video review - architecture

Prarie Style
This video was mostly about Frank Lloyd Wright and the changes he made to the architectural world. When designing his homes, Wright had a sort of prarie style to them. One of the first to show this style was his Tomak House in Chicago, Illinois. This house had a very spacial house with many windows and it influenced many other houses throughout history. What I found most interesting was the fact that he designed the house so that it followed the sun throughout the day. The video then goes into showing how it influenced Ron Thom's and Dan White's houses later on. The book also features Frank Lloyd Wright as a major influence in architecture.

Architecture: The Science of Design:
This video explains how architecture is more than just art, but it is also a science. For example, knowing the physics of buildings and how gravity will affect it is a very important part in architecture. The video explains not only this bu how other things affect buildings (skyscrapers especially), such as wind and percipitation. Another thing the video goes into is a "smart house." This means that things, such as lighting and heating/cooling are controlled automatically through a centralized computer system that runs throughout the house. Although these are very expensive, I found it interesting that a more affordable voice activated computer system can be bought and it controls a lot of every day items in the house. The video ends with how concrete and other construction related items are made and used. This video I thought was more interesting b ecause it was something different than the readings in the book.

Classic Architecture
This Video goes along with the book very well. It shows how architecture is an art and uses principles and elements. It goes through how the Greek and Romans were the major influence in classical architecture and how these influenced buildings such as the White House and other buildings in DC. It goes into a lot of detail about the Romans and Greeks architecture and the beauty that both used to build such important structures that formed a basis of things today. This video was pretty dry because it was a lot about what I already read in the book.

I chose the Last Call For Planet Earth video. I chose this because I am a supporter of green efforts and believe we should all pitch in to save the world. Every effort counts and that includes building new buildings and houses. People dont always think about that because it is a pretty big project but even the smallest changes can make a huge difference!