\nRenaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti said that ?all things are known by comparison.
\nComparison holds this power in itself, immediately showing what is more in things, what is less
\nor what is equal.? Centuries later, Colin Rowe?s essay ?The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa? also
\nused comparison to create a conceptual alignment between two buildings that had previously
\nbeen seen as ideologically and formally incompatible. Comparison as a critical tool is therefore
\nnot merely descriptive but can be used to reveal or instigate an architectural idea that only
\nbecomes visible as a result of looking carefully at two things, rather than one alone.
\nFollowing the lead of Alberti and Rowe, pick two buildings from the historical period of the
\nlectures thus far (roughly 1450-1850) and perform a close reading of similarities and
\ndifferences. The primary goal of this exercise is to look carefully at both buildings and their
\ndrawings and\/ or photographs in order to dissect them based on the visual evidence rather than
\non the textual, written evidence. Pay close attention to how each building fits or does not fit the
\nconcepts associated with the historical moment in which it is has been positioned throughout the
\ncourse (ie. Renaissance, Baroque, etc.) The close reading should also identify what are the
\nmost salient or critical aspects of the building; in other words, what features are exemplary and
\nexceptional. The final part of the paper should attempt to describe the relationship between the
\ntwo buildings historically as a result of your close reading.
\nDetails:
\n– Word count ~1500 words.
\n– Please include the necessary documentation images and drawings of both projects.
\n– You may include drawings, diagrams or other such graphic evidence. However, this is not
\nrequired.
\nPay particular attention to issues such as:
\nplan
\nsection
\nelevation
\nmassing
\ntectonics
\npart\/ whole
\nfigure\/ ground
\nregularity\/ anomaly
\nexpansion\/ containment
\nmass\/ volume
\nsolid\/ void
\nplan in relationship to elevation
\ncontinuous\/ discontinuous
\nspace\/ structure
\ncenter\/ edge
\nfrontal\/ corner
\ngrammar\/ rhetoric
\ntension\/ compression
\nexpansion\/ contraction
\nthree-dimensional\/ flat
\nfigure\/ afigural
\nlayering\/ stacking
\nsymmetry\/ asymmetry
\nlocal\/ totalizing
\nmicro\/ macro
\nrhythmic\/ syncopated
\ncentrality\/ edge stress
\nfree plan\/ open plan
\ndeep space\/ shallow space
\npublic\/ private
\nserved\/ servant
\npoche\/ no poche
\nfacade\/ elevation
\nfragment\/ whole
\npure\/ specific
\ncongruent\/ incongruent
\nadditive\/ subtractive
\nsubject\/ object<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti said that ?all things are known by comparison. Comparison holds this power in itself, immediately showing what is more in things, what is less or what is equal.? Centuries later, Colin Rowe?s essay ?The Mathematics Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}