SCI-Arc 2014-2016
CHIEH-SHENG HUANG
Chieh-Sheng (Jason) Huang SCI-Arc 2014 Fall - 2016 Spring
Contents
1A Design Studio
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1B Design Stuido 1B Visual Studies
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2A Design Studio 2A Visual Studies
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2B Design Studio 2B Visual Studeis
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1A General Studies 1B Cultural Studies 1B General Studies
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Statement
Growing up in the countryside of Taiwan with limited resources, people stop dreaming, stop having ambitions. Art has been always inspriing and has no limitation. During school years before coming to the United States, I read newspapers, books, magazines, and any kind of media resources that can help to understand the world. A couple years ago, I was fascinated by a design called Lilypad Island by Vincent Callebaut, all of sudden I was drawn into the world of architecture. A couple years after, I was finally enrolled in SCI-Arc to pursue my architectural degree. These first four semesters, what had my interests was the idea of simple complexity. The most basic idea/figure/shape is simple but during the process of design, the final output keeps the original design which we still can see at the first look. Using one or multiple techniques to manipulate one same design to create a complex, systematic, organized building/art. This has become my idea towards architecture and will keep adding new techniques/ideas to it while pursuing to become an architect.
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1A Design Studio Material Strategies Fall 2014 Instructor: Betty Kassis As students embarking on the first design studio in your architectural education, this course serves as an introduction to the fundamental means and manners of working spatially and abstractly. The territory of architecture is as broad as the world around us, it can be thought of at a global environmental scale, or at the size of cities and planning, transportation and infrastructure, buildings and structures, and even down to the smallest objects that surround us. Whatever the size of architectural intervention, there are fundamental aspects of space, form and experience that traverse all scales. A robust ability to manipulate form towards desired intent will be the focus of this studio. A series of exercises in various media (both digital and physical) will serve to introduce students to the relationships between form, space, geometry, light, and effect.
The exercises are organized as a catalog of formal and spatial geometric investigations that will build upon each previous project during the semester. While the exercises are succinct, the entire semester’s body of work will be thought of as one continuous project. The studio will require that you learn to communicate ideas both verbally and graphically. Critique of student work will focus on the intent of the investigation vis-à -vis the quality, breadth, and precision of the specific projects modes of representation (models, drawings, verbal & written description, etc.) This studio is an opportunity for students to learn new manners of seeing the physical world, and to simultaneously develop a spatial vocabulary that serves as a basis for more complex manners of investigation throughout your academic career.
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Points, Lines, and Planes
-Primitive Geometric Constructions & Manipulations Recreate a truncated dodecahedron by only using primitive geometric such as points, lines, and circles.
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Top View
Side View
Top View
Side View 1”
2”
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TRUNCATED DODECAHEDR
Chieh-Sheng Huang/1A Fa
TRUNCATED DODECAHEDRON 1”
2”
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Chieh-Sheng Huang/1A Fall 2014
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Photo
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Axonometric
TRUNCATED DODECAHEDRON Chieh-Sheng Huang / 1 A F all 2014
Axon Drawing
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Geometric Manipulations In order to create a sense of being squeezed, I devided dodecahedron to two parts, which are the top and bottom part. There are six decagons for each part, and then I started to flip each one outward.
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Apertures
From the last exercise, I felt the model are two seperated parts, top and bottom. Therefore, I decided to create an apertures that is a multipe openings tunnel connects those two parts. Moreover, the tunnel also plays with the light, sometimes light can travel straightly through the tunnel, sometimes it has to travel by reflection.
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A xonomet ric View
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Axon and Plan
2X’S T RA NSF O RME D T RUNCAT ED D O D EC AH ED R O N 1”
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C h i e h -S h e n g H u a n g / 1 A F all 2014
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Render with outline
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Curves Emphasize on the fillister between each decagon and remain the shape of transformation from the last two exercises.
