Parthenon in Athens & The White House

De stijl is one of artistic movement during 1917 which contain the style of Neoclassicism. It also can be called “Neoplasticism” or “new plastic art” which refers to a basis for the group’s work formed by the artistic philosophy. The style emphasizes on the pureness and modern of art form which is inspired by the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. Parthenon is the temple in Athens which began to built around 447 BC and complated in 438 BC. It is one of the classical Greece building that can be seen as an example of the influence and have an effect on later style of architecture, Neoclassicism. The White house in Washington, D.C. is the official resident and workplace of the president of the United States which is considered as one of the Neoclassical building. Both buildings are completely built in different period but they still share some similarity that show the effect of the movement inspiration and influences. The features that can be collected from both buildings are they are built in symmetrical shape, tall columns that rise the full height of the building and triangular pediment. Observe carefully, both Parthenon and the White house share these similarity since they both got the same influence at the different timing.

Le Corbusier and Vienna Seccession

As the time pass, the world has developed and finally the architecture has been changed through time. The Union of Austrain Artists, or also known as “The Vienna Seccession” is the movement during 1897 which consists of new style of Architecture. The style of this new architecture can be seen through the buildings as they are the icon of the movement. The style that can be seen through building will be modernist and send the influences later on to the next generation. Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier is one of the example of the modern architecture which was built between 1928-1931. Villa Savoye is focused on the simplicity of the shape which is the geomertic shape. Being a concrete structure creates a modern feeling. Also, Its a repeating pattern and puer geometry which are accordance to the concept of “The Vienna Seccession”. However, during the previous period, Bourgeoisie is used to refer to the range of socio-economic class or the “rich” people. The architecture in that period is very different from the Villa Savoye, which it was mostly Classicism. For example, Garnier Opera House was built between 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was a design for Bourgeoise and the architecture style was really luxury and use gold/coper as the color range representing the wealthiness. This shows the different between modernist architecture, simplicity and machinary feeling and classicism architecture, wealthiness and handcraft.

Chinese Pavilion

Chinese pagoda is the traditional part of chinese architecture which is applied to the China Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. It is considered to be the "The Crown of the East," which contains serveral main structure. A distinctive roof, made of traditional dougong or brackets, which date back more than 2,000 years. It was widely used in the Spring and Autumn Period. The dougong style features wooden brackets fixed layer upon layer between the top of a column and a crossbeam. Interlocking of wooden brackets is one of the unique and important structural that being used in traditional Chinese architecture. The structure still implicits the impression of the traditional chinese pagoda. The platform of the pavilion is elevated above the ground level and is higher than other pavilions in the World Expo in order to give the importance and emphasize the building. The timber joint allows the expansion ability to the roof of the structure and is considered as a sophisticated construction system which helps to support. The pavilion mostly underline the statement of being significant and powerful by using the red color which represents ‘power’, ‘chinese culture’ and ‘good fortune’. Also, the pavilion is located on a strong axial which is North, South, East, and West according to the belief of Feng Shui.

Light in Different Age of Architecture

To talk in a scientific way, light is just an electromagnetic rediation that is visible to human eyes or sight. There are many type of lights which contain both positive and negative impact on human body. However, light is not only give people the ability to see, but it contain intangible meaning to the architecture through age. A certain same light from the sun can change the meaning through different architecture and form of the building. Referring back to the beginning of the lesson, Egyptian architecture was mostly concentrated on the death and providing spaces for the death believing that its the way of sending them to the heaven. Pyramid was built to act as a tomb and keep the death body of Pharoah or the king of the empire. Later, after the architecture was more concern on the living of people, we can see that the arrangement and orientation of the structure had been changed. The pyramid has no light system in it since it was a place for the death but the shading and light angle has been applied to the following structure since it represented a place for living. Therefore, in that period light determined the meaning of live and death.

On the other hand, Gothic architecture concerned on the flourish which included many pointed arch, ribbed vault and flying buttress. The structure will be very tall with stained glass and oftenly applied to the Christian church. Christianity start to begin since Byzentine which light contain the meaning of Jesus christ and sacred (different from the Egyptian). Therefore, the meaning of light during Gothic period is about being sacred and more into the teaching of God.

