Alternatives Summary

The alternatives unit presented an interesting take on what the rules actually are in design. I have chosen to focus on Katherine, Ebony, and essay.

Katherine's main theme in her essay is that "you have to know the rules before you break the rules." She mentions that rules are apart of us and are ingrained in us at an early age. She starts off stating how Egypt and other structure focus on geometry and "man as the measurer of all things." However, in this unit she discusses how new ideas are test the rules and previous design styles are mixed into present ones. She states that change should be celebrated and rules should be broken. I love this image that Katherine incorporates in her essay. It shows how the rules are broken, yet celebrated at the same time.

Ebony also focuses on the idea of boundaries being tested and rules being broken. She speaks of dramatic angels and theatricality. She discusses how style shifts from a "grandeur practice" to one that tells a dramatic story. Ebony reveals a similar theme that style does shift and this unit focuses on how those rules are broken.

I think Dajana does a great job of describing the alternatives unit. She begins by saying that it was a rebellious one. She focuses of design elements in the Gothic period such as verticality and commodity. Clearly states, she says that reviving the classics and writing down the rules in the renaissance leads to breaking those rules and reinventing them." I think this clearly projects what the alternatives unit is about.