definition - the group of spectators at a public event; listeners or viewers collectively that manifests interest, support, enthusiasm, or the like (dictionary.com)
Audience is a very general, yet broad idea since it is usually associated to be a lecture or presentation, when really the world is made up of millions of audiences. In a story, the writer is presenting his or her ideas to their target audience, or the readers. In the world around us, all the time people are observing and watching other people or objects, creating an audience to that specific event. My perspective drawing from the building project for Design Drawing is inspired by the auditorium on the first floor of the Ferguson building. This is the room that my Design Theory & History class is in and the figures sitting in the rows consist of the audience to the professor who commonly stand in the front. In my audience perspective drawing, I used hatching and shading to capture the depth of the different angles in the large space and I chose to draw my audience as black figures mimicking famous artist, but also to highlight the reason why the room is there itself---because of an audience.
In addition to people serving as an audience to other people, objects can speak to people. For example, forms of architecture can announce to people about the time period, culture and traditions through decoration, materials or structure. By the end of the third century, the Roman Empire had fallen apart. During this time, churches became of great importance as they represented the world itself. In a way, the churches were required to bring order from the crazy happenings of the chaos of the government falling apart. Roth describes the internal divisions and external invasions that disrupted civil life of the Roman Empire and explains the era of churches by saying, "civil and religious building forms therefore became both heavy and massive defensive refuges from the uncertainties of everyday life and impressive gateways to a promised better afterlife" (Roth, 301). In France, there was a lot of movement in church structures, but there was also a great amount of solidity, and the head of the churches were usually quite elaborate. This architecture communicates with the time of change and new inventions as the old time has passed. The audience understands how a new life is about to begin as the church are now the "reestablished centers of learning"(Roth, 302). These churches were commonly referred to as Romanesque, whereas in Italy, the churches were more Gothic. These churches were large, making them stand out in any position. They composed of transformation, fragments, repetition of identical forms, stain glass telling stories, up-lifting sequence, and arches. By viewing any Gothic cathedral, the audience would know that religion was a large part of social life in the third century. It was important to the people that they could bring earth to heaven. This is similar to early times when the Egyptians made the pyramids. The pyramids were designed to have the top be close to heaven because the Egyptians believed that the after-life was more important than life itself. In designing their structures, they used architecture to help them with their after-life desires. Any Egyptian new that "at first, the more elaborate tombs were built for kings and the first pharaohs" (Roth, 194) just by looking at the structure. The material used on the pyramids also communicates with its audience that there was not a lot for the Egyptians to work with. The structures were made out of sand and stone, introducing new interventions in architecture.
[RE]VISION
definition - a revised form or version (dictionary.com) ; making again or different
I feel revision is a necessity in almost anything. Connecting to the title and the formation of sentences, writing is always improved by peer-editing or self-checking. In design and architecture, it is nearly impossible to find something that is not revised. For every project in design studio, I revise and change the ideas a few times before I make a final proposal. These changes are shown through sketches or models. I find that the more I revise my work, the more I learn about it, find out what works and does not work, and how to push my ideas even further. Revising something can also be transforming an object into another form or media. An example of this concept would be the exercise from Design Studio when we were to explore the outskirts of UNCG and find a piece of nature that could inspire creative ideas. From this object, patterns and designs can be formed in two dimensional thumbnail sketches, which later will be further revised into three dimensional structures. The piece of nature that I found inspiring was from a tree on campus (I am not positive the name) that is round and the size of a golf ball with triangular spikes and holes all around the sphere. From its qualities, I revised its form into another version creating these patterns of circles, squares, lines, and triangles.
[CHARACTER]
definition - the aggregate of features, qualities and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing (dictionary.com)
The term character can either be obvious or abstract. Characters are obvious in a story, but in a design, it is usually more abstract and manipulative. Character is what makes up every object and every person. Every object has a certain character by the way it is shaped, textured, scaled, or colored. Because of character, every object can then have a name that reflects its design. To provide examples of character in design aspects, each piece of furniture or interior utility below is influenced by its elements. The fuzzy chair and foot rest in the top left corner has more fun, young aspects through its shape, structure and material than the lounge couch below it that is more classic, neat and structured.
