In the science-fiction short story “And He Built a Crooked House” by Robert A. Heinlein, a mathematically inclined architect named Quintus Teal constructs a house based on the unfolded net of a tesseract in order to save on real estate costs. However, to Teal’s dismay, an earthquake occurs the night before he shows a friend the house, and the house had fallen through a section of space and seemingly had been shaken into an actual tesseract. Despite its mathematical basis, “And He Built a Crooked House” is a quality example of science-fiction.
Common sense provides that multidimensional compactification simply does not exist within our observable reality, not to mention a human capable of constructing a house complete with the incomprehensible
Gehry draws his inspiration from famous paintings such as the Madonna and Child which he qualifies as a “strategy for architecture” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 42) and which he used as an inspiration for a project in Mexico . Through his interpretation of the paintings and artwork, Gehry looked for a new kind of architecture. His search for a new type of architecture culminated in 1978 with his own house in Santa Monica. What was once a traditional Californian house would be redesigned to become one of the most important and revolutionary designs of the 20th century, giving Gehry international prestige and fame. Frank Gehry’s “Own House” uses a mixture of corrugated metal, plywood, chain link and asphalt to construct a new envelope for an existing typical Californian house. This house has been inspired by Joseph Cornell, Ed Moses and Bob Rauschenberg. Gehry comments on his house by saying that there was something “magical” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 54) about it. He admits having “followed the end of his [my] nose” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 54) when it came to constructing the “new” house, which led Arthur Drexler, former Director...
He suggests that the use of “electronic imaging prevents imagining and promotes thinking about architecture rather than bring architects, contractors, clients and critics to think within architecture” (275). Inspired by Frascari, the strategy of technography is encouraged (278). This is a “different way of thinking about the relationship between a [working] drawing and a future building. Rather than “simply Cartesian, technical lines showing edges, corners and joints these technographic drawings reveal both the symbolic and instrumental representations of the future building.. it is to make visible what is invisible”. Ridgway remarks, “The fact that any of this could be considered contentious indicates that extent to which architects have become alienated from the heart of their profession” (279). He asserts, “Part of any technography must be an acknowledgement of the historical context of construction knowledge. This is not only so we can better understand our rich architectural ancestry, but because it re-establishes a connection with the origins of our profession in building” (279). Rather than a “miniature projected representation of an imagined building, details are drawn as poetic constructions themselves, following the logic of drawing and not building and representing the “built detail symbolically, in addition to instrumentally. The symbolic and practical are one and the same thing” (280). “What are the symbolic qualities we are trying to embody in our buildings and how would we represent them in drawings?” becomes the question (278). These drawing “may not be easy or straightforward to understand or interpret.
Frank Lloyd Wright is widely known and is considered to be America’s greatest architect. He is considered, in the eyes of many, to be the most consequential American architect of the 20th century. “Strongly individualistic, flamboyant, and arrogant, Wright designed and built more than four hundred structures that reflect his architectural genius. Directly and indirectly, he heavily influenced twentieth century architecture with his diverse use of geometry in his designs” (Eisenman).
The House of the Seven Gables written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that engages the reader in an intricate love story that blends history and a fanciful ancestry. Hawthorne stays true to the Romantic era’s convections through his detailed development of the plot. Through his writing, the reader can capture the emotions, morality and motives of each character. Although Hawthorne writes in the romantic style, he does not fail to go against the social norms with the plot. He defines the normal roles of women and he emphasizes the role of wealth in society. Furthermore he asserts his opinions on issues that were prevent in that time, such as, racism, slave emancipation and Jim Crow. The story was not created to just provide a creative love
As soon as Europeans brought Africans to America to be slaves, the Africans were seen as an inferior race. Their inferiority meant they did not deserve the same rights as the white people they belonged to, nor did they deserve to be treated as people. These African Americans worked hard as slaves and were viewed as a physically capable race, so when slavery was abolished in the South, whites saw these capabilities as a threat and were frightened by the African Americans. Whites let their fear of African American strength run wild, thus the beginning of racial stereotypes. African Americans were also seen as a lesser species because of their skin color and people began to treat them differently solely because of that reason, beginning the racial
In “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the death of Madeline and Roderick Usher represents the ending of something, and in this specific case, the ending of a generation. Throughout the story, it is made very clear that Madeline and Roderick are the last living people of the Usher generation. Roderick Usher explicitly states on page four, “‘Her decease,’ he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, ‘would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers.’” Therefore, when they both die at the end, it is clear that it is the end of a generation. The ending of their generation creates a depressing and serious feeling through this story due to the fact that the Usher’s will be no more.
