Throughout the alternatives unit, I felt as if the cathedrals were a very important topic and focus (good cocktail party conversation!). We saw how these buildings, structures, or art pieces illustrated what was happening within the time periods there were built. Many of them, specifically the Amiens Cathedral, were designed according to the golden rule and then added to in what seemed complicated, but truly was not. Watching the animation, it seemed as if the layers of the structure just continued and continued. Just looking at the now standing structure, you would not be able to say this is how it was designed (layout wise). You would however, be able to look at it from the ground up and see exactly how it fit and worked together. It is just amazing. I feel that the design of these complex structures eluded and translated to what was happening within society. Things were starting to happen, just as the artists/architects/designers on the outskirts of the Roman towns put their own spin on it, the same thing was happening here. The designs of the structures were branching off from what the normal architecture would have looked like. The religious people were attempting to make the church beautiful to draw people in. They did not rely on just what was taught to bring in people, but were enticing people with its beauty. They were changing or altering the way people viewed the church. Several key points about that enticement are as follows: there was an upward lifting sequence transforming to infinity, flickering fragmented glimpses, and the crossing square as the organizing geometric matrix. The organizing geometric movement was seen virtually everywhere in the cathedrals, but it was also used in other buildings as well.
Basic shapes are extremely important in everything. They are so simplistic, but when they are played with and altered from the original form, can turn into something very interesting. This is true not only in the Cathedrals we saw, but in other buildings as well. The Chateau Chambord is a nice illustration of this idea. On the bottom, Roman influence in seen everywhere your eyes travel. This is pure, simplistic shapes. On the top though, what you can see from far away, shows the gothic, the newer architecture. Putting them both together though, is a statement all its own. This takes what has already been done and (here’s that word again) alters them into something that has a completely different meaning than before, when they were used originally.
Shapes continued again along with stacking at the end of this unit when we discussed the Palazzo Medici. I learned from class and outside, how this was a nice transition to the reflections unit. First of all, the home defined society and its movements quite well. The most vivid example was how there were three floors or layers to the building. Each one served a different purpose and you could tell that by the stones, the material used for the structure. The stones at the bottom were very rough, where the peddlers and servants (working class were) but as you traveled heaven wards, the stones were smoother and more refined, as were the people. This elevated process showed that refinement or alteration was on its way!
I thought this picture was a great illustration of this unit. It was all about thinking out of the box, and coming up with new things to try. Designers thought of alternate ways to show something in a different light. They put a new spin on things and I know it will continue.
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