Reading Comprehension 2

[1] Hersey describes a grammar for Greek architectural elements based on the idea of sacrifice. SPECULATE about the validity of his argument based on what you know about Greek design and the evidence (both visual and written) he provides. (5 points)

Greek architecture is heavily littered with symbolic meaning of ideal form and balance, so it comes as no surprise to me that their architectural elements originated from a symbolic ritual of sacrifice to their gods.  To the Greeks, sacrifices were a symbolic process of deconstruction and reconstruction of the body releasing the spirit of a god.  This ‘honoring of the body’ correlates to the Greeks care in understanding the body to create the ideal form and proportion in their architecture.  For example, the base of a column represents feet, the shaft represents the body, and the capital represent the head, and in context with the sacrifice, the feet are wrapped in horizontal bands representing the sacrificial victim, the flutes in the columns shaft represent the chiffon that was worn during the sacrifice, and the capital can represent a ceremonial garland (Doric), bull’s horn (Ionic) or hair (Corinthian).  Furthermore, the process of a sacrifice is very precise; following a fixed, ideal code that corresponds to the precision taken in making sure each architectural element was harmonious to the elements around it.  My own belief is that the temple and all its elements represent the deconstruction process of a ritual and the constant worship performed at these locations represents the reconstruction process.  In this way, the temple is the refined version of the primitive altar and is a physical entity immortalizing sacrifice through visual symbols.

[2] Meant in jest, Macaulay shapes a world of the future in which the main character claims meanings for archeological evidence uncovered at the Motel of the Mysteries. EXTRACT what you believe to be the lesson of mis-interpreting evidence and link that lesson to the real world phenomenon of the internet. In other words, EXPLAIN how you might avoid such a blunder as mis-reading evidence when you use the web as your major information source. (5 points)

The Internet has become a major resource for knowledge in the 21^st century and as a result you get information from a variety of sources, some credible and some deluded.  Since the internet is such a quick source for information and is the most modern, complex establishment of information, I believe we generally accept the validity of the first source we happen to read.  A great example is Wikipedia, which seems to be the pinnacle of enlightenment on the internet, when in reality anyone can post on it and it is hardly more reliable than a common, conversational blog.  In this case, Wikipedia is a well-known, public information site that we use as a precedent for all our inquisitive desires because we know of it and have used information from it before.  Similar to Macaulay’s analogy, I believe that these ‘future’ beings have drawn information based on the precedent knowledge they know of previous ancient cultures and applied those same assumptions to our culture.  All in all, to avoid these misinterpretations one must look more than skin deep at a culture or whatever information you’re trying to extract, and while comparing sources can be useful, it is not valid to rely solely on precedent knowledge as a common truth.

[3] The funerary temple design of Queen Hatshepsut speaks a very different design language than the pyramidal forms for other pharaohs. From your readings and the ideas addressed in class, RECOUNT possible reasons why Queen Hatshepsut used this building form. (5 points)

The design language between Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple and the Pyramids are designed very differently because the perspectives of the rulers and the functions of the structure had changed through time.  The pyramids were meant to be the epitome of power signified through sheer size, mass, durability, and symbolism, however these structures were designed solely as a tomb.  On the other hand, Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple combines the elements of both a tomb and temple, hence the name mortuary temple.  During, Hatshepsut’s reign the main deity was Amon-Ra and as such her mortuary temple was set on a processional axis from the temple of Amon-Ra on the east bank, hence the distinct avenue and ramp leading up through her mortuary temple.  As a hybrid structure, her temple was also an earthly paradise for Amon-Ra and she had smaller temples to Hathor and Anubis flanking her tomb on the highest terrace.  Being that her temple was an earthly paradise it made sense that she would have long terraces, which housed a large garden of myrth trees.  The decrease in scale, separate terraces, and smaller colonnaded spaces created a more intimate atmosphere than the pyramids and added more to the sense of a secluded paradise in the desert. 

[4] Although some evidence suggests links between the Egyptian and Greek civilizations, and some building forms and details provide support for that linkage, the two societies produced design responses in great contrast to one another. Select a building type (house, tomb, or temple) from each culture and ELUCIDATE similarities and differences in the two forms over time. Provide an annotated illustration for each selected type. (5 points)

     

  

http://www.nickwinter.com/journeys/images/africa/egypt/hatshepsut_1.jpg

          

       

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/paestum-pictures/slides/temple-of-hera-cc-pedro-prats.jpg

The Egyptian mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut has a strong horizontal emphasis relating to the wide terraces that housed the earthly paradise for Amon-Ra.  While the Greek temple of Hera has strong horizontal emphasis, the massive vertical, Doric columns minimize this emphasis.  Both forms structurally follow a post and lintel system as well as a layering or stacking presence on the earth’s surface.  The Egyptian columns of Hatshepsut’s temple represent an early prototype to the archaic, Doric columns of the Greek temple.  This early, Greek temple is a precursor to many more structures as the Greeks continually strive to find the ideal proportion and measurement for their temples.  Also, the Greek temple holds the purpose of homage to a god while Hatshepsut’s temple poses as both a temple and tomb.  This distinct difference shows how Greek structures were more grounded in the pursuit of balance and the ideal with their gods while Egyptian form is dominated by their ever-present awareness of the afterlife.  Another distinct difference is that the Greek temple is a freestanding structure that is built asymmetrically to other structures within the precinct in contrast to Hatshepsut’s temple, which follows an axial progression and imposes its form into the cliff.

