Found these wonderful plan and section drawings which I just had to post here. The drawings are of a conceptual house designed for a competition by Greek architects. For more info click here...
Showing posts with label graphic design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label graphic design. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 July 2010
The Beauty of Architectural Drawings
Found these wonderful plan and section drawings which I just had to post here. The drawings are of a conceptual house designed for a competition by Greek architects. For more info click here...
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
W
Project: Walter Towers
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Architect: BIG
As a person very fond of calligraphy and graphic design generally, I was really thrilled when I stumbled upon this building. The "W" may stand for the name of the tower, but according to this blog post here, the Danish architects leaves the interpretation of the letter to us, which I find very amusing. Does it stand for wow just like the luxurious W Hotels? Does it stand for weird? Wonderful?
Nevertheless, as beautiful as the graphics of the letter "W" may appear on that building, there are technical reasons backing up the shape of the building. The cut on ground level allows pedestrians to cross the site, an important factor since the first four floors are for commercial use. The cuts in the top levels, which are residential in use, allow for air and views. With 27 floors the ‘W’ should reach a height of 80 meters. I couldn't find when is this building going to be completed or if even they started its construction, but this is one building I'd like to visit when it's done.
Friday, 31 October 2008
Arabesque
Here is my new favorite book, which made me immediately go and buy a dozen of calligraphy for dummies-like books to learn the fundamentals of this amazing art of calligraphy. The book talks mainly about the subject that I once touched upon in the last post of my calligraphy series.
Published by Gestalten and edited by Ben Wittner and Sascha Thoma of eps51 and Nicolas Bourquin of onlab, the book contains excellent examples of the "globalization of graphic design" which allowed for merging different cultures into a new graphic blend. Besides the wonderful pictures that you can look at for hours before going to bed, there is this impressive font that you get for free if you buy the book. The new font is called Talib OldStyle, an English type that is based on Arabic alphabetical visual characteristics. The font belongs to the Talib Type group of fonts developed by eps51. Here are few examples for you viewing pleasure.
Check this out for an interesting interview with the people behind the book.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
The Graphics of Calligraphy (4/4)
Integrating calligraphy with graphic design
Smoking awareness poster by Tahamtan Aminian, an Iranian graphic designer.
Although calligraphy may be a form of graphic design, the relationship between the two disciplines is being pushed to test new possibilities. This relationship is not merely limited to the creative execution of paragraphs, quotes and/or words as to impress an audience... calligraphy here is used as a design method which drives the artist in visualizing a concept as well as a design element that is fundamental in communicating an idea. Here you find Islamic calligraphy being used as an integral part for marketable representation in commercial and cultural industries.
This new integration of Islamic calligraphy into the graphic design of posters, book covers, brochures, logos and advertisements marks yet a new development phase of calligraphy in the Islamic world. As the art of Islamic calligraphy began with the Qur'an and literary works, moved on to figural representation, and arrive at the modern artistic movements, it is now beginning a new journey in the commercial world; a new trend that may have developed from Iran.
[The] brilliant calligraphic background in Iranian arts enabled the New Generation of Iranian graphic designers to present a new and different typographical attitude to the world. Typography is a website showcasing Iranian graphic designers dedicated to introducing this new style of calligraphy to the western world. Artists around the Arab world are beginning to experiment with this emerging style too, which can be seen in collaboration efforts between Iranian and Arab artists in websites like khatt.
Perhaps the best examples I've seen so far in this field are the posters of Mehdi Saeedi, an award winning designer. Here are few examples:
Posters for Islamic Design Exhibitions
Posters for Musical Festivals.
Smoking awareness poster by Tahamtan Aminian, an Iranian graphic designer.
Although calligraphy may be a form of graphic design, the relationship between the two disciplines is being pushed to test new possibilities. This relationship is not merely limited to the creative execution of paragraphs, quotes and/or words as to impress an audience... calligraphy here is used as a design method which drives the artist in visualizing a concept as well as a design element that is fundamental in communicating an idea. Here you find Islamic calligraphy being used as an integral part for marketable representation in commercial and cultural industries.