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Top View 22
Elevation
Side View
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Contour Profiles
Unrolled plates
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A x o n o m e t r i c Vi e w
Section A
S O F T T R A N S F O R M E D T R U N C AT E D D O D E C A H E D R O N 1”
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Chieh-Sheng Huang / 1A Fall 2014
SOFT TRANSFORMED SOFT TRANSFORMED TRUNCATED TRUNCATED DODECAHEDRO DODEC
Chieh-Sheng Huang Chieh-Sheng / 1A Fall Huan 201
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Head 6’-0” (183 cm) Eye Level
Hands
3’-4” (102 cm)
2’-6” (76 cm)
1’-8” (51 cm) Ground Level 0’
1’-6” (46 cm)
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1’ (30 cm)
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4’-8” (142 cm)
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6’ 3 cm)
Project 2 - Personal Space I was given a space which is about the size of a parking space, and have to fit five programs within the space, they are: laying down, viewing art, working, lounging, and doing activities. Began with measuring my body dimensions and caculate how much space I need for each program and continued with making massing models, chose a
them, and started to work in it. The theme of my space is “being surrounded,” which has a little courtyard and the path of the house is spiral-like from the extrance and going insdie the house, and finally comes out to the roof top.
6’ (183 cm)
4’ (122 cm) 1’-11” (58 cm)
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3’ (91 cm)
2’ (61 cm)
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Viewing Art
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Circulation
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Redner
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1B Design Studio Conceptual Strategies for the Physical World Spring 2015 Instructor: Anna Neimark Progressing into the second semester of the foundation sequence, this studio serves to develop analytical and conceptual strategies that direct notions of spatial ordering systems and architectural form. Aseries of evolutionary and interrelated projects involoving various media, both digital and physical, will serve to guild the students toward an understanding of spatial composition and geometric principles. The studio will develop students’ abilities to communicate ideas in a critical manner, not only graphically, but also verbally. In-cass discussions, lectures, and readings will play a great role in positioning the goals of the assignments in disciplinary and historical terms. Student work will be critiqued and graded throughtout the semester based on the precision, care, and craft of the presentations in desk-crits, pin-ups, and reviews.
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Project 1: Formal Analysis of a Historical Precedent Construct the assignmed plan through a series carefully calibrated drawings that align its programmatic, structural, and formal ordering systems. Emphasis will be placed on conceptualizing the precedent’s formal organization through clearly measured and annotated regulating grids and lines.
Bauakademie plan provided by Studio
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Through the process of recreating the plan of Bauakademie (plan on the left) by my observation, there were a few things that I learned. First thing caught my attion was the different types of columns which were like tetris. i started to defind the plan to the finest grid, which I tihnk the plan started from there. Secondly, I tried to think the way to divide programs, which it starts with a basic symmetrical 8� x 8� bigger grids, and then goes diagonal that makes it assymmetrical. Third, the projection of the vaults are one of the best part in the plan, it shows the direction and also follows the idea of symmetric and assymmetric.
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Project 2: Figure Students will focus on a particular point of complexity, discontinuity, or instability in their formal analysis and elaborate on the geometric systems that generated this condition in a new figural building fragment. 50
Extending the planometric students from the first exercise into three dimensions, the formal concept will ultimately be constructed through drawings and physical model.
Among all different columns in the plan, I chose the one (highlighted in red) surrounded by four projection of the vaults which part of them are symmetric but assymmetric as a whole. After picking the 2 Dimensional object, I extruded it and apply the idea of vaults to it so it creats a model that on one side is symmetrical and assymmetrical on the other side. 51
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Series of transformation
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Top grids
Project 3: Frame Using one or more grid systems from project 1, reconstruct your figure from assignment 2 in the form of a three-dimensional frame. Devise a new grid in order to identify the necessary coordinate geometry to construct frames from your figure. Just as you have developed a family of figures, you will now construct a family of frame models.
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Bottom grids
Through a series of transformation, I figured out the models I made did not seem like a whole but seperated two parts. Therefore, I made frames of the two parts on each model and started to play with any possible combination. For example, I picked the top frame of the first model and the bottom frame of the second model, rotated one of them to combind with the first model to create one possible combination.
