Present Day: Modern Architecture

Shown Materials

Lifts, steel, new materials

New, taller buildings

Modern day architecture is completely different from past styles. It started at the turn of the 20th century but gained popularity until after World War Two. The main reason it arose was the rise of new technology, new machines and new materials. One of the biggest types of buildings that came were skyscrapers, lifts allowed building to be taller because change of levels would be easier. A few of the main ideas are: simplicity, machine aesthetic, horizontal and vertical lines are emphasized.  The biggest way that a building can be distinguished as modern is when the material can be seen. Their signature is when the material can be seen on the outside. No finishes, just the material used. Like when the frame can be seen in steel and glass buildings. If steel was used, then steel it what is shown. 

Neoclassic

Everything but first,

Taken from past architects

America's "own"

Neoclassical architecture is know as "American Architecture". The reason is because America, is where most of the Neoclassics are. Even though it didn't flourish until the mid 18th century, it actually began in England and spread through out Europe. That might be the case but, it's stronger in U. S. A. and Canada. All Neoclassic is, is the revival of past historic architectural styles. It's just reusing old architecture and tweaking it a bit, a copy. Neoclassics range from institutions to public work places.

Baroque and Rococo

The Baroque and Rococo era rose in the 17th century, while the Renaissance Period was coming to an end. During this time, buildings had two different architectural styles in one. B
aroque started when the Renaissance rule of order and proportion started getting broken. Baroque has certain features that distinguish it. Some are: Flamboyant, vivid colors, depth, culture, curving facades, elaborate detail, sculpturing, ovals, sharp angles, and the reuse of old concepts, making them new.

This style is mostly found in Italy, France, Spain and Spanish America, Portugal and Portuguese America, Hungary, England, The Netherlands, and Russia. Some of Michaelangelo's late Roman buildings, are considered to be the first Baroque styled buildings. Baroque comes from the Italian word, barocco, meaning bizarre. Rococo Style is just a late form of Baroque. It rose in France in the early 18th century. It's mainly found in France, Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Rococo is just a combination of the Italian word, barocco and the French word, rocaille. 

Treasure Island: A Man Made Island

Treasure Island isn't an actual island. It's a man made island made from layers and layers of mud and soil compacted together. It was constructed in 1936 to 1937, all from landfill. The original idea behind the "island" was to be an airport.  But then they hosted the World Fair of 1939, it held architecture form all over the world. Islamic, Modern, Egyptian, you name it. The well-known was the Tower of the Sun. It had been designed by Arthur Brown Jr., who had also designed The City Hall. Rising at 329 feet, it quickly became the gem of the crown and the center piece of the fair.
At the end of 1960's, the World Fair had been taken down and the U.S. Navy took over. They demolished all of the towers and buildings. Replaced them with Navy buildings for their use. At the new Navy base, they trained the new recruits. 1993, U.S. Navy closed down the center, leaving all of their buildings abandoned. To this day, the island still has the building and the original three that were built when the island was. San Francisco is currently working on a Development Plan. They plan on adding more residential and commercial usage. With more outdoor usage space, and more restoration.

Mayas and Aztec Creators

Riquezas del sol
Lujos majestal sin fin
Mayas, Aztecas

There are two main ideas on why I wrote the Haiku was because of their history. They built their villages in direction to the sun, with the dead at the bottom and the living in the top. In spanish, because that's their homeland. Spanish speaking places, México and Guatemala. They believed that everything and everyone came from the sun. Hence their building materials, from the sun. All the limestone, granite and marble used for the temples. The wood and adobe used for homes. The temples were often decorated with precious gems and gold. 

Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia was built in 537 by the order of Emperor Justinian. He wanted to construct a building that represented the rise of Eastern Empire. The construction of Hagia Sophia, it gave the Western Empire a sign that the Eastern was growing to become stronger, powerful, and technologically advanced. The Hagia Sophia is a great example of Constantinople Basilicas. They have the idea of a centered sanatarium space. It's made up of a central dome, the biggest of its time. The dome is supported by for main arches and these parabolic-lke things that cave inwards, to fit in the shape of the dome. then around them , the rest of the building. The four towers weren't part of the original plan, they were added once the Islamics took over and stayed.

