Opus Project: Voices

How do structures speak? What do they long to say? The designers of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral built it to have a particular voice. The national shrine, as it is called, has been regarded as the American voice of the multitudes of Catholics around the world and thus our presence in the Catholic church. What does it say and to whom does it speak?

The plan of the structure determines the language by which a building will engage in dialogue. It has a clear set of rules and atmosphere - a metric. Being a earthly representation of something far grander, it has to imply something bigger than anything we could possibly produce. Pointing to something that can only be meagerly represented by scale, the tower is the predominant ediface remniscent of the wu, wu's of Rome. This is the 'yard stick' against which everything else is measured. Being the first thing one would sense, whether visually or audibly, it directs visitors along the first portal into their experience of the Cathedral.

Presence is only dictated by emphasis. Black is defined by white just as the bell tower is defined by the landscape and structures near it. A grand spire pointing to the blue heavens above ringing out the presence of church, literally, is the representation of the omnipresent voice of God. The patrons of the church come from all over the world each hoping to have their voice engraved into the memory of this stucture, ringing out with each toll of the bell.

A moment is marked by the memory imprinted on it. A moment is actually the crecendo of smaller less significant step like moments. There is a cadence created by the steps you must endure to reach the gates, which by no mistake represent the presense of the Creator. I remember taking my first steps up to the dual portal seen here. I can't help but remember the excitement swelling in me to see what lie inside. The stucture whispers to you as you secrets of an wonderous afterlife represented by the Godly arch embracing the smaller portal made for men. This was my moment imprinted in the memory of this structure, personal, secret and absorbed by thousands of others.

Once inside the feeling created resonates hollowed emotion. Perhaps this is my own personal experience, or perhaps the effect of the visual aura all centered around the long aisle welcoming my personal journey to the altar. To the left and the right are several smaller chapels all representing the presence of the Blessed Mother to the world representing every race and nationality. Each of which have set a precedent for the style in which the entire Cathedral has been built. Each personal and welcoming chapel give visitors a sense of the scale of history represented by the this Romanesque-Byzantine Style stucture. It was decided to use Romanesque Byzantine over Gothic because "While Gothic appeared to lift the people to God, the Roman Style or the Byantine endeavored to bring God down to the people on earth." http://www.national/ Shrine.com.

There is a duality with this Shrine to The Immaculate Conception Catherdral now known as a Bacillica since 1990. Not only is it a place for worship but it was built on the ground of the Catholic University of America a distinct center of learning for lay people and Catholic seminarians. I have always enjoyed visiting the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception from the time I was a little girl and my Grandmother first took me there. When ever I go home to Washington D. C. I try to make it a point to go visit there.

Photos: from http://www.national/ Shrine of Immaculate Conception
In my readings I realized that the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was built with the money from Women's Guilds just as they did at the birth of Christian Cathedrals in ancient times. At first the directors, Bishops, Cardinals of the church were seeking funding from wealthy

families. Pope Pius x in 1913, made the first contribution to building a National Catholic Shrine in the United States. The invision started in 1846 to build a Cathedral that rivaled the great Cathedrals of Rome and Europe. The Shrine was not completed until 1959 due to lack of funding political striff and both the Depression and WWII. Construction resumed in 1954 and was completed in 1959. Twenty years late Pope John Paul II was the first Pope to visit the then National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The architecture of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is neither imitative or duplicative of any other church in the world. It's architectuer is Romanesque-Byzantine in style and its construction is entirely of stone, brick and mortar without steel structual beams, framework or columns. Romesque design in architecture is defined by the massive size, thick walls, arches piers, groin vaults, towers and ornamented ambulatories the form is symmetrical in comparsion to Gothic structures. The dome is the dominate feature in Byzantine architecture and is one of the great advances in church architecture. (ww.w. natioanlshrine.com)

Byzantine architecture was superceded by Romanesque style. A circular or elliptical dome was placed over a square or rectangular room by means of pendentives. The triangular construction
strengthened and supported the base that holds the dome. Architect for this design was Charles D. Maginnis(1867-1955).

www. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception .

Drawing of a Basillica Plan and Arcade of a Byzantine Catherdral.

Opus Project, Parts: whole

The source of my sketches comes from the Julius Foust building. We've developed groups to study the layout blueprint of a building. I want to add more of what I see when drawing these sketches but they are quik sketches and the boundaries of the area in which I have to work are constraint.

