Faneuil Hall - Neoclassical Style

Faneuil Hall

Structures built in the Neoclassical style come from inspirations of
ancient Greece and Roman cultures. Some of the key features of
the structures in this style are domed roof, triangular pediment,
symmetrical shape.

Location: Boston, MA
Build: 1762 ,1805
Architect: Charles Bulfinch
Style: Neoclassical
Material: Brick
Type: Meeting Hall

Belle Meade Plantation - Greek Revival Style

Belle Meade Plantation

Known best by their strong square or rounded columns the Greek
Revival Style is seen quite often and associated with many
southern plantations homes. The symmetrical design also utilized
narrow rectangular windows around the front entry way as well as
featuring a large front porch.

Location: Nashville, TN
Build: 1853
Architect: William Giles Harding
Style: Greek Revival
Material: N/A
Type: Plantation Home

Wells-Thorn House - Georgian Style

Wells-Thorn House

The Georgian style reveals how America began to show gradual
prosperity. People began to abandon the strict religious convictions
that were once paramount to the early colonists. The structures
began to offer more comfort, style and beauty with their soaring
steeples, bright white exteriors and large windows. The structures
built in this style follow ridged symmetry on both the interior and
exterior.

Location: Deerfield, MA
Build: 1751
Architect: Unknown
Style: Georgian
Material: Wood
Type: Home

Old Ship Meeting House - Midieval

Old Ship Meeting House

This large structure was built as a community meeting
house. The original square design was an open floor plan
that supported the roof with three large trusses that
resembled naval construction, which coined the name “Old
Ship Church.”

Location: Hingham, MA
Build: 1618
Architect: Unknown
Style: Post Medieval
Material: Wood
Type: Religious

English Wigwam

English Wigwam

The early settlers adopted many practices of the Native Americans. Their
need for shelter led them to build makeshift wigwams in the hillsides
similar to the native neighbors. These mud hut type structures were soon
replaced with more of a traditional English structure.

Location: Salem, MA
Build: 17th Century
Architect: Unknown
Style: Wigwam
Material: Wood
Type:Home

John Deere Logo Evolution

John Deer is a company that branded its first logo more than a decade ago. In 1876 it was actually registered as their official trademark. The image of a deer leaping over a log with the words “JOHN DEERE” in a serif font above the image and “MOLINE, ILL” below in the same font, was used to brand the more than 60,000 snow plows. Moline wanted their plows to have a trademark to represent their brand so there would not be any confusion about their product. Interesting enough the logo use an image of a deer that was not found in any part of North America, but rather a native of Africa.

In 1912 the company changed the logo slightly to include a slogan below the lower section of text. “The Trade Mark of Quality Made Famous by Good Implements” The imagery also has greater detail.

Another more significant change was made in 1936. The deer was changed in to aa silhouette and the log detail which the deer was jumping over was simplified. The underlying reason was to make the trademark more appropriate for stenciling on products. This new look adjusted the gesture of the deer jumping to push the front legs out stretched.  They also added a shape to encase the logo. With all the graphic changes there were not any text revisions at this point, but only a year later the lower slogan was removed as well as the outline shape.

In the 1950’s the John Deere Company made 2 more sets of revisions to simplify the trademark. A major adjustment was changing the direction of the antlers, and removing the log the deer was jumping over. It was in the 50’s when we see the typography evolve to a sans serif typeface.

In 1968 the logo really moved to a more stylized look. Many of the features of the animal were refined to make the image more streamline. This version of the logo was the first time the company only showed 2 legs instead of all 4. Also the antlers reveal 4 points. A simple Helvetica font is used for the name John Deere below the leaping animal. The entire logo is then encased with a boarder.

The logo used today has evolved even further.  In 2000, John Deere revealed its latest trademark. This of course will not be the last and final logo for this evolving company. The deer has been refined more and simplified and the colors of green and yellow are implemented.  The text is removed from the gradient design panel that holds the deer.

Over all John Deere is a great company to look at for an evolving logo. When you consider that the logo has changed 8 times since it was created, it may seem like a lot, but not when you consider how long the company has existed. The company made adjustments to their trademark and it did evolve, but overall the concept stayed pretty consistent. Especially considering the color selection. John Deere and yellow are just as recognized as the logo. It seems also that each revision simplified the concept a little more and was changed to identify the company was evolving with its product.
Sources:
"John Deere: A History of the John Deere Logo and Its Changes." John Deere Home Page Redirect. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .
"John Deere (2000) Logo." World's Finest Selection of Logos. | Goodlogo!com. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .

