Unit Summary 10

This final unit allowed the design choices throughout history to be explained. There is a reason for the experience given off, the finishes and furnishing chosen and the representation of the past. A lot of the choices and ideas are explained by the theories. Within a room, the experience given off is what is felt in the room. It is how a person is supposed to behave and feel in the given space. The room below gives off a distinct experience to the person in the space. The amusement park in the picture below uses bright colors, noises, scale, tall roller coasters, geometric lines and many other distinguished features to draw the person into the park to have fun, enjoy their time, and always come back.

Finishes and furnishings within a space are very similar. It is the choices that the designer has chosen to make the spaces feel open, comfortable, homey and finished. Finishes include the shiny floors, the wooden cabinets, the soft pillows, the cushioned couches and much more. The furnishings include the wooden side table, the glass coffee table, the French doors, and the Klismos chair. The home below shows a variety of finishes and furnishings. The finishes include the golden frames, the glass windows and doors and the soft couches. The furnishings are the light curtains, the wooden chair, and the wooden table top in the back.

Representation is similar to the idea of bringing back the old ideas and making them modern. Representation can be seen in the newer buildings that represent the old Greek style architecture. Representation can be the choices made to represent the experience. For an example, my case study, the Salk Institute, represents the science and education that goes on inside the institute and represents the peace and tranquility of the Pacific Ocean. 

The theories we learned about are the reasoning behind why choices are made. One theory spoke about the immediate needs that a person needs to fulfill other needs and how a home or interior space could fulfill those needs (like a security alarm in the house to feel safe). Another theory spoke about how the structure of a home and space remains the same while the design and stuff within the house changes as time goes on (like the paint color on the same house). These theories and representations make an interior space feel the way the designer intended it to feel and give off the impression they intend for the guest.

Putting It Together 3

The first theme is being inspired and moved by the art of the past centuries. People looked into the art of the time and took onto that as the new modern and the look for their interior design piece. Art can bring about things like geometry, color, inspiration from foreign countries and much more to follow and carry into the designs. Art Noveau art becomes a huge impactful feature and was easily transferred into design. They used straight lines or curved and geometric looks based on the art. The art inspiration inspires mostly the objects that are used within the design. Objects such as the furnishing, furniture, and finishes with texture. Art inspires also personal objects and he way they are shaped and seen in the moving pictures where the movies were still in black and white. The picture below shows a scene from a movie with inspiration from art. Art is seen as an inspiration through the buildings. The easiest way that I earned and understood this was looking at the tall building, the Empire State Building, within New York. The tallest building in the world become a focus on straight lines and scale through art and what they saw represented in the art.

Another theme that is talked about in the online lecture is the idea for a good design for all. Designer recognized this idea and realized that different buildings and design give off a different feeling. There are ways to do something differently and can be considered the American Way by Frank Lloyd Wright. Throughout time, designers move around the world and carry their design and ideas and the modern from where they came from. Their ideas are taken to another area or country and adopted there and the same design is done in one place as it was done in another place. In the time period now, it is hard to recognize if it is a modern piece and design or if it is an international idea and design. Some times, they are international from another place because of the designer’s move and sometimes that is taken and made modern. Because of this transfer and change o design, America becomes a big variety of styles and ideas and still to this day we must work to look into what is international or not. For example, there is a Scandinavian design here in the US such as the Dulles Terminal that is shown below made by Saarinen.  

The rise of the interior theme continues and is important to speak about in the online lecture and this post. The first reference is back to the women called the First Ladies of Decorating who helped make homes more modern and designed furniture. The furniture that they made help people see modernism in their homes and interior spaces. This is the beginning of when interior design became a professions and one where the designers work for the people. Designers began to look at what the people wanted and the perspectives of what they wanted to be modern and wanted in a home. Designers and their design choices became interested in what the customers want and envision in their home. Design comes from different people and different views (like well known designers or like the HGTV show Design Star). Some designers live their life through and through and pick design schemes throughout their life. Where a Design Star contestant becomes a designer in one episode and that is all. The picture below shows a well known designer compared to those who were once contestants on Design Star. Which do you recognize as a designer?

The theme of reactions to modernism is a time where people and designers can react to what they feel is modern and what looks like modern to them. These reactions can be considered “post modern” buildings and design. There are buildings that are representative of other cultures or simple international designs. People react to the older and more historical buildings and find how they would react to what was considered the modern look of the time period. An example of these historical reactions of modernism could be looking at the older president’s house and those of older, well-known white men’s homes. Some reactions of modernism are represented through the motifs of a previous building. This could include a Chippendale look, a simple and easily drawn house and any other motifs used previously as the modern look. Technology allowed us to find different ways to build the modern look and have different finishes within the interior design of the modern look and make the reactions to modernism come alive. The way people react to the modern look of the past becomes how people design in the world today. The Salk Institute, my case study, was a result of the theme through the idea of brutalism.

