Please respond to the following questions for this week's lecture under the blog comments:
1) Pick a space within the city and describe how it functions in terms of the types of space listed in the lecture. Describe the space and its functions in detail, be specific. Most spaces are made up a collection of the elements of the types of space - identify the primary 'type' of space that the city space you choose is, identify the characteristics that signify that it is this spatial 'type' and explain how they function.
2) Most spaces within the city interact with adjacent spaces and spatial types within the city, explain how the space you chose interacts with, affects, and is affected by an adjoining urban space.
3a) If you were in Philadelphia this weekend during the Papal Visit: Describe using the vocabulary of the lecture describe a space and the qualities of spatial relationships which the event utilized. Be specific.
3b) If you were not in Philadelphia this weekend during the visit: Describe a large outdoor civic event you were present for, using the vocabulary of the lecture describe the space and qualities of spatial relationships utilized by the event. Be specific.
Comments for this week's posts are due by Friday, February 12th, by 10 PM EST
If you are encountering any issues posting comments please notify Prof Hart immediately.
HINT: To protect, refine and improve your written work it is recommended that you draft, proofread and edit your responses in a save word document before copy-and-pasting the text into the comments bar of the webpage - composing your comments only in the comments bar makes clear writing, editing and saving not just difficult but if you hit the wrong button impossible!!
1) Pick a space within the city and describe how it functions in terms of the types of space listed in the lecture. Describe the space and its functions in detail, be specific. Most spaces are made up a collection of the elements of the types of space - identify the primary 'type' of space that the city space you choose is, identify the characteristics that signify that it is this spatial 'type' and explain how they function.
2) Most spaces within the city interact with adjacent spaces and spatial types within the city, explain how the space you chose interacts with, affects, and is affected by an adjoining urban space.
3a) If you were in Philadelphia this weekend during the Papal Visit: Describe using the vocabulary of the lecture describe a space and the qualities of spatial relationships which the event utilized. Be specific.
3b) If you were not in Philadelphia this weekend during the visit: Describe a large outdoor civic event you were present for, using the vocabulary of the lecture describe the space and qualities of spatial relationships utilized by the event. Be specific.
Comments for this week's posts are due by Friday, February 12th, by 10 PM EST
If you are encountering any issues posting comments please notify Prof Hart immediately.
HINT: To protect, refine and improve your written work it is recommended that you draft, proofread and edit your responses in a save word document before copy-and-pasting the text into the comments bar of the webpage - composing your comments only in the comments bar makes clear writing, editing and saving not just difficult but if you hit the wrong button impossible!!
17 comments:
1) 30th Street Station is a meeting place for people travelling or arriving in Philadelphia. The most notable aspect of the space is that the ceilings are very tall, surrounded by pillars and decorated in detail. Additionally, there is a single square desk in the center of the large room with people that can help travellers as well as a big marquee that displays the time and the trains that will be arriving next.
The primary focus of this space is erosion. The very tall ceilings give an intense sense of the space and draws people’s eyes to the “mold” around it that is decorated in detail. It is not about what the room is filled with, but rather on what surrounds the room and how that affects the size of the space.
2) The large entrance room to 30th Street Station is adjacent to the regional rail and AMTRAK train platforms. The trains themselves are small and tight, and the platform is usually filled with people. The transition from that tight space to this very open space is jarring and provides a greater appreciation of how the space is organized.
Additionally, the station borders the Schuylkill River, which acts as another form of open space. The reading refers to “horizontal” and “vertical” space, where horizontal space is profane natural landscape and vertical is the sacred man-made creations. The Schuylkill River is horizontal space and 30th Street Station is a form of sacred vertical space filled with artistic sculptures and manipulation of space.
3a) During the Papal visit, there were many techniques to create new spaces utilizing artificial barriers. Metal railings were set up all along the road and enforced by authorities since it still feels like there shouldn’t be a barrier set up. Normally, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway is divided by the road and the trees on either side, but it was manipulated in this instance. The Parkway was transformed into a pedestrian walkway, and the roads on either side were used for the Pope to drive by and greet everyone.
There were many difficulties with this setup. Most notably, since all of the bathrooms were on the other side of the roads, they were unreachable once the roads were closed down when the event began. In this difficult situation, looking at the bathrooms only several yards away from me and yet impossible to reach, I truly understood the power of affecting space.
1. Philadelphia's City Hall is a dynamic work of architecture that has a significant affect on its inhabitants, both as a monument and as a functioning government office. It functions in several types of the spaces mentioned in the lecture. Its vertical steeple, featuring a statue of William Penn, gathers viewers' attention and acts as a municipal landmark. In this vertically poignant way, City Hall functions as an 'object to object' space. At the same time, it also functions in 'erosion' and 'transition.' Its central courtyard, when viewed through the lens of 'erosion,' features a complex mold influenced directly by the 17th century style in which it was built. The tunnels leading from the street to the courtyard are also intricate voids that strike inhabitants by facilitating movement and observation. As 'transition,' City Hall's courtyard again plays a key role, as public transportation passengers often exit the underground into the courtyard and proceed to pass through to the street. This path captures a moment of being within the space of City Hall while not actually entering its walls, without having any intention of doing so. It is a quintessentially transitional moment.
2. City Hall interacts strongly with its surroundings, both on a micro scale and a macro scale. In its immediate vicinity exists a heavily used traffic circle at the intersection of Broad St. and Market St. The circle is directly influenced by the presence and size of City Hall. The skyscrapers on the perimeter of the circle are all stepped back from the landmark so as to create large public spaces. Due to City Hall's location at a major node of streets and its influence of the surrounding areas radiating from it, it has an effect from a far distance as well. One can see it for miles down Broad and Market in either direction. To its northwest lies Love Park, and beyond that the Benjamin Franklin Parkway leading to the also iconic Philadelphia Art Museum. This is a clear visual path between the two monumental structures.
3b. I was not present for the Papal visit to Philadelphia, but within the past two years I attended a large outdoor music festival called "Celebrate Brooklyn" that takes place at Prospect Park in the titular borough. While the architecture specifically built for the festival is quite standard for the music industry, its precise location and interaction with its site stand out and function in some complex ways. Upon entering Prospect Park, one begins to slowly see the bandshell through a large stone archway which forms the threshold between dense urban streets and vast green space. In this way, it functions as 'object to object.' Furthermore, the festival walls are establish on a natural slope that acts as an amphitheater. The crowd engages within this void, which functions as erosion. Passersby can experience the festival reservedly, while not feeling fully immersed. They are experiencing the transitional function of the festival walls. They are neither completely removed nor completely within the main event.
Woojae H.
First, I did not attend the papal visit to Philadelphia last week, but I attended the one last year.
There are several places that the pope has visited while his stay in Philadelphia. They are Pennsylvania Convention Center, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Kimmel Center, and Independence Mall. Pennsylvania Convention Center, to connect with Lecture 5, has all three qualities of a building which are commodity, firmness, and delight. Its commodity feature is that it serves the community as a place to hold public events such as auto shows and conferences. It was constructed in 19th century which guarantees the fact that it has a firmness quality in it. It also has “delight” quality in it that it stands in the center of Philadelphia “emanating” its quality of being delight. People who visit the center can drive or they could also take public transportations. People who take the trains would get off the trains at stations near the center and walk to the center. Also, people whose primary purpose of visiting the city was to visit the center would go to other places adjacent to the place after they are done with their business at the center and those are the ways that this place interacts with adjacent places.
The Philadelphia Convention Center was the right place that was needed for the papal visit. It can hold large number of people so that the pope could speak to all of them in a closed space. To connect with Lecture 6, the interior is very fascinating. Walls are decorated with such designs and the ceiling is also decorated with a lot of ornaments. This is “erosion” quality of the building that people inside the building can experience the fascination from the well decorated interior. Also, the building itself has the vertical component mentioned in the lecture that it is the landmark of the area. This is the “object to object” quality of the building.
During the papal visit to Philadelphia last year, there was a huge festival held on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. I can tell that there is a “transition” quality that when one walks on the Parkway to get to many types of buildings around it, one can feel the “transition” going from a place to another place. The Parkway is paved with beautiful looking stones letting people walking on the Parkway to enjoy while they are on the Parkway. There is Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul near the Parkway where the pope, during his visit to Philadelphia, has spoken to the mass. Many masses are held at the Cathedral on regular basis. The place has “commodity” quality of a building that the place is used for regular masses. Also, the building has “delight” quality of a building that it really looks beautiful from the outside. This can also be the “object to object” part of a space. More importantly, the interior of the cathedral is what really can be related to one of the five fascinations. The “erosion” of the space fascinates people within it. The fascinating “mold” of the interior makes the building sacred as well. The cathedral also has “emanating” quality on its own. People around the area can feel the holy cathedral whenever they are around.
1. In the city of Philadelphia, space has been created and used per the architectural concepts of space. The Rocky statue in Philadelphia has a void below it that utilizes the erosion concept of space. Through evoked perception, artists were able to manipulate the vertical and horizontal planes surrounding the space, thereby enabling sculpturing of the void. That space below the rocky statue separates the two lower limbs of the sculptured statue portraying the monument as a boxer celebrating his victory. The space around the rocky statue also enables the figure to have the shape of a man.
2. The space below the rocky statue interacts with a wide void that extends from the statue to the art museum. The space between the two monuments utilizes the object-to-object concept of space. Within that space, a series of stairs have been sculptured and extends from the entrance to the art museum to space near the Rocky statue. The sculpturing of the stairs also manipulated the horizontal and vertical planes of the materials such that space is created after each series of steps. The void acts as a passage that leads tourists in and out of the museum.
3. Space is a commodity being used during diverse events. At a fundraising event organized to raise money for renovating a public park, space was correctly used. The people in attendance were positioned in a free ample space during the occasion. After the occasion, a wide space leading to another void was used to direct the distinguished visitors inside the void for refreshments. The void utilized the concept of transition because whether inside in the void outside or the space inside the volume created, an individual felt like being in the same space. The two voids formed a thin edge that could not easily be established.
Phil S.
1. I would say that the Philadelphia Art Museum embodies many of the “fascinations” that we read about in this weeks lecture. Most importantly, I think it embodies the object-to-object concept quite well. Before the days of cranes and skyscrapers, the Museum and city hall would have dominated the Philadelphia skyline, acting together to create an interesting contrast between the bustling center city area and the serene Fairmount area. If you add in the Washington Monument and Eakins oval, as well as the fountain at Logan square, you can create a very interesting space. The main entrance to the art museum seems to 3 functions at once. It obviously acts as a transition area, allowing you to shift from the profanity of the city to the sacredness of the museum as you walk across the vast plain. This area of Erosion, enclosed on 3 sides by the building itself and on 1 by the city, seems to Emanate that comes from the enjoyment of art.
2. The Art Museum area interacts at a complex level with Center City; there’s even a giant boulevard that connects the two. The Art Museum relies heavily on Center City, as well as the rest of Philadelphia, for its attendance and its notoriety. It simply couldn’t exist as it does if it was any further from Center City; even just a quarter mile. Being able to see the Museum, as well as walk to it, means tourists are much more likely to attend the museum when they’re Philly, and vice versa. Conversely, having such a celebrated art museum helps establish Philadelphia as a cultural and historic center, that is worthy of housing some of the worlds most beloved art.
3b. When I was at an outdoor music event this past summer, one of the spatial functions that I noticed was Emanation. Although it was just a normal space, the energy that comes from the music, as well as the excitement that accompanies it, transforms the space and charges it with emotion. In addition, there was also an obvious Transition affect whenever I entered or exited the event, or moved from one part of it to another.
Reading Terminal Market is a very old public space with hundreds-of-year history. It is not only a trading market for people right now, but also a piece of people life’s history. The first fascination it has is “Object to Object”. At the beginning, the Reading Terminal Market is just a small market located between streets with different farmers and fisherman to sell and buy their goods from southern New Jersey. Then, as increasing population trading in the market, it slowly grows at the way we seen it today. The second fascination it has is “Transition”. The market is not like those grocery stores. Instead, it contains many stalls of different owners. People walking through those booths to compared products they want to buy. You are under the roof of the Reading Terminal Markets but you are not in it if you just cross by all those stalls without interacting with those owners. In other words, the feeling is more like the fascination of “Emanating”.
Reading Terminal Market is a very busy space. It is near Chinatown, Pennsylvania Convention Center and City Hall. From a macro point of view from the sky, all these landmarks fit into the “Object to Object” fascination. Just viewing the Reading Terminal Market, it has the “Erosion” quality of building both inside and outside as well as City Hall. Everyday, people are busy trading goods inside and people are busy passing by outside. Even though there are a lot of super markets out there like Fresh Grocery, Walmart and Whole Foods, people will never forget to visit and trade there.
I was not here in Philadelphia during the Papal visit. One of large outdoor civic event I attended is Made in America Music Festival. Every year in the beginning of September, the festival will take place near Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia. From macro view, the Art Museum and the Festival create the “Object to Object” fascination. People are busy crossing through them. The Big stage of Made in America Music Festival is “vertically” high to the sky. People can feel “Transition” fascination while they are around that area. Every thing is outdoor and every person is waiting on the grass. The main idea of this festival is not only bring joy, but also spread out the value of made in America.
1. An interesting space within Philadelphia is the Ben Franklin Parkway and the surrounding areas. The parkway is comprised of many different spaces and functions. The Parkway is really a series of roundabouts that act as a highway from City Hall to the Schuylkill Expressway. This has a huge impact on Philadelphia and the flow of traffic in between those points. Apart from being a wonderful asset to Philadelphia’s infrastructure it is also lined with museums such as the Barnes Foundation, Rodin, and the PMA. It also has important buildings such as the Parkway central Library and the Public Welfare Department. This space was once a large housing district and the installment of this project displaced many families. The parkway is an organism within Philadelphia’s infrastructure that was created by Jacques Greber to connect locations across the original grid of Philly. In doing so it changed the life of many residents due to all of the housing it displaced. This location is comprised of many different types of spaces. It provides firmness to the traffic flow of Philadelphia. It is a delight to stand on the stairs of the PMA and look all the way down the parkway and have a clear view of City Hall.
2. The Ben Franklin parkway provides people entertainment with museums and the Paines Skate Park. Aside from providing entertainment it also is one of the most important aspects of the Philadelphia traffic system. In cutting diagonally across the grid it provides a faster relief of traffic from down town and allows for people to get over to the Schuylkill Expressway and out of the city faster. I cannot imagine traffic trying to operate without the Ben Franklin Parkway.
3. The weekend of the Papal visit if you stayed around Temple nothing seemed different; however anywhere else in Philadelphia seemed almost entirely different. Even the Broad street line was altered to avoid people getting into center city by surprise. Walking through the city was what I expect the Apocalypse to look like no cars, metal barriers, and metal detectors to get past every checkpoint. I was surprised that they shut down the important threshold of center city that City Hall provides. It not only disrupted business schedules but also cut the free interchange at center city and made traveling more difficult than normal. As far as spaces being affected by the Pope’s visit both City Hall and the Parkway were affected as well as all roads within the city. Every road downtown was turned into a pedestrian walkway for people working security, but the majority of people had to walk on the sidewalk. The transformation of Philadelphia during the visit disrupted the city by closing businesses, changing trash day, and changing traffic flows. I could easily see the importance of all infrastructures within a city working together because with transportation down. Industry was halted as well.
Aleandra R.
1) The area around city hall is an interesting space. I would consider the space in this area 'object to object' because everything is packed so tightly. The roads around city hall are designed so that you have to basically have to drive a square around the city hall building. Inside the roads exists the actual city hall building itself, and also other small elements of design. They recently added the Dilworth Park and Ice Rink and appear to be expanding it every year. This area was clearly designed to establish itself as the center of the city. The Ben Franklin Parkway extends in one direction, and there are also many exits from the city in this direction. North Philadelphia and temple extend in another direction. Different parts of center city stem from the remaining sides of city hall. Though this area is relatively small compared to the rest of the city, it serves as somewhat of an organizing element.
2) Like I previously stated in question 1, the city hall area serves as a center in which other city elements stem from. If you continue to drive all the way around city hall, you can get to various parts of the city. The Ben Franklin Parkway stems off in one direction, and there are also many exits from the city in this direction. If you go North up Broad Street you will arrive at Temple and other North Philly destinations. If you drive South down Broad Street, you arrive in South Philly and the Sports complexes. The city hall area serves as somewhat of a 'home base'in which you can travel anywhere in the city.
3) A large, outdoor event that I attended would be Made in America. Made in America is a large music festival held on the Ben Franklin Parkway every September. They close off all of the nearby roads, and block any weekend thru-traffic. While at Made in America, a person will definitely witness emanation. The whole Parkway area is transformed into different sections for the festival. The rest of the city can hear and see this huge event that is contained in one of the most popular areas. An area that is usually full of traffic and people became an entire festival area that radiated outwards.
1. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a space within the city that dominates the different forms and functions discussed in the lecture. Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a source of history, recreation, and beauty. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, located at the end of the parkway, is the third largest art museum in the country. The art museum may capture the emanating concept of architecture through its captivating structural art and beauty. At the top of the stairs of the museum, people can bask in the view of the city, overlooking the parkway and beyond. Also, located at the foot of the art museum is the Rocky statue that, paired with the ‘Rocky steps,’ embodies a spirit and history of Philadelphians. Sylvester Stallone donated the statue after he completed filming his Rocky movies, and they symbolize perseverance and determination. Thus, the concept of object to object may be found in the space of the art museum as well. This space containing multiple objects, defines the landscape and “can be used as an identifying object to a community.”
2. Most spaces within the city interact with other spatial types. The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is located near the Schuylkill River, as well as other historical attractions and open parks. The Rodin Museum down the parkway contains a collection of “energetic and emotionally intense” works of art, from the Eternal Springtime sculpture to the Gates of Hell, and the Thinker. Such works may emanate the time concept, evoking and inspiring individual interpretations and ideas. The location of the space brings together a community of history and culture, through various collections of art, educational gardens, and friendly parks.
3B. I was not in Philadelphia during the Papal visit; however, a civic event I was present for was a concert held at Citizens Bank Park. This event captured the transition concept as people were filled with a fascination of the performer. The stadium itself is open to the outside at the top of the dome, so concertgoers were also able to experience the sensation of being outdoors, in addition to having shelter and security inside the stadium structure.
reference:
1. Rittenhouse Square sitting in the heart of the city is layered with years of manipulation and growth which allows it to work as a public space. Although the space had been planned by William Penn and demarcated as one of four major squares, it fits within the realm of erosion as it is a void within the cityscape. The buildings standing at the park’s periphery (and simultaneously creating the periphery) manifests the idea of subtractive thinking. The majority of the buildings lining Rittenhouse are roughly the same dimensions in width and height, creating an implied solid from which the park has been the result of removing mass from the center of this solid.
2. Rittenhouse, along with being a destination and a node, is also a place of transition. Walnut Street on the north side of the park is affected by the park’s dominate presence. To the east of it on Walnut is a plethora of stores and restaurants and other scenes of high urban energy. The west of Rittenhouse on the same street is comparatively quieter and reacting to the much slower speeds of everyday life. Rittenhouse is where that transition occurs; a place of the “in-between realm” of the varying urban conditions that exist.