New Urbanists

Question: Who were the "New Urbanists" and what impact did they have on architecture in the latter half of the 20th century?

Old Urbanism was built around the idea that people would be walking. Between the narrow streets and the local commercial area, folks were able to walk or ride in streetcars. Old Urbanism worked very well even without zoning regulations until the automobile became so popular.

Today New Urbanism is similar to the old view where walking is the central focus and mode of transportation. In addition New Urbanists are also concerned about the culture and function of urban areas, over the overall look or style of urban areas. Their big push for health and being environmentally aware are the principles they claimed will make life more fulfilling. The New Urbanists movement proposes to reduce the size of structures, which in turn, uses less materials and resources. With less interior space, individuals are forced to spend more time outdoors and interact with their community.

Today some of their big campaigns push renewable energy, electronic transportation and “retooling” current industries to create a greener, more efficient society (New Deal 2009, 2011). The “Retool America” campaign is a plan that will solve many to our current problems (New Deal 2009, 2011). The desire to shift transportation to mostly electronic train would greatly change the urban landscape. With development of new railways that replace large interstates, urban space would need to be compact to make the city more walkable. New Urbanists look to the future with the vision of , “creating livable, affordable, healthy, and enjoyable communities for all” (New Deal 2009, 2011).

Works Cited:
"New Deal 2009." Urban Design. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. .
Survey of Architecture | ART3020 UB. Week Five Online Lecture, 31 Jan 2011.
"Urban Review STL » Blog Archive » Old Urbanism, Suburbia & New Urbanism." Urban Review STL. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. .

1960s impact on architecture & urban planning

Question: What social, political, and economics events of the late 1960s impacted architecture and urban planning in America?

The 1960’s showed dramatic transformation in the evolution of architecture and urban planning in American. While technology and electrical devices began to show great growth, the economy did not support the culture to maintain its architecture. The innovative architecture designs of the early 60’s began to show they were not the most economical designs by the early 70’s. People found they were spending an exceptional amount of money heating and cooling buildings with poorly insolated glass. Expansion from heating and cooling cause more issues and problems like leaking roofs, and heating systems that could not accommodate the space. With the country in a recession in the 70’s architecture design had to change. Even today these structures are almost endangered. With so many innovations and green engineering, many times it is actually less expensive have a building torn down and rebuilt than invest in renovations to make the building more efficient.

It is also suggested that another reason the buildings of the 60’s are disappearing is the rebellion of the baby boomers. As many in this demographic grew up in a modernist home, to feel their progression as adults they in turn reject the style in order to “progress” in society.


Works Cited:
"1960s Architecture - 1960s Architecture: L.A. and the Paradox of Preservation - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 11 Oct. 2009. Web. 08 Feb. 2011.
Bernstein, Fred “The End of 1960’s Architecture” The New York Times. 31 Oct. 2004. Web 08 Feb. 2011.  
Survey of Architecture | ART3020 UB. Week Five Online Lecture, 31 Jan 2011.

Steel Plant Architectural Style

Question: Imagine that you were working in one of America’s steel plants at the dawn of the 20th century, what architectural styles might you encounter on a day-to-day basis and where might you see them?

In the early 20th century the steel industry began to boom. While the steel mills were very dangerous and known for severe accidents, poor working conditions, and pitiful wages, the product of steel was in high demand. Steel could be produced at a very affordable cost, which was then passed on to the customer making the product very economical. The strong and relatively lightweight material became a very popular choice for construction material in architecture.

Steel was the perfect material to manufacture long spanning trusses for bridges, and buildings alike. The strength of the material allowed interior areas to be column free. Factories, concert halls, and aircraft hangers are noted structures that utilized this advance in architecture. By the mid 1900’s welding took bridge fabrication with steel to the next level with increasingly strong seamless joints.

Steel was also a key element in the success the evolution of skyscrapers. In its early years steel supports were used to help reinforce the concrete structures. Steel offered such versatility and could be easily manufactured to meet the structural and aesthetic needs of the building. As the design of the skyscraper grew taller, steel braces, beams and columns were used as the tall structures began to “sway” in the wind, “some more than two feet in any direction” (Skyscraper History , 2011).