Romanesque Style

Romanesque Architecture is the architecture style of ancient Europe which mostly consists of semi-circular arches and developing from ancient Greek and Roman thought. It Approximately occurred between the range of 6th to the 10th century and continue developed into the Gothic style. By combining the features of Western Roman and Bysantine buildings, Romanesque architecture often can be observed through the massive quality, thick walls, round arches and usually emphasis on the symmetry. The University of California, UCLA campus in California, USA is one of the Romanesque style which was found as a Southern Branch of University of California in 1919. It was built by applying the idea of Romanesque architecture style. It can be seen obviously that the university campus’s structure is the mixture of Rome and Byzentine which contain its own reason and meaning. The significant of Rome structure is power which applied to the campus since the university is a respectful place. As well as being a church and museum, Byzentine style was brought to the structure because it represents knowledge and religion. In addition, the using of brick will increase the quality of ventilation in the building since it controls light density and humidity temperature in order to protect historic stuff inside.

This way, the question rises that why United States which is such a big country still need to borrow the idea of architecture from other countries?

United States of America was a newborn country created after many other countries and it is where contain the combination of people around the world. They have their own history but no originality in architectural style. Therefore, in order to building something beneficial or a good structure, they need to study and borrow the architecture from other countries.

India Architecture (Hinduism & Islam)

India is one of the countries consisting of many religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Jainism. Through these religions, specific architectures are expressed in different way according to the beliefs. Two most common religions in India are Hinduism and Islam. Hinduism is considered as the world’s third largest religion which originally occured in India.

It is different from other religions as it contains only a single founder, a specific theological system and a central religious authority. Hindu architecture concentrates extremely on the religious and spiritual while Islamic architecure focus on monuments, human way of living and forbids idol worship.

One of the notable architecture built under the

belief of Islam is Taj Mahal. In Agra, India, Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in mem

ory of his third wife. It is a white marble grave which is widely regconized as “The jewel of muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”. One of the

feature that makes Taj Mahal very famouse is its symmetrical contruction. This way the architecture force people to look at th

e building in a specific perspective. Also, the craftmanship still resemble the Jali which is the latticed screen used for decoration in Islamic Mosque architecture. On the hand, Hinduism architecture main feature focuses on the religious and spiritual. Kanchipuram Temples consisted of a group of a hundred Hindu shrines which was built by Pallvala King. Early temples were mostly dedicated to Shiva. Later, pillars bore the brunt of the carver’s tool, and these came to be richly adorned with scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Islamophobia!

On the Tuesday morning on Semtember 11, 2001, there were 19 terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets and crashed two planes into the most important buildings in the middle of New York City. The twin towers, World Trade Center, collapsed within two hours. This brought up many complications to all American who were directly and indirectly affected.

Later on, an Isalamic Community Center Project is being proposed 2 blocks away from the Ground Zero which leads to an endless debating since the country receieves the supporting statement the right to build from Precident Obama.

Many questions rise to people around the world:

Should Muslims be allowed to build a mosque near New York’s Ground Zero?

Instead of old tradition architectural mosque, why do Muslims derive the original form into a skyscraper?

Many perspectives and opinions were observed among different group of people but most American would say no! It’s the matter of mind value not the rule which you can or can NOT build but it’s what you should or SHOULD NOT build it. As an American, not to be bias, it remarks in their minds that the terrorists are Muslim. This might sounds sterotyped so of course they don’t want anything for Muslim to located near the memorial of something so important for their country which the Muslims are the one who destroyed it.

However, as a Muslims who wasn’t involved in the crime and live life normally in the city, it might be really unfair and racist to prevent them from providing convenience for their people or even themselves.

In addition, the changing of form from the tradition Mosque to the new skyscraper is also depends on people perspective and judging. Some group of people might perceive it as a good willing to blend in with the environment since the area is business area and fills with business building. As well as the new architectural development where Jali, the latticed screen used for decoration in Islamic Mosque architecture, is adapted into the facade of the building. However, another opinion from different group people would be “It is really offensive to build another skyscraper belonging to Muslims who are the destroyer of THEIR skyscraper”, near the Ground Zero because it sounds like replacing.