Urban housing and ornament

Abstract

Architecture must be personalized to create a humane living environment. Scale, attention to detail, and the use of ornament can effect the personalization of design. Ornament was chosen to explore the creation a humane living environment for this project. Three issues regarding ornament in architecture were chosen for study. These issues include the ornament aspects of light, the exploitation of design implications of the joining of contrasting materials, and the repetition of elements to create pattern.A mixed-use building in downtown Indianapolis containing commercial space units was designed for the study. Salient issues for the problem included identity for residents of the building through sculpted building form and articulating commercial and residential areas, enhancing the quality of pedestrian life, creating an urban edge for the city block, and marking the corner site location. The goal of this project was not to design an environment that responds well to both people and the urban environment, but also to discover my definition of ornament and its importance in architecture.