A source is the origin of information, when trying to find things out about a piece of architecture or other important information from some sort of authentic documentation. The Romans, the preceding civilization to the Greeks, used the Greek architecture as a source of reference for their own buildings. Instead of using their architecture for commodity and firmness like the Greeks did, the Romans used it as more of a delight factor to their building forms, for example, the Theater of Marcellus in Rome. "The outer curved wall was opened up by the super-imposed arcades of travertine faced with engaged orders -- unfluted Doric at the lower level and Ionic on the second level..."[Roth 265] Each level of arches is adorned with two of the three orders of columns: Doric and Ionic, these columns are engaged and used for stability reasons. An opposite example of this would be the Colosseum in Rome where the columns are sliced columns or pilaster columns that are used for decoration of the building. Though imitation is the highest form of flattery, I think that maybe the Romans were actually more intimidated by the Greek style and worked hard to master it as their own to show they could be just as good as the previous culture’s achievements. "Classical Greek and Roman architecture has had and astounding influence on both structurally and decoratively in subsequent periods, especially beginning with Renaissance Italy." [Blakemore 28] Just as Greece influenced Rome, later periods there after and even now are still being influenced by past architecture and design.
When drawing from life with scale figures and interiors, a source of reference is always useful tool to make your drawings as realistic as possible and as detailed as possible. For example, when working on scale figures with thumbnails, the MHRA building on campus, the people currently in classes and the building itself are a source of reference to draw from rather then to memorize the space and try to draw it again later. Photographs can also be good reference but they do not compare with real life drawing when it comes to detail.
Archetype can symbol or meaning of something represented by something else entirely different usually. Archetypes can be represented not only by objects, but colors and shapes as well. When designing the fairytale artifact from Studio a couple weeks back, I took archetypal story colors into consideration to make my object stronger and more meaningful. The two colors I used were blue for loyalty and wisdom in the story and red for courage and sacrifice that was important to the story. In Design History and Theory the Colosseum in Rome, or amphitheater as it is also called, is an archetype in the whole fact that it was constructed as a way to entertain the masses of Rome to divert them from the true troubles that the city may be facing at the time weather it be economic or political. A “bread & circuses” technique that keeps the people happy even in times of hardship with performances and fights between man and beast. This was not only an occurrence in Rome, it was adopted from the Greeks who also built structures like the amphitheater, the theaters the Greeks constructed where more incorporated into the land rather then built against the grain of the land itself. "...the Pantheon is, as David Watkin has put it,'the symbol and the consequence of an immutable union between the god, nature, man, and the state.'" [Roth 259] Other buildings other than the Colosseum were considered symbols to the Greeks and Romans, the Pantheon was a symbol of the accomplishment of man, the gods that guided them, and the triumph over nature in the eyes of the Romans. An ideal brought to life by Greek culture is the archetype of the column orders. It is thought that the Doric order column represents female because it is a larger column and is thought to represent matronly strength while the highly decorated Ionic order column is thought to represent male. The last major column identification is the category of the Corinthian column, which is a combination of the Doric and Ionic columns with even more ornate decoration along the capital. The Corinthian column is also an example of something known as a hybrid, which is a combination of two or more currently existing objects or elements to create something new with similar elements and visuals as the elements that created it. In studio, a combination of the black and white thumbnails and the theme of 'pathways' helped to create a cohesive project in the form of a hybrid of ideas.
The prototype is known as the precursor for an object or building existing now or that had once existed. Greek, Egyptian, and Roman architecture and style is a highly used precedent even in today’s architecture and design. Their buildings are the basic building blocks of our own because these cultures were the ones that invented elements of architecture like commodity, firmness, and delight. In Greece, the Temple of Hera i & ii along with the temple of Athena in Paestum constituted as the precedent to the all important standing acropolis in Athens. These structures were built first and helped the Greeks to achieve an ideal structure to be used to glorify their gods and goddesses.
A following of people or objects that follows an important element or person is known as an entourage. The many people in the MHRA building I observed when creating thumbnails in Suzanne's drawing class formed an entourage with the interior space accompained making for an interesting arrangement of things to draw. On the infamous Greek acropolis of Athens, the buildings upon it could be considered and entourage to the all-important Parthenon that is a temple attributed to the goddess over the Greek city Athena. The Parthenon being the most important element and building in Greek belief and society and the other buildings like the Erectheon, the theater, and the Athena-Nike temple, while still important, a mere entourage centered around the center of the acropolis. These buildings were built after the Parthenon and accentuate its meaning and the story behind it, for example Athena-Nike and how it is the supposed watch temple of the messenger to Athena.
The term hierarchy is a series of groupings of people or things within a system that can be on physical elements or values. On the acropolis of Athens in Greece a hierarchy is established based on importance of buildings arranged on this important uprising landmass. The Parthenon being in the central area of the plaza because of its importances with the belief in the city's protector and founder, Athena, all the other buildings on the plaza face this important building. Hierarchy is also see established in class between the three big cultural societies: Egypt, Greece, and Rome. "Treatment of floors ranged from the simply utilitarian to decorative. Compacted earth floors were used by families of all economic levels, but the wealthier homeowners of the classical period often used plaster, painting, or mosaics."[Blakemore 34] The higher class you were, the more ornate your home was. Mosaics on walls and floors and furniture of marble and imported wood informed others of high status while stone walls and dirt floors just portrayed the commodity and firmness needed to keep the structure together rather then the delight of the rich. "Egyptian society was highly stratified. At the top of the hierarchal scale was the pharaoh, or king, whose powers were divine and who represented god on earth. Along with the king, princes and those who could trace their origins to royal family wielded political power at this level. [Blakemore 3]Hierarchy was also measured from royalty to the peasants in Egypt, same with later in Greece and Rome with their emperors and the common folk. If you were born into the higher class of a royal family you automatically got the high status that came with it.
Order is a description of a grouping of a vertical element of architecture known as a column, there are three main types of orders when it comes to columns: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns. This order of columns was first an idea in the time of ancient Egypt, starting with the basic Doric style used in temples and tombs, and then was modified and perfected by the Greeks and Romans as strength and decoration for many of their buildings and temples to the gods. The first in the order, and more basic and firm in design, is the Doric column. This column though basic in design emphasizes more of the theme of strength and stability and the commodity to hold up lintels or anything else it was designed to hold. A later modification to the basic column and next in the order is the Ionic column, a more ornate and tall column that could still hold its weight and create a sense of delight when gazed upon. Its thin vertical property and the ornate scrolls that adorn the capital can easily identify this column.
All in all, the five words are inter-related, when talking about column order it can relate to hierarchy in relation to how ornate a column is decorated on a building, order can also be used in a more literal sense where going from highest to lowest when it comes to the class scale that can be described by hierarchy. Entourage describes the interaction of space and people and how they are affected by the hierarchy and order depending on class. Sources are the basic theme because every culture borrows or is influenced by another's ideals or precedents like the use of the ordered columns as a more decorative sense rather then a structural one. Though sources are used they are interpreted in different ways through archetypes and can create hybrids of these ideals by combining one or more.
::Sources::
History of Interior Design and Furniture By Roth
Understanding Architecture By Blakemore
Drawings and Photographs By myself
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