sawsaw 2/9

Taking the trip downtown on Thursday helped to make Jencks' concepts more clear. The fact that we could clearly identify examples of his concepts in today's architecture made me realize how relevant these concepts really are. The first building we looked at, Bank of America was a perfect example of disharmonious harmony. The different shapes of the windows, different shades of color and different size buildings made the building different yet harmonious. Even though there were many different elements to the building it all flowed and seemed to work. The Bank of America was also a good example of double-coding. It had many similarities to a church with a steple and also shadowed a Roman courtyard. After analyzing these concepts, I realized how much time and preparation went into designing this building. The architect specifically came up with those ideas to make this buildiing stand out and trigger a visual appeal in the viewer. Although the Bank of America, Orange County Courthouse, and other office buildings in the area are all able to stand by themselves, they share some harmonious design elements. They have similiar shades of color, similiar materials were used and they seem to flow visually in that space. I found the concepts by Jencks to be very helpful in analysizing these buildings. Now that I have an understanding of these ideas I will better be able to view architecture wherever I go.