Opus: Grammar:Syntax-

Audience. Characters. Transition. Datum. [Re]visions.

Audience

An audience is an assembly of spectators or listeners at any given event or scene. The designers of the Baroque period especially designed for a specific audience. Mostly they designed for the royals. " The Italian royal palaces featured those of marble mosaic. The tops we often in laid with geometric designs in the pietra dura technique and were therefore, very costly; tables constructed and decorated in this manner were valued and used in princely palaces all over Europe." ( Blakemore, pg. 152) Their audience was those of a royal background, not or middle class. For both the Renaissance and the Baroque time periods, it was really key to know "who" you were designing for. For example, the designer for the Palace of Versailles, had to design it with the king in mind. Because the king had to have the greatest building in all of the land. However, if the king felt that his palace was not representative of him being a great king then he would most likely punish the designer for this. Soley, however, I think our main goal as designers should be to incorporate the essence of you audience into your design. Therefore, our designs begin to make sense and become legible to the understanding of why you even chose the concept that you did.  In our studio class, we are designing for a very critical and knowledgeable audience. Therefore, it is important to display a design that emulates the rules, however, still has its own personal stamp from you on it. The audience is key to creating a tone on which to base concepts and ideas for a space or object off of. 

Character

Character describes the mental and moral qualities that are distinctive to an individual. However, character can also refer to certain qualities of an object that make it unique in its own respect. "Regardless of the motifs employed, the prevailing characteristic was one of plasticity in which theatrical display was a prime consideration. Among the most common ornamental details were putti, banderoles...all elements derived from architecture.(Blakemore, pg. 154) Character is really important, not only in designing elements for a space, but also it becomes a way to describe a concept. Like the quote shows, the characteristic qualities were theatrical. The "theatrical" quality is what begins to describe the table, which is what this quote is referring to. Character is important, because it brings life into your design. Without character our world would be a really dull place. Like in Suzanne's perception and communication class we are learning techniques of how to render with markers and still display the character of pieces in the space. Therefore, overall the character and quality of the pieces you render will transcend into the overall mood and tone of the space. As you see character becomes really important, it becomes a subtextual language that is embedded into furniture, objects, and spaces. 

Transition

"The proportion of space devoted to public activities was altered to give more attention to public activities. On the west are three private apartments, each comprised of a bedroom and a dressing room. On the east are the public rooms consisting of a hall, salone, drawing room, and a gallery."( Blakemore, pg. 231)This shows the transition of space of private area to public space. Transition is the process of changing or having a passage from one condition to another. So you can definitely visualize transitioning from this area of public spaces, tentatively for entertaining guests of the house; into a space for personal uses, the private apartments. There is definitely an obvious transition of public to private spaces. Transition involves flow and movement. Therefore, you enter a new area through the flow of the space that directed you to interact with the spaces in a particular way. During the Baroque period, it was a design trend to not only design the interior and exterior, but also to begin a landscape that incorporates the design of the house. So there not only becomes a transition of the building itself, but it transcends into the landscape around the house. However, there is still flow from the building into the garden that still speaks of the building itself.  

Datum

"Typically the ceiling was deeply compartmented with an emphasized center- an oval, a circle, a rectangle or other complex contours, surrounding this centerpieces were anciliary divisions." ( Blakemore, pg. 154) Datum is a fixed starting point of scale and operation and origin that everything else radiates from. Datum is portrayed within the quote through the fact that it is discussing emphasizing the center of the ceiling. Datum after all is about centralizing an object. This particular quote is showing how important datum is within a particular ceiling in the Palace of Versailles. Datum is essential for most designs and concepts. It creates a focus within a design that creates a point from which other parts of the design derive from or are inspired from. The centralized point or datum creates a language that explains everything that is associated with it. 

Revisions

"The sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini summarized most clearly the impact of the council of Trent and provided the prototype for the emotion- inducing function of the arts."       ( Roth, pg. 402) This quotes depicts a sense of revision due to the fact that this quote is talking of the Baroque period. However, people of the Baroque time period simply revised what the designers of the Renaissance did and/or created. Their revisions included that of which displayed emotions of the day, and also movement in their furniture, sculptures, and facades. For example, a prime example of how the people of the Baroque revised  the Renaissance. When Michalangelo designed the David statue in the Renaissance, was more of a rational piece, and just more posed. Where as, the David statue designed by Bernini of the Baroque time period displayed more movement, and emotion of the situation that David was in, like the moment of him slaying the lion. So as you can tell the Baroque designers traded in rational and boring for movement and emotion. They also redefined the language of the time by creating more emotional pieces. 

Overview

Audience, character, transition, datum, and revisions, all come together to create a language for the Renaissance, Baroque, and even the current times. Each of the words has a story and a set of grammar rules for it. However, they all comprise together to create their own language as a whole. This language explains key points of design that were focused on by designers of this time.