the 'up' house...recreated

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RR #9

With trade and exploration continuing to grow, the introduction of coffee to Europe was a pretty big deal. Men automatically took it over, shutting out the women, and made large coffeehouses that replaced their usual pubs. Energized and stimulated by this exotic drink, the men would gather in coffeehouses to talk business, science, politics, and much more. While tea eventually overpowered coffee in popularity, many many MANY coffeehouses are still around today.




 sources:
http://archnet.org/library/images/one-image.jsp?location_id=11988&image_id=97864
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~plavchan/h115/intro.htm
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/pages-in-history/dublin-coffee-houses/index.xml
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/09/london-coffee-house/
http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/coffee/Coffeehouses.html

BP #9

colonial expansion...sharing thoughts and ideas

sources:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16277/16277-h/16277-h.htm
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/media_center/image_gallery/historical/ray_kroc_and_fred_turner.html

dining space

In 2015 the UN instated an International Eradicating Hunger Day for all nations. On this day a meal is shared, through the use of social media, with people elsewhere in the world. This event is biannual and coincides with the winter and summer solstice. 

     The event is set up by the UN and families can sign up to share meals via Skype with other families around the world on this day.  My family signs up and has a fundraiser for this event every year. We raise money for fighting world hunger and invite our neighbors over for the meal. This year we've been matched up with a family in Peru. Luckily we're on the same time zone so we'll both have our meal at 4:28. A few weeks before the meal we chat with the family via Skype and get to know each other a little. We then exchange our favorite traditional meals. We'll make theirs and they'll make ours.
The table for the space is 5x5 but another identical one can be connected to make more seating for guests. The chairs are big and comfy a couple of them are small sofas. The main idea of this space is comfort. We'll Skype with the other family on our mirror tv above the fireplace. This way, we share a meal and expand our cultural horizons...all while raising money to eradicate hunger.

These are my final drawings:

axonometric drawing and elevations

When you first walk into the room to the left you see the sideboard which contains cut-outs in the wall. These cut-outs provide shelving and storage for dishes, glasses, etc. To the right you see the fireplace and the mirror/tv above it. Looking forward, you see the large, extended table and past that the glass doors that open to the covered patio.

plan view

The 5x5 tables can be joined or disconnected and moved around. A table and extra chairs can be used out on the covered patio or chairs can be turned and placed in front of the fireplace as well.

top, front, side of table and section view/elevation of sideboard

The table is a solid wooden 5x5x2.5 table. The chairs are comfy and upholstered. There's a variation of chairs and sofas to promote comfort and lasting conversation at the dinner table.

model

Although I think that my project turned out pretty successfully, I really wish that I would've been more efficient with my time and spent more time perfecting and completing it.

BP #8

In a nautilus shell, the shell grows as the inhabitant outgrows it. Each time, the chamber gets a little bit bigger, allowing for a bigger opening. The same can be said for design. As we learn more and grow more, so do our surroundings.

image sources:
http://www.travelbbb.com/tag/giza/
http://crystalhatchlings.com/EasterEggs/Stonehenge.htm
http://www.planetware.com/picture/athens-acropolis-parthenon-gr-gr003.htm
http://www.great-structures.com/amiens-cathedral/
http://www.florence-on-line.com/palazzos/palazzo-medici-riccardi.html
http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/the_hall_of_mirrors/

RR #8

During the 16th century many design and architecture ideas were flowing. While previously buildings were built to be tall and reach toward God and the heavens, buildings were now being built outward and asserting power. Yards and landscaping were also being introduced. Ornate bushes and fluid-shaped fountains were being brought in (and to quote Patrick about the Chateau Fountainbleu, "We got some squiggles, kids!"). Andrea Palladio democratized architecture and gave importance to the little people, or the domestic buildings and made them look just as important as the churches and palaces.

BP #7

Last week we read The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton. He talks a lot about how "A thought-provoking number of the world's most intelligent people have disdained any interest in decoration and design, equating contentment with discarnate and invisible matters instead" (de Botton, 11). He also talked about how St. Bernard of Clairvaux was so unfocused on his surroundings that he walked all the way around Lake Geneva without realizing it was there.
For me, a happy place or space is somewhere that has lots of natural light. I'm basically nothing without the sun and it's amazing how much the sunlight can change my mood. That's the biggest thing. I prefer clean lines and simpler styles-crazy rooms just make me feel crazy.

Friday we traveled around campus in groups looking for happy places and spaces. Many areas came to mind, mostly active and outdoor spaces. We walked by the fountain/pond by the EUC, the meditation room, the garden by the fountain, the swingset by the EUC, the tree by the library, down college avenue, and then some. It was a sunny day and many people were out, making it easy to spot a happy place.

For my place I decided to talk about the tree by the library. It's hidden away on the right side of the library and probably overlooked a lot. It's a huge tree with plenty of shade underneath and plenty of places to sit and hang out around it. There's even a bike rack, prompting people to stop and sit for a while. When I think of an outside place on campus many come to mind. For me, if I'm going to hang out outside on a pretty day I'd like to do it where there aren't a ton of people crowding up the place. This shady area around the tree seems like the perfect spot to me and makes me happy.