Archetype: Prototype: Hybrid:

After the fall of the Mycenaean civilization 12th century BCE.

One type of building was dominate the temple. For the Greeks the temple was the abode of the gods. The archetype of the temple was a singe room or hut a crude form of temple emerged. This was a wooden structure with upright columns completely ound and central chamber. It is believed that the temple with it's colonnade was an attemp to create a sacred grove. The columns replace the first ones made of wood. The Doric , Ionic and Later the Corinthian orders became promient. The Archetype was the Doric a post and lintel system also known as trabeated. Triglyphs are instinctive of the Doric order. The beams project beyond the walls and are cut off and ornamented.

The orders a structual system for organizing cmponent parts played a crucial role in Greeks search for perfection of ratio and proportion. The Column, shaft, capial, and entablature were measured and decoreated acording to one the three accepted modes. Doric: Archetype, Ionic: Prototype, and Corinthian the hybrid.

Doric columns are without a base, usually fluted and topped by a simple squat capital. Can vary from four to six times the diameter at the base ofthe saft the Doric entablature consist of a plane architrave, a frieze alternating trigyphs and metopes, and a plain crowning cornice.

The Ionic which was used on the temple of Athena Polias at Priene 340BC was feminine , slender, and beautiful. It's style was based on a women's body. The Ionic entablature evolved in various stages, but in its most characteristic form consisted of an architrave divided into three broad bands known as fasciae a continuous frieze either plan or sculpted and often elaborated cornice bearing dentils or tooth like blocks. Ionic columns are always set on a base the parts between the shaft and the crepidoma. The capital bears to spirals volutes and

supports the entablature. The columns were fluted usually twenty-four and deeper than Doric channels. The volute is a spiral scroll that adorn the Ionic capital this was tough to come from the nautilus shell form.

P. 100 The Grammar of Architect. Emily Cole.

The most ornate and slender the orders was the Corinthian. The base of the Corinthian and Ioni columns are similar. The Corinthian capital had two rows of carved acanthus leaves at the base. Above the base were large acanthus leaves from which the volutes stem at the corners of the abacus; the smaller volutes

curved toward the center just under the abacus.. The sides of the abacus could be concave resulting in points at the corners supported by volutes. The etablature was developed in three planes each might have been separated by a carved molding. The frieze as normally decorated with a band of sculptural relief. The Greeks orders were adapted by the Romans and used mostly as decorative elements change the Doric order to more slender Tuscan Doric with smooth base and smooth unfluted shaft. 2.9 p 31 Roth. Other major additions was a composite order formed by placing the volutes of the Ionic cpito aop the  curled acathus leaves of the Corinthian. Romans also made a decorative adaptation of merging a column with a wall a Pilaster.

Prototype for Greek furniture was wood. Oak, maple, cedar, boxwood, olive, citron and beech was used in making furniture. Hierarchy in Greek society shown in the homes of the more affluent families by the furniture type the mural on the walls, and the mosaic flooring. Some of the furniture that archologist have found was made of copper, bronze, iron and marble. The Colosseum was the best example of bread and circus. Entertainment to take the public's mind off their problems.

OPUS PROJECT: Scale,Section,Unity, Vignettes,Boundaries

The great Pyramid of Cheops Giza necropolis has three main elements. The pyramid of Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus lie on a near diagonal axis the perfectly aligned with the North Star and perpendicular axis of the sun.

The first pyramid was the largest built for Cheops aka. Khufu. The second pharoah was Khufu' son Chephren aka. Khafre, and the third was Menkare aka. called Mycerinus. The sheer size and precision which these structures were made has caused these pyramids to be known as one of the seven wonders of the world. The Largest pyramid is 775ft by 479ft. The Pyramid of Khafte was 707ft square and 470 ft high. The side slope is 50 degrees 10 ft. The smallest pyramid measures 356ft sq. (3) Roth 196,197. Nothing in Egypt was as grand as the Pyramids of Gizu. At the end of the Fourth Dynasty pyramid building all but ended. Most of the pyramids had been broken into and robed. One a minor pharaoh who died at a young age remained in tack. His tomb was covered with debris from rocks above another pharaohs tomb King RamesII , King Tutankhaman. At the end of the fourth Dynasty there was a great upheaval in the government even the god RA was replaced with the god Ammon.

Thebes became the new city in upper Egypt. Tombs were being built as the base of the western cliff at Deir el Babri. The temple of Amon at Karnak was built.