[5] Harwood shows examples of Egyptian furniture on pp. 60-61. HYPOTHESIZE about the lightweight nature of Egyptian furniture when compared to tomb architecture, as at the Pyramids of Giza, which many characterize as massive and heavy. (5 points)

Egyptian furniture is a component of tangible life; it has a functional, practical purpose whether it served as a domestic or tomb accessory.  On the other hand, tomb architecture is built for another purpose, to symbolize eternity.  While furniture is portable, tomb architecture is solid, durable, and will stand the test of time.  While furniture is accessible, tomb architecture is monumental.  In other words, furniture is a vessel of the living or the reborn, it is made for the purpose of being exposed, for being used as a means to an end, and it is lightweight because it has no substance in death beyond being a worldly reminder.  Alternatively, tomb architecture is a relic of the dead; it is characterized as heavy because it symbolizes the power to avert death.  Tomb architecture, while solemn, is a monument to power.

[6] Based on a careful reading of the visual evidence in these two images, DRAW OUT an explanation of design and gender roles as you see both depicted. As this language of urns represents essentially one of the main ways we know about Grecian culture, COMMENT on the validity of such a practice of reading evidence. (5 points)

                        

                                                                       

                                http://knowledgebox.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/greekurn.jpg

                                    http://www.treehugger.com/cornucopia-greek-urn-photo.jpg

Based on the visual presentation of these red-figure urns, I believe the first urn displays a mutual level of equality between the man and woman because they both wear wreaths and the man is handing over what appears to be a weapon that could possibly represent his defeat.  Perhaps this is the victory of the goddess Athena over the god Poseidon as the patron god of Athens.  On the other hand, the second urn seems to depict women playing subservient, ritual duties possibly to the god Zeus since he carries the staff mounted with his favorite bird, the eagle.  Interestingly, both urn designs portray a frame that is crowned with a laurel wreath, a symbol of reverence.  The highly symbolic nature of these designs probably resulted in these urns being placed in sacred locations of high stature.  While the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, I believe that the accuracy of interpreting these visual displays is highly speculative and biased upon preconceived notions of a past we are unfamiliar with tangibly.

Point_1: Theories

If there is one concept I could take from the theories unit it is that design is as much about the people and culture that surround and produce architecture as it is about the physical and visual components that we primarily experience.  Hall states that language is a developmental byproduct of culture and that each language is engendered with different subcultures, sensory environments, ideologies, and even thought processes.  These differences from language alone affect how each culture views and produces design.  One analogy, relating to a sub cultural theme, could be the teapot theory where a white culture may relate the pot to the shape of a breast and the warmth from the tea that permeates the pot refers to the comfort of warm milk as opposed to a black culture that might see the teapot as a sign of oppression.  Similarly, language effects thought processes that may account for the differing ideologies between Western design (man is the measure of all things) and Eastern design (man’s place within nature).

We refer to architecture and more holistically, design, as being an unavoidable art because it is the only art that truly lives.  We live in architecture, we see architecture, we hear architecture, we eat in architecture, and we experience it in one way or another on a daily basis, whether in the more bland, vernacular sense or the specialized, high-style sense.  From my understanding, to learn about design I must look at the design principles of both vernacular and high style architecture because they both fulfill different desires from the people of the time, and architecture is after all just an extension of man. Vernacular design falls more heavily on the commodious, utilitarian side of design with moderate attention to firmness, and least of all on delight but most designs tend to remain uniform and unchanging throughout history save for technological upgrades.  On the other hand, high-style design is a fashion statement with greater emphasis on delight and therefore changes according to new alternatives and explorations.

The most important conceptual definitions from this unit are Commodity, Firmness, and Delight, or as I like to phrase it, Function, Structure, and Aesthetic.  All designs in architecture are posed with these three hurtles.  From reading Roth, function encompasses the use of a structure by how simply it can be interpreted from architectural systems such as spatial navigation, light, acoustics, and specific placement.  Perhaps a novel concept to me is how symbolic function is as important as utilitarian function.  For example, specific symbolic motifs on the exterior such as the cantilevered wings on Eero Saarinen’s Trans World Airlines Terminal can aid in the distinction of the function of the interior (flight and dynamic movement).  Structure is an obvious dilemma with architecture when considering physical structure, but a more elusive concept is that of perceptual structure, which deals with the way we see structure.  This could mean anything from large glass curtains to perceive dematerialized, gravity defying structures to massive, over-sized columns to symbolize strength and power.  Delight is the most obscure concept and varies according to opinion.  Perhaps this is why minimalist designs became so popular because they subtracted ornamental distractions and focused on simplistic forms of delight common across many cultures such as mass verses void and repetition verses irregularity.  The nature of three concepts (Commodity, Firmness, Delight) that are intertwined and form a cohesive statement about design shows how the power of three represents a different dimension beyond me or you but a higher power that is something else.  This ‘something else’ is what keeps design from being one standard uniform whole but also something interesting, elusive, and ever changing.  

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/coober-pedy-cave-lg.jpg

I choose this image because it ties together the structure of a prehistoric cave with aspects of modern commodity and delight.  I think this is a good example of how, throughout time, we always turn to precedent for design purposes and reconstruct them into a 'modern' language.  Studying this image. it is clear that design is all about cultural language being transposed and past down, making the architecture and design more about the people who found purpose in them rather than the physical existence itself.