Third Response

Your blog and thesis are very interesting. I only wish I had been able to comment on your blog earlier but I have been out several times sick over the past couple weeks once with chicken pox. It would have been interesting to share information, as our topic are very similar. I lived who you provided a wealth of information on your subject, it really helped to support your thesis statement. I however believe you many have lost yourself in the information and maybe digressed a little to much. Over all your blog is very good and with more focus could very easily become excellent.
Thor

Conclusion

This blog and research process has helped me to learn a lot about architecture. Not all information I found is on this blog because I used a book that gave me a tremendous amount of information. I learned about the affects of modern architecture and how it makes people become more open to new ideas in design. This topic has affected me more than I thought it would, because I have been noticing architecture a lot more as I walk around. Over last vacation, I went to the Old City in Quebec and I took a lot of picture of buildings and moldings on buildings. If before this I-search I was interested in architecture a little, I am now very interested in architecture. Also, I thought that when I would research this topic I would find that architecture is affected by culture. I found that this is true, but I also found that culture is affected by architecture.

Response

It's so interesting...the pictures are so gorgeous. If you're still looking for buildings to compare you should look up the cathedral in Strasbourg, France. It's probably the prettiest thing I've ever seen, and it has an awesome history.

Response

I love all the pictures you've included in your blog! A lot of those buildings I've never seen before, especially the ones in Spain. An idea you could do to tie it together could be to create a timeline; I think you already started one. Basically line up famous buildings then link it with what was going on in the country (and world) at the time. That way it would have all these good comparisons. But overall, great job!

Resonse

Katie

I'm sad to say that I agree with Patrick. You have a lot of information and it's all kind of going out in different directions. Maybe you could find a way to tie it all together. Your thesis was good in the beginning but it seems that you have strayed slightly, and the overflow of information seems that you just put everything pertintent to the general subject. It is evident that you have done quite a bit of work but I am not quite sure if you could stay with your original thesis.
But it is pretty good. Good Job!

Third Post

Wow Katie,
You have so much information on this blog it is kind of overwhelming! After reading your blog I can not say I understand where this is going. You have stated beautifully the ways architecture affects us, but I have not seen a lot of comparing of the French and Spanish architectural patterns. I am sure there are some differences as well as similarities, I just have had a hard time sifting through this mountain of information to find some of them.
I appreciate the pictures because they help a lot! All in all, a great job of finding tons of information to use. Now it is just time to pick through it all and come up with a polished answer to your thesis.

Architecture and our lives

"Architecture mirrors society's aspirations and beliefs, and represents its attempts to master the land -- to tame the elements and shape geography to suit itself. The sacred earth and stone mountains of early civilizations have given way to landscapes of steel and glass. The most public of all art forms, architecture also affects the most intimate parts of our lives. In modern society, we are born in buildings and die in buildings. In between, we shuttle from home to office -- from one box to another."

As much as people probably don't want to admit it, architecture is one of the many aspects of our lives that affects us the most. As said in this quote, we are born, and almost all of us die in buildings, we live in buildings, and we go, day to day from building to building. Look around the room you are in right now. I bet you, that you can tell, from the architecture and how it was built, approximately how old the building is that you are in right now. For example, I am in the library of my school. The ceiling in this room is yellow and has intricate designs of the past century. As architecture changes, so does how we live. In past days, I have to say that people spent much more time outside, and didn't have much use for buildings except for storage and to sleep in. Now, thanks to modern technology, we spend all of our free time, inside one the computer or watching television. As much as I hate to say it, I suppose that technology has been a benefit to architecture's modernment.

As we grow and change, so does architecture.

Another example of how architecture changes because of culture, is one I found out about when I was on a bus tour in Edinburgh, Scotland. We were touring around the city, and the tourguide asked us if we had noticed the windows of all of the buildings. Of course, most of us had not, but then he explained to us what he was getting at. He said that if we looked closely, the windows toward the top of the building were significantly smaller than the windows of the bottom floors. He explained that architects used to design buidlings this way so that to the human eye, the buildings would look taller than they actually were because of the optical allusion. Because of culture, people feel the need to have bigger homes. Having this optical allusion, it would make any person think that the buildings was actually bigger than it was..and this makes you think that the owner is more priveledged, and this is what culture brings us.