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3D printed massing
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Private and Public space studies
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1B Visual Studies Fabrications and Delineations Spring 2015 Instructor: Emily White This course forms the introduction of the core Visual Studies curriculum for the Undergraduate Program at SCI-Arc. It introduces students to the conventions of architectural projection for the description of form and space. The exercises build on the understanding of the logic inherent to deployed techniques, physical modeling and manually constructed geometry. This includes the fundamentals of Euclidean and nonEuclidian geometry, the construction of plan/section/ elevation and axonometric and perspective drawing. 78
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2A Design Studio Fall 2015 Instructor: Zac Porter The 2A Core Design Studio foregrounds the disciplinary problem of directing a given program or “brief ” towards the production of a work of architecture. The students are introduced to techniques for moving beyond abstract models towards the “fleshing out” of an architectural diagram (particularly as drawn in plan and section) as a material, functional artifact on a site. The studio approaches this problem through the idea of formal, material and programmatic density, as expressed through the resolution of multiple scales of program, spatial organization and formal articulation within a tight building envelope. It advances the students’ previous work on massing and interiority by introducing building to ground relationships, more sophisticated methods of organizing interior space in relation to massing, and formal articulation, particularly as it relates to entry and aperture. These architectural issues are addressed through the precedent analysis and subsequent design of a slab or bar-type building housing a multi-functional research and educational institution in a rural setting. The slab building is an exemplary expression of the technological, social, and urban transformations that shaped the emergence of modern architecture. In its paradigmatic form, Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation, the slab building can be understood to represent both Le Corbusier’s specific program of the Five Points (and their development in his urbanism and postwar work), as well as broader ambitions of the modern period that continue to inform the production of contemporary architecture. Among these are the rethinking of the relationship of the building mass to the ground, the expression (and suppression) of internal organization and environmental performance on the facade, and the dense arrangement of multiple program types and circulatory systems in a manner that analogously suggests the internalization of the complex, multi-functional nature of the city within a single building form. Unlike other archetypal forms such as the tower and the mat, the slab can be understood in terms
of both vertical and horizontal extrusion, representing the simultaneous expression of both the vertical “stacking” of floors or multiplication of ground that in part defines the nature of modern urbanism, and the linear corridor or “street,” associated with the traditionally horizontal organization of urban space. The students are introduced to these persistent questions, as well as the morphological variation of a formal type, through the analysis of key references of the postwar and contemporary period: the Unité in Marseille (1947-52), Alvar Aalto’s Baker House Dormitory (1947-49), Affonso Eduardo Reidy’s Pedregulho Estate (1947-53), Alison and Peter Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens (1966-72), Aldo Rossi’s Gallaratese Housing (1967-74), Steven Holl’s Simmons Hall (1999-2002), and Morphosis’ San Francisco Federal Building (2000-07). They are asked to advance the diagrams offered by these works towards contemporary problems of massing, articulation and spatial organization, through the splitting, folding, deformation and recombination of extruded volumes and cellular masses. The setting of the project in a relatively featureless California desert site foregrounds the ways in which architects are responsible for defining the context of their work. The students are asked to oscillate throughout the semester between working from the outside-in and from the inside-out, towards an understanding of the reciprocal relationship between internal organization and massing. Readings, precedents, references and lectures will focus on specific issues of spatial and formal density and complexity, the relationship of a building to the ground, and the ways that both given and self-generated constraints are essential to the conceptual and formal development of a work of architecture.
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I was given Simmons holl at MIT by Steven Hall. At first, I was interested in its facade which is absolute incredible. After researched and got to know more about the builindg, the tunnels and the ideas of the builindg fascinated me even more and they influenced my ideas and thoughts throughout the academic year of making decisions of designing my project.
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Sponge: idea of apertures
Facade of Simmons Hall
I decided to focus on the tunnels that bring the light in and also for the air circulation. I remade the model the and cut it to three part, which I tried to make the tunnels in three part combined as one giant continuous tunnel. Througout a series of transformation, I simplified the unregular shape of the tunnels to orthogonal rectangular tunnels.
Aperture of Simmons Hall
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Throughout the transformation, the tunnels started to wrap around the building on one side, which it made the building itself to a ratio of 2:1:1. Therefore, I decided to make the tunnel as glass in material decidion and thus distinguish the programs. On the left side, it is more about private activities; on the right, it is the dormitory for students; in the middle, what I called it as “bridge� to connect the public and private spaces, it is not only for the connect for both side but also the spaces for offices.
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2A Visual Studies Technologies of Description I Fall 2015 Instructor: Jenny Wu This course introduces the principles of digital drawing tools essential to 2D architectureal representation. Working with primary digital representation tools, students learn both the application of projective techniques for architectural subjects and the conventions of operation and interface of central importance is instilling in students a crital sensitivity for the inherent bias and nature of each deployed medium.
