VOICES

-METRIC-

pertaining to the meter or to the metric system (dictionary.com) something working as a system

When referring to metric as a system one can draw an analogy with the baths of the Diocletian. “The basic metric of a bath, linked by water but separated into caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium,” (class handout) Meaning that all of the parts of the baths relate to each other through their purpose and use of water, but all work individually. The caldarium is a room reserved for a hot bath. The tepidarium is a room reserved for__. Lastly the frigidarium being a room reserved for cold baths. All 3 of these areas function on their own but together build a system known together as one thing, the baths, more famously, The Baths of the Diocletian.

-PRECEDENT-

any act, decision, or case that serves as a guide or justification for subsequent situations (dictionary.com)

Almost all things in society have a precedent lying in the past. Many things were built upon ideals of previous and other existing cultures. The early Romans used the Greek culture to build their own society upon. This is evident in many ways such as architecture and religion. “Although there is a paucity of actual pieces of furniture available for study, documentary evidence from literary sources, reliefs, wall paintings, sarcophagi, and marble and bronze parts extend our knowledge about characteristics of Roman furniture. From these sources it is clear that the Romans relied on Greek prototypes of the Hellenistic period for their inspiration,” (Blakemore 61).

-PRESENCE-

immediate vicinity; proximity (dictionary.com)

Presence can be defined in many ways, the one definition I wish to speak upon is proximity. This past week or so in studio we worked on projects that played with a few chosen design words. The project that best fit the word proximity or presence would be Greg Hickman’s proximity bridge. The bridge is built in 3 arched sections that are at varying distances from one another. This demonstrates proximity in the closeness of the pieces. Another way it is shown is in that when you view the model from the top it appears to be a flat single piece but when viewed from the side you see the different pieces working together in a metric to create a place for circulation and passage.

-MOMENTS-

importance or consequence (dictionary.com)

A moment is a place in time. A moment is a piece of art that makes you stop and look. A moment is an important piece of a building. The Hagia Sophia is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now serves as a museum in Istanbul. When looking at this pictures of this building in class I immediately looked to the giant circular decoration pieces around the interior of the dome. These pieces created an important moment within the interior for me.

Much like the decor accenting it, the famed dome of Hagia Sophia creates a more noticeable moment of importance as pointed out by  Spiro Kostof "The dome of Hagia Sophia was not there to mark an object of veneration, as domes did in martyria... the thought of crowning Hagia Sophia with a dome related to the sanctity of the whole building as an earthly analogue to heaven. The visiable universe was concretized in the Byzantine mind as a cube surmounted by a dome." (Roth 275)

-DUALITY-

a dual state or quality (dictionary.com)

Duality was also one of our words from our studio projects. I used many words in my original piece but i really played up the duality of black and white, good and evil, night and day, which was reflected form my creation story. Looking at my project from any angle you can see the form of both sides, you can also see both black and white. The project was built so that it may spin in the wind to help show its duality.

-Wrap Up-

Citations
Metric, Precedent, Duality, Presence, Moments. (2009). Retrieved
February 22, 2009 from Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/

Roth, L.M. (2007). Understanding Architecture, It’s Elements,
History, and Meaning. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Blakemore, R.G. (2006). History of Interior Design& Fruniture,
From Ancient Egypt to Nineteenth-Century Europe, Second Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.