Opus: Road Trip

Roots. Roots are the source or provider of growth for a particular being. Plant life grows and remains thriving due to the roots which hold them into the ground. Plant’s roots provide the plant with nutrients, the necessities to keep maturing and thriving. The plant differs in appearance than the root itself, while also maintaining the branch-like structure similar to that of its roots. The nineteenth century architecture developed based on the structural and ornamental appeals of architecture’s roots. The nineteenth century designers referred back to times in history and were inspired by historical forms to create a more modern design while still appealing to the historical aesthetics. The main historical forms that composed the roots of the nineteenth century plant were the Greek and Roman Classicism, Gothic, and Egyptian designs as well as art forms. These designs inspired the nineteenth century designers, yet the pieces of the nineteenth century were slightly more modern. Like the plant looking different in appearance from its roots, so did architecture of the nineteenth century. This “informed and selective borrowing of historical building forms and details rooted in associationalism (Roth 470)” was known as eclecticism. Eclecticism was the plant/ tree which thrived from the roots of historical design. Roth mentions that the idea of eclecticism was rooted in associationalism as well, in other words, the designers of the nineteenth century chose their historical form to pull from in relation to the building type. Roth explains that classicism was associated with “governmental and commercial buildings (481)” while Gothic was associated with “religious and educational (481)” forms. Greek and Roman structure gives the audience a sense of authority and power, which would explain why they used the style for political and economic sources; the two which depict a nation’s power. Roth also says that the Egyptian style was associated with “funerary buildings, gates to cemeteries, medical schools, jails and prisons because of the massiveness of construction (482).” Eclecticism itself also branches out, much like that of a tree. Synthetic, creative, academic, and romantic national eclecticism were the branches of this form of design to modernize the root, historical designs.
I also found that the late 18th century and early 19th century forms, which entailed the Art Nouveau form, brought about a form of design which encompassed the significance of line. Through the use of line, I feel that in many of the designs of this time, an essence of organic forms is created, often looking like roots to me. I was looking at the picture on page 513 in Roth and observed that the room in Casa Mila with the curving lines in the iron and the walls, ceilings, and floors, and I felt an essence of roots. The column to me visually gave me a sensation of organic, root-like feel.



Congruence. When I first hear the term congruence, I think of geometry and triangles. In geometry shapes are congruent if they are the same shape and same size. Dictionary.com also said that congruence is “agreement, harmony, conformity, or correspondence.” I found that definition intriguing personally, I hadn’t realized congruence could also mean that. During the time of eclecticism, there was a desire to refer to historical forms and design. Eclecticism at one point focused on “archaeological accuracy (Roth 472).” Much like the definition of being the same shape and size, the goal of this point in eclectic design was to make everything accurately like its prototype. Roth continues on this on page 472 when he says designers made “sure the entasis of a column was exactly like that of its prototype, the curve of a capital was correct, the number of cusps on a Gothic finial was faithful, the arrangement of tracery of a Perpendicular Gothic window was authentic, or the inclination of the battered wall of an Egyptian pylon was right.” During the time of revivalism, congruence was extremely significant. I feel that the the nineteenth century in general was a time of congruence; I feel the goal was to create designs that were similar to historic designs, but mostly to create a sense of harmony in design. Through association, it seemed as though there were agreements as to which form of design suited which structure.



Concept. Referring back to the plant and roots, I feel that the plant or tree itself would be the concept. To me, a concept is a central idea or form to which certain sources created the idea. The roots created the tree. History created the nineteenth century concept of design. I feel the concept of design for the nineteenth century was eclecticism. The desire to go back to historic references in the design world brought about the growth of the eclectic idea. There were different branches of eclecticism, yet the concept or the central idea was the same. Thefreeonlinedictionary.com defined concept as “a general idea derived or inferred from specific instances or occurrences.” That definition clearly describes the eclectic form of design. Revivalism also was a concept, a concept to which congruence was key. On page 469, Roth quotes Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc “’Must the nineteenth century, then, come to a close without ever possessing an architecture of its own?’” The concept of referring to the past and using historic sources appeared as though the nineteenth century lacked in progression as far as its own forms of design, yet out of this century came eclecticism. I feel eclecticism embodies the nineteenth century concept of design, which then would be a form of its own.



Materiality. Materials for building were changing during the nineteenth century. Construction was becoming more of an ease, mass production sped up construction time, and concrete, metal, and glass helped take architectural forms to new heights.
Metal + Glass + Concrete = Vertical
With the introduction of iron and steel, the constructions of massive buildings were possible. Mass production of glass brought about the ability to change the aesthetic of a building. The Crystal Palace, a structure of mass scale which was possible through iron, was made of glass. This brought about an organic feel, a relation to nature which hadn’t been known. These new materials also brought with them the train system, large public buildings, and greenhouses.
Materials also brought about the development of the high rise office buildings in the United States. Through the discovery found by William Jenney, these materials allowed construction to go vertical. Jenney was constructing the Home Insurance Office Building in Chicago where he “decided to use and iron skeletal frame, not only on the inside but in the exterior walls as well (Roth 506).” The use of iron framework acting as the skeletal system of a building reduced the weight of the building, which allowed construction to reach new heights, literally. The ease to which the materials of the nineteenth century brought construction led to the growth of the design world to verticals and no longer only horizontal.


Compression: Release. Compression is created through the addition of outside pressure pushing inward. Release is to free something from confinement, to give leeway. Since the form of the dome, compression and release have been used in architecture as a mode to sustain the firmness of a building. During the late nineteenth century and the development of the skyscraper, Jenney created the method of construction involving the iron skeletal system. Through the use of the skeletal system, “iron and steel frames reduced the total weight of these office blocks by half or more (Roth 507).” The iron skeletal system consisted of the compression of the exterior and interior forms against iron and steel structures throughout the building, which in turn releases as Roth mentioned about half of the pressure on the structure itself which would be inflicted by weight. Compression and release work together to make building vertically possible without concerns of how much weight the structure can withstand. For my P.A. project, I am doing the Georgia Dome, which also uses such Compression and Release principles to enable firmness. The dome was created based on a tensegrity cable system to which through compression, or pressure on some areas and releasing pressure in other areas enables the dome to remain stable without having large columns throughout the structure holding the dome up. The four round corners of the structure are the most crucial areas to which compression and release are used to provide stability.



The road trip unit was fairly easy for me to understand, I felt like I got slightly more than the gist of this unit. I was interested in the development and construction of the skyscraper. I liked how much of the prompts this week related to each other, it helped me to make connections. I am a visual learner, so it helped me to comprise the terms into a picture of a tree in order to describe the nineteenth century designs. The nineteenth century’s effect on the design world was the development of eclecticism, skyscrapers, new building forms, massive scales.