October 2007 Archives
Baroque buildings used a combination of concave and convex curves to direct movement through a space. Similarly, the glamorous church uses concave extrusions, along an oval path (as the space within an oval is considered to be heavenly), to define areas where the sacraments take place, and convex extrusions along an oval path, to define where circulation occurs. The transformational spaces are ordered hierarchically moving towards spaces of increased intensity.
The height of the spaces are also determined in accordance with this sacramental hierarchy. Larger spaces denote the importance of the sacrament.
The height of the spaces are also determined in accordance with this sacramental hierarchy. Larger spaces denote the importance of the sacrament.
Today I met with Father Allen Morris of The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady, in St. John's Wood. The purpose of the meeting was to gain a better understanding of the spaces where The Sacraments take place within the Church. Beyond our discussion, he recommended two documents, which I found to be really useful: The General Instruction of the Roman Missal and Consecrated for Worship. The former outlines all the details related to the ritual of Mass and the latter provides an explicit description of the current requirements for Church building.
The Baroque was a period when the Catholic Church used glamour to persuade the laity. The most significant shape during this period was the oval. The space within the oval was symbolic of heaven.
1. Serilio's four ovals. As the glamorous curve expresses transformation and duality, it adopts the heavenly curve and couples it with the sensuous curve. It takes heavenly perfection and makes it accessible through an organic language.
2. Inflection - where a concave curve meets a convex curve.
References:
1. Proia, Lina and Marta Menghini: "Conic Sections in the Sky and on the Earth", Educational Studies in Mathematics 15.2(1984):199
2. Cache, Bernard. Earth Moves: The Furnishing of Territories. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995, 128-129.
The glamorous wall is visually porous so that the eye may easily
move from the space within to the space beyond. It is highly textured on the
interior and comparatively austere on its exterior. It is voluminous and dramatic. It
employs a language of sensuality. It presents the eye with an ephemeral
form, an apparition of a wall.
Proto-Glam Walls:
The Church of S. Maria in Campitelli demonstrates the baroque convention of having a relatively regular exterior wall in contrast to an exuberant interior wall condition.
More recently, Le Corbusier's Firminy presents a porous, textured wall...gorgeous!
Proto-Glam Walls:
The Church of S. Maria in Campitelli demonstrates the baroque convention of having a relatively regular exterior wall in contrast to an exuberant interior wall condition.
More recently, Le Corbusier's Firminy presents a porous, textured wall...gorgeous! 
This first plan investigates a layered wall that separates and converges repeatedly, shifting between single and double strands to make space.
