Point: Foundations

As we came into the foundations unit we came about the three main elements of architecture: lines, circles, and stacking. These three elements are used throughout history, and still today. First we began with stacking. This is a very important element in which we find it all throughout history and has even evolved in more recent architecture, along with the fact that there are multiple reasons in why this technique is used. For example in China, stacking is used to make the great wall of China and is used for political separation. In the city of living, city of dead, stacking was used to build the pyramids. This was to show that the two are different but are still brought together. Some of the main reasonings of stacking were to show power, for protection, hierarchy, or an aspiration to reach the heavens. The next point we came across was the unity between nature and architecture. In Egypt they wrote on stones in-order to tell a story which could later be translated. In the Hypostyle Hall carvings spiral down the columns leaving beautiful markings along with telling a story. Not only do they tell a story but they are tied in with nature in the sense that these columns resemble lotus stems, http://www.eyelid.co.uk/pics/KarnakHypostyleHall.jpg and show a means of scale and hierarchy being that they are so large compared to the human body. Also, the Egyptians used the Nile River as a sense of direction and axial progression, which shows the movement of line. An important topic we learned about was that Saqqara being part of the Zoser Complex established axis. The horizontal axis is symbolic for new life and birth and the vertical axis symbolizes humanity and reaching to the heavens. As we move through the unit we also move into talking about how architecture evolves, but yet borrows from past architecture, over the time. Lions Gate in Mycenae is an example of this. This piece of architecture has a porch, columns incorporated in and uses the stacking technique. The columns bring your eye to the central idea of the 2 lions up top in the middle. Traditions of lines and stacking were used to create the lions gate.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Mycenae_lion_gate_dsc06382.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mycenae_lion_gate_dsc06382.jpg&usg=__D5mnVf4spdpw3nZAZSmGIhRYmgQ=&h=1944&w=2592&sz=2289&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=w3ihw8n_pPQOsM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=230&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Blions%2Bgate%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1118%26bih%3D728%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=728&vpy=203&dur=815&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=111&ty=123&ei=vdysTNihFcSclgfTxMzCBw&oei=vdysTNihFcSclgfTxMzCBw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

As for columns, they have also evolved throughout time. The order being: Tuscan, doric, ionic, corinthean, and composite. As they evolve they become larger and much more fancy over time. As we came to the end of this unit we went one to learn about the Acropolis in Athens and how the Greeks focused more on an asymmetrical balance rather than a symmetrical one. They focused mainly on the three elements of line, space and form though.The main space was fount int he center and lines are found going to each building from one another. Repetition in the columns and stairs are found and an overall statement of unity is found. Throughout this unit we have covered the basic foundation architecture and learned how elements play a large role in society. We have seen how architecture related to nature, tells stories, shows a sense of hierarchy (relating the piece of work to mankind), shows power, and direction. All of these being important when trying to create a successful architectural structure.