Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science

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Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science

P H I L A D E L P H I A U N I V E R S I T Y School of Architecture A 111 – DESIGN I: Interdisciplinary Foundation Studies Fall 2005

Jan Vermeer, The Milkmaid, 1658 Charles Demuth, Buildings, Lancaster, 1930 Georgio De Chirico, Ariadne, 1913

Project 5 Ordering Principles: Interpretation and Transformation

Objectives: To continue the student’s introduction to the basic principles and function of order of design. To develop the student’s ability to identify and then classify underlying systems of order in design. To develop the student’s ability to analyze and synthesize information as part of the design process. To develop the student’s ability to think in visual abstractions. To develop the student’s awareness of the diversity of visual history and tradition. To continue developing the student’s 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional presentation skills.

Ordering Principles: Design involves the exploration and intentional arrangement of elements that form patterns. Although these patterns are primarily visual, they also reflect aspects of structure, function, symbolism, and culture. The meaning of these derives as much from the arrangement of the elements as from what these represent, as well as from the function (symbolic or practical) that they serve. Objects of design are both the things they are and the things they represent. Through the analysis of a painting, in this instance a color photocopy, you will study the ordering principles and visual devices that govern design. You are asked to identify the elements that form the structure of the painting, thereby producing both its form and content -meaning. With an understanding of these underlying 2-D design investigations, developed through analysis, you are to construct two three dimensional models. The first is to be a bas-relief viewed from the front, the second is to be fully 3-D and viewed in the round. Both models are to re- present the visual structure of the painting as a spatial hierarchy.

Preliminary You are to pick a painting to work with during the course of this project (or your professor will pick). Choose a painting that has a sense of perspective, a deep canvas, not a purely flat/surface painting. Also choose a painting by a painter of some repute – you will need to do research. Some suggested painters – Caravaggio, Rubens, Cezanne, Picasso, Hopper… Generally poor choices of painters for this project – Duchamp, Matisse, Rothko, Warhol…

You should make several black and white copies of your painting and a high quality color reproduction. Your quality color copy should fill an 8 1/2" x 11sheet of paper. This color reproduction of your painting now becomes the basis for the rest of your work on this project. Note: keep the color copy in good condition (or make more than one) because you will be using it in your final presentation.

Mike Krasulski, the Philadelphia University librarian dedicated to Architecture & Design will come to the studio to give you a presentation on available resources at Gutman Library and through the internet.

1 Part 1: Preliminary Research As you begin to work with this painting, it is important to have as much information about it as possible. You are asked to the worksheet you will find on Black Board. Using the Internet and/or the Library, find the requested information about your painting, and document the source of that information. You may use Philadelphia University design resources web page for assistance with searching the web. http://www.philau.edu/library/resources/art.html http://www.philau.edu/library/resources/architecture.html http://www.philau.edu/library/aanddbinfo.htm

Part 2: Sketch Analysis Study the color copy of the painting to discover its visual hierarchy. Ignore for the moment the apparent thematic content of what you see. Continue your analysis by focusing your attention on examining the visual importance of the elements of the painting. Using tracing paper, overlaid on the color copy of the painting, study how the elements of the picture are presented.

A. Drawing on separate sheets of tracing paper, placed on top of the copy of the painting, trace lines, blocks, and points, among other elements, that you believe give order and importance to the elements of the painting, pay special attention to the underlying ordering principles that dictate the location and size of the elements of the painting. Identify each of the following elements of form and structure (when relevant) of the painting on a separate sheet of trace:

Axis Hierarchy Shade/Shadow Depth of Field Balance Tonal Gradation Rhythm/Repetition Datum Lines of Sight Symmetry/Asymmetry Patterns/Texture Vocabulary/Language

B. Drawing on additional sheets of tracing paper, also placed on top of the copy of the painting, identify the graphic devices used in the painting that help to create a hierarchy of importance such as size, color, density, etc. As with part A, these drawings are to be on separate sheets of tracing paper. Note: Save your analysis drawings. These will inform the succeeding parts of this project, and will be required in order to complete your presentation.

Part 3: Bas-Relief/Extrusion For this project you are asked to make two types of constructions. The first construction will be a shallow relief (bas-relief) utilizing layers of material. It is to be viewed from only one side (position). This construction will be an extrusion of the elements of the painting, that is, you will be extending them outward from the picture plane relative to the importance of each. The hierarchy of these extrusions will depend upon the visual hierarchy of the painting, and your understanding of its structure, discovered during your analysis of the work. Using the information you have discovered in the process of your analysis imagine reading the painting as if it has actual dimensional depth.