Next to this is the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty 1503-1482 B.C. E. Hatshepsut had her chief architect Senmut build terrace mortuary chapel complex next to the tomb of her father Mentuhotep. This to serve as more than a temple of worship but as centers of learning and government. The temples were also sites of theatrical religious festivals especially and the end of harvest time. The temple of Amon after the Tenth Dynasty eventually became a major sacred site in Egypt.(3) P201-203 Roth.

Impoteh was the first recorded architecture in western Egypt he set the basis for other architects to follow. Roth p.119. Semut under Queen Hatshepsut designed her morturay temple. It is stated that loose notes have been found on ostraka, flate flakes of linstone chipped off larger building blocks,of Egyptian architect designs vignettes and more formal drawings were done in various colored inks on papyrus sheets. One of the surviving sheets shows front and side elevations sections of a shrine chest is kept in Turin Italy. P119 Roth.

I wonder if the Egyptians had not left vignettes, drawings on the walls of the temples and inside the tombs would we have known today what had occured thousands of years ago. I find this all mind boggling that one group of people in the earliest recorded history could devise such structures on a grand scale.The beauty of the sculptures of the kings and god-kings is amazing in perfection. That from the Egyptians all other cultures follow examples and expound on these structures, these buildings, cultures, knowledge, systems borrowing one from another and expanding, from the first Egyptian minds.

In our Drafting class we are learning about, drawing to scale and creating to scale as in Pat's chair. We also had to draw a section of the structure we created. We also study angles 30-60-90 degree angles in expressing plan drawings. In Design studio class we had to create a scale model of our artifact and place it in a section of the model wooden wall we created. In Design Art

class we drew vignettes of places where people gather called "Drinking while Drawing" we practiced making the people to scale in our drawings in these vignettes. The unity of all this helps me to understand how everything relates and comes together. Working in groups helps also in the exchange of ideas as we come together in unity to create artifacts and structures which roots came from those who lived before us.

Understanding Architecture, Its Elements, History, and Meaning, Leland M. Roth.pp 196-197...pp201-203

The Grammar Of Architecture, Ancient Egypt, Emily Cole p20

Opus Project:Week 3 Scale, Unity, Section.....

Scale: The earliest form of Egyptian monumental architecture began in the form of mastabas. Egyptian religious belief was that physical life was only temporary, while the spiritual life was eternal. They wanted their monuments to endure to eternity. The temple and the tomb was considered the gateway to eternity. The Matabas were formed of red mud brick believed to be influence by

Mesoptamian architecture. These tombs were for the King -gods on earth. The Mastaba was the first building structure it had flaring walls and single cell interiors used for burial and later as living units structures. The Mataba was an vignette of what was to come.

In the 3rd Dynasty 2780-2680BCE Pyramids were built strictly for the Egyptian Kings and the larger in scale the pyramid was the more important the King. The Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza was constructed during the rule of three generation of Pharaohs Cheops, Chephren and Mycerenus. (1)This pyramid had all the quality of the architecture on a grand scale and is the purest form of geometrical architecture that still inspires modern buildings today.

Impotep was one of the most important Egyptian architects. In the third Dynasty, King Djoser-2630-2611 BCE commisioned Impotep to build his tomb from the mastaba design he created the first step pyramid the Sakkara. This Sakkara was stronger, lasted and was resistant to thieves. Impotep had many talents and was given many titles but the most important was the title of "High Priest of Heliopolis "(1a) In our Design class and design drawing class we are studying drawing objects to scale. As in our vignettes we draw the figures to scale with the other objects in the drawing I sometimes have trouble with this since I am just really learning to draw. In design class we had to make a object called Pat's chair and draw it to scale on vellum paper. In photographs of the Gizu the people standing around the grounds are minuscule in scale to the

Spinks.

(1a).The History of Architecture, Iconic Buildings Thoughout the Ages, Gaynor Aaltonen.

1) (The Grammer of Architecture p.16, Emily Cole)

Vignette Design Drawing: Drinking and Drawing

I drew this vignette at a coffee shop a couple waiting to be served.

VignettesBridge

These were drawn at Borders in the coffee area. People were moving around getting drinks and reading magazines and books. A man sitting at a bar while another man was looking at books outside the cafe area.

LEFT HAND RIGHT HAND EXERCISE 09/15/08

In this exercise we had to draw our right hand with our left and left hand with our right.
Not to bad for first timer I think. Shake hands :).