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2B Design Studio Building to World: Ground, Entry, and Apertures. Spring 2016 Instructor: Constance Vale The 2B studio is the fourth in the sequence of seven studios that constitute the core of the undergraduate B.Arch curriculum. It follows the lessons of previous semesters by designing material form in close relationship to techniques of drawing and modeling. This studio expands from building purely abstract massing models to constructing materially specific models. This shift necessarily addresses building constraints—such as material size and thickness, structure, and finish—which, in turn, produce interesting limits and problems of translation between digital and physical media. To intensify this exchange, this studio tackles the form and finish of the interior as its starting point. Referencing Gottfried Semper’s and Adolf Loos’s work on cladding and its principles, exercises build up from inside outward, adding material and structural layers, fattening corners, and plastering finishes. This studio is a precursor to the 3rd year, which enlarges the scale of the models to include structural, mechanical, and environmental systems. The program of 2B centers on two cinema halls, each presenting a kind of center or an internal world within one singular building. Public spaces connect these interiors and contribute to the construction of the overall form, apertures, and ground articulation of the building in its site. Situated in an urban environment, the project brings together multiple constituencies, addressing public space, traffic flow and site accessibility.
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10째
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Carpet (Zoomed in)
Materials 2” thick memory foam mattress 1/4” thick plywood Montana Orange Montana Brick 1/2” screws Assembly Laser cut the plywood to a 6” x 6” with 1/2” x 1/2” squares, distance between squares are 1/4” Laser cut another 6” x 6” plywood Paint the plywoods with Montana Brick Cut the foam to 6” by 6”, painted with Montana Orange Put the 6” x 6” square on the bottom, place the faom on it, then place the 6” x 6” plywood with grids on top. Screw each corner to compress three of them. Cut the edge to remove the extra foam.
Carpet (Zoomed in)
Materials 2” thick memory foam mattress 1/4” thick plywood Montana Ice Bear Montana Street 1/2” screws Assembly Laser cut the plywood to a 6” x 6” with 1/2” x 1/2” squares, distance between squares are 1/4” Laser cut another 6” x 6” plywood Paint the plywoods with Montana Street Cut the foam to 6” by 6”, painted with Montana Ice Bear Put the 6” x 6” square on the bottom, place the faom on it, then place the 6” x 6” plywood with grids on top. Screw each corner to compress three of them. Cut the edge to remove the extra foam.
Carpet Materials 2 ply 36” x 48” white museum board memory foam pillow case Montana Gold Street Super Glue Assembly Laser cut the museum board into a 6” x 6” square Cut the memory foam case to a 8” x 8” square paint the pillow case with Red Oragne wrap the case on the baord glue it on the back
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2B Visual Studies Technology of Description II. Spring 2016 Instructor: Jackilin Hah Bloom The 2B visual studies course is the last in a sequence of required seminars that introduce students to techniques for describing architectural form and ideas. At a technical level this course will augment the suite of software introduced in previous seminars by introducing computation based drawing and modeling techniques. Students will learn how scripting can be deployed to expand organizational and formal possibilities. Managing large numbers of parts and coordinating their interrelationship will be developed at the scale of the drawing and model setting the stage for an understanding of buildings as complexly integrated systems with calibrated effects, both visual and performative. Anchoring the seminar will be a discussion of the history of perspective and thepossibility of creating a new perspectival subject: the object. Readings and lectures will reflect on the abstract detachment of orthogonal projection (objective) versus the spatial engagement of projective geometry (subjective) and speculate on unusual, hybrid projections. Using computation students will develop techniques for projecting interior environments into objects.
