Video Review: Architecture

In this weeks video assignment I watched four different videos. The first, titled “Prairie Style” showcased the works of Frank Lloyd Wright and his influence on today’s architects. Frank Lloyd Wright was innovative in the way he chose to design homes to blend into the natural surroundings. He believed that the home should reflect the landscape of its surroundings and have an organic look as if it grew out of the surroundings. The term “Prairie View” is used to describe his use of layered horizontal design in the homes he created in the mid-west. The prairie being a flat landscape, he wanted the homes to reflect that in their design. For the interior of homes he wanted to get away from the established practice of creating separate segregated rooms within homes. He favored open spaces to link rooms. I enjoyed this film. Frank Lloyd Wright is well known in the city of Buffalo and it was nice to have learned more about his philosophies and to see some examples of his earlier work.

The second film I watched, “Architecture: The Science of Design” was more about the technical aspect of architecture than the artistic side. For the most part I enjoy learning about various technical and scientific topics. But I found this film to be rather dated. The show a proposed “smart house” run by computers and I could tell that from the reel to reel stereo and the fax machine that it is a little behind the times. I did find the discussion on the effects of wind on skyscrapers interesting. The idea that tall buildings can sway up to one meter in heavy winds is something most people probably don’t think about to often.

The third video titled “Classical Architecture” is about ancient Greek and Roman architecture. I enjoyed this topic so much that for my fourth video I chose, ”Imperial Rome, Ostia, and Portis: Ancient Architecture and Technology”. The first video describes the effect of ancient Greek and Roman Architecture on today’s designers in England and the U.S. One thing I found particularly interesting was seeing how Prince Charles influenced a return to classical design in the 1980’s. The second video was my favorite. I find it fascinating to think about how technologically advanced the ancient Romans were.

Rome at the time of Constantine had a population of one million people. By today’s standards that might not seem out of the ordinary but when you think that this was 2000 years ago that number is staggering. The film goes into a lot of detail on the various materials and techniques used in the construction of Roman buildings, but I found the information on how this affected the culture and economy to be the most interesting part. The use of sewers and aqua ducts to move water through the city, the use of glass windows and central heating, public toilets and baths, moving materials from coastal port cities to Rome all show just how sophisticated and advanced the ancient Romans were. No wonder they still have such a large influence on today’s societies.

All in all I thought the videos were a good supplement to this weeks reading on architecture.