The elements of Architecture:
Commodity, Firmness, and Delight:
Commodity:
People build to satisfy a need whatever materials are used they give expression to what they consider valuable and vital. Besides providing shelter it is also symbolic. According to Sir Herbert Read "a mode of symbolic discourse and where there is no symbol and therefore no discourse there is no art."
(Understanding Architectuer Its Elements, History, and Meaning. Leland M. Roth. p.7)
Firmness:
Our text explains that there is a difference between physical structure and perceptual structure. Physical structure is the framework or bones of a building. Perceptual structure is perhaps something that could be used for structure but is actually decorative. Our text gave two examples in the left
photo the Shapero Hall of Pharmacy at Wayne State University, Detroit 1965.
A building which rest on its smallest point. Also the Provident life and Trust
Company, Philadelphia with ornate designs on the front facade of the building.
This one no longer exist. Firmness has to do with the framework of the building
how well it is supported what holds it up, can it withstand the elements.
How long with it last.
Delight:
Delight has to visual perception how architecture is perceived. How are minds
through our senses perceive and interprets what is seen, felt, smelled or tasted.
in Gestalt psychology "form or shape" shape pattern and points in space are interpreted as lying on a single plane, even if one is distant and another closer .
Things we don't understand we tend to make sense of it in our own minds.
examples given where a row of lines or dots will be seen as being equil distance and two parallel lines slightly different in length, will be seen as equal in length. One of the reasons the Parthenon in Athens seems so interesting is that there is no a single straight or regular line in it. that appears at first glance to be repetative and uniformed is actually a precise arrangement of inequalities and curves. (P71 Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History and Meaning. Leland M. Roth.)
Rhythm and proportion are all part of what makes sense. Texture something for the eye to see or hand to feel. Light gives off different moods. Light is used in psycology in modern day for relaxation or production in business building.
Space is another element in concept of delight there is physical space, the volume of air bound by walls, floor, and ceiling in a room. Perceptual space is the space we think we see. Building using glass or mirrors this sense of space may extend beyond the actual boundary of the glass. Conceptual space definded as a perception of what we know from memory. Behavioral space is the space we actually move in. Frank Lloyd Wright gives examples of all these concepts of space in Lloyd Lewis House in Livertyville, Illinois. 1939.
