Hidden Faces

Identities of Companies

Key concepts that people commonly confuse is the image of a company and the identity of a company. The image of a company is how the company would like to be seen in the customers eyes which most of the time is never how it actually is and the identity is the reality of what the company offers or gives. The identity is crucial in the design/architectural world because your reputation is what you have. You want to be known to be efficient and not problematic. Then the customers will spread the word around that this company is true and was very easy to work with. If you have a good image but don't live up to it then you problem won't succeed as a business/company because people won't come to you for work. Plus a good identity will help you by having people to come you instead of bidding on jobs or entering competition.

Scavenger Hunt

Clue number 1: Barcelona Chair by Mies Van der rohe. The story behind the chair is in 1929, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was asked by the German Republic to design a location for the 1929 International Exposition. This happened to be held in Barcelona, Spain, hence the that is where the barcelona chair got its name. Mies van der Rohe wasn't the lonely mind on this project, him and his partner Lilly Reich, collaborated to create these unique furnishings. The chair then became manufactured throughout Europe and the United States but then Mies van der Rohe ceded the rights of the chair to Knoll, who then trademarked the Barcelona name.

Clue number 2: Corbusier Cow Hide Chaise Lounge. The Cow Hide Chaise Lounge was originally designed in 1928 by Le Corbusier. The chair is a classic iconic design piece that was stunning for its time because its frames happened to be made of chromed steel, a new technique for its time. The magazine i am reading is called ICON. ICON is an architectural and design magazine. Every month ICON interviews the most exciting designers and architects and visits some of the new architectural buildings and talks about their concepts or techniques. Its, "Whats happening in today's Architectural and Design World."

Clue number 3: This building is The Wexner Center and it was designed by Peter Eisenman. Something interesting about this building is that this building was built on Columbus' grid not Ohio States grid so the building's grid is off. Also the Wexner Center is located on the old Armory. Eisenman wanted to incorporate this so he built a steeple on the corner so it resembled the old armory. Recently the Wexner Center has had water problems but hopefully that's fixed for good.

Clue number 4: This is the Mathematics Tower designed by Philip Johnson. This building is made from millions of bricks and that is how he wanted it, he wanted to resemble the "old" feeling of a building and tie it into the surrounding older buildings.This building also has many arches (as pictured) to resemble an older structure since the arch was the strongest method of building back in the Roman days.

Clue number 5: This is Thompson Library which was designed by Acock and Associates. What's unique about Thompson Library is that is is a collective architectural building meaning it was built in three phases: the original, a Second Italian Renaissance Revival Style Structure opened in 1913 then the 14 level stacks tower with wings and pavilions was added and completed in 1951 and finally a modernist addition to the west, completed in 1977 by Acock and Associates.

Universal Design

Many people go around day to day not noticing problems veiled everywhere. Humans want a world that is comfortable and functional no matter whatever physical limitations. That is universal design and universal design aims to create products and environments usable by all people without the need for adaptation or specialized design. Just because some product works well for you doesn't mean it works well for everyone. As a designer you want to make whatever product you are working on as universal as possible that way the product is more effective. Also you want to make this product equitable meaning you want to produce designs appealing to and usable by people with diverse abilities, but of course you don't want to segregate or stigmatizing anyone. That's hard because society has a wide range of preferences and skills. These principles appear to be common sense but still many products and homes aren't user friendly. This usually is because designers think of interesting solutions to these  user friendly problems and the solution is not cost efficient, so achieving universal design objectives requires even more creative thought and often more initial investment. It would be in the governments best interest, from societies stand point, to push for laws requiring universal design, even if it is going to cost them more money.

Ivan Sutherland

In this post modernism age, one of the most influential inventions in the design and art world would be the autoCAD program and the different variances with it. The man behind this invention was an American Electronics Engineer/Computer Scientist named Ivan Edward Sutherland. Sutherland was one of the first people to write a computer program, although it was 12 bits of memory, it was the first step to success. While obtaining his Ph.D. he developed his thesis, "Sketchpad: A Man-made Graphical Communications Systems.", the first graphical user interface. He imagined that people should be able to draw precise lines on the computer. Not only did he do this he also made it so you could zoom in and out. Unlike designs or art from the era before everything had to be done by hand. With the computer you could make perfect, straight lines in a blink of an eye and you could manipulate that line in ways you couldn't do with the hand. And if you messed up you wouldn't have to start over or erase you could simply undo the process. Thanks to Ivan Sutherland's "Sketchpad" technology, the CAD program and photoshop programs have enabled us to design unimaginable things to the past designers and who knows where this will take us 

Sources:

