History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

Viewing Heaven: Rock Crystal, Reliquaries, And Transparency In Fourteenth-Century Aachen, Claire Kilgore

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

This thesis examines reliquaries and objects associated with medieval Christian practice in fourteenth-century Aachen. The city's cathedral and treasury contain prestigious relics, reliquaries, and liturgical items, aided by its status as the Holy Roman Empire's coronation church. During the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (r. 1349-1378), reliquaries, pilgrimage, and architecture reflect late medieval interests in vision, optics, and transparency. Two mid-fourteenth century reliquaries from the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, the Reliquary of Charlemagne and the Three-Steepled Reliquary, display relics through rock crystal windows, in contrast to the obscuring characteristics of earlier reliquaries. Not only do the two reliquaries visually …

“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

Art History Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The "Postmodern Geographies" Of Frank Gehry's Los Angeles, Katherine Shearer

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which Frank Gehry’s architectural contributions to Los Angeles’ social and built environment have shaped the region’s “postmodern geographies” throughout the 20^th and 21^st century. Through a focused exploration of three of Gehry’s postmodernist structures in Greater Los Angeles—a house, a library, and a concert hall—this thesis analyses how Gehry and his designs reflected and affected the artistic and socio-spatial development of Los Angeles’ “decidedly postmodern landscape.”

Leandro Erlich: Towards A Collaborative Relationship Between Architecture And Art, Isabel Tassara

Master's Projects and Capstones

For this Museum Studies capstone project, I presented and developed a proposal and project plan for an exterior interactive exhibition of an Argentinean artist, Leandro Erlich, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) in San Francisco, California. After researching diverse conflicts between architects and artists in the art museum context, my goal was to show an approach in which art can “dialogue” with the exterior features of the CJM’s cutting edge building. To be presented on the courtyard entrance of the Libeskind construction, the exhibition that I propose will potentially prove that an effective relationship can be established outside the common …

Building Xunantunich: Public Building In An Ancient Maya Community, Leah M. Mccurdy

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Publications - Archive

The purpose of this study is to consider the nature and implications of large-scale public building conducted by ancient groups. “Public building studies” is offered as a unifying moniker for investigations of ancient construction processes with public significance. This work concentrates on labor as an understudied component of public building in the ancient past and narrows focus directly to laborers as contributors to and the actual actors in public building activities. As such, this study considers alternatives to elite-centric interpretations of monumental buildings and their processes of creation.

This study focuses on an ancient Maya case study to apply a …

Communicating Through Space: An Exploration Of Interdisciplinary Relationships Between Architecture And Theatre Through Practical Application, Erin E. Hunter

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Space as an expression of ideas is a relevant topic both in theatrical design and architectural design. Both create worlds, places in time, and experiences. The theatre is a platform where architectural ideas can be explored on a real scale. Audiences can make associations based on representation on the stage and connotations from popular culture. Theatre is more temporary than architecture by nature, and therefore theatre can reference architectural ideas in temporary settings to tell a story. By analyzing the physical characteristics of a space and the societal and cultural conditions that created it, a theatre set can isolate moments …

Usc South Campus: A Last Look At Modernism, Lydia M. Brandt, Paul Haynes, Andrew Nester, Robert Wertz, Ana Gibson, Margaret Mcelveen, John Benton, Adam Bradway, Hatara Tyson, Caley Pennington, Carly Simendinger

Faculty Publications

This is a class project from ARTH 542: American Architecture taught at the University of South Carolina by Lydia Mattice Brandt in Spring 2016.

With more Americans attending college than ever before; urban renewal; racial integration; the expansion of coeducation; and the architecture community’s advocacy for holistic relationship between planning, architecture, and landscape architecture, the American college campus developed rapidly and dramatically in the mid twentieth century. Using the University of South Carolina’s Columbia Campus as a case study, this project explores the history of American architecture in the mid-twentieth century.