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1A General Studies Visual Rhetoric: The Art of Communication Fall 2014 Professor: Stephen Phillips. Final Essay In my opinion, the abstract painting or images can give people the most imagination, and for the same person in different time period or in different mood, how they view and what the painting/image gives to them are varied. In my perspective of views, why abstract paintings are my favorite is because artist are drawing the non-exist things and express the feeling of it to people, or the existing stuffs but more focus on the feelings that they focus on. So, to me, abstract painting is about brining emotions to individuals. Painters draw some feelings, and we feel it in different way depends on how we think at the moment, the outcome would be extremely different due to different cultural background or predispositions. I chose the Blue and Grey Mark Rothko made in 1962, Blue by Ad Reinhardt in 1952, and the last one I chose is an untitled work by N. Dash which was displayed at Hammer Museum. First of all, the Blue and Grey by Mark Rothko in 1962. There are only three colors in this painting, which are dark grey, light grey, and dark blue. There are light grey and dark blue painted on the dark grey, and 140
due to the color difference, the edge of light grey looks more smudged than the dark blue, or it could be said, Mr. Rothko did it on purpose because of the feelings that color gives us. The characteristic light grey gives me are happy, frivolous, and unstable. However, dark blue’s characteristics are sedate, peace, and quiet. The light grey took more space than the blue color, but it has the same weight as dark blue because light grey looks lighter than blue, thus he used more space on white to balance the visual weight of them. The second art work I chose is the Blue by Ad Reinhardt has done in 1952, he used the blue color in different tones, which is subtle and hard to differentiate to make the painting. According to the introduction of the painting in MOCA website, it says “With his monochromatic canvases of the 1950s and 60s, Ad Reinhardt desired to make ‘pure’ paintings evincing an ‘art for art’s sake’ position rather than working to communicate emotion or the physical act of painting itself.” As I understood, he was trying to make “pure” art instead of focusing on the emotional expression. However, to me, this painting, Blue, brings a lot of emotion to me. In
this painting, he only used blue color, but in different tones, medium dark at the back, light blue in the middle, and the darkest on top, and also there are shadows under each strips, which brought the deepness of the painting. Blue means stable, peaceful, and reliable; however in this painting, by using different tones, it gives me the feeling of uncertainty and confusing. When I went to MOCA museum and stood in front of it, I felt being dragged into it, felt dizzy, and started feeling panicked. I think it is the complexity of the tones and the layout of the painting that effected the moment how I feel it. The last one I chose is an untitled work by N. Dash. I thought about the Blue by Ad Reinhardt when I saw it, even though they are in different color and materials, but the art work layout are fairly the same. According to the guide book provided in Hammer Museum, N. Dash also wanted to make the pure art without many emotional in it. Compare to the blue, the work by N. Dash has less emotion but more rationality, which is interesting and can refer to the material used. N. Dash used blue linen, jute, and wood, which is more rational than using oil.
In conclusion, compare to Blue, the Blue and Grey gives me the feeling that it is painting a nature environment, which may be a cloud flowing on the ocean or there may be a deeper meaning that Mr. Rothko is describing the emotion that being alone, unstable, and hesitate of doing something; however, Blue, brings more emotion to me because the complexity layout and the tone difference. In the meantime, the untitled work by N. Dash has less emotion but rationality.
Blue and Grey, Mark Rothko, 1962
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Blue, Ad Reinhardt, 1952
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Untitled, N. Dash
Reference: -“Hammer Projects: N. Dash.” Hammer Museum. Web. -"Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years" MOCA the museum of contemporary art. Los Angeles. Web.
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1B Cutural Studies Architectural History I Spring 2015 Professor: Michelle Paul Simple Complexity Architecture is a long lasting artwork but also a place that people can live in. There are a big variety of styles of architectures in different times and places that we can take them as examples or samples for future study. I am interested in the most basic form with repeated simple manipulation that makes different results which are not as simple anymore. Creating complexity with simple and repeating process of operation is the method that adding interests in a building and the processing of making a design. Thus, the two architectures I choose to compare are The House of Pansa in ancient Roman and the Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust in Los Angeles, California. I am glad I was able to participate to a lecture by Hagy Belzberg introducing his works around the world and the concepts behind them. I love simple and strong designs which they do still have interests in it, so I am really impressed by one of his design/building—Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust. “Twisted,� is how I understand this masterpiece. From the plan view, compare to most of the plans, which 144
are rectangular, it seems like he is trying to twist the rectangular, and making it looks like a future ship. The plan view of The House of Pansa is a rectangular plan. Both plan view seems a lot different, but when it comes to the circulation/programming, it seems they have the same operation method to me.
In Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust, the hall way is in the middle, and when visitors walking down the hall way, they can either turn right or left to start their visit, which means it is a rectangular path go through different exhibition rooms that are connected. For the House of Pansa, the path is almost the same but only there’s no walls in between to distinguish the hall way and rooms. Unlike there are all exhibition rooms in the Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust, the House of Pansa has different function of rooms such as shops, apartments (possibly), and kitchen. Natural light takes an important part in both architectures. Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust is an underground museum, but 75% of the light are natural light comes from the surrounding environment. The light is from the hall way that where visitor enters and the other side of the museum that is open to the park. The two sources of lights in Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust also make a significant move which is when visitors walking through the exhibition rooms (starts from the brighter side), the light gets less and darker which also shows the saddest part of holo-
caust. For The House of Pansa, on the four outer sides of it, there may be windows that let the light travels in. In the hall way, there are atrium that allows light directly comes from the top to lighten the interior (according to the imagine drawing).