And, look, it's marked by a sacred circle

For my space I chose the Weatherspoon Art Museum. Right when you walk in you see how much light is let in from the atrium skylight. That alone is enough to make me happy. Last semester I had a class in the main lecture hall and it was dark, dark, dark in there. There were no windows and the lights were always off because my teacher showed powerpoints to go along with her lecture. When I'd walk out of the door to the class and see all the light that the building lets in, it would automatically lift my spirits. I chose to show the chandelier that hangs over the stairs of the building because I think it's got a happy disposition to it. The materials and colors by the lit windows just seem happy to me.

A quote that really stuck out to me was when de Botton said, "We seem divided between an urge to override our senses and numb ourselves to our settings and a contradictory impulse to acknowledge the extent to which our identities are indelibly connected to, and will shift along with, our locations".  While we may want to get caught up in life and focus on other things, it's ingrained in our nature to care about what's around us. We personalize our bedrooms because that makes us happy. We paint our living rooms because that neon green the crazies who used to live here painted it drives us crazy. We adapt our spaces to what brings us delight. "Belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that we are, for better or for worse, different people in different places" (de Botton, 13).  I think that this is part of the concept of an architecture of happiness.

RR # 7

For my reading response this week, I focused on the Shwezigon Pagoda in Pagan. While somewhat reflective of a former Buddhist university, it stands as a prototype for future temples (or pagodas) all over Myanmar and beyond. Its stacking of terraces that tell stories of Buddha and lead to knowledge and wisdom lead you upward to a circular form surrounding a main stupa (or statue). Talk about following the rules, there's harmony between levels as well as circles and stacks, the building reflects an older one, and contributors can up their statuses by donating panels to go inside the temple. It also relies on stacks and they add not only commodity but firmness. The golden outside adds delight. The Shwezigon Pagoda not only looks to the past but also to the future of architecture...a real golden midpoint.


sources:
http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/myanmar/bagan/shwezigon.php
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/burma/bagan-shwezigon-paya-pagoda.htm
http://www.asiaexplorers.com/myanmar/shwezigon_temple.htm
A Global History of Architecture by Francis Ching: pages 315, 396, 397

Personal Space...The Behavioral Basis of Design

In Robert Sommer's Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design, Sommer talks about the theory that "certain arrangements of people are more suited to certain activities than others" (Sommer 61). He decided to investigate the problem from the standpoint of certain attitudes (cooperation, competition, or separate action) and see how people arranged themselves. The most common arrangement was corner to corner or face to face arrangement for casual conversation.

This is important to keep in mind when designing a dining table because, well, that's the point of a dinner. If there aren't opportunities for people to have conversation the dinner isn't going to be very successful. For the table I designed in my space I wanted it to be one where many conversations could be held. Therefore, I made it a large square table. Each person needs, basically, 2 feet of space at a dining table. By making my table 5x5 I allowed for more than one person to sit on every end of the table, leaving no one person at the end. I made my table so that an identical 5x5 table could be attached via metal hook underneath so that it would accommodate more guests for the event as well. When not in use the table can go outside on the screened-in patio.

BP 6: COMPARING AMIENS & COLOGNE

Friday in class we talked in our groups about the compare 4 cathedrals website. We each got a square from the chart found on the website and our group got "composition: regional differences come to bear on design features" connecting amiens cathedral in france and cologne cathedral in germany.

Amiens, France

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       Cologne, Germany

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Gothic architecture started up in France when Charlemagne showed up around 800 CE (Roth 301). French cathedrals were known for their double towers among other things. They really set the standard for Gothic architecture. Amiens cathedral was the purest version of Gothic architecture and is modeled by the Cologne cathedral. Because Germans didn't really have a distinct Gothic style until as late as the 14th century (according to medieval-spell.com), the Cologne cathedral was modeled closely after the Amiens cathedral. German cathedrals later became known for their single spires and tall, tall towers. For this reason I wouldn't say that the cathedrals really were super clear pictures of regional differences. The Amiens cathedral, yes, is obviously French. The Cologne cathedral, however, is on its way to being distinctly German. Because it's taller and, frankly, scarier than the Amiens cathedral it definitely has its own character and can be considered German but because it's modeled after a French cathedral and has two towers it's not 100% German.

Although the Cologne cathedral was closely modeled after the Amiens cathedral the two have their differences. The Amiens cathedral has a more appealing and happier facade. It's also built more to the ground, showing the friendlier relationship of God and man. The cathedral is surrounded by dense buildings and therefore it's more integrated into the city (probably because it looks happier). The whole building seems to have a more light, airy appeal on the outside and reflects the happier relationship between God and man.



In contrast the Cologne cathedral does not smile upon anyone. It is tall and dark and makes man feel very small compared to God. It's almost a reminder of how little you are in this world compared to God. Maybe it's also a reminder of the looming fate that lies ahead if you don't get inside and do some worshiping? This building is a good example of what my team learned during the "coke can cathedral" exercise. To make our building taller we had to spread out the base a little. Because we did that, our building was able to be much taller. Contrasting the dark and frightful facade, the inside of the cathedral is immensely lit. This is probably due to the amounts of flying buttresses all around the building. They expand out and let in a lot of light into the space.




here is a cognitive map that tells something of the medieval world: