Architectural History and Criticism Commons^™

Reflections On The Red Sea Style: Beyond The Surface Of Coastal Architecture, Nancy Um

Nancy Um

In 1953, a British architect named Derek H. Matthews introduced the idea of “The Red Sea Style” in print, with a modest article of that title. Although brief and focused on a single site, this article proposed that the architecture around the rim of the Red Sea could be conceived of as a coherent and unified building category. Since then, those who have written about Red Sea port cities have generally accepted his suggestion of a shared architectural culture. Indeed, the houses of the region’s major ports, such as Suakin in modern-day Sudan, Massawa in Eritrea, Jidda and YanbuΚ al-BaΉr …

“Mocha: Maritime Architecture On Yemen’S Red Sea Coast.” In ‘Architecture That Fills My Eye’: The Building Heritage Of Yemen. Exh. Cat. Ed. Trevor H.J. Marchand, 60-69. London: Gingko Library, 2017., Nancy Um

Nancy Um

No abstract provided.

From The Port Of Mocha To The Eighteenth-Century Tomb Of Imam Al-Mahdi Muhammad In Al-Mawahib: Locating Architectural Icons And Migratory Craftsmen, Nancy Um

Nancy Um

This article introduces and analyzes the tomb of the Qāsimī Imām al-Mahdī Muhammad (r. 1686-1718) in the village of al-Mawāhib, northeast of Dhamār. Unlike many of the mosques and tombs associated with the other Zaydī imams of Yemen, al-Mahdī’s mausoleum has never been published, but merits close examination. While most historians consider his imamate to have been an era of both religious and political decline, this period was marked by increased cross-cultural interaction and artistic production. In particular, the tomb of al-Mahdī features unique decoration above its mihrāb and a remarkable wooden cenotaph. In order to explain the meaning and …

Greenlaw’S Suakin: The Limits Of Architectural Representation And The Continuing Lives Of Buildings In Coastal Sudan, Nancy Um

Nancy Um

Despite its ruined modern state, the coral-built architecture of the island city of Suakin on Sudan's Red Sea coast is well known to scholars of vernacular architecture. Its enduring reputation may be attributed to the copious documentation of its houses, mosques, and public buildings that appeared in the 1976 publication The Coral Buildings of Suakin by the artist Jean-Pierre Greenlaw. This paper considers the visual project of Greenlaw and its legacy, with a focus on the intertwined relationship between the processes of architectural documentation, the writing of architectural history, and the directives of preservation during the last years of British …

Preserving Brutalism Through Color Theory.Pdf, Marissa Gudiel

Marissa Gudiel

City Of Felt And Concrete: Negotiating Cultural Hybridity In Mongolia's Capital Of Ulaanbaatar, Joshua Hagen, Alexander Diener

Joshua Hagen

Capital cities play an integral role in the construction of national identity. This is particularly true when the capital is the country's only major urban center. Over the course of its history, Mongolia's capital of Ulaanbaatar has been periodically reshaped to reflect competing trajectories of national culture. This article examines the evolving symbolism of architecture, urban design, and public space in Ulaanbaatar as a means of exploring Mongolia's complex negotiation between its traditional culture (mobile pastoralism and Shamanism/Buddhism), its socialist legacy, and globalization. Amidst the rampant social change of the last two decades, rather ambiguous national narratives have emerged in …

From Socialist To Post-Socialist Cities: Narrating The Nation Through Urban Space, Joshua Hagen, Alexander Diener

Joshua Hagen

The development of post-socialist cities has emerged as a major field of study among critical theorists from across the social sciences. Originally constructed under the dictates of central planners and designed to serve the demands of command economies, post-socialist urban centers currently develop at the nexus of varied and often competing economic, cultural, and political forces. Among these, nationalist aspirations, previously simmering beneath the official rhetoric of communist fraternity and veneer of architectural conformity, have emerged as dominant factors shaping the urban landscape. This article examines patterns, processes, and practices concerning the cultural politics of architecture, urban planning, and identity …

Concepts Of Space In Urban Design, Architecture And Art, Nicholas N. Patricios

Nicholas Patricios

The contributions that have been made by psychologists, anthropologists and others to the revision of our traditional concepts of space demand, in the author's view, a new approach to urban design, architecture and art. These contributions suggest that two basic categories of space must be distinguished: the physical and the mental. Mental space is shown not to have a one-to-one correspondence with the space that is part of the physical world, due to the mediation of various psychological and cultural factors. A concept of space may be said to originate in an observer's mind and is a structure that is …

Baltimore After The War Of 1812: Where Robert Mills Met His Waterloo And When James A. Buchanan Broke The Bank, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

In 1815 Baltimore City was boom town. Its militiamen had repulsed the British sea invasion and presaged an end to the War of 1812. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815 signaled an end to European wars. Freedom of the seas had been restored. The Baltimore “Clipper” was the best sailing ship on the ocean. Baltimore looked to become the country’s leading exporter of grain, flour, and tobacco. Merchant James A. Buchanan, a partner in one of the country’s greatest shipping firms, had been named President of the Baltimore Branch of the Second National Bank of the United States. Civic leaders …

Owen Jones' The Grammar Of Ornament, John Jespersen

Kresten Jespersen

No abstract provided.

Form And Meaning, John Jespersen

Kresten Jespersen

As did Owen Jones, Bloomer argues for a modern style of ornament to decorate a modern architechture. Based on formal laws rather than theories of classical or naturalism imitation, conventionalization can be seen as being explicitly modern. More-over, deriving from the work of ornament, these laws are dependent on intrinsic rather than extrinsic principles.

Owen Jones And The Conventionalization Of Ornament, John Kresten Jespersen Ph.D.

