HISTORY & THEORY 2: Reading Comprehension 5

Penn Station Column Roth pg. 507

1. From the Roth, Harwood, and Massey readings, select an ARTIFACT you believe to represent revolution in design. SPECULATE about the type of revolution this artifact symbolizes. Supplement your answer with a beautifully hand rendered image of the artifact you selected, citing source and page on your image.

The artifact that I chose from the readings that accurately depicts a "revolution in design" are the columns from the waiting room of Penn Station. Roth states that the details of this building were, "modeled after the huge public spaces Roman baths, specifically the Baths of Caracalla" (Roth, 505). This artifact best represents a revolution in design because it was "molded to recall historical forms but built of twentieth-century materials" (Roth 506). These columns have gone full circle from the ancient world to existing among us in the modern world but managing not to lose their sense of grandeur and luxury that they have kept from all those years ago.

2. Using the internet, LOCATE and ANALYZE an image for an ARTIFACT, a SPACE, a BUILDING, and a PLACE, drawing the idea of eastern influences as understood by nineteenth-century minds (China, Japan, India, Middle Eastern) on western design and architecture. Each answer must include an appropriately annotated and cited image in addition to a well-crafted essay to defend your choice of each image and the ways (more than one) that the material item responds to design influences from the east.

ARTIFACT

 SPACE

BUILDING

 PLACE

The above images are examples of the eastern influence on western artifacts, spaces, buildings, and places. The first image, a fabric from the Calico Corner company, is an example of specifically Chinese influence on Western textiles. The floral pattern is borrowed from typical Chinese patterns, simplistic and naturalistic in orientation. The use of these patterns reflects as Hardwood defines, "European fanciful, naive, and/or Romantic notions about China" (Hardwood 966). The second image, the offices of the Bank of England, is inspired by the Italian Rotunda. Hardwood states that, "like architecture, Regency interiors are eclectic and borrow from the same sources-classical, medieval, Italian, French Empire, Chinese, and Indian" (Hardwood 76). Rooms such as these, public spaces, are ambitious and normally have details such as molding, the orders, or vaulting that is reminiscent of the time period that they are drawing influence from. The third image, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England, draws it's Eastern influence from India. This building is very unlike anything else seen in its surroundings, "combines Chinese, Islamic, medieval, and Indian details in motifs" (Hardwood 75). "Chinese lattice in a Gothic pattern fills Islamic horseshoe arches," and "French windows with curving tops allow access to the outside or the balconies. (Hardwood 75). The fourth image, the Fairmount Waterworks plant in Philadelphia, is a place that echoes Greek architecture on American soil. This place is an adaptation of the Grecian temple form. American builders believed that this echo from Greece, "serves as a symbol of order, repose, and stability" (Hardwood 96). These characteristics were exactly what America was looking for as it attempted to establish itself as a new nation. The fact that America's governmental system was revived from Classicism also had great influence on why builders looked back to antiquity for both political and architectural inspiration.

Image One: http://www.calicocorners.com/product/designer+fabrics+for+the+home/more+fabric+collections/eastern+influence/kaiya+shiki+cadet-dark+tan.do

Image Two:  http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/slide/ghirardo/CD2/092-CD2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://londonist.com/2010/03/bank_of_england_museum_history_arch.php&usg=__EQxyR6VK-oJ-tNu8cnvRsH8uXCs=&h=585&w=453&sz=79&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=DuyFpXHAhT5-tM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbank%2Bof%2BEngland%2BRotunda%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D677%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=128&vpy=323&dur=362&hovh=251&hovw=194&tx=114&ty=162&ei=o83QTKGgHIW8lQeTnYy-DA&oei=o83QTKGgHIW8lQeTnYy-DA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:0

Image Three: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.brightonsarchitecture.com/Resources/pavilion2.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.brightonsarchitecture.com/palace.html&usg=__PDuJ5IzUYVCUjoXN9yArLqH022g=&h=302&w=752&sz=48&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=GhAdns9vtrF_UM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=165&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droyal%2Bpavillion%2Bbrighton%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D677%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C62&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=73&vpy=313&dur=1089&hovh=142&hovw=355&tx=171&ty=76&ei=3s3QTMSuG9q5jAejwPCXDA&oei=ys3QTK6VJ4H7lwe-2cnEDA&esq=5&page=1&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0&biw=1440&bih=677

Image Four:  http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thecitytraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/PMAwaterworks3%4072.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thecitytraveler.com/mini-features/outdoors/philadelphia-on-bike-and-skate/&usg=__XPMRqVSg-kh8oheVfoNtbvz5ekU=&h=331&w=565&sz=76&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=g7MbzMiUmqXLTM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=173&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfairmount%2Bwaterworks%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D677%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C89&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=108&vpy=414&dur=521&hovh=172&hovw=293&tx=139&ty=111&ei=5svQTKC3J4eglAfzjtW5DA&oei=5svQTKC3J4eglAfzjtW5DA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:21,s:0&biw=1440&bih=677