Unit Summary : Reflection

This past unit began with the origin of modernism, which resulted in the Age of Enlightenment. Overall this is a period that wanted to get rid of religion and focus more on “Reason”. This is why it was also known as the “Age of Reason”. Many philosophers, such as Newton, would give their thoughts about certain things and reasonings. They felt that change and reason were both possible for the sake of human liberty. The overall purpose of the enlightenment period was to get rid of religion. The enlightment period was also a period that The central theme of the Enlightenment is the effort to humanize religion. The philosophers didn’t believe in original sin. Also during this time was when they began modeling mathematically and during this period was when the strength of material was recorded. We could also see how Age of faith and age of reason were combined in the church of Sainte-Geneviev, Paris, where “the study of antiquity might contribute to a new architecture.” (Roth 446) Here we see how Soufflot used rows of Corintian columns in the interior of the church for structural support which coming the structural realism of load and support. However it soon changed purposes for this church and turned it into a pantheon. In the 19th century many things changed from eclecticism to neoclassicism due to the reaction to Rococo Style that had dominated European Art. In the 19th century is where people become aware of cast-iron architecture. A great example we saw of this would be the Crystal Palace.

We later talked about Arts and Craft Movement which dealt with industrialization. People felt that the structures no longer had the same meaning since it was no longer handcrafted. They didn’t want to use machines anymore and let people handcraft. Here we see where many people wanted to change the different directions of design due to the mass production and lack of quality of design. Another movement Massey talks about is the Aesthetic movement, which was an “alternative style of reformist design in Britain which was to have a great influence n America.” (Massey 25)

Overall this unit was ways to see the different reactions people had overall with different types of architecture. From the reactions to trying to change religious designs to changing the way people make things. Where at first it was Isaac Newton who came up with a theory of how people should react to the religion thoughts to upperclass having a fit about middle class people wanting to put input into the different types of work.