ROAD TRIP

Roots

“The part of a thing attaching it to a greater more fundamental whole; the end or base”

On our trip to Fallingwater and Monticello we visited the buildings that influence the designs that we create today. Monticello, built by Thomas Jefferson, was one of the first to experiment with double paned windows, skylights, and the addition of more detail into common household items. Because of the time period in which Monticello was being built and redesigned experimenting with natural lighting was almost a necessity. The only artificial lighting that they had available was candles or oil lights.

(Image taken from http://www.period-homes.com/article/IMAGES/skylight3.gif)

 (Image taken from http://www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2004/june/images/bedroom.jpg)

At Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright decided to create a fully furnished home. He, along with Thomas Jefferson, built some of the their furniture into the house. At Fallingwater all the inhabitants had to bring were clothes and food. From these changes and innovations made in the past our design culture now has progressed, and will continue to progress into something more functional and pleasing.

 (Image taken from http://www.wright-house.com/frank-lloyd-wright/fallingwater-pictures/photos-medium/BW-guest-bedroom-desk-fallingwater-m.jpg)

Congruence
“In agreement or harmony”

In any design we must consider the environment in which the item is to be located. When considering this we have to understand how our design manipulates it's surrounding space. It has to work in congruence with it’s surroundings, whether it's surroundings are other buildings, nature, or pieces of artwork. 

For my History project i chose The Whitney Museum of American Art. I chose this building because of it's incongruence with its neighboring buildings. The Whitney Museum is so unlike it's surroundings that it stands out drastically. The only feature that it has in common with some of its surrounding buildings is the materials that it's made out of. 

(Image taken from http://www.visitingdc.com/images/whitney-museum-address.jpg)

Concept

"an abstract idea"

All of the buildings we've studied this year came from some sort of inspiration. At Monticello, Thomas Jefferson made innovations for functionality by adding more light, and doubled paned windows in part of the house. At Falling Water, Frank Lloyd Wright made innovations for functionality and aesthetics by building furniture into the house, and creating such a comfortable, but still very abstract, structure. 

  There is always some source of inspiration, we start out with that inspiration and then develop a concept or design and progress from there into a well developed final product. 

Materiality

"the quality or character of being material, or composed of matter."

Design is the art of manipulating matter in an a way that is aesthetically pleasing.  Different materials affect their surroundings in different ways. When first coming up with a concept for a project you have to look at the space it will be around or in and then choose a material to use. This material will give you limitations, and from there you can progress into manipulating the material into something interesting.

Fallingwater and Monticello were built from surrounding materials, and therefore accentuate their landscapes extremely well. The stone used in Fallingwater for the floors and exterior is the stone you see under the waterfall, and all the colors that Frank Lloyd Wright used were very organic so that, while still being an absolute treasure, the house fades to a certain extent into the backdrop of forest. Monticello, on the other hand, stands out from its surroundings very dramatically. It changes the feeling of the land into something more upscale and refined.

Compression: Release

Precedent Analysis Draft

The Whitney Art Museum is named after the founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who was, herself, a well-regarded sculptor and art collector. Before founding this museum Gertrude Whitney started an organization called the “Whitney Studio Club.” The Whitney Studio Club was an exhibition space, which she created to display the works of avant-garde and unrecognized American artists. The Whitney art museum is said to house one of the most important collections of twentieth century American art. The Whitney’s permanent collection holds 1800 pieces of work in a large variety of media.

The current building in which the Whitney art collection is located was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1963-66. Breuer studied and taught at the Bauhaus in the 1920s, which focused on a combination of art and technology. Eventually Breuer became the head of the school's cabinet-making shop. He then moved to Berlin and started designing houses and commercial spaces, as well as some furniture pieces. Some of the furniture he designed is still in production today.

In the 1930s Breuer relocated to London because of Nazi conflict in Germany. In London, Breuer was employed at the Isokon company. The Isokon company was one of the first to introduce modern design into the United Kingdom. Here Breuer designed his Long Chair as well as experimenting with bent and formed plywood. He eventually to the United States and taught at Harvard's architecture school

Breuer established his own firm in New York. “The Geller House I of 1945 is the first to employ Breuer's concept of the 'binuclear' house, with separate wings for the bedrooms and for the living / dining / kitchen area, separated by an entry hall, and with the distinctive 'butterfly' roof (two opposing roof surfaces sloping towards the middle, centrally drained) that became part of the popular modernist style vocabulary.”