Work Cited:
"American Experience . The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie . The Steel Business | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. ."History of Iron and Steel Bridges." Beams | Columns | Composite Flooring | Sustainability. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. .
"Skyscraper History — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. .
"World Architecture- Steel Buildings." World Architecture-1000 Places To See Before You Die. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. .

Transportation and Urban Planning

Question: How did different modes of transportation affect architecture and urban planning at the beginning of the 20th century?

In the early 1800’s the most practical way to travel great distance and transport goods was on waterways. The early settlers gathered and created major cities in these areas that gave them this access. While these early settlers did some traveling on land, the journeys were long, dangerous, and difficult. Supplies and materials used for structures for most were found in their local community.

The dawn of the 20th century, showed great advancements. The railroad with its miles of track gave new opportunity to urban development. This great resource enabled movement of materials and supplies from a port or supplier to locations many miles away. As transportation evolved, urban development began to move further inland. Settlers found themselves living inland in rural areas, but quickly began to gravitate to the city especially when the electronic trolley lines began. This great innovation granted people the opportunity to travel much more efficiently. Previously residents were forced to live in the urban areas if they worked there. The only other options was using horses or walking on foot. With the trolley lines running from downtown to the suburbs, residents gravitated to the outskirts of town to avoid living in the commotion of a crowded city.

In the early 20th century automobiles began to surface among the wealthy, but by “1920, 8 million” Americans owned cars (America on the Move | Transportation History, 2011). A this time, even with the automobile being such a popular form of transportation, traveling in rural areas was still very difficult. With lack of roads, Americans still depended on the railways for both travel, supply and industry.

It was not until the 1950’s when the “American Dream” of a “house in the suburbs” became popular (America on the Move | Transportation History, 2011). The advances of the automobile, made this dream a reality. Roughly “50 million cars were” owned by Americans (America on the Move | Transportation History, 2011).

Aviation began to own the travel industry in the early 1960’s. The airlines opened great opportunity for the American culture to be connected across the nation. The airlines also ensured a more efficient supply of goods to pretty much anywhere in the nation.

With the evolution of transportation we see the changes in Urban Development. The earliest settlers lived in close communities as they have very limited means of transportation. The buildings used more native materials the communities were located in areas where resources were most accessible. With innovation can change as people gathered wealth they could afford more luxury and beauty in their structures and transportation gave Americans the opportunity to move out of the downtown areas. Today one of the biggest changes I have personally observed, as city grows, so do its roadways. Today many large cities have multiple highways built around the city to accommodate the heavy traffic. Subways, trains, busses, and automobiles have drastically changed where Americans live with respect to where they work.

Works Cited:
"America on the Move | Transportation History." National Museum of American History. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. .

Washington DC Design - Green Space & Wide Boulevards

Question: What were some of the stylistic, social, and political reasons that Washington D.C. was designed with so many wide boulevards and open green spaces?

(ESPN Sports Travel, 2011)

In, 1791, Pierre L ‘Enfant had envisioned a Baroque capitol city that would have grand features like wide roads lined with trees, that would connect the key buildings, monuments, statues, and fountains, as well as, large open spaces. At the young age of twenty-two, he had a vision of showcasing ceremonial locations but keeping in mind the nature beauty and flow of the land. It was his vision to have “unobstructed open space” (The L'Enfant and McMillian Plans.", 2011). The French engineer was eager for the opportunity to design the proposed capitol city from the ground up. Unfortunately, L’Enfant was removed from this planning project as he became very controlling and would not work with the city commissioners nor consider their time frame. He also refused to produce a map or drawing of his designs for the counsel, so many of his designs that were implemented were actually recalled from memory from those who worked with the great French designer.

The planning of the new capital city of this new nation needed to be magnificent. It needed to go beyond any other economic or social expectation anyone may have for a city. The capitol city for this new nation needed to make a statement to the country, as well as, other nations of this nations innovation and governments strength and power. The committee was also committed to preserving the rich pioneering history of its forefathers.