Rheingold, H.  Virtual reality. Harvill Secker, 1991

Markoff, J. Computing pioneer challenges the clock. Computing, 2001

Le Corbusier

One of the most well known architects from the Modernist age would have to be Le Corbusier. He was a French architect who designed: Villa Fallet, Villa Schwab, Villa Plesch, Pavillon de l'Esprit, Villa Meyer,, Maison Cook, Maison Pllaneix, Villa Church, Villa Stein-de Monzie, Salon d'Automme, Villa Baizeauz, and many more buildings. Le Corbusier came into the spotlight because of his Plan Libre concept. His plan had faith in the industry, remember he was around during the time of the industrial revolution. Because of the industrial revolution he believed that items and frame work should be industrialized. He also believed that architecture, in contrast to the production of utilitarian household goods, belongs to the realm of art. He rejected decoration in the applied arts and like Loos, Corbusier placed  utilitarian objects outside the sphere of art, in the realm governed by the laws of technical and commercial evolution. Le Corbusier was also known for his theory of 5 points and form. The 5 points of would be concentrated on column, roof garden, free plan, ribbon window, and free facade. The theme was very abstract and had a strong horizontal influence. The buildings he designed were very square like todays office buildings and stretched horizontal. He was the first real successful person to incorporate this.

sources:

Risselada, Max. Raumplan Versus Plan Libre: Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier. 010 Publishers, Rotterdamn, 2008.

Blake, P.  Le Corbusier, architecture and form. Penguin Books. 1964

Art or Design Survey

in this survey, i asked 10 random people (5 females and 5 males) in my classes to fill out the questionnaire that asked if they considered (architecture, graphic design, interior spaces, painting/drawing, and product design) an art or a design. The black is a design answer and the gray is an art answer.

Adolf Loos

One of the most influential architects that isn't as well known as Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright would have to be Adolf Loos. He is considered a Modernist architect because he was from the Modernism age. Some of his most recognized works would be: Steiner House, Stroessel House, Horner House, Scheu House, Strasser House, Villa Konstandt, Rufer House, Chicago Tribune Tower, Villa Stross, Villa Moissis, Villa Plesch, Tzara House, Moller House, Wurfel House, Moller House, just to name a few. I'd like to talk about the Moller House. The house looks like a box from the outside but the inside is flawless. Loos used his concept of raumplan in this house. Raumplan was his style of design where the co-ordination of interior space and external form has a dialect quality. Comfort in space is related in both intimacy and control. Loos was designing in a time of radical change. The industrial revolution was taking place and the life of the average man or woman was changing. Loos wanted to show this radical difference between the inside and outside or exterior social life and interior realm of inalienable. The form of Loos was the connection of vertical and horizontal aspects. Material usage set the environment and how these aspects were ordered was very unique, especially for the time period. Loos wrote an essay about the ornamentation of this form. In the essay, Ornament and Crime, Loos's "passion for smooth and precious surfaces" informs his expressed philosophy that ornamentation can have the effect of causing objects to go out of style and thus become obsolete. It struck him that this was a crime to waste the effort needed to add ornamentation, when the ornamentation would cause the object to soon go out of style. Loos introduced a sense of the "immorality" of ornament, describing it as "degenerate", its suppression as necessary for regulating modern society. Yet despite the striking simplicity of his exteriors, Loos' interiors were decorated comfortably, using beautiful materials and elegant details. The "Raumplan" concept, designing continuous spaces for living rather than regularly divided floors with limited flexibility. 

 This picture is one of the interior spaces in the Moller House. It shows how Loos intertwined the vertical and horizontal aspects. It also shows you the difference in floor height. Loos's "Raumplan" was known for that.

 Loos used the simplicity of the exterior to create an added effect to the interior. The exterior was just a solid block with not many windows and this created a mood in the interior environment.

 This photo is the front of the Moller House. For the time period this house was made this was very unique and still is. Simple exterior, innovative interior.

This is another interior photo of the Moller House. He utilized the differentiating floor for chairs or book cases. It also creates this ornament that connects the horizontal and vertical aspects of the interior.

Sources:

Risselada, Max. Raumplan Versus Plan Libre: Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier. 010 Publishers, Rotterdamn, 2008.

Loos, A. (1908). Ornament and Crime. Innsbruck, reprint Vienna, 1930.

Course Reflection: The Design Process

What caught my attention in class was the design process. In the Abc broadcast they did a special on the design of the usual shopping cart. The method they went by to solve the problems the shopping cart has was pretty interesting. They studied the problems the shopping cart has and around 8 or so people came up with there solution to a problem then they all combined and collaborated on these ideas. They end product was pretty effective from the design stand point. I think this is what all designers should do. A group of people from all different backgrounds can create intriguing ideas that some few designers might not come up with.

Reading Reflection: Chapters 4-6

Personally i think the most important part about design is communication. If you can facilitate communication you will get the message across as efficient as possible. Without communication we wouldn't be able to build off of the previous designs and learn from the pass. The absence of this basic knowledge in design is one of the greatest problems. If you are trying to communicate, lets say, an action such as stopping at an intersection. You would want to make that object/sign to be a as facilitated to grasp as possible because you don't want them to process the sign slowly and by the time they get the message its too late and they are in the intersection. So a lot of thought has to go into design to get the message across, communicate with the intended user.

