Foundations Unit Sumary

The Foundations Unit largely focused on the similarities and differences between the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations in regards to their ideas and methods of design. According to Sir Henry Wotton, the basis of design is that, “in architecture, as in all operative arts, the end must direct the operation. The end is to build well. [Building well has] three conditions: commodity, firmness and delight.” The ideas of commodity, firmness and delight play a role in all forms of design and they can be found within all successful artifacts from the ancient times to the present.

Commodity determines the function of an artifact. “A thing must answer its purpose in every way- that is, fulfill its function in a practical sense… (Gropius).” Whether the function of a space is intended for religious ceremonies, offices, performance arts, relaxation, etc, the function must be met entirely.

Firmness is synonymous with strength, stability and longevity. Structures such as the Pyramids at Giza and the temples of Greece and Rome are great examples of firmness. The civilizations that built them had the idea of permanence in mind when these places were constructed. A building should be firm in design if it is intended to withstand the tests of time.

Delight must also be present in a space for it to be successful. A space must be pleasing to look at and feel inviting to the viewer. Delight plays very closely with commodity. For instance, if you are visiting a spa after a week of stressful work, the building’s function is poorly achieved if it is filled with harsh contrasts in colors, textures and sounds.

The basic building unit that all architecture stems from is the aedicule. Aedicules are basic structures that can consist of simply a pair of verticals supporting a horizontal. This is similar to post and lintel structures which can also be found in architecture today. One famous example of this system is Stonehenge, located in England. Stonehenge consists of stone post and lintel frames aligned into three concentric circles.

Also shown in Stonehenge is a sense of hierarchy. With concentric circles, the innermost ring is the smallest and the outermost is the largest. As a place where people would come to observe funerals, this is an important way in which the architecture affected the way people viewed the ceremonies. The center, smallest circle would have enough room for a priest or other important person. As you would move outwardly, the importance of the viewers would lessen as their numbers would greaten. Hierarchy plays an important role in societies and is often clearly reflected in architecture. Egyptians would build pyramids that would highlight the pharos and priests at their peaks, where there would be little room for commoners. Greeks designed temples that would glorify idols of their gods in the centers of their buildings.

A convention that Greeks used to do this was utilizing the idea of a porch, a court and a hearth. The porch of an area is like the border around it that signals an entrance. On a temple this would be a colonnade. A court is right inside of the porch. It can be a courtyard inside of a fence or an atrium inside a building. The hearth of an area is where the heart is. To the Greeks it would be the statue in the center of a temple or even the temple in the center of a city. A porch, court and hearth can most always be applied to design.

A plan of the Acropolis: The wall around the area acts as a porch, the open courtyard is the court and the Parthenon is the hearth.