3A. The use of the parkway for the papal visit featured a deconstruction of the typical views of the function of the parkway. The architecture of this event is rooted in time and history, making it something completely different than it usually is. Instead of being a place of circulation for vehicular traffic, it turned into a destination for those on foot. The boundaries between sidewalk and street had momentarily dissolved. With thousands of people occupying the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the feel and energy of the crowd altered and warped the very architecture of the space, making way for a charged environment. The space that came as a result was not limited to the physical confines of the parkway, but extended to every place the crowd had gathered. The very people formed a new space, albeit one that could not be easily traversed but whose energy was the boundaries of it. A few blocks in another direction, on a quieter street the lack of people and energy gathering for that event would have felt drastically different than being in the midst of the throngs of people.
1. City hall, is one of the best examples in Philadelphia to show the types of spatial fascinations. Up until just decades ago, City Hall was the tallest building in the city as there was a law that no building could be built taller than it. This was changed when Liberty Place was built however. Even though City Hall is no longer the tallest building, it is still clearly the center of the city. Everything seems to branch off of it which seems to be what the lecture is describing in "object to object." the city branches off in all different directions from city hall and is structured around it. City hall as an object has a relationship with all different parts of the city.
2. Going off what I said in my first answer, City Hall interacts with everything adjoining it. The roads are built around it, the subway has a stop underneath City Hall where you come above ground either in the courtyard or right outside of it, there is the new Dilworth Park right outside of it for leisure, and it caters to the history of the city with a statue of William Penn on the top of it.
3a. During the Papal Visit, the event used the erosion of the Art Museum and the Ben Franklin Parkway to their advantage. The void between the Museum and the end of the Parkway was used as a natural space to hold the crowds that came to see the Pope say the Mass. They used the natural barriers that acted as the mold that held in the void of space where they places all of the visitors.
1) Temple University is a very observable point within North Central Philadelphia. Temple functions as a point that affects the surrounding space of North Central Philadelphia in terms of building sizes, amount of space used and how that influences the “voids” between North Central Philadelphia and Temple. In terms of erosion, the space has many buildings that have notable vaults. Also within the buildings on Temple University there is a very distinct subtraction in the number of rooms, offices, and locations housed in many of the buildings around Temple. Transition is able to be seen in the way that Temple itself is preserved as a “zone.” Within this zone you have Temple University and everyone protected by their watch. Outside of those, you have the residents, long-term members of the Philadelphia community who are left in a different space “outside” Temple. In terms of emanating, you have the current construction efforts and space seizing by Temple campus. This has given an emanating effect to the borders of Temple influence as they knock down, scatter, and appropriate spaces that once belonged to community members. In terms of time, I believe that the bell tower is a good example on Temple’s campus. It is used to reflect the moments of time that Temple is most occupied and most desolate. In terms of seasons, you will notice an influx of students on the lawns and steps of the bell tower, conversely during the winter you will notice a decrease as the weather begins to get colder. I often notice this manipulation most during the warm winter we’ve had. With the bell tower very much popping and increased temperature, I find myself questioning what time of the year it may be often.
2) The urban space surrounding Temple has elements of erosion and object to object. The grid system of the roads is what most influences the elements of object to object in Philly. The streets make it so that many areas are divided and sectioned off by the same amount of space. This makes areas that break that pattern very apparent (Temple). Elements of erosion are present in the way that many spaces have been repurposed within the city. Many spaces are emptied or left foreclosed but the buildings are left in place. This creates an erosion that has given rise to Philly’s city crawling culture and thus allowed people to manipulate the idea of time as well by visiting buildings that have been left untouched since their closings.
3b) I was present for First Friday down in Old City. The space itself uses and manipulates time, object to object, and transition. It manipulates time by using architectural styles and materials that imply the presence of another era. Often, I lose myself in Old City simply because the change from object to object is not very apparent, such as the cobblestone roads that pave the space from block to block. The manipulation is very apparent due to the variety of storefronts in the space. You may be walking into an old time ice cream parlor, a hoagie shop, or a high-end furniture store. Each time you will notice the noticeable inside and outside.
