Challenges

Some of the challenges I faced when finding images that accurately represented the 1500-1800s was how black and white ruined aspects of the interiors and exteriors, like that color and metals were used a lot to define status. Especially in France, gold gilding was so prevalent that when you take that and make it grey, it loses a lot of its unique-ness and interest. Another challenge was finding images large enough that had a enough color range to make it interesting when I changed it to black and white.

Magazine Research

Because I was not in class on Wednesday (alarm was set for 8:20 pm not am!), I was not assigned a time period. Not knowing that they were assigned by every five years, I chose my favorite issue of Lonny Magazine, which unfortunately is from 2013. This was interesting when we met in groups and compared time periods. In my group we had magazines from 1890, 1930, 1995, 2010, and 2013 (if I am not mistaken). Having an odd year was interesting as it allowed us to see the immediate transition between years, assuming we are all up to date on 2015 design magazines. 

Some things we noticed was how images we not a huge focus for magazines in the beginning, but now they seem to dominate the entirety of an issue. Another thing was details, like how they utilize colors used in the images in the text, or graphic details that make an issue less Times New Roman-y. 

Architecture and Design Book

Although there were many challenges with proposing a ten page architecture and design book, the main difficulty was selecting and narrowing down the right of information. There is so much to be said about architecture and design that narrowing it down is incredibly challenging, you really have to consider what is good information versus what is important information. Selecting images was also problematic, as what is truly the most important to one person may not be important to the next, especially when you factor in personal tastes and styles.

Light at Grand Central

Grand Central Station is a prime example of how natural light was strongly considered in the buildings initial design. The first photograph is from the 1920s, when light still streamed into the common area of the station. The middle photograph is recent, and shows how natural light no longer streams into the station, and the third photo shows why the natural light is gone: taller buildings. It is a shame that when the new taller buildings were constructed, they did not consider the timeless beauty of Grand Central Station.

Light in interior spaces is crucial to the integrity and design of a space. Light can enhance the overall mood of a space, making it dreamier or darker; light can also make a space feel more modern or historical. This heavy amount of control that light has is can make or break a space. And in the instance of GCS, it was a crucial part of its initial design, until the city out grew it.

Images: Getty, Flickr

Time Lapse

Heating

One of the most common heating systems in the Western World is the HVAC. There are also other systems, such as geothermal heating, furnaces, and radiators. While the Korean system, ondol, strictly heats the floor from below, HVAC units can be placed in the ceiling or basement with a series of ducts running through the space to heat individual rooms.

The Ancient Roman heating system, hypocausts, was a two-foot deep area beneath the main floor which allowed fire to travel, heating the floor from below. The Korean heating system, ondol, moved the heat and smoke from the kitchen area to other areas of the space through underground flues. One main similarity between the hypocaust and the ondol heating systems is the use of an underground space to heat the living area floors above.

Ondol

HVAC

Hypocaust

Infinity

The Infinity Room, an art installation designed by Doug Wheeler, is "like walking into a cloud of milk." The space is focused on physical space and how humans interact within it, using a full-day cycle of light (annotated to a short 32 minutes) to highlight the experience. Wheeler is able to control the light by composing the room to be devoid of corners.
The author of the piece, Tyler Green, went to the exhibit to experience it for himself. He said he entered the space when it was in the 'mid morning' sensation of light, it was composed of pinks and purples, but once he looked away he could see black spots due to the bright light. Then the space became so bright that his eyes began to play tricks on him, and soon he was squinting to the point of tears. By the end of his experience, Green wrote “One of the greatest experiences ever. Feel privileged to have been in it.”
Personally, I feel as though I would really dislike this installation. Maybe it's because I'm from Seattle and I am used to gloomy, grey, and cloudy surroundings. Such intense bright lights would not be something I would want to sign up for, especially since I have to live with the awful "prison lights" inside of Kirwan Tower, which I complain relentlessly about.
This space teaches me that although I personally prefer softer lighting, others can find an array of bright to soft lighting to be exceptionally helpful to their daily lives. Natural light has the ability to control how our bodies function and without it we suffer greatly.