Today our nations capitol reveals its influence from several European cities like Vienna, as well as, 18th century gardens like France’s Palace of Versailles. Washington DC continues to retain its beauty and mostly original design by legally protecting the integrity of the design of the city.

(Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria | Flickr - Photo Sharing!", 2011)

(Palace of Versailles, 2011)

Works Cited:

"ESPN Sports Travel: Washington Sports Travel and Sports Vacation Guide - ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .

"Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .

"Palace of Versailles." France Sightseeing, Everything to See and Do in France. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .

"Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Major, United States Army." Arlington National Cemetery Website Title Page. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .

"The L'Enfant and McMillian Plans." U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .

Urban Planning - Central Park

Question: Did the creation of New York’s Central Park have more of a detrimental than positive effect on urban planning? On urban living?

Creating New York’s Central Park had an incredible impact on urban planning and living. In the 1850’s the idea struck New Yorkers both wealthy and poor alike as a great benefit. While the wealthy envisioned place where they as the high society could socialize and show their success, the poor saw the park as a place of recreation that did not require their personal labor to maintain. Those less enthusiastic about proposed Central Park were the 1,600 people who were residing in the proposed area. These residences feared for losing their homes and communities.

With further investigation it was discovered that the proposed location of the park was not suitable for commercial construction. With limited outdoor space for recreation, it seemed the park would prove to be great solution for the people of New York City, and would provide recreation that the urban city could not otherwise offer. Even when the idea of a park was proposed back in 1850, people saw and knew the need for recreation in nature. To sit in the grass, enjoy the shade of a tree, and even space to enjoy sports and other recreation has always been important.

Being that “New York’s Central Park is the first urban landscape park in the United States” and is still quite popular today, it is evident that it has been a very positive addition to this community (History of Central Park, New York, 2011). It has also paved the way for other urban areas in showing the importance of green space for these very urban communities. The success of park has continued to push the evolution of urban planning to where today residents expect and require green spaces or parks for recreation. This is another European idea that Americans adopted into American culture and therefore have enhanced urban living.

(Free Wi-FI In NYC's Central Park: Now That's More Like It.", 2011)

Works Cited:
CentralParkHistory.com - A Complete Online History of the World's Most Famous Public Park! Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .
"Free Wi-FI In NYC's Central Park: Now That's More Like It." Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .
"History of Central Park, New York." NY.com, The Paperless Guide to New York City. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. .

Cascading Style Sheet - CSS- Internal, External, Inline

In web development cascading style sheets can save a designer many headaches and time for formatting the site efficiently. While a website can function without CSS, it is away to add a custom look to a website and remove its default formats. By using cascading style sheets or CSS a developer is able to assign specific formatting to specific areas in the code. With using CSS a designer may choose to assign an ID format specified area or section. An ID is used, “when there is only one occurrence per page” (CSS Tutorial - ID vs Class, 2011). For example, an ID might be used for a call out for a banner section or menu section.

With CSS a developer may choose to use a class when there are many instances of a needed format on a page. A class call out would be used on hyperlinks, or create special formatted text for copy sections, headers, and footers. Using a class also allows for creating rollovers for hyperlinks.

I personally prefer to use an external style sheet. Even when I am designing only 4 pages I find that I like the ability to control the way each page is formatted with one page of commands. Using an external style sheet does just that. I quickly and efficiently make changes to every page by making a quick edit to my external CSS file. A great example would be if I want my copy text to be larger on each page, and want the color to be gray instead of black. That change can be made to every page that has the link extension in the header and has assigned the proper class to the area that needs to reflect the format.

Using an Internal Style Sheet is another way to apply CSS to a web page. Internal style sheet commands are located in the head section and only apply their commands directly to the page they are placed on. Style tags contain the commands for the specific format of that individual page. This technique is not recommended for a website with many pages. Like with external style sheets a class needs to be placed in a tag to apply the style or an ID is applied to a section in the head section.

Finally, an inline style is the least flexible for quick changes and adjustment. The inline style is exactly what it sounds like. It is placed right in the tag with a style attribute called directly into the tag. This is a quick and easy way to replace the default formats in a tag with custom formatting. However, this method is more tedious to edit and would not be suggested for websites with many pages.

Works Cited:
"CSS Tutorial - ID vs Class." Tizag Tutorials. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. .
"CSS How to." W3Schools Online Web Tutorials. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.