The other theme goes straight after the reactions of modernism and goes into what goes on beyond the modernism ideas. They use new ways to build buildings, new textures, new materials, and new complete modes of modernism. It important to consider the sustainability in the buildings and the way the used are for the environment. Expanded modes and materials are made possible with computers and technology to find ways that the building can be made and be sustainable and safe. Modernism is carried throughout the beginning until the end. Like the shell shown below. The chambered shell is called the and represents that we are carrying a legacy and the beginings of design and where it had begun. Modernisms changes throughout tie and throughout the different cultures but it is carried throughout time and a melting pot of all previous design schemes and designers. We, as designers and those looking at the design, is like the chambered shell and we carry the beginnings with us to the end.

Putting It All Together 2

Light and color became a vital part in making an interior space fit the mood and portray the ideas for the space. Light can give off different look with the use of natural light, artificial light, or the use of both. Color is very helpful in making a space and connecting the elements and the intended ideas for the space. Color can represent and be used for a variety of things because of the variety of color that can be chosen to be used. There is not just red, blue and green, but also thousands of shades of red, and blue, and green individually. Different colors set different moods and feelings based on psychological features. Colors such as red are proven to promote appetite and would be good for dining rooms and colors like green are good for bedrooms because it promotes calm and peaceful feelings. It is said that blue promotes feelings of serene calmness and clear minds. Some think it is a good idea to paint bedrooms walls a soft blue to calm them when it is time for sleep and relaxation. The bedroom shown below in the picture sets a light, airy and calm feeing in the bedroom.

When I think of scale, I first thing of the scale of building compared to humans. The Empire State Building is drastically taller and wider than I am and any other human. To me, scale also relates to proportions and I know that when the scale of something is uneven, it will cause the proportions to be off causing a cramped feeling room or a piece that is out of place But I have come to understand what scale means in the interior design world. Scale is often the height of something and it is compared to the human body. Chairs are tall or short compared to those who plan to sit in it and coffee table and are a certain height based on where they will fit into the design of the space. This directly relates to our past study of anthropometrics and the way things are designed to work successfully and directly to the people who are going to use them. The small dining set below show the scale in two different ways. The table was made to be in proportion to a person standing next to it and was made in proportion to the seats and height of the chairs that the people could sit in.

Another theme that was seen a lot in this class and was focused on in these lectures is more specific. This is a theme of using the environment around them as a key part in their design. This is seen in Italy in the Venezia and the City of Floating Stone.  There is water surrounded all over the area and the water is of importance to those living in the city. I assume it is called the floating city because many of the buildings and other architecture pieces are giving off the look that they are floating. There are many canals that look like snakes and waterways throughout the landscapes and designs. Italy adapted to what they had around their building and included that in their design plans. I think this is a a theme of using what’s around so that the space feels complete and together as one. When watching this lecture and trying to understand this as a theme, I thought of the local Botanical Gardens from where I am from. When the building and architecture is around water, they adapt to that and allow places for boats. When the buildings are around nature and flowers, they have architecture pieces surround nature.

When we discussed Andrea Palladio in lecture and when we reviewed it in this past online lecture, I remember hearing about his design use in the Villa Rotunda. When people use the rotunda circle in architecture now a days, it is keeping with the Palladio theme. When I saw the Villa Rotunda in the shown pictures, I notices the rounded, curved and dome-like shape of the ceiling and roof on the architecture building. I immediately thought of the US Capitol building in Washington DC. I imagine that the Villa Rotunda was designed first and that the theme of te rounded roof and ceiling continued into the US in their famous buildings. The inside of the building also shows the circle rotunda and attention is drawn to the shape of the ceiling by painting on it or using design elements to draw the viewer’s eyes up. The big difference in the two buldings is that the Villa Rotunda has the same look and design on every side of the building: the north, south, east, and west side. The picture below shows the rotunda theme continued onto the US CAitol building design plans and onto the famous building.

Another theme that was seen in lecture and discussed in the latest video lecture is the use of glass. The teacher mentions that it was mostly used and seen in the church buildings but later made its way into residential interior designs. It was once used only in spaces of significant meaning and people and those who were more rich and higher in status. Windows were seen up high in castles, long windows seen in churches, and windows of more shape and color start to be used more. When thought of, glass used in churches often is stained glass windows which would show and paint the idea and stories of religious times and would play off the natural light that would go through the window. This is an example of when boundaries were pushed and the rules were broken. Big, open windows are now often used in residence homes to bring in natural light rather than relying on artificial light. Windows would be used in the doors and would end up being called French doors which are used often today. The set of French doors shown in the home below bring in light.