Architecture and Design: Week 1: Post 1

Intersession
Architecture and Design
Audie Santos
1/8/13

Jan. 8th, 2013

 Our teacher Rafael has been doing a very good job of teaching  Architecture and Design and explaining himself and the ideas of Architecture to us.Yesterday, we watched a documentary on the Siza School of Architecture. The school is located in Porto, Portugal. The buildings are somewhat concealed behind the trees yet revealing only narrow views of the school. The buildings were designed so that the old trees would be removed making it seem that the school grew with the trees. The four towers of the school are located by a river bank so that it projects serenity to the students learning inside. The staff buildings are near the noisy motor way. There is an underground pathway that connects the administrative buildings to the towers. In the towers, the windows are vertical slits large enough to see all of the outside and to let in light.

Sunlight is arced through an architecturally designed curve to project reading light in the library. In the hallway it seems as if the light were coming out of the wall. The sunlight is manipulated so that it projects this way. The roof is actually glass and there are false ceilings and walls to reflect the light to create this illusion.

This helped inspire an idea on what our buildings should for the mini-projects. We have a mini-project  that we do daily after watching a documentary. At the end, Rafael introduced us with a large project that should be completed by the end of the month with our table-mates. In our project we are supposed to design another Summit program school. We had to decide between using Gilroy or San Fransisco to place the school. Naturally my table partners and I chose Gilroy, because it offered less distractions to its students, where as the San Fransisco location was located next to the SF International Airport and Highway 101. Seeing as there weren't that many roads leading to the SF build site, we figured the traffic would be momentous. So we set our eyes and school on Gilroy. After the decision, we began the map and placement of buildings on the campus.

Jan. 9th, 2013

Today Rafael started us off with the normal morning presentation and then began to introduce the 3 elements of architecture. Such as Utilitas, Firmitas, and Venustas. It means utility firmness and attractiveness. Today's architectural theme was Utilitas. The documentary was on the  BauHaus in Germany which was created on 1919 by Walter Gropius. BauHaus translated from German into "Building House". The school itself was a school of art, architecture, and design. Ironically the complex itself is a work of art and architectural creativity, much like the  Siza School of Portugal. Like the Siza School, it offered a complex building placement that secluded yet made the students interact with each other.

 In the BauHaus the strength of the building is supported by large pillars located on near the edge of the inside of the building. The steel frames on the outside of the building support the "glass curtain walls". The stairs are not rectangular at all but in a spiraling fashion. During the day, the windows along the stairwell almost illuminate the whole thing. If the sun over the eastern wing does not hit the normal window panels there are extended windows arching over the roof to get the afternoon sunshine. A row of glass windows that are constructed in such a way that they can be opened and closed by mechanical use of a pulley.

On the inside of the building, the theater uses minimal lighting through the use of the metal reflectors located above the lights. On the stage, the lights only hit the actors or stage performers by blocking the light from the audience with the use of an extended wall from the ceiling. For the furniture, the BauHaus minimizes the use of chairs in work spaces by having the students work on the floor so that their work space is larger. There are chairs in places where they are required such as the cafeteria, and theater. The chairs that are used are made of aluminum tubes and a seat, without the back to support one's back making it lightweight.

On the outside of the dormitories, the BauHaus features outward balconies for students to use for social and viewing purposes. On the roof of the dormitory is a flat space for students to use for social encounters and what not. As stated above the school was made so that people would maximize contact with each other.