Why Architecutre is Affected by Culture and Environment

"The role of an architect is to study and illustrate all the cultural and enviromental aspects and to practically use them in all architecture forms. "
- Mohamad Ayman

"Culture and environment are a part of the context that molds human lifestyle which in turn responds to it's climatic and environmental conditions in a very specific way. This is a symbiotic relationship between human culture and environment which is primitively inseparable. "
-Maya Sanskrit

"From my point of view, when an architect starts the design of a building he must consider many things in order for his architecture to be convenient for users. An important example is culture and how necessary it is that an architect knows all the tradition and beliefs."
-Maria Adel

"Culture and environment mainly affect people's attitude and thinking, as this context is considered to be a mirror for the people who live in it. Whenever culture or environment differ, people's attitudes and thinking also differ. For example, people in Africa behave and think differently than people in Europe concerning design, art etc. So we can say that any environment and culture has its needs, style of living and its way of thinking. And this for sure will affect on architecture. "
-Mostafa Ahmed Youssef

Burgos Cathedral

So I've decided that in Spain, I would like to compare church related buildings. This is the Burgos Cathedral. It was built in the gothic style because European architecture had been influenced in the 12th centuray when romanesque altered what people knew as pure gothic architecture.

Another famous cathedral, is the Santa Maria de Leon Catherdral, which is also called The House of Light or the Pulchra Leonina. Its located in Leon, which is northwest of Spain.

I wanted to include both of these, because, obviously, traditions cannot be kept inside the borders of just one country. Since France and Spain share a border, it is no surprise that the Gothic style architecture was shared between the two. I think this affects culture greatly, becuase it proves to us that the cultures of one country are probably similar, if not the same. A border of a country does not neccessarily block culture from traveling to another place. Among other things that are affected by cluture, including clothing, books, music.. architecture is one of the easiest to track because it is not as easy to destroy a beautiful work of art as the Burgos cathedral, or the Leon Cathedral, than to throw out your pruple jeans from the 80's.

Gaudi's Temple (MORE)

Also, When Gaudi was designing the temple, he wanted people to look up at it and feel as though you were being lifted into the heavens. Greg Foster and his family can attest to this feeling, as he wrote in the newspaper.

Why I'm choosing the buildings I'm choosing

I have been choosing the specific buildings that I have, mostly because of how many people can recognize what they are. I don't want to do a report on buildings that no one has ever seen or heard of before now. That is why I chose buildings, such as the louvre and the eiffel tower. Most people have heard of both of those, and I am choosing a building in Barcelona Spain, because of the location. Most people have heard or been to Barcelona. Also, I was reading the February 7 edition of The Lincoln County News, and there was an article by Greg Foster about his family vacation to Spain. In this article, there is a wonderful picture of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Temple.
Sometimes, the culture can affect buildings and how they are made and designed, but other times, temples and churches can affect the people who go there to pray, or even people who are just walking down the street and see the wonderful artwork, and sculptures that this one shows.

suggestion

Katie, my suggestions are that you find some more famous Spanish buildings, then make make some similarities of the building you hvae researched from France and Spain. Right now you have done your reasearch but you havent completly finished your thesis.
-Sierra

Mrs. Jewitt

Katie - I m glad that you are narrowing your thesis, but I am thinking that it still might be too broad, and I don't understand how you are choosing your buildings - Do the buildings affect the culture? Or do the culture and the time period influence the construction and style of the buildings? What is the basis for connecting the two countries' buildings? What are you finding for information that is connecting your research to culture? See me if you want to discuss this further.

The Casa Rocamora

Designed by brothers Bonaventura (1862-1940) & Joaquim Basegoda (1854-1938), the Casa Rocamora looks to renaissance gothic for its inspiration. The building stands out for arcaded corner tower and projecting windows on the upper levels.

-as you can see, the French designs are much different from the Spanish designs, but also time plays a factor from ancient to modern architecture.