(LAMOTH)
The House of Pansa
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To the Last and the part that I’m most excited is the twisted column, and maybe is the biggest different between the two buildings. For the Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust, its material is made up by concrete, and most important of all, Hagy Belzberg keeps the plan and column simple, only making a small move which is to twist the column to create a new shape, a new movement to the columns which are really strong and interesting, and did not lose its artistic. The columns of The House of Pansa are made up by tufa, stuccoed in the lower part and fluted above. It is said the original decoration has been completely lost because of the volcano explosion that destroyed it. There is no decoration on the column, walls in Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust this kind of urban designs. The twisted columns in it are already interesting enough for visitors to explore. As an architectural student, I have been told to read more books, pictures, designs, and attend more lectures to have more knowledge about the architecture world. Comparing these two architectures, which are Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust and The House of Pansa, let me have a deeper look 146
about them. Even though the times are very far apart, they still share same characteristics and method of manipulating with surrounding environment. Sometimes, less is more, simple designs can contain a huge amount of knowledge and can be super strong because the control of design and the process is clear.
Reference -”The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.” Detail. N.p., n.d. Web. -”Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust / Belzberg Architects.” ArchDaily. N.p., 18 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. -”Belzberg Architects Group » Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.”Belzberg Architects Group » Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. -”House of Pansa - AD79eruption.” House of Pansa - AD79eruption. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. -Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moffett, Lawrence Wodehouse, and Marian Moffett. A World History of Architecture. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.
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Representations of One “Every great thing is nothing but a lot of little ones,” a slang term in Chinese meaning that one kind of beauty is built by a larger amount of a “singular thing”. In Islamic architecture, there are many important elements such as air, earth, fire, and water; they are about nature. And by repetition, it creates a sense of the infinite. Everything begins from a point, and points create lines, lines create shapes, and by repeating and combining the shapes, there’s no limitation. This is my understanding on Islamic architectural patterns. Designing by only using as few as possible elements keeps designs in control and can create more complex products in beauty. The Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, is one modern architecture that is enrich of Islamic architecture elements such as arched windows. The structure of the Burj Khalifa tower is inspired by the flower Hymenocallis, and incorporates with the spiral element in Islamic architecture. By using the flowerbased shape and the spiral element, it creates a pattern from bottom to the top, which it gets slender and seems like it sticks out a stamen on the top. 148
In the Mosque of the Prophet, the repetition of arched columns create a sense of infinite from every perspective. In its plan, the Mosque of the Prophet imploys a simple repetitive pattern of covered square courtyards based on a 6 meter grid. (Bashier 2) So each of the 24 meters sides of courtyard is divided to four 6 meters bays with a three bay peristyles. And from there, they developed even a finer grid system to locate the each arched column. The order of the decoration in Islamic architecture is complex, but they are usually controlled by primary and secondary grids and makes extensive use of repetition, symmetry, and patterning. (Fazio 154) And these order has four categories; first of all, the repetition of an element that we mentioned in the first paragraph. Secondly and thirdly, geometric manipulations and natural form, such as the interlocked polygons and rotation of the flower-shaped based structure of the Burj Khalifa tower. Last but not the least, Calligraphy. In both ancient and modern building, Mosque of the Prophet and Burj Khalifa, share great similarities such as the elements of repetition, and specifically the representation
of the infinite. And they are all started with a very simple idea and built up the complexities gradually. These two buildings reminds me what Winston Churchill said, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us.� Architects design the shapes, the building, and people are inspired by its innocent and simple harmony.
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1B General Studies Humanities 1 Spring 2015 Professor: Jill Vesci Assignment 1 In different times, how people’s attitude towards woman can relate to the art and reflect the thoughts during that time. The 6 pictures I picked are Ancient Egyptian women, Goddess from the pediment from the Parthenon, Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos, Pergamon Altar, Flavian woman, and Theotokos of Vladimir. Each of them can relate to different dynasties in different area, and we can tell from their art on how they portrait women to know the different attitude towards women, art during those times. In Ancient Egyptian Women, there were a large among of women wall paintings, which may reflect the importance of their social status in the society during that time. It is to say “Egypt treated its women better than any of the other major civilizations of the ancient world,” comes with reasons, because they (women) get really good social benefits in ancient Egypt; Goddess from the pediment from the Parthenon and Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos are from Ancient Greek classic period which in that period, they use strong and bright colors on sculptures. Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos is one of the most important 150
sculpture of all time because it is the first one that is the sculpture of naked woman. In Hellenistic art, such as the Athena battling the Gaia and the Giants on Pergamon Altar, it shows the perfection of people/goddess, and there is one important thing is the sculptures back then usually show the moment that is in action but also relaxing, which shows the beauty of the “about to move” action; In Roman art, the sculptures tend to show the reality.
Ancient Egypt 3100 BC~ 653 BC Phoenicia Ancient Greece 1500 BC~ 332 BC Ancient Rome 753 BC~476 AD Middle Age 5th~15th century
-Goddess from the pediment from the Parthenon -438~432BC -Athens, Greece
-Pergamon Altar Athena battling the Gaia and the Giants -166~156BC. Pergamon period -Now in Pergamon Museum in Berlin
-Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos -4th century BC -Ancient Greek (Classic Period)
-Theotokos of Vladimir -1130 AD -Constantinople
-Flavian woman -90 AD -Rome
-Ancient Egyptian women -Ancient Egypt (3100-332 BC) -Egypt -Pharaonic
. . .
Chieh-Sheng (Jason) Huang) Humanities Professor Vesci March 12, 2015
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Final paper In different time periods, people’s and civilization’s attitude towards woman relate to the art and reflect the thoughts of the culture during that time. Ancient Egyptian women, Goddess from the pediment from the Parthenon, Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos, the Pergamon Altar, Flavian woman, The Three Graces, The Triumph of Death (The Three Fates), The Birth of Venus, and Portrait of Queen Elizabeth. Each one of them can relate to different dynasties in different areas, and can simply represent the art form from that time and may reflect the status of woman back then. Compare to ancient societies, women in Egypt had more power than any other because according to the Egyptian art and contemporary manuscripts, women achieved parity with men, which means the disparities between people’s rights were based on their social classes and not on their gender. The art piece Ancient Egyptian Women which was a large mural on a wall, there are a large amount of women in the wall paintings themselves, which may reflect the importance of their
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social status in the society during that time. It is to say “Egypt treated its women better than any of the other major civilizations of the ancient world,” comes with reasons, because they (women) would receive really good social benefits for that time in ancient Egypt. The Three Goddess form the pediment from the Parthenon are designed so that they can fit in with the triangular shape of the pediment. “They are meant to be incorporated into a large narrative placed on the pediment and their position maintains their involvement. The figures were originally polychormed with encaustic paint, as were all sculptures on the Parthenon.” The author continues, “They are idealized figures that incorporate that wet drapery style as a means to accent their perfected features.” So we can know back to classical period of ancient Greek, they pursued perfection on the forms of bodies. Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos was created during the late stage of the ancient Greek classical period. It changed the view of the female figure in art because it is the sculpture that depicts a naked woman. The
status doesn’t reflect the reality perfectly (still realistic), but is Praxiteles’s imagination of a goddess he imagined would be, which is “humanlike with beauty as well as flaws.” “The audacity of Praxiteles in sculpting Aphrodite as a realistic figure having a realistic body weight with properly proportioned parts, allows the viewer to find a different kind of beauty within the statue.” In ancient Greek, people thought this kind of beauty appealing because it makes people feel they are more akin to the Goddess. In Hellenistic art, such as the Athena battling the Gaia and the Giants on Pergamon Altar, it shows the perfection of people/ goddesses, and one important aspect is the sculpture’s back and it being exposed. Hellenistic art is less about harmony, and more about achieving excitement, getting action (both relaxing and getting excitement). During Rome Republican period, there are mostly men and elder’s portrait in realistic style. “Prior to her marriage, a woman was subordinated to her father. After marriage, she was beholden to husband. And, if her husband died, she became the subject of
