IARC: reading response 5

1. 1. The garden chair seen in the image below represents a revolution is design on two planes. The first revolution seen in this chair is the design language. Built in the mid 19^th century we see a language of the long forgotten gothic cathedrals condescend and embodied by a chair. Another revolution this chair implies is a cultural one. Made from cast iron this chair marks the rise of the industrial revolution that led to a new way of life for many.

2. When thinking of nineteenth century design two words come to mind, revolution and reflections. Although nineteenth century designers were influenced by the idea of revolution they were still deeply interested in the practice of reflecting upon past designs and cultures in an attempt to make the “modern.” Although traditionally we see Greek and roman influence in these reflections designers were careful to not forget about eastern influences such as Egyptian and Chinese designs. When analyzing all aspects of design, artifact, space, building and place we can an eastern way of thought applied to each in the 19^th century.

In this Egyptian revival chair we see the traditional x shape design that was traditionally reserved for the highest ranking officials of Egyptian culture applied to a residential chair. Although in the Egyptian design the chair would be highly ornamented with hieroglyphics to tell a story this 19^th century chair tells us its story through stylized floral decoration and a portrait.

Increasing the scale to place the entrance to the Red house from the arts and crafts genre of design features aspects of Japanese structuring .The repetition of wooden mullions from this to thin is a technique applied to traditional Japanese residences.

Building: when examining buildings from the nineteenth century that is heavily imbedded in eastern influence the royal pavilion of London stands out about the rest. Remnants of Muslim mosque are pronounced through pointed domes as well as towers raised up above the roof of the building.