King Justinian

wanted to be the grandest

hence Hagia Sophia

Gothic Cathedrals

Pre-Geomettry

Creating grand cathedrals

One to two square root

Gothic cathedrals are a winder all on their own. With their arches, glass windows, and vaults they created the basic structure of what is known as "The Gothic Structure". Their arches are know for being two centered, and pointed at the top. They frame everything from vaults to windows. Windows are stained glass art depicting important scenes from the religion or mosaics of art. The vaults are the grandest thing, they create the actual building. Vaults are the "skeleton" of the building, they create the length. The frame of the building and how big the cathedral is. Another key thing about Gothic Architecture and cathedrals is the amount of detail and how they're created. The columns and walls have stone carvings. The details and patterns are hand carved. Creating that intricate detail. There's on trick to this: cathedrals are built with proportions. Even if they didn't know it. The length of the hypothenuse of the courtyard, is the length of the hall way. It's using the golden ration rule. 

Positive Outdoor Space

Outdoor space is just space that is "left over". No proper use or anything. Now, most of the time, this space is just left alone, done nothing. But, what our project asked us to do was change the "negative" space "positive". The options were to use Summit or Everest campus. In this case, I decided to use Everest's space. The first spot I transformed was the front. In the front, there are three ways of entering the building. But, they're barren with no cover from the sun, what-so-ever. Cover that up with vaults of hedges and there you have shade!

Then, move to the back. In the back, there is only parking space and a little hang out spot. In order for it to become a bit more "positive", for the area with the picnic table, I decided to cover it up with a pavilion like structure. It's made from weather proof wood and vines. The wooden beams are laid horizontally and the vines are intwined with the beams, offering the shade. In the middle there are parking spots, replace it with a little raised platform and a wooden/garden arcades that surround the platform. They still get sun from the top because it's open. Creating all "negative" space "positive".

Chinese Architecture

Along with it's rich Culture and Innovations, Chinese History has also provided us with rich Architectural Designs and buildings. The most amazing thing that stuck out for me was how ancient architecture didn't use nails or screws for building. Their columns, beams and walls were assembled in the way of a puzzle. The beams and columns fitted perfectly into one another. It's an easy assembly and easy disassembly. The reason for that is, in case of a fire. the house is taken apart so that the flames wouldn't spread to nearby houses. 

Wood, piece like puzzles

no need for nails, screws or glue

quick build, 

My Teenage Society

In our  had to build a society in which teenagers (12-18 yrs. old) could learn to be independent. The point was that the children living here learned how to become independent, people. Different from the other schools. We wanted them to feel like a little city, semi-enclosed from the rest of the city. We enclosed them with the school building out front.  In the middle, we placed a soccer/football field with a track. Directly behind the school building, are the dorms. Two are separated sex, boys and girls and the middle one is co-ed. The to the left hand side of the campus are smaller pools, and a regular sized pool. Between the pool and the girl's dorm is a smaller stage with a painted mural that serves as the stage wall.

The way the school would run, would be, independent learning. The "Teachers" would post up the assignments in the morning and the student's would have to manage their own time in completing them.  If they were to need help, then they would go to the Office Hours the teachers hold during the day to receive it. The "Classrooms" are just a strip of rooms along the back side of the building, while the majority is space to work. The idea in general is to prepare them for the real world, practice time management and life style.

Rock- cut

Resembling greatness

One-of-a-kind
Carefully detailed
Kanheri and Ajanta Caves
-
Chaityas
Unable to be compared
Temples made to last

Ancient Indian architecture arose during 1500 B.C. - 200 A.C.. They used and created form Earth directly. The sculpted and carved into mountains to create caves that were temples. Some famous ones are the Kanheri and Ajanta caves. They serve the purpose of being temples of worship for the designated god. More of these temples were Chaityas, Viharas, and the Rathas. They were half sculptures, half architecture. Meaning, both artist and architectures were involved in the process. All of the columns and beams are carved away from the mountain.
Even though these temples are from the same culture. They do have some degree of difference. There are two styles: North and South. The North style is less detailed. While the South style is way more detailed. The level of detail increases as the level go higher. It's as if they pay more detail, higher and higher than they go. Then the Innermost Sanctum are the ones with the most details.

100 Ideas That Changed Architecture: Walls

Walls. At first, the Greeks didn't believe that walls were much of importance. The put them after the columns. Unlike the Egyptians who used them for monumental purposes. Romans were the first who put them ahead and used them for the practical use of separation. When the interest of Roman Architecture sparked up in Italy, the wall became of importance once again. Alberti and other architects established the idea of the wall's importance, that later dominated the Western Architecture. They varied of materials, from stone all the way to plastic. Depended on the architect. 