her son. Women could not represent their interests in court and could not hold office. In the Republican literature, a woman was praised if she was noble and willing to sacrifice her personal interests to the good of her husband and family.” During the Imperial period, the portraiture has more variety which there are more women portraits. And in the literatures, they show that women were praised for their beauty and their knowledge of literature, their conversation skills, and how well they can sing, dance, and skills in poetry. Women usually have perfect hair which is piled high on their head, it is considered beauty and can distinct facial features, for examples, deep set eyes and heavy brows. I think women play gradually taking important parts in art, in real life because there are more and more arts showing the love between women and children, goddess and children, or goddess with goddess. “The Three Fates (The Triumph of Death) were among the eldest goddesses in ancient Greek mythology. The Fates were either daughters of Zeus, the Lord of the gods, and Themis, the goddess of justice, or were cre-
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ated by goddess Nyx without the intervention of man.” They are Clotho, the youngest of the three fates, she is the spinner who spins the thread of destiny to determine the time of birth; Lachesis measures the thread to determine the length of someone’s life and then she cut the thread so it determine the length of lifetime. Last one is the Atropos, she cuts the thread of life to see how a person dies. There are no any other god has the right to alter their decisions. The Birth of Venus is one of the most important work during Renaissance period. In the art work, Venus emerges from the sea on top of a shell, and the shell is pushed to the shore by the wind with roses that being produced by wind-gods. And there is a Nymph reaches out carrying a cloak about to cover her. Venus represents beauty, chaste, and is the symbol of incoming spring. “Her depiction as a nude is significant in itself,” because back to Renaissance history, the majority of artworks were Christian theme which it was hardly to see nude portrait. There are many motions in the art, such as the leaves of the trees in the background, the floating roses, 154
and the cloaks that are blown and lifted by the breeze. Botticelli is the artist who made this great art, and it is the first large canvas created in Renaissance. Until now, the art is still well preserved, the painting remains firm can due to the technique he used. He put a little fat in his tempera pigments and covered them with a layer of egg white, and it is why his painting still remains freshness and brightness. It is to be said that the use of color on Venus’s golden hair is inspired by Donatello’s Penitent Magdalen. England would have a portrait on display in their great houses as a symbol of loyalty to her, Elizabeth. It is easy to recognize the portraits of Elizabeth because she would usually painted wearing a crown, showing she was the Queen, and also there are things represent power in her paintings such as swords of state. In the early years, Queen Elizabeth was usually painted very simply, and with little symbolism, to convey that she was the monarch. She may looks like some other wealthy Elizabethan woman in paintings. As the Queen Elizabeth’s popularity grew, the demand of portraits started to increase, thus
more and more were produced. There are only those painters who were commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth were allowed to paint her. There were other artists copied the final paintings, that is the reason why there are varieties of qualities among them. Queen has the authority to destroy the portraits she did not like and it was not entirely because of the vanity but because Queen Elizabeth was very conscious of her public image to people. She only wanted good portraits being produced to reflect her status, and also because there must be a lot of people did not have a chance get to see her in person, so it was really important the portrait impressed those people. As there were new painting techniques coming out, they styles of the Queen Elizabeth’s portrait also changed. “The Renaissance had brought with it a whole new attitude to painting, and techniques were becoming more sophisticated, resulting in more lifelike, elaborate, paintings. The beginnings of this can be seen in the reign of Henry VII, as his portraits are of much better quality than his medieval predecessors.” The combination of the Renaissance and the Queen’s great supporter popularity
resulted in portraits that there are full of symbols. In conclusion, there are many ways to know the society background through the arts they produced during specific time periods. People developed their techniques in different fields by the time past, and sometimes when a thing reach its extreme, it either turns to another direction or it goes to opposite, which means there is a whole new technique developed or they went back to the old techniques that may fits better in the thoughts at that time.
Ancient Egyptian women, 3100-332BC
Goddess from the pediment from the Parthenon, 438BC
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Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos, 4th century BC
Flavian woman, 90AD
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Pergamon Altar, 166-156BC
The Three Fates, 1510-1520AC
Elizabeth I Rainbow Portrait, 1600-1602
Reference -“The Status of Women in Egyptian Society.” The Role of Women in Ancient Egypt. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“Parthenon.” Parthenon. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“Aphrodite of Knidos.” Aphrodite of Knidos. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“The Flavians.” The Flavians. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“GJCL Classical Art History.” : Flavian Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“Demigods & Spirits » Fates (Moirae), the Spinners of the Thread of Life.”Fates (Moirae)-the Spinners of the Thread of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“Birth of Venus.” Artble. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. -“THE QUEEN’S PORTRAITS.” Portraits Of Elizabeth I. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.
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