Architecture....{Mike}

The New York skyline is one of the most beautiful sights in the world, as I would know for I am originally from New York. Even though I lived in the area and have been around all of the buildings every minute of everyday I did not have the slightest clue that more than one half of the architecture is terra cotta. I knew that the famous architectural design of the opera house in Sydney, Australia was composed of small ceramic tiles, which in my opinion is one of the most visually pleasing architecture I have ever seen. But I thought ceramic was mainly used just for the art world, pottery, sculptures, etc. so to find out that it is used on some of the skyscrapers in the city surprises me.

Building Animals.......{Mike}

The point brought up in the reading about humans learning from birds, bees, and beavers is very interesting. The fact that it was said that humans learned building from animals in general is interesting. Humans have built buildings, statues, monuments, bridges, and many more things, but the concept of how to do such a thing had to be learned first. Even then humans still have the possibility of making a slight mistake ruining whatever is being built, whereas animals build on instinct. Building in way which they think is correct and years after years, animal after animal everything that they have constructed has been close to flawless servicing its purpose in every way its supposed to. For example a birds nest successfully holds the weight of the birds and its eggs a couple feet from the ground consisting of just sticks and mud.

Jonathan's Blog on TERRA COTTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terra Cotta is one of this century's most magnificent discovery for it's use throughout the architecture in the major cities of the world. It is what creates a new facade to the typical steel and cement buildings. it creates art and a new style in today's cities. Terra cotta can be used to manipulate different styles and designs of the architectural world. Ceramics used on buildings creates such a beauty that plain old cement is becoming a thing of the past. It is through ceramics on buildings that the facade at the opera house in Sydney Australia is created. The tiles are weak in larger sizes but when the tiles are small and close together to create an even more beautiful site the strength of the structure increases. Ceramics has become the architectures eighth wonder of the world.

terra-cotta

It seems strangely appropriate to me that terra cotta is so overlooked, and is often used to imitate other materials. Clay comes from humble origins, and acts humbly, not taking the credit for how much it really does. Clay very often seems to be underestimated or understated. People use it everyday and rarely pay any attention to what it is. For having such wide spread use, and versatility, you would think that clay would receive more attention, more consideration. Not only can clay look like clay, it can look like a million other surfaces, materials, and textures. Further more, in many situations, like architecture, it is more functional than say, marble, or granite. Covering a building with terra cotta tiles is infinitely easier, and cheaper, than using marble. Maybe, where the appreciation of clay is lost on the general public however, is in its efforts to look like other things. Maybe it does this too well, and the knowledge of what the material actually is, is lost. Also I think that the effort involved in making ceramics is not really understood by those who have never tried it. To make a piece to exact specifications is hard, and to make thousands of pieces to decorate a building seems crazy, but obviously worth the effort in the end.

Amandas Blog

When I tell people that I am taking a ceramic class, they always comment or make reference to creating dinnerware or pottery. I admit that I myself always just thought of terra cotta in that context. Not until we were assigned to this next project did I think about the true possibilities you can achieve with terra cotta . Even after knowing that it’s so durable, I honestly never thought of it being a popular material to use for architectural purposes. Just like everyone in the class has been commenting, when you think of the city of New York, large shinny metal skyscrapers come to mind. However from what I have learned from this article is that terra cotta can almost mimic any material in an architectural world. In frequent cases, there must be a profound examination to be able to correctly detect terra cotta; that’s amazing to me. It shows the endless possibilities and gets me excited enough to think outside the box for our final project. It will also be interesting to see what other people in the class will come up with. I even have noticed myself taking a second look at the walls that surround me and appreciate what many don’t. It’s fascinating to read that architects are moving toward wider ranges of material after several years of using steel and glass. Terra cotta, with all its benefits,has riled more companies in to gain newer, more original ideas in ornament, color and surface patterns. After gaining this knowledge, I look forward to noticing the change (even in the slightest detail) over the next years; how will companies begin to use terra cotta next?

Terra Cotta

I too was surprised after reading this article. I’ve been to New York City once before, and having grown up in a city myself always assumed it was a hustling and bustling concrete jungle. I suppose I’ve always associated the greyscale colors of the city with concrete and asphalt, and anything that made its way to the color wheel was simply painted or made of brick or what have you. Though, after this article I find architecture of previous times far more relatable to our current day and age. Size and mass disregarded, we still build in familiar geometric systems, so why shouldn’t we use familiar materials? That is the irony really. It’s even sort of comical. Now we have all of these towering skyscrapers and colossal structures, we figure our present architectural technology is unrivaled by those of our ancestors. Yet, even history teaches us of the wonders man built hundreds of years ago. It really is reasonable that we would harvest that knowledge and continue to foster it for the growth of our homes today. I have to wonder how many more materials with an extensive history are used in the millennium era and why they aren’t more commonly mentioned.

Sierra Palochak

The reading for this week was very intriguing. I enjoyed learning about the decorative purposes of terracotta. Before examining this reading, I had no idea about how much terracotta is used to surface buildings. I was amazed to find out that New York City is absolutely covered with ceramic artworks that were painstaking created by different craftsmen. The reading explained the various processes that were used to create these ornaments. I am learning more as I go along in this class that the production of ceramics is a time consuming process that takes unbelievable skill. I also enjoyed the part of the reading that speaks about the unique qualities of terracotta of which I was previously unaware. However, after being informed about terracotta's unique abilities, it seems to be a perfect material to adorn architecture. I was intrigued by the fact that clay has the capability to mimic other materials, an ability which lends itself to being used for various projects. The last portion of the article that was very meaningful to me was the use of color in these pieces. As a painter, color is everything to me. I believe that it completely changes how an individual perceives an artwork. I enjoy the fact that the ceramic pieces were coloful, because it allows the audience to have a full aestetic appreciation for the piece and also draws more attention from the public.