Unit Summary: Foundations Unit

Foundations are the basic unit of a space: what holds a building together, the beginning of a structure, the basics, and in some considerations the most significant part. Either in buildings – if the foundation is not secure then the building may collapse – or in architecture as a whole – the first bits of architecture that influenced everything thereafter. To begin this review, however, I feel I should set my own foundation; we began with a very important concept, the power of three. Many strong architectural designs stem in threes and, ironically, there are three main forms I have learned in this unit.

The first, as declared by Sir Henry Wotten (Roth 11), is commodity: function: delight, all of which must occur in a building for it to be great. For a building to live up to its potential, it must have a sturdy structure, serve its intended purpose, and bring pleasure to those who pass through/by it. A church, for example, usually fulfills these three concerns; it is used as a place of worship, it is sturdy, and more often than not, the building makes its worshipers feel joyous.

The next power of three group it archetype: prototype: hybrid, which can be experienced anywhere in architecture. The archetype of columns, for example, came from Egypt and was known as the Doric column. The Grecians took this idea of the column and expanded on it, creating Ionic columns. Ionic columns were prototypes because they stemmed from the original idea; they became sturdier and more appealing to the eye. The hybrid in this situation would be Corinthian columns, which were the most delightful to the eye, most full of life, and sturdiest. A further example of this would be how the Romans took the Doric column and created a prototype – the Tuscan Doric – which was more slender. (Roth 31)

The last power of three we learned was porch: court: hearth, and can also be found throughout architecture. Take for instance an average house in the suburbs; it has a porch area (the entrance, which can create a change in mood), a living room functioning as the court (the gathering center; this can also be a kitchen), and a master bedroom which is the hearth (the private, sometimes most important space). This can also be applies to whole cities, Acropolis in Athens, Greece is a good example of this. There is a large winding path to Acropolis in which a traveler may encounter multiple other people, and become overwhelmed with the importance of this grand space, followed by the actual entrance itself with towering walls, all part of the porch. The court was the gathering area near the front where there weren’t many buildings, and the hearth was the Parthenon – the large temple built for Athena.

There were many buildings constructed for people, and they were most often dedicated to men who were Pharaohs or rulers. There were also buildings, cathedrals for example, which rose in height in attempt to connect the heavens and the earth, or used a dome shape with a hole in the center to the heavens could always be visible. Of the buildings dedicated to people, the ones which were tallest and spotted the landscape the most were more often for men (such as the temples in Egypt and the towers in Rome), and this is because the height imitated the male form, and was expressing his power. Some buildings were made for women, such a Queen Hatshepsut’s Tomb; it was still a heavy structure, but was more feminine because it centered more on the horizontal, and seemed to be built of the land. The difference between being of the land and on the land was how much its appearance differed from the land, or how much the structure utilized (or didn’t utilize) its entourage. The Romans, for instance, preferred ignore the natural landscape, and cut through and hills or mountains, and attempt to move water. (Roth 250)

The shapes that were first used in architecture were very basic – circles were utilized in Stonehenge, lines were found in Carnac, and triangles were used in Egypt. Each of these shapes would later be improved upon and create more options; a plain circle, for example, was used in later Roman architecture to make domes and even octagonal shapes. The use of squares and rectangles came into play in the Roman Empire as well to create ordered areas of axially disposed buildings (Roth 250). Order was important to the Romans, and they made buildings appear the same on the outside, as well as sit in straight lines.

The section on foundations explained the basic principles that created architecture in its very beginning. The first architects used basic shapes, as well as directional cues to create order and fluidity. Designs from these times are the archetypes of architecture today.