Exercise 1A Bailey Ash
“‘Beauty is the consonance of the parts such that nothing can be added or taken away’ expresses an ideal of organic geometric unity” (Allen 93). The idea of ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ is strongly correlated to relationships within buildings in architecture. Having a in between, the space itself, and the unifying aspect of it all coming together is a major concept along with many others. The basics of architecture revolving around geometry is the unifying aspect between the geometric simplicity and architectural complexity in structures and spaces. Allen has written this out in a way for me to understand and connect the idea of the whole is the sum of its parts within architecture at a dynamic level.
“The construction of meaning was displaced from the object itself to the spatial field between the viewer and the object: a fluid zone of perceptual interference, populated by moving bodies” (Allen 95). Allen is talking about the in between spaces in relation to the human perception. I have learned from this just how valuable in between spaces really are, as they provide a space of many different functions such as viewing the structure or artwork. The perception of anything is dependent upon where the human is located and in between spaces provide that element to the architectural design.
“A moiré is a figural effect produced by the superposition of two regular fields” (Allen 98). Allen describes the idea of a moiré as this placement of elements in a repeating unity. This idea of repetition creating a more complex structure or field that looks more abstract however it is the same. It has a relationship to architecture in that working with figure and ground, the ground becomes an imperative part as it is the field to the ground or structure. Allen represents this idea through diagrams that really helped myself get a better grasp on this concept.
“Crowds present a different dynamic, motivated by more complex desires, and interacting in less predictable patterns” (Allen 100). Allen begins to talk about crowds and how crowds of humans, animals, objects, etc. create complex patterns with differing motivations and aspects. I learned about this idea of crowds forming particular patterns and motivations and how this can be applied into architectural design from the ‘bottom-up’. The idea of taking less control with design in the sense of form and shape, I think, is what is important with this ideology of the crowd. Creating a unified space through less rigid perspectives.
“The organizational principles proposed here suggest new definitions of ‘parts,’ and alternative ways of conceiving the question of relationships among those parts” (Allen 102). Allen is talking about the idea of things are ever changing in our world and past traditional architectural parts have an established order, however he wants architects to challenge this and create new relationships of parts to the whole. I have learned that an architect must consider past, present, and future, in order to create a dynamic yet functional new way of creating unifying relationships.