It wasn't until big buildings did the importance of the wall arose. Instead of just being the support for the houses, they soon became a way of defining space. Then in the twentieth century, new ideas started sparking up on how the wall consumed and released energy. You see, the wall may seem like nothing, but it provides more than we think. Not only does it define space, it provides protection. Privacy, space. It crated new designs and functions that hadn't been seen. It gives the architect more space to play with. 

Greek Influence

Greeks contributed a lot to what see today. Their flourishing time was during 900 B.C - 100 A.D.. They built temples, theaters, Agoras, Stoas, the Parthenon, created Architectural Orders, Decorations and painted with dry colors. All of these majestic buildings were built with the simple material of stone. Their walls were decorated with sculptures and paintings inside of them. They were built with a scale far grater than the human scale. The still stand with the greatness they were built with.


I believe that the Greek architecture is one of the most important basis of modern architecture. Most of the ideas that originated in Greece are used in modern times. A big one is Columns and Beams, they're everywhere. The way buildings and materials are place as well. The size in proportion to the scale of them. The hangars over outdoor shopping centers are a big one. Little things we don't take in count because it's always there. It's everywhere. No matter where we look. The columns supporting the houses, the things over our heads on the hallways. Everywhere.

Haiku: Egyptian Architect

The grandest of all,

Wonders never accomplished,

Made to survive

Architectural Sketches

Sketches have different purposes. Sometimes, they're just to get an image out of your mind. Others to figure solutions out. But many times, sketches are made to improve. That's one of the reasons why they're made in Architecture. Those kinds of sketches are called "Referential Sketches". They're drawn to remember where you've been, what you've seen and what you payed attention to the most. These kinds of sketches then lead into what's called "Preparatory Study". It's sketching and tracing to revise and refine the designs. As your drawing ad refining, you're creating and improving the "interactions of our minds, eyes and hands." They create connections between ideas that hadn't been seen. 

They have the tendency to allow room for improvement from the first ideas.  They give and show how much the architect's ideas have flourished through out the project. Showing their mental growth such as their imaginative and creative side. They made notes to the side on things to add and things to remove. It was a really, really rough idea before creating all the models and floor plans of the plans they did. 

Mesopotamian Architecture

"Isolation's fine
The grandest of all cities
Lonely, powerful"

Mesopotamian Architecture started and created innovations for future generations and cities. Some concepts were: Urban planning, Arches, Courtyard houses, Ziggurats, Tower of Babel, and Building Material. The City of Ur was and is greatly known for the unusual size of the walls. They were far taller than the human scale. Another example of the great scale difference is the Ziggurats. Compared to the Ziggurats, the houses were ants. They were made to represent  the greatness and power the people living inside and the deities that were worshipped there.
Isolation was present, everywhere. The houses the people lived in had courtyards inside them. Only one entrance. They were made to provide protection from the private and public lives they lived. The entrances were made in a "zig-zag" formation. To prevent any trespassers from entering directly to their houses. The arches had been used prior to them but they enhanced the use of them. They specified them for a usage.  They gave these things a reason. 

Sketches of Frank Gary: Paul Goldberger

"It is important...but it's not bread on the table...it gives deep depth on the background of life,"

- Paul Goldberger

It's been three and a half months since I thought in depth about architecture. Even if I haven't been thinking about it, I can't not see it. It's everywhere. It's where we eat, sleep and study. It

is in our daily lives, to a point where we don't see it that way. It fades away. Paul Goldberger is right when he says,"It's important...but not bread in the table." It's important in the sense that it makes up our daily lives. It's in our cycle. Where we eat, live, sleep, learn? In a building. And what's a building? Architecture.
As Goldberger said,"Architecture is with us all the time, like it or not." He keeps going back to the topic of Architecture being everywhere. It creates who we are "it's history, it's culture. Not only does it make up a single person's life, but it also makes up and entire population's life and history. Like our buildings, they have a unique history. They tell the story of how we progressed. How we've progressed, yet we kept our culture and incorporated it into our lives.

de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

de Young Museum is located in San Francisco in the Golden Gate Park. The one standing is a replacement for the prior one. The prior one was destroyed in the 1989 Loma Earthquake. Which was later demolished in 2002. The architect that built the best museum by design would be granted the privilege of designing and creating the new one. However, this competition was held in 1998, before the old museum was demolished. The architects by the manes of Herzog and de Meuron, entered and won, receiving the commission in 1999.

