Grammar-Syntax

revisions“A new approach to space planning typified the residences of the period from about 1720 to 1770. Versatility in planning to accommodate social events was the motivating force for this change. With the emphasis on social activities arose the need for sequences of communal rooms…contrasted with the late 17th century planning concept in which the hall and salone served as the introduction to state apartments with a hierarchical sequence of rooms beyond. “ (Blakemore 250)

Revision is elemental to the progression of any skill. Particularly in the visual and graphic arts, revisions are necessary not only to improve any skill, but more importantly in the discussion of revolution and reflection, to react to the needs of changing patronage.

It is not uncommon for towns to pride themselves on their ability to make necessary revisions to existing buildings1

The school as it appeared in 1889, as it was first built and before any additions.
From "Radnor: A Pictorial History"

The school after its first addition in about 1895. The final addition included the expansion of the entire second floor to cover the same area as the first. The dome was removed and a gable roof was installed.

Radnor Historical Society Collection

The High School as it appeard from the back in the 1910's.
Radnor School District Archives

transition
“Two design styles are embodied in the series of political changes with occurred between 1789 and 1815…Three governments were operative during the Directiore stylistic period…each of which influenced the repertoire of decorative motifs…Fundamental to the effect on architecture and design and overlapping in their influence were financial stringency, political changes and administrative reforms by the Convention in 1793 that abolished the Academy of Architecture.” (Blakemore 333-334)

Transition is often a result of the mechanism of revisions of a particular system. As revisions occur changes reactionally take place. Transition suggests the transportation of a person mentally, physically, ideologically, spiritually- and pretty much any other "-ally" you can think of. Transitions in life are often marked by periods of severe break-down, but in the wake of turmoil and upheaval, improvement and reorganization is made possible.

transitions in stylistic characteristics featured change with transitioning governments in throughout various time periods.On a more comical note-changes in a particular peice of furniture have often been studied in timeline lapses. 2

datum
The architectural corollary to this late-eighteenth-century industrialization, and its underlying economic and political theory was this: The building tasks that soon were the most pressing were those that provided the greatest use for the greatest number, the greatest public service to the community.” (Roth 463)

The fine arts are often defined from the sciences by their "lack of regard" for representational data. Artists are often idealized for being the social outcasts who exists against all odds and resist the urge to change as a response to social or political change. I respect the interior architecture program for identifying the need to give buildings, both interior and exterior, a purpose that can be scientifically proven through the collection of datum. To ignore changes in society in order to protect an idealistic "high art" would deny that building serves any real purpose and be clearly seen (in numbers) as a detriment to the people of the world.

When history repeated itself and the city of Tokyo experience a flood of people looking for work in the metropolis, designers and architects swiftly responded by building housing that would at least some-what comfortably accommodate the influx. 3

audience
“Taken together, these changes in population growth, industrial production and transportation produced a growing middle class, the likes of which had never existed before. This social class would become significant patrons of architecture in the next century.” (Roth 440)

As a performer of any kind, audience is always a key factor in the purpose of any creation. Bach would never have composed his numerous court dances if there were not patrons demand and audiences to receive his works. It is natural and healthy for artists to have some intended reaction-either to further or to convince- audience perspective.

character
“The other effect supported the developing concept of experientialism, or sensationalism… this essay proposed that all human understanding came from experience acquired though sensation rather than through received or inherited knowledge.” (Roth 458-459)

Character refers, in my review of Grammar and Syntax to the reaction of designers to effectively represent their changing clientele. The experience of the living through the various revolutions of the 18th and 19th century changed the point-of-view of the people living in cities and town across Europe (and later, America). I believe that revolutionary pressures both unintentionally (through the building of factories and contributing pollution) and intentionally (though the devastating physical effects of war) destroyed the few unchanged "natural" settings in the English and French territories. The intrinsic reaction of the remaining people was to glorify and revitalize the landscape as it would have been found before humans' negative impact.

Synthesis

Grammar and Syntax both describe a system that exists within a vocabulary where any given word fits in a pre-determined place and serves a pre-determined purpose in the formation of the structure of a sentence. GRAMMAR within the REVISIONS of the system of architecture that existed in the Age of Enlightenment and late neoclassical periods changed the SYNTAX that was created through revolutions and re-populations that occurred across Europe. Governmental TRANSITIONS effected design style as set forth by publicly funded Academies of Architecture. Shift in the patronage serving as an AUDIENCE for architects furthered the push for a new architectural function that would support the growing number of people in various cities around the continent. Calculated numbers -DATUM- are documented in various public documents and censuses. The data interpreted, later city planners, set a precedent for how a society grows and changes in response to a population boom. CHARACTERISTIC behaviors emerged in each socioeconomic class that served to protect and preserve the ideals that they held to esteem in this time of unprecedented social growth and the re-disbursement of wealth that came with it.
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1.Published on the website for Randor County, PA. http://www.waynepa.com/history/radnorschools/

2. "THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF FOLDING CHAIRS"
has been compiled by birgit lohmann (a thesis publication, july 1988, revised in June 2003).Featured on designboom.com

3."The Furturistic Nakagin Capsul Tower." Posted by Randy. 24 December 2008. http://dailycontributor.com/200812242488/the-futuristic-nakagin-capsule-tower/