foreshortening exercise

50 figure sketches

Material Concerns in Architecture & Design [Opus 2]

The term illuminate means to enlighten intellectually or spiritually; enable to understand. In design, illumination adds character to a piece. It allows the viewer to create their own personal feeling about the design. I sketched this piece one day after talking about all the various theme's of fairy tales my classmates had. The watercolor I added helped to really brighten the boldness of the black swirls, but it also helped the focus - 'Karma' remain the most important aspect of the drawing.

Commonly used phrases called idioms are a group of words which, when used together, have a different meaning from the one suggested by the individual words. This past week and continuing I've found that the proper idiom to describe my life currently is "so stressed I could pull my hair out." In reality, I won't pull my hair out because of my stress level, but the phrase helps to illustrate how busy I am. At times I feel like I can't get everything done that keeps getting assigned and I just want to pull my hair out because I can't possibly get it all done. However, the idiom describes my mood better than actually stressing so much I go bald!

When talking about commodity, I found it to be something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage. In regards to us as IARC students, our daily sketches and plans compiled in our sketchbooks serve as a huge resource to us in monitoring our growth throughout the semester. My sketchbook is like a diary of my everyday ideas and thoughts expressed in drawings, sketches, and words. In History & Theory, we are currently exploring Egypt. The egyptians took great pride in burying their royalty with their most prized possessions in lieu that they may need them in the afterlife (Roth 201). Also important to the Egyptian culture was the water source of the Nile River (Roth 197) which not only allowed for trade, but as a predictable asset to the culture as a whole.

With every assigned project, firmness is very important because it influences the quality of craft. This is a sketch I drew in History of the "Wedding Rock" that is in Japan. Immediately I thought of this as an example of firmness in several ways. The rocks in general represent something solid, and stable. However, the rope connecting the two is also a symbol of strength and something not easily broken. In a more broad sense, the wedding rocks represent marriage; a symbol of something everlasting and true. Stonehenge (Roth 171-172) is also a piece of architecture that stands firm. Built thousands of years ago, this structure represents a milestone in architecture and design. Who would of ever thought that a series of three large boulders would create such a piece of "art" for designers to study for years to come.


Delight is nothing short of something that gives great pleasure or enjoyment. I drew this picture of Katie's artifact in class the day of the fashion show. At the time, it was just a simple black and white sketch. However, after implementing the watercolor into various parts of the sketch, I found my drawing to be much more pleasing to the eye. Delight is a very strong attribute of design. What grabs the viewers attention is what allows a product to sell. Not always an outward appearance, delight comes from within as well as on the outside. Roth defines this perceptual space as “the space that can be perceived or seen (Roth 55)." I believe delight is one of the most important aspects in architecture and design not only materially, but conceptually as well.


Something, such as an idea or information, that is to be refined and made or incorporated into a finished effort is also known as material. In this major, it is of utmost importance that we have a variety of materials , not only to draw with, but to build and create with. I find my most significant materials are my black pens. Each different in many ways, yes they all serve the same purpose, and that is "to draw," but they are unique from each other in the way that each pen creates its own affect to the drawing. A bold pen will make a statement; strong and firm, yet a thin tip pen will create precision and perfection.All in all, this week has given me an idea for the basis of design. Commodity, firmness, delight, illumination, idiom, and material are all aspects of design that without one another, the object as a whole would be incomplete. All of these pieces work side by side to create a piece of architecture or an element of design that "works." Eliel Saarinen, (a finnish architect known for his influence on modern architecture in the United States, particularly on skyscraper and church design) said, "Aways design a thing by considering it in its larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." The same goes for the above words. Design so that all pieces work together with the whole. One aspect gets left out, the design will be incomplete.
Pictures (as shown above):
http://myword.info/images/idiom_1a.gif
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6U3RviErtHl6CYgXrbUE3w3iM4xjwuO4zjM9zkNANYOhs_MeNkheUZWYuRmB1sbPXzRug1bpNLlFVL1-_iUdeb-RrtKvEvc0oDiNIxtv-R1AQrNWbSR7qVT9f7uVcfKyBaSbdInnEN2GE/s1600-h/411690HNFCL._SL500_AA280_.jpg