This new integration of Islamic calligraphy into the graphic design of posters, book covers, brochures, logos and advertisements marks yet a new development phase of calligraphy in the Islamic world. As the art of Islamic calligraphy began with the Qur'an and literary works, moved on to figural representation, and arrive at the modern artistic movements, it is now beginning a new journey in the commercial world; a new trend that may have developed from Iran.
[The] brilliant calligraphic background in Iranian arts enabled the New Generation of Iranian graphic designers to present a new and different typographical attitude to the world. Typography is a website showcasing Iranian graphic designers dedicated to introducing this new style of calligraphy to the western world. Artists around the Arab world are beginning to experiment with this emerging style too, which can be seen in collaboration efforts between Iranian and Arab artists in websites like khatt.
Perhaps the best examples I've seen so far in this field are the posters of Mehdi Saeedi, an award winning designer. Here are few examples:
Posters for Islamic Design Exhibitions
Posters for Musical Festivals.
Friday, 1 August 2008
The Graphics of Calligraphy (2/4)
The development of Figural Calligraphy
In a very interesting essay by Robert Hillenbrand studying the works of Jila Peacock, the author gives an introduction about the development of Arabic calligraphy that I would like to summarize here:
It could be argued that calligraphy has been less subject to... the dominance of ideas from outside the Islamic world than have all its sister arts, from architecture to painting, from pottery to carpets. And the main reason is the high regard that calligraphy is held throughout the Islamic world and its association with the Qur'an. The flexibility and curvilinearity of the Arabic script can employ symmetry, echo, antithesis and other devices which can develop in any direction. This is aided by the special features of the Arabic script which include the interplay between angular and curved letters, capacity to handle compression and prolongation equally, the absence of capital letters producing visual unity, ease of adaptation to large and small scales, accommodation of shifts from the baseline to upper register, as well as apparent characteristics of dynamism, energy and rhythm.
The delight of constantly expanding the boundaries of expression explains why so many contrived scripts were invented in the course of centuries... this began with purely abstract forms and patterns created by careful placing of individual letters or blocks of text. These attempts soon lead to more radical experiments with calligraphy... which involved figural designs or zoomorphic elements. The earliest attempts to do this is often debated but it is more likely to have been originated somewhere near the eastern Iranian world in the twelfth century. This tendency started with incising faces onto the thickened upper shafts of the tallest letters... these faces could be an eyebrow, an eye and a mouth with a neck below... now the shafts of the taller letters have morphed into legless bodies, they interact with unmistakable humor... patting each other on the shoulder... shaking hands... Thus the upper storey of the inscription is shot through with narrative while its ground floor spells out a message of good wishes and happy life.
The next step in the practice of bringing living creatures into calligraphy is related to a loosening of earlier restraints and seems to have originated in the Iranian world. This new mode was not a matter of script metamorphosing into living forms which are also readable letters, but of using script to delineate such forms. This practice established itself only relatively late in Islamic art, when the taboos outlawing religious iconography had lost some of their power... It developed in... Ottoman Turkey, India and Qajar Iran... [and] was known as early as 1458.
An example scanned from the book "The splendor of Islamic Calligraphy" showing an early fusion of calligraphy and floral decoration that soon lead to more radical experimentation.
A traditional example of zoomorphic calligraphy by Hassan Musa.
The first verse of Surah Al-Feel (The elephant, 105) which translates to: Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the possessors of the elephant?
A hoopoe by Jila Peacock formed by one of Hafez poems, a Persian poet whose statue in Iranian literature is equivalent to Shakespeare in English literature.
Hillenbrand ends his introduction to the context of calligraphy with these comments that I thought were spot-on:
Source for essay link and more info can be found here
In a very interesting essay by Robert Hillenbrand studying the works of Jila Peacock, the author gives an introduction about the development of Arabic calligraphy that I would like to summarize here:
It could be argued that calligraphy has been less subject to... the dominance of ideas from outside the Islamic world than have all its sister arts, from architecture to painting, from pottery to carpets. And the main reason is the high regard that calligraphy is held throughout the Islamic world and its association with the Qur'an. The flexibility and curvilinearity of the Arabic script can employ symmetry, echo, antithesis and other devices which can develop in any direction. This is aided by the special features of the Arabic script which include the interplay between angular and curved letters, capacity to handle compression and prolongation equally, the absence of capital letters producing visual unity, ease of adaptation to large and small scales, accommodation of shifts from the baseline to upper register, as well as apparent characteristics of dynamism, energy and rhythm.
