Road Trip

Roots

Roots in nature, are what holds up the plant, like a tree for example. They are the strength of the tree, the foundation, and the reason for it’s stability. In life, people associate their roots to their backround; the place and lifestyle that has shaped them from ersonality, to mindset, to even style.  People do not always accept their roots though. Sometimes people try to forget their past to move on to a better future.  In the architectural world we notice both an embracement and retreat from our roots. “America, as a comparatively young country, was anxious to establish a distinctive design identity" (Massy pg 3)  After the civil war Americans turned away from their roots with England and dug into Greek and Roman architecture.  In this case, while one set of roots was denied, the other was embraced.  When Jefferson was building Monticello, He decided to turn to his roots of The greeks and Romans but also embraced American culture. This can be seen in the details and structure of the home.

 

  Concept

Concepts come from a variety of places and to the untrained, wouldn’t always make sense. “It was from Behrens that Mies derived the concept of the artist as agent of the taste of the age, and of architecture as being an expression of technical power. He also learned form Behrens a keen appreciation of detail and precision in both design and construction…” (Roth p.469)  This shows that concepts can also even come from other people. Concepts such as these can create a movement.

 

Materiality

“Wright exaggerated the horizontal lines to integrate his houses with their praire settings, creating a strong connection with the earth,” (Roth 498).Materiality is key in building upon a concept.  For example Falling water is so successful because Wright decided to use materials and colors to become one with the environment. It many cantaleivering planes are the equivalent of branches or leaves over another. The use of rock brings an organic structure to the building and therefore was a good choice in material. The large use of glass in the space also coorilates to the reflections in the water: a key element in design.

 

compression : release

 

Compression and realese was a huge factor in the change of society in the early 19^th century. Growing populations compressed architects to build into the sky. This was released with the invention of skyscraper. More and more architects were building up do to necessity. "tall commercial building arose from the pressure of land prices, pressure of population, vertical transportation, masonry construction in to metal frames, and ideas from spans in bridgework"