PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

Invisible structures

In most cases, structures are invisible, whether formal, semi-formal, informal, active, or inactive. In invisible structures, structural lines are
conceptual, even though they may slice a piece off from a unit form. Such lines are active but not visible lines of measurable thickness.

Visible structures

Sometimes a designer may prefer a visible structure. This means that the structural lines exist as actual and visible lines of desired thickness. Such
lines should be treated as a special kind of unit form because they possess all the visible elements and can interact with the unit forms and the
space contained by each of the structural subdivisions.

Form- mass & volume

Form is any positive element we place on a page as opposed to the negative elements we consider space. Form is the point, line, plane, and
volume. It’s the shapes and dots and text and textures and images we use in our design. If it’s meant to be a positive element it’s form.

Form and space, figure and ground are mutually dependent on each other. You can’t change one without changing the other. The relationship
between form and space creates tension, determines the amount of visual activity and movement, and gives a sense of 3-dimensionality in a
design. A viewer must first understand the relationship between form and space before understanding any of the individual objects on the page.

Surfaces,planes and shapes

Much the same way a line can be thought of as a series of adjacent dots, a plane or surface can be thought of as a series of adjacent lines. We’re
simply adding another dimension. Surfaces and planes are abstract objects. We’ll talk about them more as shapes or forms as we think of them as
concrete objects.

Planes or surfaces mostly act as dots. The difference is the size of the surface has grown large enough to become an important characteristic as has
the contour defining the plane. The larger the size of the plane the more the dotlike characteristics become secondary. This size is relative to the
surrounding space and elements.

Volume and mass

Volumes are empty space defined by surfaces, lines, and points. When we fill in the space or give the perception that the space within a volume has
been filled to some degree the volume contains mass.

Visual properties of form

 Form also have relational properties which govern the pattern and composition of elements:

Position – the location of a form relative to its environment or the visual filled within which it is seen.

 Orientation – The direction of a form relative to the ground plane, the compass points, other forms, or to the person viewing the form.

 Visual Inertia – The degree of concentration and stability of a form. The visual inertia of a form depends on its geometry as well as its
orientation relative to the ground plane, the pull of gravity, and our line of sight

Primary Shapes

 CIRCLE – A plane curve every point of which is equidistant from a fixed point within a curve (Centralized, Hints Rotational Movements)

 TRIANGLE – A plane figure bounded by three sides and having three angles (Stability)

 SQUARE – A plane figure having four sides and four right angle. (Rational, Proportional)

ACTIVITIES/DESIRES OF MAN

 Desire for Preservation

 Desire for Recognition-Prestige,Pride and ambition, social status
 Desire for Response-Love, friendsip, and sociability
 Desire for Self-Expression

INFLUENCES OF MAN TO ARCHITECTURE (PAST TO PRESENT)

VISUAL ACUITY/PERCEPTION

Perception
Is the process by which we organize and interpret the patterns of stimuli in our environment, the immidiate intuitive recognition,

As of an aesthetic quality.

Acuity

Visual acuity or the ability to see detail, is far greater in central vision than it is in peripheral vision. As with

brightness vision, this too can be explained in terms of differences in convergence between receptors and

ganglion cells in the retina.

Spital Preception

All spital implications are mentally conditioned by the environmntal and experience of the viewer. Vision is experienced through the eyes, but
interpreted with the mind. Perception involves the whole pattern of nerve and brain responses as well as the visual stimulus.

Man uses two eyes for perception of objects in nature and continually shift his focus of attention. In doing so, two different types of vision are
used , sterioscopic and kinesthetic. Having two eyes slightly apart from each other, man uses his different views of the object world at the same
time.

Sterioscopic this term is used in the ability to overlap views which are slightly different, into one image.

One of the frequently employed types of information especially over short distances, arises from “Retinal Disparity” or the unlikeness of the normal
image, which are in different spital positions, thus, if we hold up a cube in front of the eyes, the right eye will see slightly more of the side on the
right and the left eye sees more of the left side.

In Kinesthetic vision man experiences space in the movemens of the eyes from one part of the whole work of art to another. Space is experienced
while viewing 2D surface because we unconciously attempt to organize its separate parts so that is can be seen as a whole.

CLIMATE/NATURE’S EFFECTS

CONTEMPORARY & MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Modern Architecture

Modern architecture is a type of architecture that came to be in the early and mid 20th century. The style was revolutionary and enlightening for
the time. As most art, architecture usually follows trends comprised for the foundation of a previous style, but this was not quite the case for
modern architecture. During the late 19th century and early 20th century (before modern architecture) architecture was comprised of detailed
craftsmanship, typically with a brick facade. Modern architecture was characterized to be simple, with a typically white-washed facade, large
windows and linear elements. You can see how this change was progressive in comparison to the existent architecture of the time. Modern
architecture has expanded over time, without an exact definition today. Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright are known architects of the modern
movement.

Example: Le Corbusier’s the Villa Savoy 1928.

Contemporary Architecture

Contemporary architecture is a much more simple style to grasp. Contemporary simple means of current time. With this definition, the term
contemporary could be applied to Roman architecture from a perspective of that time period. Architecture in general is a unique art form in the
fact that buildings remain in our constant lives, theoretically forever unless they are destructed.