The delight of constantly expanding the boundaries of expression explains why so many contrived scripts were invented in the course of centuries... this began with purely abstract forms and patterns created by careful placing of individual letters or blocks of text. These attempts soon lead to more radical experiments with calligraphy... which involved figural designs or zoomorphic elements. The earliest attempts to do this is often debated but it is more likely to have been originated somewhere near the eastern Iranian world in the twelfth century. This tendency started with incising faces onto the thickened upper shafts of the tallest letters... these faces could be an eyebrow, an eye and a mouth with a neck below... now the shafts of the taller letters have morphed into legless bodies, they interact with unmistakable humor... patting each other on the shoulder... shaking hands... Thus the upper storey of the inscription is shot through with narrative while its ground floor spells out a message of good wishes and happy life.
The next step in the practice of bringing living creatures into calligraphy is related to a loosening of earlier restraints and seems to have originated in the Iranian world. This new mode was not a matter of script metamorphosing into living forms which are also readable letters, but of using script to delineate such forms. This practice established itself only relatively late in Islamic art, when the taboos outlawing religious iconography had lost some of their power... It developed in... Ottoman Turkey, India and Qajar Iran... [and] was known as early as 1458.
An example scanned from the book "The splendor of Islamic Calligraphy" showing an early fusion of calligraphy and floral decoration that soon lead to more radical experimentation.
A traditional example of zoomorphic calligraphy by Hassan Musa.
The first verse of Surah Al-Feel (The elephant, 105) which translates to: Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the possessors of the elephant?
A hoopoe by Jila Peacock formed by one of Hafez poems, a Persian poet whose statue in Iranian literature is equivalent to Shakespeare in English literature.
Hillenbrand ends his introduction to the context of calligraphy with these comments that I thought were spot-on:
In many of these calligraphic images, one senses that writing is being pushed to its furthest limits so as to make it express unnaturally what it cannot do naturally... These arcane images offer striking evidence as to the slightly perverse outlets into which Islamic artists channeled their frustrated desires to create religious pictures. It was a current which proved too strong for Islamic orthodoxy to dam.
Source for essay link and more info can be found here
Monday, 28 July 2008
The Graphics of Calligraphy (1/4)
As part of working on a project that requires the integration of Arabic Calligraphy, I had to do some research about the subject, which turned out to be very interesting... So this post will be the first of a series about Arabic Calligraphy starting from its traditional background to its contemporary art form.
Background
Its important to appreciate the significance of language in the Arabic culture to understand the development of Arabic calligraphy. Arabs consider language an art form which is evident in their deep love and respect for poetry. For this reason, the miracle that was given to our prophet Mohammad (SAW) is the Qur'an. Even the best of the best poets in the Arabian Peninsula could not compete with the grandeur of the language and rhythm of the Qur'an, thus admitting that this book is not the creation of any man, but a god.
When the prophet died, the Qur'an was passed on from lip to lip by people who have memorized the whole Qur'an. Many of those people were killed in battles, which alarmed the Muslims. As a result, to preserve this miracle the Sahaba requested from Abu Bakr Al-Sideeq (the Caliph) to compile the Qur'an to prevent it from being lost. The Qur'an as we know it today is credited to a later Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, who verified the text and published the Qur'an in writing 18 years after the prophet's death.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that the first verses that were delivered to the prophet (SAW) were the following:
This is the starting point for the development of the Arabic calligraphy. Arabs felt the need to master the art in which the words of God would be seen and read. And so the journey of developing the script system that we know it today began, based on the integration of "artistry and scholarship", representing the power and beauty of abstract lines in which energy flows forming the letters and words.
As the Islamic empire expanded towards the non-Arab speaking world, the Arabic calligraphy became an "abstract expression of Islam". This lead to two important factors that changed Arabic calligraphy, the first is the need to reform the written script into a clear and universal manuscript in order for non-Arab Muslims to learn the Arabic language. This is done gradually by the introduction of dots, vowel signs, and other marks known as "Tashkeel", usually written with different colors to be distinguished. The second factor is the introduction of new regional calligraphy. This is mainly influenced by the integration of Arabic calligraphy into non-Arabic cultures forming new calligraphic styles, most notably those that were formed in Persia and Turkey.
