Seeing in Color

Reflection

1. Taking this course has helped me realize how many elements play a roll in how a building is constructed. Thinking about how a building has certain styles and that these certain styles all have different meanings for having them. I also never thought about how much thought and time goes into designing a building, space, or anything for that matter. Also the material something is made of has a huge impact on how the building or structure is viewed. Certain materials are more prominent in a particular time period. All the process and reasoning for the way something is designed was non-existent in my mind before taking this course.


2. The crystal palace introduced the industrialism of architecture. The presence of glass, metal, and cement arose. This building is a great example of machine made products. This building reflects on today’s sky scrapers with the class exterior. The presence of huge glass windows covering the entire building is common in large building such as the crystal palace today. The sky scrapers that are being built today are constructed of metal, concrete, and glass with is exactly like the glass palace Because of the trees that were they did not want to cut down the glass palace brings the outside into the interior of the building with the foliage on the interior of the building.


3. In many ways today we always fall back in history in architecture. As stated in class about the church on Walker Avenue, it is full of architecture from many different time periods. The columns and stain glass windows are two of the main elements of this building that stand out to me as to taking from past architecture. Although the past was not brought back exactly the was it was used then it is still present in today’s design. A second example is in the design of school buildings. In today’s society classical style buildings are still used to represent school buildings. This style was used many years ago and is still being brought back today.



4. I researched the Beatnik time period. The housing for the beatnik’s were nothing like today’s houses. They lived in empty apartments with no furniture because they would have rather cut up their couch and use it for firewood rather than sit on it and decorate their apartment. The lifestyle then and the lifestyle today are completely opposite. They would sleep three to five people per bed, which would never happen today. On the other hand the design of their vehicles are much different. They were very proud of their cars and would fix them up. The presence of flames on the exterior of the car was popular. The idea of adding extras and fixing up cars is still a big thing today to some.

I have progressed in this project through researching.

Using the projects we have done as a group in charrettes we have come along way as a group. Researching artists, arcitects, and designers influenced the design of our models/structure of My Sisters House project. Using information about our architect we researched we developed a very community friendly enviorment for the residence of the house. When focusing on the artists, there were two different extremes. One artist used abstracted paint splats that were curved and had no organization. On the other hand, the second artist used very straight, rectiliner shapes. Although these are complete opposites, they come together as great contrast. Looking at the designers we researched reflects on a more casual enviroment, which is perfect in making the space feel welcoming.


Group Statement

The combination of geometric and organic shapes flowing through the space gives a sence of embrasing and comfort.

Our goal for my sister’s house is to allow the design to provide a welcoming, calming, and safe atmosphere while encouraging a positive outlook on life.


Today is my first day visiting the shelter where I’ll be staying for a while.
I’m excited and nervous at the same time.
Okay, I’m here and the place looks really nice from the outside.
It’s a uniquely constructed building, unlike the other plain shelters I’ve seen.
It’s time to see what the inside is like.
I walk into the lounge area and am overwhelmed with the sensation of being at home.
The room is suited perfectly for my son and me.
He points out how cool the recycled blue jean couches and curtains are.
He wants to take the pair he has on and make something with them.
I ask him if we could wait until he grows out of them, that shouldn’t take long.
I appreciate how resourceful they are by reusing the jeans; maybe they could let me in on a few tricks.
As we stroll into the kitchen my eyes are drawn to some very attractive cabinets.
I’ve never seen cabinets like these before.
They look like glass but feel more like plastic and they seem to have been dyed in a ray of beautiful colors.
This room is already one of my favorites,
it instantly raised my spirits.
There’s also fencing hanging horizontally from the ceiling used to hang pots and pans,
another resourceful idea.
Next we go into an office area,
another one of my favorites.
The room is sectioned off into private areas by using these dividers that look and feel a lot like the cabinets in the kitchen.
The dividers open and close by simply pulling them one way or the other.
This room will be perfect for when I need to do my schoolwork.
I’m about to be starting high school so I’m sure I’ll have a lot.
Finally I make my way over to our room.
It’s very nice and already has a few decorations.
There are several lamps hanging that are made from that same plastic-glass material I saw earlier in the kitchen and office.
They’re so cute and look like they came straight out of the 50s.
This place is amazing and I’m so blessed to finally have a place for me and my son to call home.