Character is greatly portrayed, and important, in people through what they where and how they act. In the first drawing nicknamed "the girl in the camo jacket", I was portraying different character qualities of the girl. The fact that she is wearing a camo jacket says something possibly about where she is from and her personal interests. Character is the reason why I labeled her as a "bad ass" -- from the reason that she came in late to class and is wearing something that resembles hunting, which most people refer to as a manly sport. Same effect applies to my sketches of the variety of shoes during one day of Design Drawing. Each pair of shoes shows a certain kind of character that that person who owns the shoes possesses. For example, it is clear that the person wearing the flats most likely has different qualities than the person wearing the converse sneakers. The way in which I draw these objects and people show character of myself in my drawings. The way in which I draw them---my techiniques--show my own unique drawing style. I like to use pen rather than pencil, shade by using hatching and try to create depth and as much life-like qualities as possible. I also like to write little captions or sayings around my sketches because I feel they make the drawing more interesting and enjoyable for the audience.
Character is the form of architecture is as noticeable as in people. Earlier in the semester, we studies Romanesque architecture of churches and learned that they are typically "tall, undecorated, [and] cylindrical piers carry semicircular arches opening into the side aisles" (Roth, 319). These qualities of a Romanesque church allow people to distinguish this form of architecture from other designs. That is what having "character" does.
Church of Saint Paul of The Cross
[TRANSITION]
definition - movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change (dictionary.com)
When I think of transition, I think of something having a certain pattern or rhythm that builds or repeats. In the Providence Airport in Rhode Island, they have this artistic passageway in the terminal that is shown below. The red seed-shaped figures on the top remind me of crab claws, which could relate to Rhode Island because Rhode Island is also known as the "ocean state". The overall size of the passageway is about 25 feet wide and 50 feet long. It represents a transition from one arch to the next as people walk under it to get to their gate, transitioning from RI to where ever else they are going. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always admired this piece of art that has interesting views from all angles. Walking under the structure, even at my age now compared to when I was little, is a great inspiring feeling as you do not know exactly what the form is. It leaves opinions open to its viewers. Another example of transition comes from one of my ideas for the nature models. I sketched my idea before creating the model of five triangles transitioning from one to the next through a linear element, which in this case is skewer. Going along with my proposal that transition is a pattern or rhythm, the triangles form a pattern and rhythm that was inspired by a pointy-ball of nature. I feel that the bent skewers give a wave pattern that moves the eye from triangle to triangle, making the transition smoother and sets an illusion of an ongoing pattern beyond the five triangles presented.
[DATUM]
definition - a single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code; (line) : the horizontal or base line, from which the heights of points are reckoned or measured (dictionary.com)
Although stories are usually complex with characters, transitions and symbols, datum is represented as the theme or underlying fact that the writer is trying to convey. Datum is a term in design that was introduced to me my first semester of IARC. Tommy Lambeth described it as "using something to define a specific line or space". In our recent building project in Design Drawing, my group chose to use a datum line on our presentation board. In order to create visual interest and a sense of movement or border for the board, we created an arch that extended from the top left to the top right. The datum is about a foot in height and 62 inches long. Some of our groups best perspective pieces are highlighted on the datum line, which leads the eye to continue looking at the rest of the drawings and diagrams throughout the board.
In a historical sense, in France during the early neoclassical era, many middle class houses were aggregated together to look like a single large building. The need for the neoclassical era was because the Rococo movement involved "excesses, asymmetry, and perceived disorderliness" (Blakemore, 283). Instead, architects strove for the opposite and to encourage the "relationship between architecture and social requirements" (Blakemore, 284). These French houses practiced this new relationship and formed a type of palace for themselves with a large square facade in the center. Acting as a datum, the houses defined a space that was either full of grass and trees or a fountain. It was a community space that people would gather and spend time with their neighbors. An example of one of these French enlightenment complexes is the Place de Vosges created by Henry IV in ca. 1605. This series of open plazas is marvelous as the middle class houses look like royalty and the facade is grand with large trees, stone paths, finely landscaped bushes and four fountains. Gates and iron fencing border the rest of the park continuing the datum that the building creates.
Place de Vosges
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