[POINT : THEORY]

Some key ideas that are very important to know are:

-        Architecture is the art form we inhabit.

-        Architecture design is symbolic.

-        We consider the totality of the built environment.

-        Form of dialogue with the past and future.

-        Buildings and objects are conscious reflective acts.

Some things that we should consider are:

-        Light

-        Color

-        Materials

-        Furnishings

-        Fourth dimension

-        Third dimension

-        Inside and outside

     A designer should have a BALANCE between practice and theory to be successful. You should be able to produce (draw/design) and be able to talk about your work to back up any ideas and drawings. PRACTICE is “the continuous and regular exercise of employment where manual work is done with only necessary materials according to the design of the drawing.”  THEORY is “the ability to demonstrate and explain the production of dexterity on principles of proportion.”

Vitruvius also said that to be a good designer you need to master all of the following:

-        Geometry

-        History

-        Philosophy

-        Music

-        Medicine

-        Order

-        Eurhythmics

-        Property

-        Economy

-        Medicine

Medicine doesn’t necessarily mean anatomy, biology and chemistry, what he means by medicine is that you must be able to determine how location will affect a building.

Vitruvius played such an important role in this section of the course because we went on to talk about The Elements of Architecture. As described by Vitruvius, the elements of architecture are utility, firmness and beauty. Which later on, in the seventeenth century, it was modified by Sir Henry Wotton.  He said, “In architecture, as in all operative arts, the end must direct the operations. The end is to build well. Well building hath three conditions: commodity, firmness and delight.” What this is suggesting is that a building must be functional, have a solid foundation and be appealing to the visual senses. 

How do you keep a building from falling down? That’s the question Architects and engineers ask themselves all the time to find innovative ways to make buildings stronger, particularly those that present the most demanding problems because of their location. For example, when building in Florida you have to take in consideration hurricanes, water level, etc. How do you make a building more useful? Architects and designers continue to develop new methods of improving a building's function. Also, they are promoting interaction. How do you measure beauty? The most acclaimed architecture communicates the spirit of its purpose. 
  
Another part of the discussion's we've had in class that i thought was very important and extremely interesting is when we looked far back in time. We talked about how people used animal bones for structural systems with skin stretched over it. They used localized materials to provide shelter and shade. It’s amazing to see how we have the same idea of shelter now but in a more modern way. 

The stone alignment in Carnac, Avebury and Stonehenge is very intriguing and it still to this day amazes people and many questions arise. Those are massive stones, how did they get it into that position? Stonehenge is the most visited and well known of the British stone rings. Stonehenge is set in an area of England. It is the site of many burial tombs. The circle is roughly 320 feet in diameter which had a single entrance and had a wooden sanctuary in the middle. This sactuary acted as a healing sanctuary for the sick and infirm. "whenever they [the Irish] felt ill, baths should be prepared at the foot of the stones; for they used to pour water over them and to run this water into baths in which their sick were cured. What is more, they mixed the water with herbal concoctions and so healed their wounds. There is not a single stone among them which hasn't some medicinal virtue" were the words of Darvill and Wainwright.

The circle was aligned with the midsummer sunrise. The stones weigh as much as four tons each which presented transportation problems since they had to travel 240 miles from the Prescelly Mountains. There were 60 stones used in all. So how did they get them to where they are now? Modern theories speculate that the stones were dragged by roller and sledge from the inland mountains to the headwaters of Milford Haven. (Bruce’s Theory, 1)

Something else that I believe is very important and will be very useful for every assignment we turn in is “PATRICK’s idea of ELEMENTS & PRINCIPLES of design”

ELEMENTS: line, space and form.  

PRINCIPLES: repetition, contrast, emphasis, harmony, balance, proportion and unity.