IAR In-Class Assignment: Circles, Groups, Stacks

 

     The circle that I chose for this assignment is a fountain on the High Point University campus.  I picked this because this fountain is the first structure one encounters when one gets on campus.  Because circles are a representation of equality, the circular fountain symbolizes equality in education--that all students, no matter what their background, are equal, and the fountain's placement at the entrance to campus indicates that this is the school's most important belief.

     My dorm building, Reynolds, serves as my choice of group.  Tight-knit groups have always been an integral part of human society, and this is no different in today's day and age.  This is reflected in this building, in which approximately 350 people live in very close quarters.  The close proximity of the residents promotes new relationships, which has and always will be important in modern civilization.

     I chose the Jackson Library to serve as my stack for this assignment.  The library consists of floors of books, each stacked on top of each other to form a massive structure that exists solely as a house for knowledge.  This enormous library is filled with most, if not all, the knowledge that humans have acquired over the centuries.

     I think these three design themes have survived for so long because they are simple representations of the most important aspects of human life.  The circle is a physical representation of belief systems:  how there is one incredibly important thing (for example, a god), and many lesser yet equal things (humans, subservient to the god).  The groups are examples of human society--from the days when people huddled around campfires, to today when college students live in such tight quarters, closeness has always been a staple of civilization.  Thus, groups are a reflection of that closeness that makes civilization possible.  Finally, stacks have a two-fold meaning.  Gathered resources were stacked in order to keep better track of them; an architectural stack is an echo of this.  Secondly, a stack can be seen as a way of reaching towards the sky, which is where many early societies believed their gods resided.  Thus, a stack was an attempt to be closer to the gods, and while this idea has died out over time, the stack remains as a symbol of power and authority.