The Whitney art museum is now at it’s third location in the past thirty-five years. This location is an art gallery district in NY. Because the building was chosen to house changing exhibitions rather than a permanent collection the structure of the building had to have certain qualities so that it could morph to the needs of the different pieces of artwork. In order to do this three of its floors have open gallery spaces. The ceilings are suspended precast concrete open grid ceilings made to accommodate movable wall panels and lighting that can change depending on the needs of each art piece.

The Whitney art museum has been put in the category of brutalism and is also considered a modern piece. “The line between brutalism and ordinary modernism is not always clear since concrete buildings are so common and run the entire spectrum of modern styles. Designs which embrace the roughness of concrete or the heavy simplicity of its natural forms are considered brutalist. Other materials including brick and glass can be used in brutalism if they contribute to a block-like effect similar the strongly articulated concrete forms of early brutalism.” “Brutalism is a French term used to describe buildings that are heavy and unrefined with coarsely molded surfaces, usually exposed concrete. They tend to be crude and block shaped.” Modernism is an art form that “aims to break with classical and traditional forms.” Although there is a distinction between these two art forms they have many similar characteristics. There is much overlapping between the two. For example, by having heavy unrefined surfaces such as exposed concrete the building is breaking away from classical forms, so it fulfills both Modernism and Brutalism.

The Whitney Museum of Art is very modern because of it’s extremely unique shape. Breuer broke away from everything else he knew and created a shape that broke away from anything traditional. He did not choose, however, to break away from the idea of exposed concrete or stone that resembles the materials of the surrounding buildings.

The structural integrity of the building is unconvincing from the exterior because of how it extends further horizontally as the building raises. This structure is known as an inverted pyramid. This relates this building back to the ancient architecture of the pyramids. The building also achieves a completely modern look while maintaining an ancient structure. The building seems to levitate, and defy gravity. This was Breuer’s solution to having to work with a large program in such a small space.



http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Whitney_Museum.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art

Between Silence and Light

(Image taken from: http://www.rudienos.co.uk/assets/images/falling-water-10.jpg)

CRAFT

For the craft of Falling Water Frank Lloyd Wright used clean lines in order to separate spaces. Not only was craft important from an interior decoration standpoint but it was also important because of the location of the house. The house itself cantilevers over the side of a hill. Built with the concrete and metal the house has the structural integrity to stay in this location, with few repairs. The craft of Falling Water was also very important because of the way Frank Lloyd Wright built all his furniture into the walls so as to make it impossible for the inhabitants to change something about his design. (as shown in the picture above.)

For Monticello Thomas Jefferson fit his home into the surrounding landscape. There were handmade objects and hinges that were from over 200 years ago.TECHNIQUE
The way that Frank Lloyd Wright designed Falling Water to cantilever was a completely new technique that no one had succeeded in using this well. Monticello was made out of all local materials like wood and clay. Jefferson also decided to use new and interesting details in certain parts of the house such as the inclusion of Acorns in the fireplaces.

VIRTUAL
“The existence of something without it actually being there.”
In Falling Water one of the most gripping design aspects that Frank Lloyd Wright included was the use of windows. In the corner windows of many rooms you were able to open the widows completely to the outside and stand in the corner. This created the affect of being inside but feeling like you’re outside.
PUBLIC/ PRIVATE
In Monticello there were specific places for guests, for the owners, and for their slaves. These spaces were defined by the openness of the areas from the light and orientation. Spaces that are lit well are more inviting, so by keeping dim lighting in certain places, and brighter lighting in others, you can direct people through a space.
In Falling Water the hallways were very dimly lit. This has the effect of moving people from room to room. No one wants to linger in a dark and cramped hallway. This also makes transitions into a room from the hallway a more memorable and self-changing experience. You feel as though a weight is lifted off of your shoulders when you walk from the dark cramped hallway into a bright and open room.

LANGUAGE
For the most part the different houses are made from the materials around them. Falling Water is made from the rock that is also located in the waterfall underneath and around the house. Just as Monticello is made from local clay, stone, and wood. This speaks worlds about the designers. Because of their incorporation of local materials we know that they are taking into account the way in that their designs change their surroundings and also being conscious of the environment by not having many materials other than acorns, metal, and glass brought from other places.

I was completely taken by the surrounding landscape of both houses that we visited this weekend. Monticello was completely breathtaking in its overlooking of the hills, and the winding ride up to the main house was entrancing.
At falling water you are engulfed in the calming sounds of the water every time you open a window. Staring out from the balconies at the waterfall below, and looking down from the perch on the hill down on the trees and paths leading to the house has the most soothing affect. Even the lighting of Falling Water seemed so abnormally natural. The reflection of light off of the water and through the trees cast such interesting and mesmerizing shadows in the rooms and on the exterior of the

[RE]actions

This week we were assigned a project meant to manipulate light using MDF. We took inspiration from both a life experience that we value, and from nature. I took my inspiration from leaves that I found on a walk around campus. I then drew several sketches of the leaves that I found along with some flowers I picked off the trees. Once these preliminary sketches were complete we came up with designs and made our way to the woodshop to practice cutting the wood into the shapes we wanted.
A lot of people experimented with the way shadows change when their design rotated. In this rotation the shadows change drastically, making the project seem as though it is morphing shapes.