Sur Les Traces De La Fabrique Artistique : Quelques Réflexions Sur La Dimension Spatiale Et Matérielle De L’Histoire De L’Art, Vincent Veschambre

Artl@s Bulletin

This text gives a reading of the notion of trace in the perspective of a geographer’s scientific trajectory, committed to grasping individual and social relations to space. Applying this notion to art history probes into the identification of who inscribes art in space, and for what purpose. Such an approach bears similarities with archeology, which cares for the lesser known or recognized traces, and is able to recast the wealth of social actors that have been concealed by history.

Architecture As Nature’S Canvas, Molly Mcclain

History: Faculty Scholarship

This short article explores architect Irving J. Gill's integration of the natural environment into his modern structures.

Gabe's Reimagined: A Multi-Use Renovation Of An Abandoned Hotel, Alissa Ramburger

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The building, named Gabe’s Tower after owner and public figure Gabe Fiorella, was once an icon of Owensboro. Unfortunately, due to population growth southward and the opening of a rival hotel downtown (The Executive Inn), Gabe’s Tower was unable to remain open. It has since undergone many different ownerships, each of which have struggled to remain profitable. The building has remained vacant for years and therefore has been subjected to becoming a location for crime. This has produced a very negative image for the building and the surrounding area. This negative image drives the purpose of this project. Through the …

A Skin-Deep Analysis On Deconstruction: How Transforming The Modern Surface Transformed Notions On Gender, Elise K. Young

Scripps Senior Theses

While focusing on high fashion and architecture, this thesis explores an aesthetic transition between the early 20^th century’s “modern” style and the later 20^th century style of “deconstruction.” We believe the style of “deconstruction” revolutionized visual metaphors for modern gender identity through the manipulation and experimentation of surfaces. These metaphors were accomplished through transformation relationships between surface, structure, and ornament. This study exclusively uses examples from women’s fashion and building façades for its analysis

Visigothic Spain And Armenia: Masonry Consideration, Anahit Ter-Stepanian

Art & Design Faculty Publications

Visigothic monuments display architectural and sculptural features which are hard to explain in 7th c. Western Europe. These features include high level of stone craftsmanship, cruciform plans, tall and narrow sprayed windows, horseshoe shaped arches, vaulted spaces, monumentality combined with small size, figural, geometric, and floral ornamental motifs applied to unusual areas for Western Christian architecture. Since many individual Visigothic features can be traced to Roman, Syrian, or Byzantine monuments, these traditions are considered instrumental in creation of Visigothic architectural vocabulary. More recently, a growing number of studies point to Islamic art as a possible source of influence and thus …

Abbot Suger’S St. Denis And The Cult Of Relics, Kathryn Funderburg

The Expositor: A Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Humanities

No abstract provided.

Victor Horta's Illusion Of Space, Courtney Manning

Student Research

An exploration of Victor Horta's architectural illusion of space.

Change Over Time: Neatline And The Study Of Architectural History, Lisa A. Reilly

Artl@s Bulletin

This article discusses how the usual study of architecture from the perspective of a single moment in time, usually the moment of its creation is limiting. New methodologies make it possible to add to the current rich variety of approaches available to the architectural historian in order to consider the dynamic history of the forms we study. This problem can be resolved in part through the use of digital tools, in particular Neatline, (www.neatline.org) which allows the viewer to see and understand how a building changes over time.

Perspective: Of Time And Eternity, James G. Lawson

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This paper considers geometric perspective in relation to devotional requirements in Italian religious painting from about 1250 to about 1450. The content of the altarpiece consisted in antithetical elements---the graphic exposition of Christian dogmatics, and a dramatis personae increasingly to be identified in empathetic terms. The one-point perspective system that was invented towards the end of that period, then, presented an opportunity and a difficulty. It enabled the creation of a naturalistic space, aiding empathetic identification with psychologically plausible individuals in the pictured world. On the other hand, whilst superficially the space marked out by the geometry of the vanishing …