Pattern Photos

 This photo is an old photo i had from the summer. The pattern is the metal frame from the fire cage but i like how the flame in the background sets a mood and illuminates the pattern.

 This photo is from my architecture class. We were to divide a cube into halves and then thirds. I think this picture is interesting when you really look at the wood sticks and try to follow them.

 This photo above is from my cousins lego box. I like how the circles create a pattern and how they create lines vertically in the picture. I know the color is bland but pattern is key in this picture.

 This picture was taken when i was in my physics class. It is some intertwining metal like chain mail. I like this pattern because the background is red and when you look at the metal straight on the view is red then if you look at it from an angle its all metal like you see.

 I took this photo when i was looking at a place to stay for next year. The stairs caught my eyes because the wood creates lines horizontally and the railing also creates a pattern.

This photo is an old photo i had from my architecture class. The glass creates this movement that makes your eyes follow around in a circle.

Pattern Photos

 To describe the photo from above i wanted to take a picture of a pattern that also shows some other type of dimension or aspect to it. If you look you can see the reflection in the glass of the sun going down. I took this photo while walking downtown.

 This photo is a picture a brick pattern from some building on campus. I wanted to frame a pattern so i took the photo through a bike rack.

 This photo is from this giant flag near my house. I liked how the pattern is in a spiral. It shows a sort of kinetics to it and draws your eye to the center.

The photo above is from this restaurant in downtown columbus. I also liked how the glass which is a pattern also showed a reflection. This reflection is gloomy and that is why i like it. 

Course Reflection: What do Designers Do?

We were asked the question, what do designers do? The answer the class came up with was designers create and provide solutions to problems through use of a systematic process. I think this is a pretty accurate statement. But I also think this is a pretty general statement since there are many types of designers. Just to name a couple, you have industrial designers who are more product related, you also have interior space designers who are more concentrated on the looks and functions of interior spaces, you also have visual designers who are more concentrated with graphics with multimedia, you also have architects who design exterior spaces and looks of buildings, etc. So design is everywhere and so it is hard to come up with an exact definition. One general rule all designers no matter of what is that the form should always follow function. If you don't go by this room then someone is going to have to design your design because it wouldn't be practical or functional to say the least.

Reading Reflection: Chapters 1-3

What is design? if you were to ask this to random people every answer would be different. The book, "Design: A Very Short Introduction" definition of design is the human capacity to shape and make our environment in ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives. Not much in nature is left that hasn't been rendered or manipulated to benefit humans or make our day-to-day life easier. With design, choices come with responsibility. Also meaning that design can be evaluated by effect to benefit ratio.  The world as we know it today didn't just come about out of nowhere. The history of design is quite stifling if you really take a look at it. Design manifested itself in a variety of ways. I believe the first thing humans designed would have to be the hand. Instead of digging a hole with the hand why not design a tool to replicate this. Or also drinking from your hand. why not make an object out of a carved out rock to make drinking easier. Forms were adopted by intention or accident. The key that really got design going was the ability to communicate or language. Language is the key to further development. Language is a way to express the thoughts of your mind to other individuals. Then once individuals became settled in specific areas design changed from utilization for survival to competition for government and individual wealth. Design factored into class implications and mass production which then led to modernism and post modernism or from simplicity to information age. A key concept to design is that form should always follow function. Once function follows form then the design isn't implicated to anything other than art so then design wouldn't be the definition of design.

Reading Reflection: Sustainable Design

Solar panel installation has risen in the past years because of break throughs in product and efficiency of the solar panels. That being said the article "Are regenerative Solar Panels the Wave of the Future" caught my eye. Recently scientists at M.I.T. have developed microscopic solar cells which imitate regenerative process that plants use during photosynthesis.Could this be the way of the future? The article talks about how these microscopic solar cells are more efficient at absorbing sun light and turning it into usable energy and they are smaller then recent solar panels.

http://www.articlecity.com/articles/environment_and_going_green/article_939.shtml

Design in my opinion is heading in the "Go Green" direction. This means self-sustainable buildings, environment friendly products, reusable materials, energy efficient products, and much more. Why not use the sun which comes out everyday and is free energy? Why not harness the sun and use it to create energy like plants do? I believe this could be crucial to the economy. If more people are saving money on energy bills they will have more money to spend other where. This article interested me because I believe that sustainable housing is the next big thing. Nature is sustainable and regenerative so why not mimic nature to produce a sustainable building that could exist without human interaction.

Course Reflection: What to get out of DSGN 200?

What i would like to get out of the design 200 class? Well to start off i would like to try to understand the design process in society, like how to design something and get that design made. I would also like to learn about the past design history because history fascinates me. I am an architect student so it helps to learn other peoples approaches at designing.

Journal 01: Introduction

Hello everyone,
To start off i would like to introduce myself; my name is Ben D. I am from a small town called Huron which is on Lake Erie. I am currently trying to major in architecture and also trying to get a major in construction management. I am an outgoing guy and always keep an open mind.