History & Theory of Design: Unit Summary 1

Unit Summary No. 1

In the first unit of history and theory of design students learned about the very first recorded elements of architecture. In their first week students learned about humans first encounter with different materials and the usage of signs and symbols for buildings. During the second week students learned about how circles, groves, and stack were used as principles of design. Students also discussed about how the buildings at  the acropolis in Athens were seen as an archetype for the western part of the world. Lastly, students finished the first unit studying different types of buildings in the west, empires, and how these empires functioned. At the end of this summary I will  provide a picture that will wrap almost everything that was cover during the first unit.

 

Week 1

Week one was the foundations of early humans. During this week students discussed about why the ancient  groups placed structures the way they did and how size of structures matter. One structure that students focused on during this week was Stonehenge. One of the first major things about the Stonehenge was its shape, looking at it from an aerial view it was shaped in a circle. The circle is an important shape because we can assume reasonable ideas of why Stonehenge is shaped like it is. One of the things about circles is that when something is placed in the middle of the circle it represent importance. It also talks about the number of people that could possibly fit inside the circle. A circle is also able to show unity, every piece in the circle is connected to each other, if a piece is removed then it loses its importance. Size in ancient times was also a key concept of ancient times. In Stonehenge, for example, the size of the rocks were so big that it required about thirty millions hours of labor. The size of the structure overall lets people know that the structure is important. Finally, another structures that were discussed were the Pyramids of Egypt. Students learned about how the size of the pyramids could represent the power of the Egyptians and importance of the pharaoh who was buried there. Early foundations of  humans were based on size, shape, and resources available to them like rocks and mud. 

Week 2

In week two the idea of stack, circles, and groups  in the development of buildings was introduced. One of the ideas about circles that the professor talked about was that circles were used as a representation of the sun and moon. The reason why the sun and moon are related to circle is because these were the only two circle they saw everyday. The idea of groups was introduced because it could represent humans coming together as one. Like in a building columns together can hold a ceiling in place. One of the places we see a group working together is in the Parthenon. Stack is clearly seen in the pyramids of Egypt because we see how every block is stack together to form a building. During this week of  word that show how stack, groups, and circles worked together was repetition. Repetition of this elements represents unity, balance, and emphasis and we clearly see it thorough the rest of the weeks.

Week 3

During week three student mainly focused on the acropolis. The acropolis is an important site because it introduces the idea of dividing columns by gender. The Ionic column represents men and the Doric represents women, while the Corinthian ( the most detailed) represents a combination of both. Other than columns, other elements were introduced during this week, proportion and order. An example of proportion and order was the Parthenon, the temple to Athena. This temple clearly shows proportion and order since the columns were place at a certain distance from each other and the size of the temple showed the importance of Athena. The beginning of porches and courts was also introduced during this week. 

Week 4

Week four was about mainly the Roman Empire. Students analyzed how the Roman became the largest and powerful empire of  all time. One of the reason that the Roman empire was so successful was because almost every border they had was close to water. The fact that the cities were close to water made it easy for the people to trade goods. Having a way to trade and move from city to city increase the wealth and victories of wars of the Romans.  Wealth in exchange brought many other important and valuable things, which were buildings. Almost every building in the Roman empire was designed using the early elements of design, circles, stack, groups, and columns. Having big buildings demonstrated how rich a city was. In addition of the buildings, Romans also introduced the idea of city plans. Their cities would consist of a long main street on the middle of the city and important buildings around this streets.

Next I have a picture of the Colosseum in Rome. This Structure I believe shows all the elements learned during this four weeks. 

         If we take a close look at this building we clearly see an idea of circles, groups, and stacks.