Thomas Jefferson’S Designs For The Federal District And The National Capitol, 1776-1826, Craig A. Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines six major points: 1) it argues that Jefferson is an architect of the United States Capitol, having direct and final say over its design; 2) it asserts that Jefferson set two nationally influential models of architectural taste as part of his movement to reform American architecture, first in Richmond as the Virginia State Capitol and second in Washington as the United States Capitol; 3) it explores those models to define what Jefferson called “cubic” and “spherical” architecture; 4) it suggests that Jefferson used his political appointments to maximize his influence over the design of the United States …

To Die With The Buddha: The Brick Pagoda And Its Role In The Xuezhuang Tomb In Early Medieval China, Jie Shi

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

The important late fifth- or early sixth-century brick tomb at Xuezhuang in Dengxian (Henan) features a brick form at the rear wall, which remained mysterious until it has recently been shown to represent a Buddhist pagoda. This discovery sheds light on the purpose of the burial chamber, featuring the novel combination of vaulted ceiling, colonnade, and pagoda, as simulating an Indian-derived Buddhist temple (caitya). To reinforce this Buddhist context, the burial chamber simultaneously imitates the structure of a Buddhist votive stele (zaoxiangbei 造像碑), in which various Buddhist images, including the Buddha and bodhisattvas, apsaras, worshippers, and guardians, are carefully organized. …

The Mayaarch3d Project: A 3d Webgis For Analyzing Ancient Architecture And Landscapes, Jennifer Von Schwerin, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Fabio Remondino, Giorgio Agugario, Gabrio Girardi

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

There is a need in the humanities for a 3D WebGIS with analytical tools that allow researchers to analyze 3D models linked to spatially referenced data. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow for complex spatial analysis of 2.5D data. For example, they offer bird’s eye views of landscapes with extruded building footprints, but one cannot ‘get on the ground’ and interact with true 3D models from a pedestrian perspective. Meanwhile, 3D models and virtual environments visualize data in 3D space, but analytical tools are simple rotation or lighting effects. The MayaArch3D Project is developing a 3D WebGIS—called QueryArch3D—to allow these two …

A Temple Of Pleasure, A Temple Of Art: The Structural And Social Veneers Of Opulence In Charles Garnier's Paris Opéra, Sarah W. Parker

Student Publications

At the height of opulence in Second Empire France, Napoléon and Haussmann’s restructuring of Paris called for the construction of a new opera house, selecting from a smorgasbord of competitors the architectural design of the virtually unknown Charles Garnier. The plan employed all manner of techniques in order to present its decoration and composition as a veritable litany of formal styles, combining the Neoclassical with the Néobaroque, all with an affinity for the Beaux-Arts. Garnier’s vision implements modern technologies, while also rediscovering classic methods, and utilizes atypical materials to achieve classic ends, ultimately establishing the space as truly eclectic masterpiece, …

The Protestant Reformation And Interior Church Architecture - Art Exhibition, Winston Kam, Catherine Scallen

Intersections Fall 2020

The first half of the 16th century saw an international religious and cultural conflict that rose within Western Christianity between Roman Catholics and the newly established Protestants. Key figures such as Martin Luther and Jean Calvin challenged papal authority and the Catholic church's ability to define Christian practice thus instigating the Protestant Reformation. Within church confines differences in values and beliefs such as the legitimacy of purchasing salvation through indulgences or interpretations of the Eucharist transformed the spaces in which Protestants practiced their new version of Christianity. As a result of this split, Lutherans encouraged the display of a restricted …

Revitalizing Cities: Adaptive Reuse Of Historic Structures, Sara E. Sharpe

Mid-America College Art Association Conference 2012 Digital Publications

Adaptive reuse is employed when revitalizing an existing infrastructure while maintaining important aspects of the cultural architectural heritage and promoting sustainability. The option to turn away from older structures and build new is a large problem in cities such as Detroit. Historic preservationists are trained to observe a structure’s potential before walking away. Meanwhile interior designers obtain the skills to rejuvenate such buildings for a new use. Case studies have shown the benefits of these two professions teaming up to apply adaptive reuse on historic structures for modern purposes. By studying the creative space planning methods and historic preservations standards …

