIRMNESS, AND DELIGHT as well as CIRCLES AND AXES.

commodity...meeting needs

firmness...structure, stability

delight...creating a sense of place and enjoyment

circles...mark sacred spots and endpoints to/along axes

axes...directional forces, tell you where to go/look

The place we visited on campus where I thought these all came together nicely was
inside of the MHRA.

commodity...

The Moore Humanities and Research Administration building holds many classrooms. Here there are classes for English and other languages as well as studies in Classics and Humanities. The Writing Center and the Speaking Center are also located in this building. All of these resources help meet the needs of many students. Students having trouble with either can go to the MHRA to get help.

firmness...

The MHRA is made of tile, stone, metal and glass mainly. The metal frames the windows and the building and the glass is for the windows that let in a ton of natural light on sunny days. Frosted glass also marks entryways to offices, etc. Stone tiles define the hallways and set them apart, telling you where to go. They also provide support for the building. The columns inside are mainly for decoration (they're hollow) and don't provide a lot of structure or stability however there are pairs of real columns outside the building providing plenty of stability for the building.

delight...

The MHRA gets a lot of natural light because of all the glass around it. That, alone, is a delightful and aesthetically pleasing but there is also a great mix of materials that's also pretty cool to look at. The MHRA brings together stone, tile, metal, glass, and some wood in an interesting and more modern building.

the stone on the left, tile in the middle, and wood on the right in addition to the natural light let in all add visual interest to the space.

circles...

In the lobby of the MHRA by the front entrance there is a dome-like ceiling. This circle is echoed on the floor. Stone insets on the floor reverberate out from the center point of the circle...helping mark the "sacred" or important entrance spot.

axes...

Hallways in the MHRA tell you where to go. They're set apart by the stone and the ripples on the floor lead you to them.