1) City hall, with its large barrel vaults leading to an inner courtyard could easily be seen as a form of erosion space. The way the building commands Broad and Market st as they radiate out from it, the building sitting squarely in the middle of where they should intersect forcing traffic to bend to its space clearly marks it as an Emanating space. But it is the statue of William Penn dominating the local skyline for so many years, even today it stands as a beacon to anyone on Broad or Market. This is what makes it truly an Object to Object space. When designed and built city hall rose from the horizon to mark the location of the halls democracy. Marked the center of the established city at that time and in conjuction with the four parks delineated the city into quadrants. It even served as a means to gain bearing in the city and to navigate its streets, as it was the tallest building in Philadelphia until the late 20th century. Even today you can still use city hall to help gain your bearings while in the city, I myself use it to avoid getting completely lost in center city.
2) City hall interacts with so much of the city, to choose one aspect is truly a monumental feat. As mentioned it works with the four parks to create a boundry marking the edge of the old city as well as its center, broad and market then radiate out from city hall to cut the city into quadrants. As Daniel K mentions in his post, city hall aligns with the Philadelphia art museum. Love park and the Benjamin Franklin parkway serving as both a transitional space as well as an erosion space, having been originally carved out from homes and old factories during the beatification projects of the 20th century, capped by the Art museum in the northwest and City hall in the southeast. City hall even interacts with SEPTA as a transitional space, with pedestrians traveling from the outside space of the city to the inside spaces of the subway tunnels.
3) I am an intensely private person and do not attend large gatherings. The last large outdoor civic event I was present for was the firework display on the national mall 30 years ago, as such I cannot accurately answer this question.
I think David G. had a great point about how Temple utilizes vaults often in the style of erosion. The best example of a building utilizing erosion would most likely be the engineering building, connected to Gladfelter Hall. The use of very tall ceilings and decoration of the walls opposed to the actual space serve to emphasize the room, draw attention, and create an expansive inviting environment.
In addition to erosion, I think Temple also does a great job with object to object relationships. The Bell Tower is a large recognizable monument that serves as a symbolic centerpoint to the campus. The accomplishment isn't done by announcing, but utilizing space and organizing important buildings such as the library around it. The use of vertical (man-made) opposed to horizontal (landscape) is done well, literally with the tallest object standing out around the grassy area of campus.
The building I was referring to in my previous comment was not the Engineering Building. It is the Science Education and Research Center.
1) Graffiti pier is located along the Delaware River near Penn Treaty Park. It is an old cement coal loading dock where coal was put on ships as part of the waterfront industrial complex. It relates closely to the terms Erosion and Object to Object because not only does it have a large amount of decay but it also stretches quite high above the horizon. You are able to climb on top of this pier and walk out close to the river where you can see the horizon over New Jersey. The erosion creates open space underneath the pier where people do graffiti. The space was created through erosion because now you can walk on top of top of pier where there is a huge amount of space that wouldn’t have been there when the site was in use.
2) The space I chose doesn’t really interact with nearby spaces because of its location, which is pretty far from urban parts of Philadelphia. Although it does effect the people in the surrounding areas because many young people go there graffiti art on display for other visitors to see. It can be seen as an art exhibit in which, if it was a safer area, all kinds of people could come to interact in this space as a public environment or a park. Maybe over time, as it builds popularity you will start to see a better interaction with the adjacent neighborhoods, but until then it is a place where only a few people go to get away from the city.
3b) I was not present during the Papal Visit, but every year on New Year’s Day I go to 2nd street to celebrate the Mummers parade after party. During this everyone from the parade walks down the street to celebrate the event and put on more shows for people that may have missed the real parade. It’s interesting how small the street is because usually the brigades are marching through a street that is at least three times the size as 2nd street. This can connect to the term of erosion because it is the space that is in-between the architecture of the row-homes that creates a space that all these different interactions can occur. Also this event starts at around 4:00 p.m. and doesn’t end until 11:00 or even Midnight so it is interesting to study how the event transitions as it gets darker. Usually as it gets darker you start to follow the parade down the street. This makes your evoked perception of the space seem even larger than it really is because your orientation has changed from watching the parade to now being a part of it
Post a Comment