Kresten Jespersen

Owen Jones, an architect and theorist of ornament, is best remembered as an ornamenter of distinction. His theory and practice of conventional ornament, his powerful color, and his original forms which had their origins in the ornament of the Alhambra substantiate the claim that he was the greatest ornamenter of his age. The book analyzes the theory of conventionalization as it applies to ornament, color, architecture and interior design. In particular, the book explores repose as the psychological and spiritual outcome of his ornament.

Reinventing Airspace: Spectatorship, Fluidity, Intimacy At Pek T3., Alberto Pepe

Alberto Pepe

In this article, I explore the contemporary practice of air travel conceptualizing airports as socio-technical mobilities. Drawing both from the notion of “space” posited by Michel de Certeau and that of “non-place” by Marc Augé, I argue that the supermodern nature of air travel has generated forms of crisis that have embedded themselves in the architecture and the modus operandi of contemporary airports. Airports are necessarily located in a physical and tangible sense, yet their function is so tightly coupled with transience, mobility and spectatorship, that they bring anthropological accounts of “place” to unprecedented extremes. In this article, I analyze …

Aftermath: Alpha Chi Omega Sorority: Progress Materializes From Adversity, M. Monica Gillen

M. Monica Gillen

The role of an architect on any project is some combination of design, coordination and consultation. Every project is different as are the circumstances which surround them. In the case of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, on the campus of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, the house was destroyed by a tornado that tore through town on Aprill3, 2006. Razing and rebuilding in the aftermath would require close coordination with the architect, builders, local building authorities and the Sigma Chapter members in effort to satisfy the various recovery criteria specific to the locale, including budget constraints, current building safety …

Centum Homines: The Prototype Of The Alexander Mosaic And The Military Museum In The Hellenistic World, Peter Nulton

Peter E. Nulton Ph.D.

Although it is generally accepted that the Alexander Mosaic copies a painting of the 4th Century BCE, the attribution of this prototype has never been settled. Numerous attempts have been made to associate it with painters recorded in Pliny's Natural History, notably Philoxenos of Eretria, and Alexander's court painter, Apelles.

If the painting were the work of any artist whose name survives, as strong a case can be made for Aristeides of Thebes as for Apelles or Philoxenos. Since Pliny's comment that Aristeides painted a battle against the Persians follows his treatment of the works of Apelles, he is likely …

A Culture Served: A Neighborhood Evolves And The Economy Revitalizes, M. Monica Gillen

M. Monica Gillen

The La Plaza on Grand Avenue in Des Moines seeks to generate retail stability for Hispanic and Latino residents and economic movement in the area.

Iowa Architect: Promoting The Noteworthy Design Of Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow, M. Monica Gillen

M. Monica Gillen

To create, fashion and construct is to design. Ideas begin in the mind and are brought out through various acts of creativity, including but not limited to drawings and writings. An underlying theme governs the process and the plan becomes the means for articulating its execution.

An Ames Icon: A New Building And Expansion To Iowa State Center, M. Monica Gillen

M. Monica Gillen

The Bergstrom Indoor Training Facility in Ames, Iowa, has changed the rules of the practice game and how that game is played by Iowa State University athletics.

The Culture Of Criticism: Adolf Behne And The Development Of Modern Architecture In Germany, 1910-1914, Kai K. Gutschow

Kai K. Gutschow

This dissertation investigates the early career of the German architectural critic Adolf Behne (1885-1948) and the crucial role he played in defining and promoting an early vision of modern architecture. During the particularly vibrant cultural moment in Germany before World War I, Behne became intent on finding artistic and architectural alternatives to what he perceived as the elitism, materialism, and decadence of Wilhelmine society. Influenced by the cultural program of the Socialist party, Behne believed that modern art had to be made accessible to all, and that modern architecture must be grounded in a "social conscience." The theories of Expressionist …

One Room For Living: A Display For Fixtures, Finishes And Fine Art, M. Monica Gillen

M. Monica Gillen

If the commission is to design a living space, then trust is imperative. If an architect could imagine a dream project, then that exercise might come with a directive from the client to "have at it." According to Marc Moen, developer and the owner of a newly remodeled loft in the vibrant downtown area of Iowa City, he said exactly that to Tim Schroeder AlA, of Neumann Monson Architects. Moen's and partner, Bobby Jett's relationship is historically tested and based on certain expectations that the architects have met consistently.

Interview: Stan Allen *88, Rebuilding America, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Eric Lubell

Ludmilla D Pavlova

Interview with Stan Allen, Dean of the Princeton University School of Architecture, discussing why Princeton is so well represented among the finalists for the World Trade Center competition and how the University and its faculty has influenced architecture and architectural discourse.

Prehistoric Modernity: The Architecture Of Frank Gehry, Ian Rae

Ian Rae

No abstract provided.

The Mosque: History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity, Ed. By Martin Frishman And Hasan-Uddin Khan (Review), Roberta Dougherty

Roberta L. Dougherty

Owen Jones' The Grammar Of Ornament: Field Theory In The Post-Modern Studio, Kresten Jespersen

Kresten Jespersen

A suggested use of Owen Jones's great encyclopedia of ornament for the contemporary architectural studio. the article is the outcome of a course given for the students in the Undergraduate Architecture Program by Prof. Kent Bloomer and myself in 1984.

Form And Meaning: The Conventionalization Of The Leaf Ornament, Kresten Jespersen

Kresten Jespersen

As did Owen Jones, Bloomer argues for a modern style of ornament to decorate a modern architecture. Based on formal laws rather than theories of classical or naturalistic imitation, conventionalization can be seen as being explicitly modern. Moreover, deriving from the work of ornament, these laws are dependent on intrinsic rather than extrinsic principles.