Unit I Summary

In this unit, we focused on the "foundations" of architectural design concepts throughout our history. What is found universally in building structures throughout time are circles, stacks, and groves. These shapes repeat across the globe with renditions varying from culture to culture. They bring a sense of interconnectedness the human race shares with one another. This interconnectedness relays the idea that we express ourselves in similar ways when we approach design concepts that feature prominently in our daily lives, whether ritual or religious.

They begin not having a residential purpose, but serve to the public what we gather, as a means to communicate with the cosmos. If you consider pyramidal structures and circular structures in different parts of the world such as Egypt and England, you find that these were not habitable spaces, yet they were fantastical feats that took time and effort to construct.  It is evident that their unique purposes were not taken lightly by the ancient people who erected them. These structures were to withstand destruction, yet living headquarters were not built with the same stability. Moreover, the fact that ancient people had the same ideas in mind for ritual spaces is something worth contemplating.

Moving on, as recorded history progresses, stacks, groves, and circular structures increase in sophistication and stability as we develop smarter techniques and expand choices of materials to use. Mankind continues to build upwards to communicate or establish a relationship with the Gods. There purposes become more clear and it is evident that borrowing from ancestors takes place.

 In Greece and on into Rome and western civilization, more detailed thought is developed in the symbolism of the structure itself as well as the story that is told about the relationship of corresponding buildings. Architectural feats such as the arch and dome revolutionize the shapes that continue but shift that were ever present in the ancient world. Western architecture borrows from the origins of Grecian and Roman building types and styles to portray a developing society of order and importance.

Building types become more common in different areas of the world as means of trade and transportation become refined. Ideas are borrowed and then reconstructed but in the cultural stylization of the civilizations that encountered them.

Religious constructions are still the main front for society as time progresses, but we see an new form of spiritual space take place as religion goes from polytheism to christianity. Again building up to distinguish the physical plane with the astral, but this time incorporating grandeur design elements such as light and glass manipulation to transfer the cosmic power of the otherworldly onto mankind as opposed to assuming mankind is in favor of a Gods benevolence based on structure alone.

Foundations in a nutshell consists of blueprints for basic building types in the West and the East. They are a source of globalization in a sense that it is where we all have a connection and to borrow and improvise would be a way to shape and influence culture. Still keeping in touch with our innate desires to be at one with what we don't understand.