Opus Week 3

Scale
Scale is an essential part of architecture and design. In all of my classes we are talking about scale in one way or another. In Studio we have build walls that are scaled down to one inch to a foot. In perception and communication we have drawn people to scale. We have also built and drafted scale models of Pat's chair in Design Graphics. And finally we have spoken about scale of the columns in History. Throughout history scale has followed alongside of social hierarchy and religion. In ancient Egypt the Gods were generally represented by a large scale sculpture of the human form. The figures are larger in scale to show how much of importance religion should be to the people and how the should be respected due to how much greater in scale they are to the people. “On the highest ground the principal palace was built…” (Roth 219) This quote relates to how scale is related to hierarchy. The Parthenon is one of the largest buildings in Acropolis and can be seen form almost anywhere in the city. This is because of the importance of the building to religion and the people.






Unity
Is the combination of several parts into one unit. In perception and communication we are learning to use different materials to combine into one piece of work. We want to create unity among the materials so that we can create the beast drawings and vignettes possible. Also, we are looking at our surroundings and connecting the environment to the people that are residing within it. The city of Acropolis shows unity by being a city with a government and law. Physically the city is tied into a unit my the buildings and how each one has been strategically placed so that the people are lead in a certain way.




Boundaries
In Acropolis boundaries were set to show other regions that this was their land and belonged to no one else. They did this to protect their wealth, government, and people form the outside. They were weary of allowing in outsiders and did with great caution. The Chinese had the same thoughts when constructing the Great Wall. Its primary use was as a defense from outsiders as well as a communication system. In vignettes the boundaries of which we draw are burred. We do not know where or when to stop but we do when we see fit or that there is enough information in the image.




Section
"If the corners of these nested rectangles are then connected by a curved line, the result is a logarithmic spiral or volute, very much like that found in the pattern of seeds in a sunflower or in the section of a chambered nautilus. (Roth 74) Sections are areas that cannot be seen without dissection of the item being looked at. We have been learning about sections the past two semesters and use it most often in drafting. When looking at a section you are looking at the interior of an object or building and seeing what is going on thought the interior.




Vignette
A vignette is "a picture (as an engraving or photograph) that shades off gradually into the surrounding paper." (Webster Dictionary) We have been focusing on vignettes for the past couple of weeks and they are extremely useful for illuminating certain aspects of a scene or space. While focusing on people you notice things that you may not have noticed before if you were simply people watching. You notice how they interact with their environment as well as little movements or positions they most commonly use. Drawing vignettes are enlightening and show the drawer a different side of the world around them.