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SEMESTER-LONG PROJECT: CONSTRUCTING AN UNDERSTANDING OF A MEDIEVAL BUILDING
This project will allow you to build an understanding of a medieval building from the "ground up." You will learn how to:
- pinpoint a building’s most important features, focusing on its structure, articulation or appearance, spatial layout, and patronage/function (see the "questions to ask of a medieval building");
- place these features in the context of the building’s own history;
- create and annotate diagrams (plans, sections, and elevations) that clarify a building's salient spaces and features;
- relate the important features you've discovered to other buildings we will study this semester; and
- give a brief oral presentation of your discoveries.
I’ve broken this project into five stages:
Stage I: Choosing Your Building
This is the easy stage! Choose a building from a list of possibilities I provided. [Click here for the list of buildings chosen.] You can pick a building that is not on that list, but only if you discuss it with me first, since it must be a building that I will not be presenting this semester, and that was constructed during the time period we will be studying. Give the choice careful consideration, since you will be spending a lot of time with the building you choose!
Stage II: Initial Assessment
Based on a close and careful examination of images and diagrams of your building, list and describe what you believe are the most important features of your building’s….
- structure
- how is it structured -- i.e., how does it maintain its "ceilings and walls'?
- what materials are used (and to what extent do they impact the building's appearance)?
- articulation or appearance, inside and outside
- spatial layout
- how is it laid out spatially (sequences of spaces)?
- how does appearance change as you move around the building?
You must list and explain no more than three features per category (structure, articulation, spatial layout). Your lists and explanations should be as focused and as specific as possible.
- EXAMPLE:
- If the exterior walls are made of brick, and you believe that is one of the most important features of your building, don't simply state that your building is "made out of brick."
- Instead, based on your visual examination, state what appears to you to be particularly important or distinctive about the use of brick – e.g., "brick is used for the exterior walls, and is unarticulated, with the exception of recessed panels that frame the windows and projecting vertical strips between the windows"; or "brick is interwoven with stone on the exterior walls to create horizontal bands of red and white."
Although you should search for published sources that deal with your building (see Stage III), this preliminary assessment should be based primarily on your own careful visual examination.
Stage III: Diagrams, Chronology, Bibliography
(a) Hand in a (1) ground plan; (2) section; and (3) elevation (interior or exterior) of your building. You may either draw these freehand (I am not expecting draftsman-quality drawings!), or trace them, as long as you cite your source(s). Make sure you….
- label the plan with the names of the building’s most important spaces;
- label the important parts of the section/elevation;
- identify the part of the building from which the section and elevation are taken;
- provide an approximate scale for your plan, section, and elevation; and
- if possible, indicate on the plan, section, and elevation each of the features you have listed in Stage II (above).
(b) Hand in a chronology, which is a list the most significant dates and events in your building’s history (when founded, and by whom; any fires, collapses, reconstructions, reconsecrations, changes in plan and vaulting; etc.). Be selective; focus on those dates and events that affected the building's structure, articulation, and spatial layout. Indicate the source(s) for your chronology.
(c) Hand in a bibliography of sources you have been able to discover that provide helpful insight into your building. Make sure you consult the books I have placed on reserve! In addition, you should take advantage of the library’s online research tools and interlibrary loan service (if appropriate). Web sites are also a possibility, but you should carefully evaluate their content and reliability.
Stage IV: Oral and Visual Presentation
I will schedule you to give a brief oral presentation (about 5 minutes long) on the building you have chosen [click here for the schedule of presentations]. This presentation should focus on no more than two of the important features you have identified – i.e., you should not attempt to say everything there is to say about the building in 5 minutes. Instead, craft your presentation in the such a way that it focuses on
- what makes the features you are presenting so important; and
- how these features compare to what can be seen or learned from other buildings created at about the same time.
You should also begin your presentation with a very brief explanation of when and where the building was constructed/reconstructed, and what type of building it is (cathedral? fortress? palace?). Most of the earlier presentations will be "works in progress" – i.e., they will represent the state of your investigations into your buildings as of the time you give your presentations.
Stage V: Final Written Submission
By the end of the semester you will have gained an overview of the major developments in medieval architecture. This stage of the project will give you the chance to demonstrate how the important features of your building relate to these developments, and the buildings that we used in class to illustrate them. In addition, this stage of the project will allow you to begin assessing the importance of patronage and function.
- Construct a series of comparisons with at least one other building, focusing especially on those we have (or will have) studied during the semester. Use these comparisons to explain how the "important features" you discovered in Stage II relate to the specific developments and buildings we have been exploring during the semester. Make your comparisons as specific and non-generic as possible. Your job is not to state what would be obvious to anyone looking at the building (e.g., "it is made of stone"), but to point out and explain features that might otherwise not be obvious to, say, one of the other students in this class (e.g., the distinctive or innovative way in which stone is used in your building).
- Issues of patronage or function concern who commissioned the building (patronage), or how it was used (function). Based on your investigations, briefly explain how issues of patronage (who commissioned or funded the building) and/or function (how the building was used) affected the building’s layout, appearance, or structure. If relevant, provide images, as illustrations of your points.
I encourage digital submissions, with the following warnings: (1) if you email your submission as an attachment, make sure you receive a confirming email from me that I have received the attachment, and been able to open it.
Note: Please feel free to meet withme as often as you wish to discuss any aspect of this project. |