Opus Project 1
As you may know this is my first opus entry, and that being said I would like to take a step back and think about the subjects and how I feel about the course. In design history and theory class we read about what architecture really is, and to me this is very important to know what it is I am going to doing with my life. Ada Louise Huxtable once defined architecture as a "balance of structural science and aesthetic expression for the satisfaction of needs that go far beyond the utilitarian"(Roth, 3.) And what she means by this is that as interior architects we must not focus only on what the object will be used for but we must take it to the next level and become one with the object and really focus on it. Now that I have that out of the way I would like to tell about this weeks words for the opus.
Stories
Our first assignment for studio was to read a fairy tale and then from the knowledge gathered from the story we were to then to paint an image from the words effectively. The we were to make an inspiration board and finally from that design a wearable artifact. The story that I got, I found to be rather hard to come up with one word to distinguish the essence of the story. It was called "The Three Spinners" and I actually really enjoyed the story, but as you may be able to notice I came up with many morals for the story. At first when I thought of a story I thought of a boring kids book or something, but when you actually think about what your reading, far beyond comprehension, you are just skimming through the story and not taking any knowledge away from it. It's great because you are reading the story but at the same time you are panting images from the words.
Artifact
Artifact is the next word on the prompt sheet and this is a tricky word because there are multiple ways to which you can apply it. To me an artifact is something that can be physically held, or something of great importance, possibly cultural or or historical interests. When I first heard artifact I thought that we were going to dig up dinosaurs or buried treasure or something along those lines, but I was wrong. In theory we actually learned a term called material culture, in which one relies on the images to tell a story, rather than words. So this week I learned that an artifact doesn't have to be something you dig out of the ground or very valuable.
We learned that there are hidden facts in art.
Cycle
In my theory book on page two there is a chambered nautilus shell similar to the one below. Now from what I gathered the nautilus constantly builds it's shell moving from sections and the book says that "architecture is the chambered nautilus of the human species: it is the environment we build for ourselves, and which, as we grow in experience and knowledge, we change and adapt to our expanded condition"(Roth,3). The nautilus never loses any part of it's shell and to be able to understand ourself we must not for get our past experiences or achievements.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/myee/architecture/Nautilus%20Shell%202.gif
Translation
To me translation means to change something to make it more understandable. The dictionary defines translation as the conversion of something from one form or medium into another. And I strongly believe that relates to the assignment because that was the assignment translating it from words to pictures to simplify its understanding.
Multi-View
Well I knew exactly what multi-view meant coming into the assignment by applying general knowledge. To me multi-view means to have more than one view about a subject or in this case a story. But it took me a second time through to start picking up on the multiple views within my story. Such as how the Queen thought that the daughter loved to spin but in reality she despised it.
Upon completion of my assignment I realized that a story contains all of these things no matter what, you must look closer to see them. I really learned a great deal of knowledge this week, all because the opus. And often such as the case of my story you may read a story with multiple stories within it trust me they are there. I will leave you with this thought" architecture is something many people take for granted, moving through it and using it without a second thought"(Roth, 3).
