[Action] Verbs

To speculate about something or someone is a verb meaning to think about critically and analyze something to understand deeper meaning. A lot of times as designers ourselves we are told to looked at a structure built by someone and find the deeper meaning as to why it might have been built symbolically or the idea behind the structure that is not what it may seem. From the precedent analysis we are told directly to speculate on this idea of meaning by using the buildings we selected months ago in advance. Casa Batllo in my opinion was built as a result of a new forming style, Art Nouveau, and a new way of thinking by the designer Gaudi as a way to push the envelope of normal building structure with the energy of its curves and forms in the building itself. “Since the dawn of human symbolic thinking, architecture not only has provided utilitarian shelter but also has silently expressed how humans view themselves in relation to the cosmos, to their gods, and to each other. “ [Roth 519] Symbolic thinking of architecture and designers is what causes the action of speculation; the way people and architects think and speculate causes new ideas in architecture and design to blossom and in turn create new stylist movements.

To compose something is a verb meaning to create something or put together something out of existing materials. This idea of composition is a common term to use for musicians when writing music in terms of a designer it may be used as a verb when composing a presentation board with images/sketches for a presentation or critique like we’ve learned in Suzanne’s class. Datum lines, clean/readable text, and thoughtful composition of pictures can make or break a presentation in terms of being successfully translated to the viewers. “Mass production was now established as a means of manufacturing consumer goods, and Modern Movement theorists were inspired by concepts or rationalization and standardization. New materials and building techniques were to be used to create a lighter, more spacious and functional environment.” [Massey 63] As design style hit the Modern movement in architecture and design, the act of composition in spaces was drastically changed and reformed based on new materials and an idea for more spacious and functional design in order to make designs more successful.


Energize is a verb that means the activity that causes energy and activity in a person. Energize can also be used as a verb in making ideas, projects or compositions more interesting by adding a stimulating pattern to something or using a brilliant color to accent something. The holes drilled into my Light Habitat project, used to give interest to the windows of studio on the second floor, give a sense of energy to my idea that cut outs of organic shapes does not. A sense of movement energy from the compact to released areas of holes and different hole sizes cause light to move in interesting ways. “The Fauves, or ‘Wild Beasts’, were a group of painters including Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck whose work between 1950 and 1908 used vivid colours in shocking contrasts. Such colour combinations were adopted by designers as a reaction to the insipid pastels of Art Nouveau.” [Massey 95] Shocking contrast and dramatic color schemes brought energy to designs in rooms and structures during the Art Deco period as a reaction to the pastels of the older style of the Art Nouveau.


To shape something is a term that is very similar to the idea of composing where something is created or manipulated from an existing element. With our Light Habitat project we had to manipulate or shape a rigid form of MDF so that light could pass through the opaque substance and change the shape of an existing large board. “Modernism is the umbrella name for a bewildering array of movements – Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Serialism, Surrealism – and ideas – abstraction, functionalism, atonality, free verse – most of which appear shortly before or after the First World War.” [Weston 2] According to Weston what shaped the period of Modernism was a combination of ideas and/or periods of design used as elements for form or shape a whole new period of architecture and art all together.

Stretch is a verb meaning to bend limitations or ideas past their normal shape or idea, kind of like a rubber band with its elasticity. Many times in design architects and designers stretch the boundaries of styles in architecture and pushed the envelope to provide new design ideas and ascetics that moved the ideas of architecture from style to style. “This conviction that new technical means and aesthetic forms were needed to express the new life being created by industrialization grew steadily during the nineteenth century, informing the development of all the arts.” [Weston 5]New technical means and ascetic forms helped designers to stretch the idea of expression and style in architecture and design starting initially with the Industrialization of materials in the nineteenth century.