ChittyChittyBangBang 2/10

Class on Thursday was a really cool experience. I haven't gone on a class field trip in forever, so it was interesting to mix it up and actually go look at what we've been discussing and reading about. I am a visual learner so forcing myself to analyze this postmodern architecture in person really helped me grasp the concepts we have been learning about. The Bank of America provided several examples such as anamnesis. We discussed the heights of the building reminding us of cingular or steps. One of the other buildings we studied looked like a cruise ship.

I also found the new rhetorical figures of the Bank of America the most intriguing part. Looking at the building and seeing the rosery windows with the brass knobs in the middle and how that is repeated all throughout the building. The windows that had the cross near the bottom instead of in the middle also become the norm to us because it is repeated throughout the building. If a standard window appears it looks out of place.

I am also beginning to see faces in everything, before i never would have noticed anthropomorphism in the Bank of America building. Although now I see the double doors creating a mouth. Apparently at nightime this is even more obvious and it appears as if the mouth is breathing fire.

What we see and expect in architecture also has a lot to do with what type of building it is. We expect the courthouse that we visited to be more of a "jail cell", "cold" type of building. Therefore we associated the doors etc...to be bars to a cell. Although the courthouse tried to make the building a welcoming place with the large courtyard, fountain, and cafe. Not to mention the family taking photographs that had just adopted a baby. It was a very welcoming day at the orlando courthouse...

Basically, I am never going to be able to look at architecture the same! I am continually looking at what could be considered disharmonious harmoney or radical eclecticism! gah!! : )