A little background info on Paris and an architect

Founded on the island where a natural north-south highway crosses the Seine River, some 233 miles from the river mouth on the English Channel, Paris, the largest city proper of continental Europe and the capital of France, is over 2,000 years old.
Paris was conquered by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, and existed as a regional center under the Romans. In 987, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, became king of France, and under his successors, the city's position as the nation's capital became established. The storming of the Bastille in 1789 was the first of a series of key actions by the Parisian people during the French Revolution. In 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War the city was besieged for four months until France surrendered. After German troops withdrew, French radicals briefly established the Paris Commune. During World War I the Germans were prevented from reaching Paris, but they occupied the city during World War II from 1940 to 1944. Paris was again the scene of violence during the student riots of 1968.
In addition to its many older buildings and the grandeur of its boulevards, Paris is known for the ambitious grands projets building program carried out under the presidency of François Mitterrand. In addition to the La Défense arch and the Bastille Opéra, Mitterrand's projects have included the renovation of the Louvre by architect I. M. Pei, the La Villette complex on the northeastern edge of the city, and the Bibliothèque de France.

Katie-
I think that it would be interesting if you studied famous buildings in France. You could see how what their similarities are. And for famous buildings in Spain, I don't really know of many. I just found El Temple de la Sagrada Família, which might be kind of neat to research. I love your pictures!!

"The fierce debates aroused by President Francois Mitterrand's bold decision to have the vast forecourt of the Louvre embellished by a seventy-foot-high pyramid made of metal wiring and glass are only the latest episode in a long series of intellectual battles between the ancients and the moderns. "

- I think that this quote is just one of many examples of how usually the most famous buildings start out as a major controversy. When the Louvre's pyramid was first built, many people thought it was ugly, and not like usual museums. They hated it, but soon grew to love it. This has affected the culture in France because I believe it has allowed people to move from what we know, to accepting what is modern.

-Another example is the Eiffel Tower. Say, if some architect came to your favorite city, and built a 200 foot metal tower that looked like it wasn't finished when the architect said it was, you would probably throw a fit. You would think it was ugly unless you changed your cultural upbringing and accepted the fact that the Eiffel Tower is beautiful.

-The Centre Pompidou is a new art museum built in France in 1971 by Richard Rogers & Renzo Piano. As you can see by the picture below, It looks unfinished on the outside. Many French people hated the way the museum looked. But as culture changes, so does architecture and what we view as beautiful.

Suggestions???

Does anyone have any specific French buildings or buildings in Spain that they think I should focus on?? I'm thinking about the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and the Notre Dame for France, any ideas for famous buildings in Spain?

-katie

narrow it more!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Katie - I like your topic, and you are narrowing well, but you are still too broad in your question. Choose an aspect of architecture to compare as well as a time period - for example, 18th century cathedrals in both countries - How did the buildings - materials, layouts, exteriors, interiors, sculpture, frescoes,etc. differ b/c they demonstrate a reflection of the culture of that time period? In fact, you could narrow your topic to the study of two particular buildings from the same time period in the two countries. Or how about town halls from the same time period? Certainly they would reflect the culture of the times - Continue your research until differences emerge and then narrow your focus -

Timeline of Architects and Events

1st ever architect: 2670 b.c. Imhotep

In the Romanesque Period: The first gothic church was built (Abbey Church St. Denis, Paris)1140

13th-14thC: also in Romanesque Period: Alhambra, Granada, Spain

1888: Art Nouveau Period: Palau Guell, Barcelona by Gaudi AND Eiffel Tower by Gustav Eiffel

1906-10: Casa Mila aparment buidling, Barcelona by Gaudi

1916Airship Hangar, Orly, Paris by E. Freyssinet

In the modern Movement Period: 1946-52 Unite' d'Habitation, Marseilles, France by Le Corbusier

1976 Pompidou Centre, Paris by R. Piano & R. Rogers

1997 Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain by Frank Gehry

New Revised Thesis

Okay, how is THIS thesis??

How do the differences and similarities in the architecture of France and Spain affect the cultures of the two?

Is this narrowed down enough??