With our world progressing so quickly in science and technology it is fascinating to look back at the literature that was the inspiration for these advances. It is strange that this genre, filled with such outlandish plot lines and characters, could influence the real world. In a way it’s beautiful. When these brilliant minds of mankind are able to grab an idea from the fictional world and work together to make it a reality. For hundreds of years, people have dreamed of what they thought to be impossible but to quote Star Trek, “Things are only impossible until their not.”
It was the highlight of my trip visiting the Gaudi structures that had now been turned into museums. These attractions were scattered throughout the city of Barcelona (and some not too far away in less populated areas), but most were within easy traveling distance from each other. We'd have a Gaudi destination everyday, since there was so much to absorb with each one. I observed that Gaudi used mathematics extensively in his structures, and was inspired by shapes that often appear in nature, such as soap bubbles, and his surroundings such as the wavy rock drippings of Montserrat. One museum even showed the design concept of the Sagrada Família - a series of chains suspended over a mirror. Looking into the mirror, I was able to see the shape of the church. This was one example of how Gaudi found design inspiration.
“In the Cause of Architecture” is an essay written by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908. In this work, Wright outlines many of his architectural values. This text goes into great detail about the philosophy behind Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture, as well as many important milestones in his life, such as working for Adler and Sullivan. This text is useful because it comes straight from Frank Lloyd Wright himself. It talks about many things important to his role as a notable American, such as his influences for his architecture and his architectural
In picture two you can see the different sections of this building. You can see how the sections help organize the library. For example, most of the people feel safe being on the outside edges because they don 't like being the center of attention. This shape of a building helps these people feel better by adding the amount of space there is on the outside. In this same picture, we see how the different rooms of the building have a rectangular geometric shape. This is because the architect wanted to be the most efficient with the space he had. Finally in this picture, we are able to see how the reading room has the most amount of volume because it’s the activity most people go to the library for. These are the few reasons why I determined that in this building the social activities created the volume and geometry of the
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield uses the word “phony” prolifically, using it to describe anything that hits the wrong side of his fancy. Despite Caulfield’s insistence that he hates phoniness, he himself often puts up a false front in various situations. As we will see, Caulfield’s view that most people are liars and fakes expresses disgust not with individual people but with himself and with life as a whole as well as a slightly nostalgic idealization of his memories.
For instance, highly populous and famous cities such as Oslo, New York, Alexandria, and San Francisco hold some of the important architecture projects that have shaped individuals’ lives. Reporter David Owen, in his New Yorker article “Psychology of Space”, argues how the architecture firm Snøhetta utilizes their magic through their projects to build people’s moods, shape their relationships with cities, buildings and other individuals, and create illusions with exhilarating effects. The author’s argument is rhetorically compelling because his arrangement of ideas, selection of words, and supporting evidence maintain his public engaged in the magic of architecture and persuade anyone reading his article that architecture plays a critical role in their lives in numerous
An architect’s goal is to design appropriately to the time. In the mid to late twentieth century post-modernist such as Venturi found the purism and oversimplification of modernism lacking. Venturi recognized that the world is not simple in nature, but full of complexity and contradictions. Post-modernists aim for an implicit richness of meaning through complexity and contradiction rather than an oversimplified blatant clarity of meaning. A building is basically comprised of a variety of paradoxes, such as outdoor and indoor, primary spaces and secondary space and so on. In Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Robert Venturi states that “Blatant simplification means bland architecture” and elaborates on the necessity of complexity and contradiction architecturally appropriate for modernity (Venturi, 25).
In conclusion, Wright had successfully break through his vision of destructing a rigid boxy style of 19th century architecture and refined his idea of what a house should look like; to be in a harmony with nature. As been described earlier, with plenty of technical problems, he acknowledged young architects; even a house needs constant attentions (Stungo, N., 1999). Wright’s ideal of bringing human closer to the nature had inspired many architects until today, Wright to his students “Falling water is one of the great blessing to be experienced”. In point of fact, admirers of him never stop praised of his works; Cliff Hickman passionately said “I had never before seen anything so beautiful … Over and over I came back to look at the photograph of Fallingwater, the most illustrious of all Frank Lloyd Wright architectural masterpieces” (Hickman, C., n.d).
Architecture has been known as the product of aesthetics, structure, and function that serves to address social needs, resolve environmental and humanitarian problems through built form. Architecture not only shelters, but also has the ability to consolidate boundaries within our society. It realizes the role by physically defining space and by imposing its symbolic, representative meaning onto our living environment. As Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “Architecture immortalizes and glorifies something”. Indeed, architecture must be documentary and didac...