Opus entry 13 - [PAIR]ING DOWN

A WEEK AND A HALF LEFT! Will I still be alive? I think so. When I think back about the projects and assignments we have completed so far this semester and then about how much more we have left to do, it makes my head hurt. My biggest consolation is that one way or another, it will all be over with in 10 days!



The Unity Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright brings the words MEDITATION and CELEBRATION to life in a physical form. The concept of the structure is inscribed in the wall over the doorway of the holy place, “For the worship of God and the service of man.” This building is the one I am exploring and representing for my precedent analysis. For me personally, lately I feel starved for time needed for meditation. However once this semester is over, I am positive I will have a great celebration on May 9th.



The use and control of the balance between LIGHT and SHADOW are imperative for good design. Obviously the overall usefulness and the mood of a room are controlled by light. The Unity Temple has a grid pattern ceiling with skylight windows in all of the gaps as well as windows lining the tops of the four walls in order to let light shine down on the people in the space from above. In the drawing above of the column detail, I used line weight in a simple way to make the parts of the column appear more 3D showing a difference between light and shadow.



For our final presentation boards for our precedent analysis project require a lot of thought and consideration. It is our task to TRANSPOSE the images and ideas in a way to tell the story of our building. We have to be careful to intentionally JUXTAPOSE all of the pieces of the board in a way that comes across in a cohesive and legible manner. This is my layout scale sketch for how my final board will be arranged.



In history we have been looking at the modern and post-modern architecture of the mid 20th century. It seems a lot of the structures of the period played with blurring the lines between the LITERAL and the ABSTRACT. The Air Force Chapel in Colorado was a nice example from class of a building that was intended to be an abstraction from the literal form of the Native American teepees that once inhabited the area. The building also looks to me as if you took the Air Force symbol and stretched out in an accordion like fashion to make it stand upright and reach towards the heavens.



One of the biggest things I feel I have continues to learn more about through my time in the IARC program is how much communication happens without ever using words. With the never ending technological advances, it seems our MONOLOGUES and DIALOGUES must constantly adapt to some new media. In drafting class, we are getting what for most people in the program’s first introduction to Google Sketchup. The above image is my rendering in sketchup of the corner offices of Gatewood. This is just one of many ways designers must learn to communicate and experiment ideas.