Video Review: Architecture

Classical Architecture

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

• When nations want to express how successful/important they are, or hide failures, they build grandiose monuments which reflect their own aspirations.
• Ancient Greece & Rome are the 2 main historical influences on architecture.
• The Classical style of architecture has been used for over 2,000 years & is still used & adapted to reflect the needs of the times.
• Modern architecture is dwarfing the classical style, with its large skyscrapers, office buildings, & apartment buildings.
• The key concepts of classical architecture are proportion, harmony, balance, & the use of columns.
• Italian Renaissance architecture was a rediscovery of the architectural traditions of Ancient Rome.  
• Inspiration for this came from the Truvius, 10 books on architecture which saw the human body as a measure of all things, & therefore the basis of architectural harmony. 
• Also stated that the body's ratio  symmetries could be inscribed into both a circle & a square which made these shapes sacred.  (ex: Leonardo Da Vinci's drawing "The Truvian man.")
• Historic architecture is duplicated from place to place & applied to the surfaces of new buildings.
• New ways are still being found today to incorporate Classical architecture into buildings.

2. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

This video related to the textbook in just about every way. It tells about the different techniques & structural systems found in architecture & actually showed a lot of the same places shown in the textbook, like the Pantheon & the Pont du Gard.

3. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of Architecture?

This video was really cool. It added to my understanding of Architecture in the fact that it gives more examples than the book did, & I feel it went into a little more depth with the descriptions.  Also, the pictures of the different styles & types of architecture from the film were beautiful & of better quality that the textbook.

4. From the group of four that you had a choice: Why did you choose that film?

I chose this film because Classical architecture has always grabbed my attention.  I loved learning about all the old Ancient Greek buildings in my Foundations of Western Civ class last semester, & this film gave me more of an architectural point of view on these buildings, to add to the historical information I already knew.  

Prairie Style

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

• Frank Lloyd Wright ~ no other architect in history has influenced as much; genius, innovator, name synonymous with American architecture. 
• His houses reflect the time, place, & landscape of which they are built.
• Prairie Style homes: built in early in FLW's career, Chicago suburbs (prairie), wide open horizontal living spaces that blend naturally into surroundings, built in bands of horizontal layering (brick, stone, windows, roof).
• Wanted his houses to "grow out of the land," not destroy it.
• Tried to create natural harmony between client & architecture, & to echo the lines of the surrounding prairie.
• Access to the main door set to create mystic, not always right in the center of the house, created a unique entering experience.  
• FLW rethought the organization of the house, opening up spaces so rooms linked 1 to the next; moved fireplace to the center of the house freeing up the entire outside for windows, which followed the sun around the house in an unrestricted vista.
• Ceiling levels brought down to accentuate horizontal aspects.
• FLW had a commitment to perfection & harmony with nature; his houses were not put on the landscape, but in it as a part of it.
• Each house is unique to its landscape & seem to grow out of the land.

2. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

This video relates the the portion of the text that talks about the purposes of architecture.  Beyond each function, every structure has a particular character or style.  It creates a certain environment within its walls & projects a certain image to the broader environment outside.  FLW's homes do not fall into the definition of "cookie-cutter homes." Each is unique in its style & character, & its functionality is perfect for the location it is in.

3. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of Architecture?

I really liked this film.  It showed so many of FLW's beautiful homes, & gave such detailed descriptions of each, in some cases all the way down to the furniture & why it was chosen, & why it reflects FLW's design idea for the house.  I found his technique of building the houses so that they are one with the surrounding land awesome & inspiring.  I especially loved his use of windows in his homes, & the 1 house that had such amazing landscaping built right into it, with all kinds of water flowing all around it.

    

4. From the group of four that you had a choice: Why did you choose that film?

I chose this film because of the fact that right here in Buffalo we have some of FLW's architecture, so I found this video related to me as a local.  I wanted to learn more about the man that had such a big impact on architecture, not only right here, but all over America.