This past week we talked about the built environment. The built environment consists of landscaping and architecture. We discussed the appearance of Elon. Elon’s campus could be described by Federalist American Architecture because there are lots of bricks, arches, and the buildings have a clean and flat look to them. We also came to the conclusion that it is a typical southern school, with bricks, oak tress all around, and lots of columns on the buildings, presumably because it makes the campus seem more “smart”. We also took a look at Jefferson’s design of the Academic Village at UVA. Consequently, our own honors pavilion at Elon closely resembles his design. There are four functions of architecture and landscaping which are: to project an image, have a particular function, control movement and action, and have symbolic significance.
In class we also discussed Frank Lloyd Wright, who was known as “the greatest American Architect”. He lived from 1867-1959 and was known for two major styles. The first was the “praire style” and the second the “organic style”. In the organic style, he used nature and incorporated it into his landscaping. He also liked to design building with open floor plans because it then gave many different options on how to decorate it.
