Road Trip

Roots: the fundamental or essential part; the source or origin of a thing

Roots can be interpreted in design two different ways. First, roots can be general fundamentals, or the essential considerations in the design process. There are specific rules that are set for design, such as measurements for pathways, or how far doors can push out or in, or how much space is needed to accommodate someone in a wheelchair. These roots are universal, as all must follow them. Also, the elements of design act as roots for the progression of a design. 

Depending on where the focus is (color, positive/negative space, proximity, etc), the design will progress from that one idea, through a concept. Second, though, they can be roots that provide for the unique taste of a designer. These roots that will make a design special most often derive from location or culture, and sometimes, personal taste. This idea of locality can be seen in America’s wishes to incorporate styles different from those in Europe. Our nation wanted to use a style that would identify America; this style would be identified as typical of America. “ The American Moderne grew out of a need to express the new dynamism of American life. It combined the sleek surfaces of Art Deco, the French Moderne preference for new materials, and an optimistic view of machinery inspired by the Italian Futurist movement and America’s own Stuart Davis, who rendered the excitement of American mass culture in paint” (Massey, 110).

Congruence: the quality or state of agreement or correspondence

Congruence is obvious in the term “interior architecture”. Through interior architecture, the exterior and the interior of a building are in agreement with each other, through both design and architecture. This congruence between the two is what creates a sense of unity. This unity in a design can be achieved using duality, whether it is a duality of contrasting or comparing ideas. This idea of interior architecture is easily found in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, as he designs the space, as well as the furniture he will use in it. He makes the furniture to create a composition with the space. This idea of congruence in Frank Lloyd Wright’s work is something that he is recognized for. Congruence with time period is also a major part of architecture, while it is crucial to design buildings in relation to context. “This design idiom drew from the architectural traditions of each particular nation or region t create a style that a building’s users would have immediately recognized as belonging uniquely to them” (Roth, 470).

Concept: An idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars

Concept initiates design. It is the first step of the design process. When a designer receives a task, she will first brainstorm multiple possibilities to go about completing it. However, when she reviews these ideas, she picks one that she likes the most and goes with it. This preferred idea becomes her concept. Without a concept, it is impossible to reach a desired end. There is a concept behind every structure that has ever been built, regardless of its time period. This concept can relate to religion, location, culture and function. During modernism in the nineteenth century, eclecticism, or revival of previous architectures, became a common concept for building and designing. “This associationalism became an underlying concept in the stylistic eclecticism that pervaded the nineteenth century and the later rise of historicist Postmodernism” (Roth, 469).

Materiality: Material nature/quality

The availability and abundance of material has a great impact on design. The vast range of materials available for architecture provides many possibilities for ideas. In fact, material is so crucial in design that it has the ability to illuminate the design. Materials go hand in hand with concept and style. The amount of possible materials has increased greatly since the beginning of history, giving designers today many opportunities. Material is particularly important today as architects are paying more attention to sustainability and reusable building materials, both inside and out. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, glass and iron were introduced as new materials. These two materials gave way to new building technologies, such as the creation of the train stations and greenhouses. “Paxton made full use of all that the British has learned of iron building technology in the construction of train stations and greenhouses in the preceding decades, but his innovations produced a giant leap in the building scale, in the prefabrication of standardized building parts of factories across England, and in methodical organization of the building process” (Roth, 487). The introduction of glass and iron was a turning point in architecture. Not only did it write the path for train station and factory construction, but it was also crucial in the late 19th and early 20th century during the rise of skyscrapers.

Compression:Release

Compression: being pressed together; forced into less space; to cause to become a solid mass; to condense, shorten or abbreviate

Release: To free from confinement; to let go

Compression and Release are two opposite concepts. Compression might be represented by a space that is very compact, with minimal lighting and circulation space. Release, however, could be implied in a space that is very open, with much circulation and moderate to high lighting. This space of “release” might even be sub-divided without an interior wall. In other words, the space could function in more than one way. Compression and release have an incredible impact on the way a person experiences a space. If a space is compressed, a person might feel extremely uncomfortable and overwhelmed, while a space that is “released” could be a lot more calming, and probably more functional as well. In the Gamble House at Pasadena, California, the Greene brothers create a house of “seamlessness”. All levels are integrated through the use of horizontal and vertical lines. The Greene brothers focused on nature as an inspiration, using wood as their main material. This material gave them the ability to design a room within a room, creating a feeling of release within the space. This release is also achieved in this building through the fully composed series of parts to create a whole. While I’m speaking about material, I will go ahead and say that glass and iron also made it easier to enforce compression or release of light. Walter Gropius does this in his Fagus factory. Mirroring the function of the building by using iron and glass, he allows much light inside. “The building appears to be reduced to sheets of glass (with the window panes at the floor lines replaced by opaque metal panels), but here, significantly, the corners are not solid masses but the merging of transparent glass planes” (Roth, 522).

To summarize this week's opus, concept is the main theme. A concept can be created through roots (location, culture, society, etc) or it can be created through congruence (the need or want to agree with a set of rules or traditions). From roots and congruence comes materiality, which is dictated by the roots of a time period or historicism, and also dictated by what the building is agreeing with, whether it is commodity, firmness or delight, though I hope it is following all three. Roots and congruence also control compression/release, determining whether or not it is appropriate for a certain type of design. Compression or release can also be achieved through materiality, depending on what type of material is used in construction of a building.