Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction to
Humanities
The Humanities Through The Arts
F. David Martin & Lee A. Jacobus
ARCHITECTURE
Buildings are works of art that is
architecture.
Buildings possess artistic quality -- they
make our living space more livable.
They draw us to them rather than push
us away or make us ignore them.
They make our living space more livable.
Centered Space
Centered space is the positioned
interrelationships of things organized around
some paramount thing as the place to which
the other things seem to converge.
Space is the material of the architect
Centered space has a pulling power that, even
in our most harassed moments, we can hardly
help feeling.
Chartres
Chartres, like most Gothic churches, is shaped roughly
like a recumbent Latin cross: p149 or 156 Fig 6-2 & 63
The apse ( a projecting semicircular and vaulted part of
a building) or eastern end of the building contains the
high altar.
The nave (the central part of a church running
lengthwise) is the central and largest aisle leading from
the central portal to the high alter.
But before the altar is reached, the transept crosses
the nave. Both the northern and southern facades of
the transept of chartres contain glorious rose windows.
Living Space
Living space is the feeling of the
positioning of things in the environment,
the liberty of movement, and the appeal
of paths as directives.
Space infiltrates through all our senses,
as our sensations of everything influence
our perception of space.
Contd
when we relate to a place of special value,
such as the home,
, a configurational center is formed in a place
that is a gathering point around which a field of
interest is structured.
To oversimplify we can say that for Romans, it
was the city of Rome to which they most
naturally belong, constituting their
configurational center.
Four Necessities of
Architecture
The architects professional life is perhaps
more difficult than that of any other artist.
Architecture is a peculiarly public art because
buildings generally have a social function, and
many buildings require public funds.
More than other artists, the architects must
consider the public.
Four Necessities of
Architecture
contd
Four Necessities of
Architecture
contd
Four Necessities of
Architecture
contd
p.153
/
p.162
Functional Requirements of Architecture
Four Necessities of
Architecture
contd p.158 / p.165
Four Necessities of
Architecture
contd p. 158-163 / p. 165 Revelatory Requirements of Architecture
169
Four Necessities of
Architecture
contd
Earth-Rooted
Architecture
(1)
The earth is the securing agency that grounds
Sky-Oriented
Architecture
(2)
Such architecture discloses a world by
drawing our attention to the sky bounded
by a horizon.
It accomplishes this by means of making
a building appear high and centered
within the sky, defying gravity, and tightly
integrating the light of outer with inner
space.
Earth-Resting
Architecture
(3)
Most architecture accents neither earth nor sky
but rests on the earth,
using the earth like a platform with the sky as
background.
With earth-resting architecture - unlike earthrooted architecture--the earth does not appear
as an organic part of the building. Rather, the
earth appears as a stage.
Earth-Dominating
Architecture
(4)
Urban Planning
No use of space has become more
critical in our time than in the city.
Therefore, the issues about space and
architecture take on a special relevance
with respect to city planning.
Urban Planning
contd
Most cities are planned either
sporadically in segments or not at all.
Some cities have height restrictions and
in some cases top stories have been
removed from buildings in construction.
Some tall buildings create dark streets in
the middle of the day. Is it possible to
make the city a place to dwell?