Part 4: 3-Dimensional Transformations/Interpretation For part 4 of this project you will produce a 3-D construction re-presenting the results of your analysis of the painting. This, the second of your two constructions, will be fully 3-dimensional.

Considering the work that you have thus far completed, begin to imagine an object that is other than the painting depicted on the photocopy you began with. Your analyses should serve as the basis for this transformation. In short, you will now further abstract the results of your analysis toward the creation of this new object. This object will be based on the elements of form and structure which you discovered by way of your analysis. After you have made some preliminary attempts to design your new object, begin constructing study models that will help you to make the transformation.

Using the information which you have discovered in the process of your analysis, and preliminary 3-dimensional investigations, imagine reading the painting as if it has actual dimensional depth. Select a minimum of 5 of the analyses (generated in part 1) which most successfully re-present the visual structure of the painting. Retracing if necessary (in order to have clear templates to work with), utilize the traces to transfer the information onto a material other than either Corrugated Cardboard or Foam Core, cutting out voids as a means of depicting the visual hierarchy of the painting. This construction is to be viewed from all sides (positions) and should represent the new object you have designed and developed. This construction is to be the same scale as the Color Copy of the painting you have analyzed.

2 Part 5: Presentation; Verbal/Visual -- 2-D Documentation of New 3-D Object Before beginning the final drawings of your presentation, you are asked to position the color reproduction of the painting with which you have been working on a board that will serve as the basis of your final presentation. Now begin producing and locating reduced versions of your analyses, noted above, on the board. These are to be transposed from the original and reduced to a size appropriate to your presentation. (Use dashed lines and red pencil lines, where needed, to reinforce the ideas represented by your diagrams.) The arrangement of these diagrams on your board, as well as all other information to be located on it, should be considered as a design project -- the more carefully you plan your board, the easier it will be to understand your intentions.

In addition to diagrams of your analyses, you will also make a carefully rendered axonometric drawing of the model you have made. This drawing will be the same scale as the model and located on the board with the diagrams as a part of your final presentation. You are to determine the number and size of the diagrams necessary for the adequate presentation of your ideas and analyses. Note: All drawings are to be drawn directly onto your presentation board (nothing other than the color copy may be attached to it). Because this drawing is hard to erase, it is recommended that you work from careful preliminary sketches.

Your presentation board should have a title, as should each of the elements drawn on the board. Include a short paragraph summarizing what you learned about the history and importance of your painting. Include a bibliography in MLA format. Use careful architectural hand lettering (all capitals) for this information. Pay careful attention to the size and placement of the lettering on your board.

Complete your presentation by documenting the final constructions representing your new object in such a way that its relationship to the diagrams you made in Part 2 is evident. This drawing should be the same size as your constructions.

As a part of the completion of this project you will be asked to consider, with a seriousness equal to that which you have displayed in the completion of the work for this assignment, how you can best present (verbally as well as visually) the work that you have done and the object you have imagined and represented. These considerations will be tested out during the Final Critique when you present the visual aspect of your project verbally to your fellow classmates, the instructor, and possibly, outside critics. Finally, for the final critique, you will be expected to have researched the painting you are working with and to be able to speak about it and the artist who painted it.

Materials: Glue Pencils Metal Straight Edge Trace Paper Drafting Tape Photocopy of Painting

Construction Material for Study Models: Corrugated Cardboard or like material Construction Material for Final Relief /Bas-Relief: Museum Board or Equal - White All Through Construction Material for Final 3-D Model: Other than Corrugated Cardboard or Foam Core

Final Presentation Requirements: Presentation Board Including: 3-Dimensional Investigations and Constructions: Color Copy of Painting All 3-D Studies Diagrams Final 3-D Construction Drawing of New Object Final Relief/Bas-Relief

Required Reading: Francis Ching, Architecture: Form, Space and Order Chapter 2: Form (pp. 50-102), Chapter 4: Organizations (pp. 194-238), Chapter 7: Principles (pp. 333-381) Francis Ching, Architectural Graphics Chapter 7: Architectural Presentations (pp. 164-175, Third Edition). Becky Koenig, Color Workbook Chapter 7: Elements of Design Chapter 8: Principles of Design Chapter 12: Color in Art

Date Due: This is to be a four class session assignment. To Be Determined By Instructor

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