Their design consisted of a copper façade, cladding the museum exteriors. It has three public entrances. The main entrance, the second by the café and the sculpted garden on the west and the third at the east end. It is really rare for a museum to have so many entrances. The actual museum consist of two buildings, the building they hold all the exhibitions in and a tower. Now, the twisting tower serves as an observation deck and the Museum Store are on the ninth floor. The ninth floor's walls are all glass windows. The Main Court is on the ground floor connecting to the other uses. The basement holds temporary exhibits, while it also connects to the parking garage. While the upper two levels hold more permanent exhibits are placed on the upper two levels


What I loved the most about the de Young Museum was the view the observation deck provided. It provided a spectacular view of the city, the bay area and the Sculpted Garden that it shares with The Academy of Natural Sciences. 

Urban Buildings: San José

Friday, January 25, we had the chance to go to the Urban city, San José. In San José, we were able to see four buildings, City Hall, Tech Museum, and Martin Luther King Jr. We were able to compare and contrast the different buildings. What was so unique about the three of these is that they aren't uniformed. They're all  so different from each other yet, they're in the same area. One has a glass facade, the other a mexican theme, and the other is a mixture of glass and concrete. It may seem like different areas of a state, but they're all in the same are and city.

The City Hall Dome reminded me of a R2D2, with it's steel blades hanging from it, covering the glass dome. The thing I found curious was what my teacher pointed out. The building's orientation was facing AWAY from downtown. It had it's "back" against it. Next was the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. The library combined the heavy elements with light elements makes it an interesting building to look at. If you pay close attention, the tower part of it sorta looks like an open book. Maybe a reason behind it? The building I loved the most was the Tech Museum. Not for it's content but for it's outside. The colors he chose were very contradicting. How the orange was very different from the blue of the IMAX Theater. But how, Legorreta decided to make it a mexican themed building in the middle of an Urban city. Just overall, how each Architect decided to make each building their own

A Building's Structure: La Casa Mila

A building's structure is how a building is built. They way it looks or what makes the actual building. There are two kinds of structure, Physical and Perceptual. A physical structure is when you can actually SEE the structure. A few examples of physical structures is: Strength, Stiffness, Span space. These carry the building's loads. Then each spam, has different materials and types: Beam, Arch, Truss, Suspension Bridges, and Inflatable Membranes. Each beam can be made from different materials, Wood, Steel, RI Concrete, PT Concrete. Wood beams can cover as much as 15', Steel 30', so can RI Concrete, while PT Concrete can cover as much as 60'. So each beam has different uses and types of reasons why it's used. While Perceptual Structures are structures that can not be seen but rather felt. You have to actually touch the building to feel its structure.

La Casa Mila is a residential for the family, rentable flats, business, and commercial uses. What's so special about this building, is it's unique, shape. Instead of it's walls being smooth and straight, the walls on the outside are curved and rough, giving it a texture. The railings are made of sculpted iron, having an artistic view. The front doors are see through, there are iron "tentacles", with windows, through the holes. What I loved about La Casa Mila, is it's like a piece of art. The way the architect combined his architectural capabilities with his artistic ways, really made it stand out.

Stanford Visit

Friday, January 18, 2013, we had a lovely visit to the Palo Alto Stanford Campus. The tour consisted of the D. School, the Main Quad and Oval, the Cantor Center, Clark Center, Center for Integrated Systems, and Center for Clinical Sciences Research. We looked at each of the building functionalities and artistic views. What was so captivating about the buildings was how, the Centers are completely  different but they still collaborate and compliment each other. The different structures and shapes of them, and the way they still fit like puzzle pieces.

The D. School, a school for designing resolutions for problems. From the outside, it looks like any of the other lecture halls, class rooms and conference rooms. It is until you actually enter the school, that you realize it's a design school. From the inside, the building has an industrial feeling to it. Cement walls and metal stairs to match. But the amazing thing is the studio's flexibility. The studios have movable object, no table, chair or board are screwed into the wall for permanent keeping. The point of it is to try and get your ideas out and start building prototypes as soon as possible. What I loved was that in the "Brainstorm" Room, the floors were all dent, paint was peeling off the walls, but it gave it a nice feeling. The "Prototype Building" Room's tables were all cut up, painted on and scratched. They showed what they really wanted. I guess the vibes it had were really comforting, like you didn't have to worry about breaking something.

Another building that caught my attention was the church in the Main Quad. The way the gold color popped out from the carvings on the pillars and walls. The gold gave it that 'wow look at me' feeling. Once inside, the main isle goes down the center and unites to the alter. On the right and left hand sides are extra spaces. in the middle, the church has its own half dome, bringing in light. What I loved about it was the colors. They had deep shades of red and browns, causing it to have a "Homey" feeling to it. It felt nice and cozy. It had a feeling that I wanted to stay for hours, just sitting and mediating