By experimenting with this movement we fulfill the objective of the project because we are manipulating light in abstract ways from the very realistic inspiration we took. The movement of the shadows when a project twirls, and the way the light bends to create the shadows gives the room a completely different lighting, and therefore a completely different feeling.

When thinking about this project we had to take into consideration the amount of light we would have available, the answer is not much, so we took advantage of the reflective surface of the tables in the Crit room. The reflection of the light also helped activate the lines of the shadows in a more interesting way as well. It seemed to double the shadows up into a more complex projection, more so than a very absorptive surface would.

From our natural sources of inspiration we used another source (light) and portrayed our inspiration in an abstract way. The main point of this project was that the material we were using was light, not he MDF. This is something that I lost sight of. I focused on the form of the MDF and not as much on the way it manipulates light.

By drilling curves, linear lines, holes, and any other shapes into the MDF we illuminated the room by redirecting the natural light. We changed the

ALTERNATIVES

In the alternatives unit we talked about testing the boundaries and breaking the rules. A lot of this talk revolved around renaissance. The renaissance was a time of change in many different aspects. In the renaissance new buildings were designed using new materials and new mechanical devices. 

Designers such as Michealangelo pushed boundaries and made many changes that stuck with the design that is produced today. A good example of the transition into the renaissance is the Pazzi chapel in florence. The Pazzi chapel stayed close to it's roman routes, it has a porch, court, and hearth structure, and a dome supported by a pendentive but it also has many different altercations that separate it from previous designs.

In the new sacristy at St. Lorenzo, Michealengelo produced a more fluid feel. He broke the rules. Michealangelo changed the statues so that they projected from the walls and made it seem as though the entire building rushed upward in height.  This is a common theme for Michealangelo to take standard pieces of architecture and change their scale into something much larger. For example the columns rise two or three stories instead of one. 

  In the Laurentine Library we see the vestibule with its stars and walls. The stars represent rising to the occasion, being lifted up, and an achievement, or knowledge being gained. One of the most unique features of the laurentine library is that the columns are pushed back into the walls while still being visible, which contributes to the fluidity of the new renaissance ideals. 

In the St. Pietro space becomes much more regular and public. Uniform shapes are used and interior detail is used in the exterior. It's like a set design and the world is the stage. 

In the Baldacchino movement is created through the stone formation and columns have surface detail.

In the renaissance people started to focus more on landscape gardening, and planning in the renaissance. This was a french idealism. This focus on the landscape showed wealth. These landscapes stretched long distances, they included very detailed and gorgeous statues for lavish enjoyment, and included fountains all throughout a very wide open space. 

  The renaissance changed many things. Instead of continuing on the design principles already in place the architects of the renaissance changed things to be more fluid and uplifting. Details were enlarged, hidden, and more detailed in order to obtain this uplifting fluidity. 

In all design we need to understand and consider alternatives. We must always be thinking outside of the box. Even by changing some small detail in a standard design we make it stand out from the others. In order to be successful we must draw from previous designs and then create something completely unique. 

GRAMMAR:SYNTAX

Audience
“People giving, or likely to give attention to something”

One of the most important aspects a designer has to take into account is the people who will be using their design, the audience. The audience, and what the audience needs. a design has to perform a specific function, whether that function is to be visually pleasing, or to fulfill the living requirements of the people who will inhabit a space.

[Re]visions
“The art of revising something”
In every design there are many things that can and will be revised before the final product, and even after in some cases. In drafting, for example, after turning in a first draft I can see improvements, or revisions that need to be made and I can make them. Only after several revisions, in every aspect of life, can something be perfect. This goes for music, dance, art, and literature.

Character
“The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual”
Not unlike the character of a human being buildings have character too. The character of a building can tell you who designed it, who lives in it, when it was made, and where the designer got his inspiration.

