2nd year studio Project 1 Part 1 Data

2nd year studio Project 1 Part 1 Prelim,

Reading Comprehension 1 for IAR222

[1] Select an object or a building from any time period that you believe meets Wotton’s definition (as cribbed from Vitruvius) of commodity, firmness, and delight. With an annotated image, take care to EXPLAIN the ways in which you see the definition realized through the object or building. Use design language and concepts discussed in class for dealing with precedents.

Located in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, the China Central Television Headquarters stands as an architectural marvel to all who view it. The building resembles a cube that has had a hole drilled through it leaving a distorted skeleton. It is 768 feet high and occupying roughly five million square feet.
The building is compiled of 54 floors split into 3 parts, the Main Building, the TV Cultural Center, and Auxiliary Comprehensive Facilities. The Main Building is broken down into five sections: administration, comprehensive business, news production, broadcasting, and program production. The TV Cultural Center is the more social, public part of the China Central Television Headquarters. Located within the TV Cultural Center is a TV theater, a hotel, and audio studios to name the least. The Auxiliary Comprehensive Facilities area is the vicinity where the parking garage and security sector is located.
Thus, the multitude of services provided in this building allows for many commodities to take place. The functions are almost endless in this building. There aren’t many places in this world you can visit and be able to do a broadcast on one floor, record an album, and then go to your hotel room on another.
The building is made up primarily of glass and steel. The flooring located where the two vertical units are joined horizontally is constructed of glass allowing a person to see the ground beneath their feet. The connection of the two units allows for the two to stabilize each other along with the reinforcement of steel. The steel is also placed in a abstract yet geometric way that brings strong aesthetic qualities to an already intriguing architectural design. The steel’s placement along with the overall shape of the building allows for the eye to wonder. It encourages the urge to want to twist the building in various ways much like a rubrics cube would be manipulated. Needless to say the shape is delightful and playful, along with being structural.
The structure of the building is more intense than a normal building would be. The China Central Television Headquarters is located in a seismic zone, therefore, it must withstand a reasonable amount of plate friction. Although it did catch fire once due to fireworks, the structure itself was not damaged. It is soon to be reopened in the near future but has not yet been as of February 2010.

Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Central_Television_Headquarters_building
- http://www.cctv.com/newSiteProgram/en/project_info.htm
- http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/cctv/
- http://2modern.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/08/cctv_headquarters09.jpg

2] Working from Harwood et al’s concept of cultural precedents, select one of the contemporary textiles illustrated above and PINPOINT the influences you see from the eastern world on the production of fabric in the west. Concentrate on motifs and patterns provided in Harwood’s text.

Eastern influences are geometric. The consisted of shapes derived from circles, squares and triangles. The image (http://www.textiledesigning.org/textile 20design 2000079.jpg) consists of just that. You can clearly see the manipulated swastikas, squares, and circles. Also apparent are the bright colors that commonly appear in eastern culture. The yellow in the image represents the sun, the spiral for rain, prosperity, and fertility. More so, these are symbolic gestures that have a universal meaning originating from eastern culture.
Also the continuity of lines represents the one of the five blessings that the chinese live by, longevity. The image can also be compared to the endless know of the chinese used in the Buddhist religion.

[3] When considering perceptions of personal and social space, Hall and others suggest that different cultures have different space needs and attitudes. Most consider that citizens of the U.S. generally feel a need for more space. How does this play out in the classroom in which we gather for iar222?

Americans have always had the reputation for the ones who think “bigger is better”. We have to have everything in large portions. It goes back to the colonial days when we were trying to prove ourselves to England and the rest of the world that we were capable of creating a successful country. But starting out big has the consequence of having to stay dominant. We are constantly trying to push for a better life when in all honesty, we have a better life that most countries.
Look at in a sense of a typical boasted ego. For example, a person with a “huge” ego so to say, constantly searches for reassurance in themselves in everything they do. And if not given that, they look for ways to downgrade and belittle others until they are satisfied.
America usually takes advantage of other poor nations in order to gain more wealth for itself, such as setting up corporations in smaller countries such as Taiwan to make our clothing because the labor is cheaper there. Money is power bottom line, and the way Americans show that power is with possessions and size.
Take our food amounts, when looking at any other country their three meals a day most likely add up to just one of ours that we would purchase at a restaurant. This lead to the country, stated by the OECD National Data, having 30.6% of its population obese when others have on average 14.1%.
In class we talk about the auditorium’s chairs being to small. They were probably a just size when the building was constructed in the 1970s but now about 40 years later people just can’t fit into them snuggly like they used to.
Compared to other countries in the world, even some of our poorest people live a life of luxury. America keeps pushing and pushing until eventually there will be nothing left to push and it will topple over.
James Monroe said in 1817,”National honor is national property of the highest value.” Would most Americans agree to the same statement in 2010? I highly doubt it.

[4] SPECULATE about whether or not there can be an architecture of happiness, as de Botton writes in the work by the same title. Provide a juicy quote that helps give evidence to your views from the passage that you read. Include an annotated image of a happy object, space, building, or place and specify WHY and HOW your example exudes happiness.

Architecture is defined by google as “the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings” or “the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their esthetic effect”.
What colors are normally found in a doctor’s office? Usually cool, quite colors. The same goes for restaurants. They are usually compiled of some shade of yellow or red. The reason for these typical color choices is because different colors stimulate different senses. Light blues and greens are calming which is why they are found an many offices and schools. Lighter yellows, reds, and oranges are called warm colors and are found in many daycare facilities and bedrooms. Furthermore, bright colors are typically found on a playground or at an eye popping event. The brightness and intensity of these colors assist in stimulating the energy of whomever is around. Colors effect a space or object the same way other details do as well.
For example, walking into the image below a person would feel very comfortable and warm. Also, the lighting in the room isn’t to strong and the flow of natural light softens the room. The stone and wood bring nature in and allows the guest to feel as if they are a part of the outside world while having the comforts of being indoors.
de Botton said “Belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that we are, for better or for worse, different people in different places -- and on the conviction that it is architecture’s talk to render vivid to us who we might ideally be”. I feel that a person walking in this room can have close to if not the same inspiration as Ralph Waldo Emerson or Robert Frost. Also, a person can tour this house alone or with a group and be taken into a trance like state allowing them to free their mind of everything and reconnect with nature and themselves.