Rhyme Or Reason:That Is The Question?, Jim Roche

Articles

Noting that “the aesthetic should not be limited merely to the way things look” the organisers of this conference sought “in part to address the discursive limitation in architecture and related subjects by broadening the aesthetic discourse beyond questions relating to purely visual phenomena in order to include those derived from all facets of human experience”.

So where does etchics come in? Well, the introductory brochure noted that most philosophical trained aestheticians will say that “the aesthetic is everything” hinting perhaps of the necessity for a more haptic experience of architecture. It also drew on Wittgenstein’s quote that “ethics and …

The Socialist Design: Urban Dilemmas In Postwar Europe And The Soviet Union, Elidor Mehilli

Publications and Research

Taking a cue from two books—Stephen Bittner’s account of the “many lives” of the Soviet Thaw and Greg Castillo’s study of the Cold War as a series of battles in design and the domestic sphere—as well as a recent explosion of interest among historians in the Khrushchev era, “spatial history,” material culture, and East–West exchanges, this article addresses the paradoxes of the Thaw as exemplified in urban form. It argues for the interconnected nature of domestic, international, and Eastern bloc- level dynamics by viewing processes of the Thaw simultaneously from the angles of neighborhood, city, and empire. These angles capture …

Stone In The Center, Amy Lubke

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Before the rise of the Incan Empire, there was an ancient civilization living throughout the Andes that thrived for several years. This civilization inhabited the region near the basin of Lake Titicaca known as the city of Tiahuanaco, presently in modern day Bolivia. Located at the site are many remnants of architectural structures and artwork made of stone. Little definitive knowledge is known about the peoples that created these enigmatic works.

This study is an examination of the stonework at the site of Tiahuanaco. These structures display the exquisite masonry skills and artistic capabilities that the ancient civilization attained. Each …

Religion And Architecture In Downtown Orlando, Djordje Jovanović

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Since the onset of Western civilization, religion has continuously influenced architectural and urban forms. These material echoes of religion are often unrecognized in the modern city. This work identifies, analyzes and classifies such influences, and illustrates their manifestation with the example of downtown Orlando. Religious influences can be observed in the locations of the cities, in their urban planning, and in many constructive and architectural elements and styles developed for religious purposes. One principal group of architectural elements that that carries a religious connotation is the elements of classical antiquity, which reflect their pagan origins. The other group is the …

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

Art History Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Romanità A Roma: Le Basiliche Del Xii Secolo Fra Tradizioni E Innovazioni, Dale Kinney

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

The “Romanness” (romanitas) of the cathedral portico in Civita Castellana is obvious, but within Rome the criteria of “Romanness” are not so clear. This article takes the architecture of twelfth-century churches as a case in point. Scholars generally agree that romanitas is retrospective and evocative of local tradition, but many of the signature features of these churches – bell towers, marble cloisters, Ionic trabeated porches, marble altar ciboria, paschal candlestands, the “schola cantorum” – were eleventh- or twelfth-century innovations, some- times imported from elsewhere. It is proposed that these features were “invented traditions” as defined by Eric Hobsbawm, which create …

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

Art History Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Indigenous Remapping In The Southern Californian Landscape, Elysia Poon

Art & Art History ETDs

The history of Native people in Southern California is both unique in that, until the last few decades, many people within the state were completely unaware of the presence of living Native Californians. With the onset of the gaming industry in the late 1980s, however, the visibility of Native California skyrocketed. Beginning in the 1990s, homes and streets were filled with gaming ads, political campaigns touting the benefits of gaming and at times, entire tribal councils were making their presence known at public events. Additionally, the fight for many unrecognized tribes in California in conjunction with the rise in economic …