Field Trip #3

Today we went on our third architecture field trip. This field trip was focused in San Francisco. We first visited Building 1 on Treasure Island. Just today I found out that it is an artificial island and that it was actually built by us. Moving on, Building 1 was meant to be the terminal for an airport was was going to be built but never did work out properly. The building has a curved frontal facade which did not look too bad. This building was not my favorite because it did not really serve a purpose and also I felt that the building was a bit bland with its empty walls. The empty was issue was really prominent on the backside of the building.

Treasure Island Terminal:


After that we visited the art institute. There really wasn't much to see besides a view and a mural done by a famous painter.This was not the new art institute, it is and older one. There were old art studios with old designs. You could tell by the paint and just the overall look with the metal that separated the windows. Something that I found interesting was the raised skylights of offices at the institute. I thought they had a cool shape, but I also felt that they seemed a bit out of place with the building.

San Francisco Art Institute:


Finally we visited Coit Tower. Coit tower wasn't what I expected it to be. I was expecting more extravagance and detail. I also was expecting a good view from the top but that dream was crushed when I found out you had to pay $5.00 to get to the top. Besides that, it was a beautiful tower. I liked how it was not just smooth all the way around, but had little indents that made it more of a polygon.


Coit Tower:

Courtyards

Courtyards date back to as early as 3000 BC in China and Iran. In ancient Rome they called their courtyards atriums, but now atrium has a different meaning.  As we learned before Islamic cultures had structures called courtyard houses. The book describes them as “continuous ‘mats’ of introverted flat-roofed buildings, with narrow streets framed by blank walls for access.”(34). China also used courtyard houses. The book said that courthouses were very abundant in cities, one of them including Beijing. These courtyard houses were usually a group of houses of a family and its extended family members. Courtyard houses were also used for the wealthy in China in the aspect in they had a series of courtyards that increase in privacy. 

Islamic courtyard house:

In 1945 courtyard forms came back into style. In in 1945 people were becoming more fascinated with ancient and distant cultures so they brought back the courtyard. Many buildings were built with a courtyard like old civilizations. An example of this is the French practices of Candilis, Josic, and Woods that used the Islamic “mat plan”.

Candilis, Josic and Woods courtyard at Berlin Free University:

 The courtyard had been re-born as a more special area. “…the courtyard found extended theoretical advocacy as a model for housing in 1964” (34). The idea behind these courtyards was to provide privacy with family members and to offer “contact with the restorative powers of nature” as the book states it. This was meant to counterbalance the busy fast paced life of modern cities.

Haus am Moor

Today I took it into my consideration to do a post about something interesting that I found that was not from class. Today I found about a very cool building called the Haus am Moor in Austria that was designed by Bernardo Bader. This house is a one room house with a connected studio. It is a very simplistic design that looks like a barn from the outside but on the inside looks modern and amazing.


This is a picture of the outside of Haus am Moor. As you can see this does not look like an ordinary house. This could easily be mistaken for a barn. The whole house is basically all made of wood. I find this design quite unique because it is so simple but you can tell it is something else more elegant. This is especially because of how the light comes out he the building like that. I really think that adds a great effect that helps this building stand out.


These are some pictures from the inside of the house itself. It all very simple and made of one constant material. This really puts a cool vibe on the place because it is all smooth and one color so it really gives a simple yet modern feel to the house and studio. Also if you see in the bottom right and top left picture the walls are not perfectly straight. This gives a cool effect that makes this building just hat more unique.


Here is another picture from the inside of the house. What I really like about this is how much natural light is coming into the room. Because of the two large windows it really fills this area with light which I love because I enjoy buildings with a lot of well used natural light.


I do not own these pictures. I got them from http://www.thecoolhunter.net/architecture/  

Christian Architecture

Today in class we had a lecture about Christian Architecture. We first learned about basilicas. Basilicas are a building that are meant for worship. They are basically an older version of a church because they serve the same purpose of talking and spreading the religion. They are large buildings with some sort of point of direction, whether that is to the front of the building, or to the center. They are quite beautiful buildings because they have lots of detail and decorations to really help create a sacred feel in the buildings.

We also learned about the difference in Constantinople and Roman Basilicas. One of them has a more a more direct forward view to the end of the building while the other has a more centered viewpoint. Also One is longer than the other. The longer building has the focus point at the end of the building while the shorter one has the more centered focus point.

We also watched a video about Christian/Roman architecture. In the video they showed and talked about how they built a very large Basilica. What I found the most interesting was how they found ways around issue that they had, even without our modern technology. I also found it interesting how they did not have architects deign the basilica, but they had engineers. Though this seemed quite helpful because they were able to solve issues that could have ruined the whole building they were not dealt with.


Old St. Peter's Basilica:

Arches

Arches were originally uses for utilitarian and underground structures. An example of this would be storehouses or drains. They reached their main popularity in Gothic architecture but seemed to be uncommon in more modern architecture. The main purpose of the arch is that it allows the spanning of masonry walls, or walls made of items mainly held together with the use of mortar.  As stated from the book arches are “a pure compression structure and therefore ideally suited to materials such as stone or brick that are strong I'm compression but weak in tension. Also arches have outward thrust at their bases and the book says that this must be resisted to ensure stability.

Romans were the first to really take advantage of the use of arches. As we have seen they used them in many structures like aqueducts and imposing bridges. They were also used in the widely known coliseum. Because of the Romans liberal use of arches they became the first metropolis with a population of more than a million.

Coliseum:

 

Arches are also used to create structures like vaults which are basically a large continued hallway of an arch. They when they are rotated they enabled the creation of structures like domes.

The strongest forms for arches are given by a parabolic shape and have catenary curves.  These formed the basis of the Cantalan system of vaulting and were exploited by Antoni Gaudi

Parabolic Arch:

In the book it said that arches are not normally seen in modern architecture. This is because now-a-days we have materials like steel and reinforced concrete that is strong in both compression and tension. 

Reinforced concrete example:                                           

Lots of Steel tubes: 

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Field Trip #2

Today we had our second field trip. Like the last field trip we sketched every building we visited. We first visited the Fox Theater and the museum right across the street from it. The fox theater was a cool building. I noticed that it had a lot of vertical line on it because of all the rectangular shaped they jutted out of the top. The museum was quite interesting too. I enjoyed all the details at the top of the pillars and how ledges were a different color and material.  I also enjoyed the arched windows n the museum. I felt that they went well with the columns of the building.

Fox Theater:                                                                    San Mateo Country Museum:


After those places we went the the old train station in Burlingame. This train station is one of the oldest in the bay area and has even been marked as a historical landmark according to my teacher Rafael. This was a nice building but I did not like it much. I do not really like orange buildings so that was part of the reason I did not like the building. Another reason was that it was more simple compared to other buildings we have seen. I like more complex and detailed buildings while this one was more plain. After that building we visited the library that was near by and sketched that. I attempted to do an interior sketch but failed the two times i tried so I gave up and sketched the exterior as I usually do. What I liked about his building is how form exterior the building just kind-of expands up and out. In the picture you can see it grow upwards and outwards.

Burlingame train station:                                               Burlingame Library:


After those buildings we stopped and ate lunch for a while then continued to our final building. It was the St. Catherine church in Burlingame. What I liked about his building was the small details around the statues. I think this really gave them a sacred feel and made them look important. What I did not like was how the large tower was just randomly put. I like symmetry and because the sides were not fully symmetrical the building just seemed a but off for me.

St. Catherine Church in Burningame: