Westminster Abbey interior
Westminster Cathedral interiorThese two buildings, within 5 minutes walk from one another in the centre of London, represent two very different responses to the idea of a large religious structure. I'd like you to visit them and use your experience of both buildings as the starting point for some research about the relationships between form and function in architecture.
I think it's important that your ideas are grounded in a physical and emotional response to specific buildings, since architecture is a kind of theatre that engages more than just the visual sense. I'm also interested to see where your research leads you and how much of the information I posted about papers 1 and 2 of the course you are able to incorporate. Ultimately, I would like you to compare and contrast these two buildings (not just these two pictures of the buildings) in terms of:
I think it's important that your ideas are grounded in a physical and emotional response to specific buildings, since architecture is a kind of theatre that engages more than just the visual sense. I'm also interested to see where your research leads you and how much of the information I posted about papers 1 and 2 of the course you are able to incorporate. Ultimately, I would like you to compare and contrast these two buildings (not just these two pictures of the buildings) in terms of:
- their formal elements (shape, space, composition, mass, volume, colour, light etc.)
- the historical/social/cultural contexts in which they were made
- the materials used in their construction
- the relationship between aesthetic appearance and functions
- notions of style
1 comments:
Considering the exterior of the two buildings in question you can instantaneously tell that there is nearly 1000 years separating the two. Westminster abbey designed and built in the traditional gothic style has a looming prescience with many perpendicular and tall vertical lines created by the buttresses and slim windows. These serve the technical purpose of distributing the sheer weight of the heavy building, but also were a technique used at the time to allow for windows and, essentially, light into the large structures. This is style is later copied by the Neo-gothic style too and is difficult to distinguish between original and the newer. These buttresses have a lot of decoration and adornment, not only gargoyles but sculptures of saints and many more, this decoration displays how important the building was intended to be, how it demands attention. The architects and designers want the viewers to be impressed, almost knowing its significance in the future, because as we all may know many coronations have taken place there, many English royalty have been buried there and it has become a famous tourist landmark. The building is mainly made of Portland stone, which is light grey and especially prominent after being cleaned. It contrasts vastly with the other surrounding buildings and emphasises its prominence and weight within the cityscape. It stands adjacent to the houses of parliament which is mainly designed in a neo-gothic style, similar to the style of the Abbey, it is easy to see which is which as the houses of parliament seem even more eccentric, even more “Gothic” in a way. Westminster Cathedral in contrast was built in the early years of the 20th century and was based on the early Christian Byzantine style, with an eclectic mix of styles. The front features Romanesque colouring and columns displaying the architects influence from classical architecture, wanting to feature its clean simplicity within the mix. The gothic buttressing that was featured in the abbey is also present, however it does not serve its original purpose of dispersal of weight but for decoration, with the 1000 or so years separating the designs of the two, developments were made as to how else to solve this problem. The middle-eastern style minorette featured on the left hand side emphasises how the middle-east influenced the Christian Byzantyne style when the centre of the Roman empire moved to Constantinople (Istanbul) in Turkey, as all mosques (Islam being the most popular religion in turkey and its surrounding countries) have a minorette to ring the call to prayer. Both buildings serve a religious rationale however the Abbey is Church of England (protestant) and the Cathedral is, evidently, Catholic, this differentiation seems to be one of the reasons why the first is more famous, as it represents the official church of the country and is a more accessible place.
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