[CRAFT]
One of the most important things to have in a design is good craft. The craft of a piece says a lot about both the designer and the design itself. This weekend I visited both Monticello and Falling Water and the craft in both was impeccable. Both had a different style of building, but both were taken with the most extreme of care. For example, the way that falling water fit into the landscape perfectly and looked like it belonged there was amazing craft. Craft can also refer to the arts and craft movement of the 19th century. The movement came about because of the industrial revolution and some speculated that it was “the most important design reform movement to affect the interior in the nineteenth century”[1] and that it “widened the debate about what constituted good design”.[2]The debate about the use of machines was highly debated between both architects and designers alike. William Morris was someone who preferred hand-crafted over machine whereas Charles Ashbee thought that “we do not reject the machine, we welcome it but desire to see it mastered”[3]. The main argument was if the machine could make products with as fine a craft as a person. Over time the industrial revolution would prove that machines made both high crafted objects with a lower cost and less time.
[PUBLIC/PRIVATE]
A piece of architecture is like a mystery, it’s not always known what is inside. Sometimes you will never know what is because it was built for the private use only. On the other hand there are public spaces where the core of the building is. For example, in Monticello Thomas Jefferson had two very private spaces. One was his library and room where he did all of his private work and wanted none of his 50 guests to see. Another area was where his slaves worked and slept. Socially, he wanted to keep the slavery hidden and also he wanted to keep the integrity of the place. Falling water also had private areas that were kept away from other guests. Frank Lloyd Wright used both his architecture and nature to distinguish these public and private places. When leading to the private bedrooms the halls were very dark and uninviting, whereas the public rooms were kept full of light with the many windows. He also used a lack of windows to keep the main house private from the guest house. When looking from the guest house not one window of the main house can be seen which provides a private space. Altogether, architecture can serve as a tool to keep private and public spaces separate.
[TECHNIQUE]
Each designer has their own technique of how they create and build a building. It can be anything from the way they connect materials to the type of materials they actually choose. At Falling Water for example Wright uses a canteliever system to make the house look almost as if is floating above the water. The design is very technical as well as fits in with part of the 4 elements that Wright wanted to design by. At Monticello Jefferson also has a technique of disquising beds in the walls at his home. Designers also have a technique of how a building functions. The Paris Opera House was built by Garnier to be a very pubic and social affair. To achieve this he built a very large staircase to circulate people around he building, which means you see and are seen more by everyone. The staircase functioned as Garnier’s technique in building.
[LANGUAGE]
Language is what we speak and write, but sometimes its what we portray without doing either. In the 19th century languages seemed to blur into each other and speak of the past. The language of pieces of architecture told of the styles they tried to resemble and revive. The Houses of Parliament in London is a good example of the way that the designers, Pugin and Barry, tried to keep the original language of the building even after it had burned down. It was “decided that the general style of the new buildings should be medieval, so as to better integrate the surviving portions of the original buildings”[4], and this is exactly what Pugin and Barry did. During this time eclecticism, “the informed and selective borrowing of historical building forms and details, rooted in associationalism”[5] took over the design world and brought back the language of the past to inspire the designs of the future. Language can either be a barrier or a tool to connect one culture to the next. In architecture however, the language only helps to express the designer’s vision. Language can also refer to the connection between architecture and the land around it, and the conversation that the two have with each other such as below at Falling Water.
[VIRTUAL]
The dictionary definition of virtual is, being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted. To me the first thing this makes me think about is the difference between literal and abstract. In studio we always learn to not always make something exactly as it is stated, or literally, but to take that idea and abstract it. Abstraction still has roots in the reality but is virtual because it is not formally recognized as such. When speaking of virtual in architecture I think of the facades that are placed on buildings. For example the Home Insurance Building in Chicago has a massive façade but really supports nothing but itself. The interior is supported by a metal framework that keeps it up, and the façade is plastered on to it. Looking at it you think that the façade is holding it up, but in reality it does nothing of the sort. In architecture there is a blurred line between virtual and reality and it is up to the viewer to figure it out.
[WRAP-UP]
The craft of a building is what defines it. This craft is developed by the designer who uses his own techniques to create a mastered design. Such incredible places are made by the use of the designers language and style. Their language can include many tools such as the use of public and private space, and the difference between the real and the virtual. The designer uses all of these to create a fully well crafted piece that is both functional and delightful.
[CITATIONS]
1-Massey pg. 7
2-Massey pg.31
3-Quote by Charles Asbee
4- Roth pg. 476
5- Roth pg. 469
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