BP2, Kennedy, Blog Post # 2, IARC 221

On Friday we took a walking tour of campus.  We were looking for examples of 000oooOOOOOOO's and lllllll llllllll llllllllllll, and ------- --- _ _ _ , Circles, Groups, and Stacks.  We were mainly looking to see how they relate to our environment and our rituals.  From our tour the main idea that we saw was that we use groups to mark the entrance of a building. 

This is the Petty Science building.  We see the use of stacks in the stairs leading up to the "entrance" which utilizes groups.  This particular arrangement also tends to resemble the human form.  The columns emulate the body, the frieze the shoulders, and the point of the top the head, or where it would likely go.

This is a sketch that I drew of the entrance of Weatherspoon Museum.  Here we see the same elements that we saw in the entrance of Petty.  Vertical columns, triangulated pediments, and a circular window.  This is a deconstructed version of what we typically use as an entrance.  This version is not really successful in what it is supposed to do.  This is mainly due to the fact that the entrance is set back from the front facade of the building.  Stairs lead up to this entrance creating the stacking motif, the columns create the grouping motif, and the circle creates the circle motif.

side view of the main entrance of Weatherspoon.  The use of grouping is seen again.

The bell tower.  Shows grouping, stacks, and circles.  Very human like, in an abstract kind of way.

The library and it's stacks addition behind it.  Grouping is shows in the columns on the front as well as the three major planes of the stacks.  The circle can be seen in the rounded portico. Stacks can be seen in the book stacks as well as the stairs leading up to the library entrance.

Here we see the music building.  Grouping is shows in the building pilasters, which is strengthened by the natural trees leading up to the entrance.  Both work together to create a focal point, or a place where we should be going.  The entrance is circular in shape and the windows at the top almost look circular, in fact they are square.

A closer view of the Music building entrance.  Here you can see stacking in the limestone foundation, the brick facade,  and the glass wall adjacent to it.  Grouping can bee seen more strongly in the use of the pilasters in limestone as well as the supports behind the glass wall.  The use of circles here are limited to the pond in the courtyard and the building entrance itself.

From our campus walk it appears that we have created a ritual of how to enter buildings.  This must be a ritual that we have created since we build the buildings the way we do.