Transition
“The process or period of changing from one state or condition to another”
The world is consistently changing. Humans have gone from revolution to revolution. For example the industrial revolution has marked a change in transportation, and in media. For media the use of books and media became prevalent, and in architecture the use of glass and iron became more widely used.
In France there was a shaping of classical space all across urban spaces. They created public palaces through the creation of townhouses. Townhouses create open public spaces, and series of open plazas in the place of a cathedral. One example of this is the Louvre.
(Insert picture of LE LOUVRE here)
Today we have gated communities that have recreational facilities. The landscapes are remodeled and all the houses are uniform with a transitional entrance space in the front and the back.
The creation of the enfilade is also a transitional idea in which spaces are lined up from public to private spaces. Spaces are divided into public room, bedroom, and anti-chamber, which goes along with the porch, court, and hearth theory from earlier this year.


Datum
“A fixed starting point of a scale or operation”
In a layout of any sort a datum line is crucial. This line creates a focus, and makes the layout seem more put together and more purposeful. Not just in a layout of a project, like the photo below, but in the design of a building, a datum line can be created by windows, a ledge, wall paper, any linear aspect can create a datum.

Marcel Breuer Whitney Museum

(Image taken from: http://www.new-york-city-museums.com/the-whitney-museum.jpg)

(Image taken from: http://media.timeoutnewyork.com/resizeImage/htdocs/export_images/623/623.x600.art.Stingel.op.jpg?)

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, New York was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1966. Marcel Breuer is a Hungarian designer who studied in Berlin and made his mark. The Whitney Museum, one of his more famous designs, is located on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street where most buildings are made of limestone, brownstone, or brick. Because of its very modern style in such a drab location this building stands out, not only physically, but visually. Your eyes are drawn to its unique exterior.

I chose this building for this reason exactly. I have been through this area of New York i remember noticing how different this building was compared to all the buildings around it. I have also chosen this building because within the next few weeks i may actually be able to visit New York, and go into this museum. 

OUTLINE:

I. Introduction of the founder
A. Background in art
a. Proficient in sculpting
B. Background in leadership
a. Created several other foundations
II. Background of the architect
A. Where he studied
B. Other buildings he designed
III. Location
A. Surrounding buildings
a. The foundations they house
b. The materials they’re made out of
c. Amount of space provided
1. How the architect handles this
IV. Commodity
A. The vision the architect had for the space.
a. Inspiration
b. Manipulations from the initial inspiration
B. The functions the building needs to uphold
C. The materials the building is made of
a. Why he chose those materials
V. Firmness
A. The structure of the building
a. Upside down pyramid
b. Levitating appearance
B. How it compares to the surrounding buildings
VI. Delight
A. The unique exterior of the building.
B. How it compares to the buildings around it.
C. Brutalism versus Modernism
VII. Everything the building achieved
A. The art that it holds
B. Where it stands compared to the architects original vision

MATERIALS I WILL USE:
I will incorporate the color grey into my visual representation to capture the essence of the concrete in the building’s exterior. I will also include layering of the information, or drawings, to show the shape of the building. I will also use predominantly square or rectangular shapes in my presentation to show the block-like structure of the building itself.

FUN FACTS:

The Whitney art museum is said to house one of the most important collections of twentieth century American art. The Whitney’s permanent collection holds 1800 pieces of work in a large variety of media.

The museum is named after the founder, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who was, herself, a well-regarded sculptor and art collector. Before founding this museum Gertrude Whitney started an organization called the “Whitney Studio Club.” The Whitney Studio Club was an exhibition space, which she created to display the works of avant-garde and unrecognized American artists.

The Whitney art museum is now at it’s third location in the past thirty-five years. This location is an art gallery district in NY. Because the building was chosen to house changing exhibitions rather than a permanent collection the structure of the building had to have certain qualities so that it could morph to the needs of the different pieces of artwork. In order to do this three of its floors have open gallery spaces. The ceilings are suspended precast concrete open grid ceilings made to accommodate movable wall panels and lighting that can change depending on the needs of each art piece.

The Whitney art museum has been put in the category of brutalism and is also considered a modern piece. “Brutalism is a French term used to describe buildings that are heavy and unrefined with coarsely molded surfaces, usually exposed concrete. They tend to be crude and block shaped.”

The structural integrity of the building is unconvincing from the exterior because of how it extends further horizontally as the building raises. This structure is known as an inverted pyramid. This relates this building back to the ancient architecture of the pyramids. The building also achieves a completely modern look while maintaining an ancient structure. The building seems to levitate, and defy gravity. This was Breuer’s solution to having to work with a large program in such a small space.

In this essay I will explore the distinction between modernism and brutalism.
“The line between brutalism and ordinary modernism is not always clear since concrete buildings are so common and run the entire spectrum of modern styles. Designs which embrace the roughness of concrete or the heavy simplicity of its natural forms are considered brutalist. Other materials including brick and glass can be used in brutalism if they contribute to a block-like effect similar the the strongly articulated concrete forms of early brutalism.”

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Whitney_Museum.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art