Foundation Unit Summary

The ancient Greeks sought to achieve in all areas of their lives the quality, “arête, that quality of excellence that results from refinement and testing…” (Roth 220). This quality has pushed humans to excel and invents since the dawn of time. In this foundations unit, we looked at the first humans to seek innovation to improve their quality of life. It is a clichéd view of “Greek” that originally led me to believe that the qualities of creativity and esteem are inextricably linked. After completing the foundations unity, I think that there might be more to that supposition than mere pre-conceived notion.

The first human architecture (which occurs before the Foundations Unit in this course) served mainly to improve or maintain human life. However, the architecture of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantine Empires sought to accomplish something more than mere commodity. Early architects worked to glorify their makers (in the case of churches and temples) and/or their employers (in the case of castles and tombs). In either case, the commodity of the building design experiences a shift, in this period, from shelter to show.

In our discussions on Grecian building and city planning focused on the contrasting between real and ideal. We suggested that there was a gap between perception of reality and the ideals that the Greeks sought to achieve. This point was more than driven home in class, but I believe the terms can be useful in other situations as well. I believe that the pursuit of an ideal creation comes when humans have conquered their reality. That is to suggest that when humans have secured their environment to a point where it is safe and hospitable to live in, they find something new to focus their creative excess on.

This theory of excess creativity would explain the progressions of all of the Empires that we have study. The Egyptian pharaohs settled their people in the Nile river valley. Once they had settled where there was water for crops and livestock and basic shelter units for humans- creativity had a chance to develop. From this- architects designed churches that they devoted to their many gods and temples that would house and glorify their great pharaohs. The Roman Empire had its own environment to adapt and adjust to- the rocky terrain of the land made travel difficult- but the empire found ways to master the seas and expand to include multiple cities that would house their followers. Once a city was established and the inhabitants had basic housing, they would begin work on multiple new building forms including the bath, market and forum, basilica, coliseum, arch and temple. The fall of the Roman Empire certainly took its toll on the Byzantine Empire. In this case, the Empire used excess creativity as a unifier among its people. The Early Christians, who had been secretly meeting in the catacombs of Rome already had a firm grasp on how to handle the European climate and environment, what they lacked in the wake of the Roman Empire was unity. The churches, monasteries and cathedrals of the early Christians served, as that much needed unity.

The foundations of design have repeatedly reinforced the importance of “commodity, firmness and delight.” The foundations show that humans are not willing to sacrifice their well being for anyone of these concepts, but instead will conquer one and add on concepts as their lives allow.




The evolution of the device. Though this is not directly architectural- it speaks to how change in design comes with time and experience!
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Hall, Kevin. The evolution of the ipod nano.