Illuminate
Light and the environment determine how we orient our buildings on the land. Architects today do not think of the environment and light as thouroughly as those from ancient times. For example, the architects and planners for the Cliff Palace dweling in Mesa Verde, Colorado (Roth 138) thought about the environment quite extensively. The Ancestral Pueblo Village known as Cliff Palace is a village built into a rocky mountain side. The sun passes through the opening in the winter to heat the village yet there is a cliff overhang that protects the village from harsh weather and the scorching sun in the summer months.
Light is also a source of spiritual meaning defined in everything from the pyramids in Egypt to Le Corbusier's Ronchamp. Ancient Egyptians had a strong belief in the afterlife. Pyramids represent a Pharoah's legacy that he left on earth. They hold and keep safe all of a pharoh's worldly possessions and his body so he can use them in the afterlife. A pharoahs pyramid was his own sacred structure and not only did he want to show off his legacy but a pharoh usually wanted it to be spiritually sacred. The sun god Ra is one of the ancient Egyptians most important Gods and he is represented by the light used to showcase the structures. A beacon made out of gold was often placed at the very top of a pyramid so that the sun would illuminate down onto the top of the pyramid and down the sides. Le Corbusier's Ronchamp church has many openings for light that shine in a create an ambient and spiritual atmosphere. Such light allows for the people inside of the church to reflect and transend spiritually with ease. The judeo-christian God is also represented as light in popular culture. People use the idom "I'm going to see the light," saying they are going to go see God or in other words, they are going to die soon. Light has a sacred meaning to almost all cultures and numerous religions and this is reflected in the architecture we see around us, especially buildings for worship.
In ancient egypt the pyramids were built with a white polished stone in order for them to stand out against the sand. . The Egyptians were very smart because this is how they illuminated their important structures before electricity was ever around.We illuminate the things that are most important to us today as well. The Empire State Building, The White House, and many famous buildings are highly illuminated at night in order to show their importance.
Light has a functional purpose as well as a figurative purpose in design.
Idioms are figurative phrases that are defined by the cultures in which they are shared. If you say that someone "kicked the bucket" you don't literally mean that someone kicked a bucket but figuratively you are saying that a person died. If you say this phrase to someone who is not American and is not familiar with such a phrase they might be very confused. Idioms can be thought of in a physical aspect as well. This week we have looked at ancient building practices and the mysterious and monumental structures of the ancient world. When we see a structures such as Stonehenge it is an idiom to us because we are a part of the modern world and a completely different culture so we do not understand the design language of the people of the ancient world. Archeologists and Historians do their best to find why and how buildings of the ancient world were built. The buildings and ruins of the ancient world are all that are left of these people. Their structures tell their stories, some are more defined than others, and some are a complete mystery such as Stonehenge.
Taking elements from ancient structures and learning what works and what doesn't work helps us in the overall design process. Architecture is never defined as one movement and then the next, there are many layers, stories, and factors that must be kept in mind. Societies and the environment in which these societies are established define where we go in architecture. So many factors come into play such as the social moral, philisophical beliefs, art and music, and political state of a nation at the time. All of these factors effect how we build certain buildings and why. For example, today there is an energy crisis and people are FINALLY realizing that we are destroying the earth due to our careless consumer habits. More products than ever before in the modern world are using recyclable and earth friendly materials. Green buildings are in demand and more people want to do their part in improving the way we build things and treat this Earth. So while the commodity of many new buildings today is to create a green/eco friendly environment the firmness and appearance of the structure is just as important. New building technologies are being utilized in order to protect our buildings from earthquakes and other disasters. Furthermore, many of the green buildings I've seen are not your traditional building with moulding and columns, they are often sleek, modern and use different products and materials that not only are eco-friendly but are quite beautiful as well. The reason why many green buildings are so modern could be that architects want to show that eco-friendly materials can be just as good (if not better) as the materials that made modern buildings before that.
Architects today have the biggest challenge of all because they must make buildings functional, stable, beautiful, and design them in a conscious matter that is good for the earth.
Today we use different building materials such as adobe for homes in hot and arid environments because they work with the environment and help keep the harsh elements out and the energy that we want to use in. Solar skylights allow light to come in to a room without having extreme heating issues from lets say an entire wall of windows facing the sun. Ancient Egyptians used the stone surrounding them to build most of their buildings while other societies used wood. Materials in the ancient world depended upon the environment in which a society inhabited. Today there is a massive world for trade and materials can always be exported. Nevertheless, it is cheaper and far more eco-friendly to use local materials. There was trade in the ancient world, in fact, the Nile river was the center for trade in Egypt, the Silk road a place for trade in China, and goods and materials were often transported through these highways of trade.
Sources-Roth & Blakemore
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