Discovering Pat's Chair [elevations]

The next step in the "Pat's Chair" project was to create the north, south, east, and west elevations. The above image shows what I completed. It is in 1 1/2" : 1' scale.

Discovering Pat's Chair

In drafting I had to create a chair for a fictional girl named Pat. It was made of a piece of 4x8 chip board. Above is the first plan view of my design.

The ABCs and 123s of Architectural Lettering

My first assignment in drafting was to complete a repeating series of letters and numbers in architectural lettering.

MICRO : MACRO [week six : the opus project]

Composition. A composition is a collective whole. It is the act of putting things together. Constructing and forming. This past week was filled with compositions in all of my classes. I find that any drawing is a composition and in Suzanne's class we had to create a series of drawings of an assigned building. From that we also had to form detailed plans of that building. In my mythology class, I used composition in putting information together. Though I did not construct anything, I formed a series of events that allow me to have a better understanding of the culture and religion. The above picture is the graphic I composed for my Portal project in studio.

Porch, Court, Hearth. In architecture, a porch surrounds the building and is the opening to everything. It forms a connection to every part of the space. The court is the next part of a building. It is an open area and acts as a gathering and meeting spot. It allows people to come together. The hearth, which is usually in the center if a home, also acts as a gathering spot. It is the heart of a home and family. All of these parts form the whole of a home. "The sequencing of rooms followed the norm in which a tripartite arrangement begins with the reception spaces and is followed by the great hall or living room and private section" (Blakemore 6).  In this quote you see the were the three words relate to the structure of the home. The porch, or reception space, is the area surrounding the home. The Court, or Great Hall, invites people in. The hearth, or living room and private sections, are the heart of the home. The above picture is a plan view of an Egyptian home.

Diagram. A diagram is a picture that allows to see the intent of a space or thing. Diagrams, like the drafts I made in Stole's drafting class, allow you to see the intent of a building. Diagrams can also be a collective group of picture that allow you to see the intent and vision of a designer. In studio, I had to create a diagram that showed a connection between a precedent building and a portal that a group of people and myself created. "When applied to contextual analysis, a diagramming process can act as the key informant at the very outset of design" (Lockard, 29). The above picture is a diagram copied from a handout that Suzanne gave to us by Lockard.

Impressions. An idea, feeling, or opinion about something formed without conscious thought. An impression is the what you walk away with after seeing something. An example would be the Gothic Cathedral or Egyptian temple. Both spaces consume you and make you feel as if you are being swallowed in by all of the architecture. "Like mid-twentieth century modernist architects, medieval master masons sought to dematerialize structure, to make the church an analogue of the ethereal heavenly city" (Roth 336). This quote informs us that the architects of many churches and cathedrals wanted to leave an impression of one walking through heaven. The above picture is "supposed" to represent a church reaching into and becoming apart of the heavens.

Detail. A detail is a close up picture of a specific part of a building, it is an individual feature, fact, or item. With Suzanne's project, we were assigned a building and then from that had to draw a series of pictures and the from that we had to create a detailed drawing of a site specific feature. "Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience" (Dale Carnegie). The above picture is a detail I drew for Suzanne's class. It is a detailed drawing of the pond outside of the Elliot University Center.

The more I relate these Opus projects to my everyday life, I find that every topic relates back to parts and whole. To me it definitely relates to Micro : Macro. Micro meaning the small parts and macro meaning the bigger picture. A porch, court, and hearth are the parts of home. They leave a warm and inviting impression on all people and allow you to find little details in hidden corners. Finally, with that detail you are able to create compositions in the form of diagrams. Every "micro" part leads to a "macro" whole.

Voices [week five : the opus project]

Duality. "In love all the contradiction of existence merge themselves and are lost. Only in love and are unity and duality not at variance. Love must be one and two at the same time. Only love is motion and rest in one. Our heart ever changes it's place till it fits" (Rabindranath Tagore). The word duality means "of, or pertaining to, or noting two. composed or consisting of two people, items, parts, etc." (dictionary.com). When given this word, I was not exactly sure what it really meant. When I read the above quote, however, I realized that duality does not mean being just two different things. It means consisting of two things or qualities at the same time. Instead of being black and white, duality is the shades gray, containing both black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. Above is a picture of the EUC that I drew for Suzanne's class. It serves the purpose of being a dual piece, because I drew it for her class but it also serves a purpose in my studio class. The drawing also uses light and dark to create dimension.

Precedent. The idea of precedent is to take inspiration from another designer and artist and use similar ideas and characteristics in our own works (of course we always cite where we get our ideas from). One can take precedent from another designer, and architect, or the natural environment that surrounds. In Suzanne's class we looked at a building on campus and used that space to create our own drawings. In my latest project for studio, I was assigned a group and then we were assigned a door in the studio building. We were told that we had to make a portal for that door and we were then given a building to look to for inspiration. My building was the Pylos Palace. The palace contained a lot of columns with patterned designs on the ceiling. From that I created a sketch model of my door with two columns on each side. The columns form trees made out of a patterned technique. "The glory of each generation is to create its own precedents" (Belva Lockwood).  Above are some images.

Presence. "The state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place," also "the ability to project a sense of ease, poise, or self-assurance" (dictionary.com). Prime examples of presence are Gothic Cathedrals. Though unique and different, in their own way, each cathedral expresses a presence of religion, the purpose of these grand buildings were to celebrate the presence of God. "Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbey, and parish churches of Europe... it is also the architecture of castles... town halls... and private dwellings" (the wiki pedia). This quote expresses the presence a gothic cathedral had on everyone. People all around began using the style as a precedent to form their own everyday buildings and homes. Above is a drawing of a Gothic Cathedral.

Metric. The word metric is often immediately associated with rulers, drafting boards, and scales. In fact the above picture is a scaled drawing I created in my drafting class. However, the word metric can mean something different as well. The Baths of Diocletian are also considered a metric system. It is separated into ten different sections through a thirty-two acre span.

Moment. Moments are created everywhere you go. With every drawing you sketch, every picture you take, every painting you brush, a moment is formed. When i think of the word moment, I think of capturing a scene forever, grasping onto a picture and holding it through time, taking hold of something that will never change. "You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment" (Henry David Thoreau). Above is a moment that I captured and drew of a girl studying in the book store in the EUC.

Reflections. In design, one must look to his surroundings. He must take qualities and ideas from his entourage and form that into a precedent. From his precedent he must then fall to the metric system to create something well crafted and designed. He must use duality to create a feeling of rhythm and interest, that may be done through color or light or shapes. He will have then created something that holds a presence. It will be seen and known, it will create a moment.

Redrawing the EUC

For my latest project in Suzanne's drawing class, I was assigned to a group and given a building on campus to draw. My group was assigned to the Elliot University Center. Above are five drawings of that space. (Below are three very rough first drafts.) 

Drawing the EUC

For our latest project in Suzanne's  class we assigned to groups and then given a building on campus to draw. My group had to draw the EUC. Above are three ROUGH sketches the outside view of the building, standing outside of the coffee shop, and standing inside the book store.