9th-10th century Quran in Early Kufic style, Iraq
11th century Quran in Eastern Kufic style, Iran
Styles
Kufi: This is perhaps the oldest calligraphic style which was developed in Kufa in Iraq, hence the name. A number of variations have been introduced to this style. It is characterized by its pronounced angularity, geometrical construction and being considerably wider than it is high. Because of its adaptability to ornamental form, it remains favorable for use in exterior and interior decorations.
Thuluth: This is a cursive script that was formulated during the Umayyad Dynasty. The name means "one third" which is supposed to be the proportion between straight lines and curves. It is characterized by its curved letters with barbed heads, elaborate graphics and it is popular for being used in inscriptions, titles and headings.
Naskh: This cursive script is considered the most popular calligraphic style used. Derived from Thuluth, it was probably redesigned during the Abbasid Dynasty. It is relatively easy to read and write; it uses short horizontal stems, equal vertical depth above and below the medial line, and generally well spaced.
Riq'a: Derived from Thuluth and Naskh, it is a simplified modern cursive style and considered the easiest script for daily handwriting. Letters are similar to those of Thuluth but are smaller, rounded and densely structured with short horizontal stems, and barbed heads are never used.
Ta'liq: Also known as Farsi, it is a cursive script developed by the Persians. This style is considered the native calligraphy among the Persian, Indian, and Turkish Muslims. A lighter and more elegant version of Ta'liq, called Nasta'liq, has been developed by combining it with Naskh. Ta'liq and Nasta'liq are both used extensively in Persian literary works but not for the Qur'an.
Deewani: This style is developed from Ta'liq by the Turks during the Ottoman Empire. It is excessively cursive and its letters are unconventionally joined together. Deewani also developed an ornamental variety called Deewani Jali. The spaces between the letters are filled with decorative devices which do not necessarily have any linguistic value.
Applications
As pictorial ornaments were forbidden in Islam to prevent Idolatry, geometrical patterns and calligraphy became the main decoration elements. For this reason, artists have applied those two elements outside the world of elegant books and into architecture and many crafts such as rugs, woodworking and pottery. But calligraphy have been a decoration element long before Islam, and perhaps the best example for this is the Mu'allaqat (The Hanging Poems), a group of seven long poems written by the best poets of the pre-Islamic period. Those poems were written in gold and hung over the Kaaba as a decoration, showing a very early application of calligraphy as a decorating element.
Today, calligraphy stands as an art on its own, establishing itself as a subject for artists that is open to experimentation. Many artists are specialized in this field and are creating works with innovative approaches to calligraphy in the hopes of developing this art further. More on this will come in the following parts.
The calligraphy decoration of the "kiswah", the cover of the Kaaba
Calligraphy decoration on the entrance of the Taj Mahal
More info can be found here and here and here
Background
Its important to appreciate the significance of language in the Arabic culture to understand the development of Arabic calligraphy. Arabs consider language an art form which is evident in their deep love and respect for poetry. For this reason, the miracle that was given to our prophet Mohammad (SAW) is the Qur'an. Even the best of the best poets in the Arabian Peninsula could not compete with the grandeur of the language and rhythm of the Qur'an, thus admitting that this book is not the creation of any man, but a god.
When the prophet died, the Qur'an was passed on from lip to lip by people who have memorized the whole Qur'an. Many of those people were killed in battles, which alarmed the Muslims. As a result, to preserve this miracle the Sahaba requested from Abu Bakr Al-Sideeq (the Caliph) to compile the Qur'an to prevent it from being lost. The Qur'an as we know it today is credited to a later Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, who verified the text and published the Qur'an in writing 18 years after the prophet's death.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that the first verses that were delivered to the prophet (SAW) were the following:
Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created,
Has created man from a clot.
Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous,
Who has taught (the writing) by the pen
Has taught man that which he knew not.
-Surah Al-Alaq (The Clot, 96: 1-5)
This is the starting point for the development of the Arabic calligraphy. Arabs felt the need to master the art in which the words of God would be seen and read. And so the journey of developing the script system that we know it today began, based on the integration of "artistry and scholarship", representing the power and beauty of abstract lines in which energy flows forming the letters and words.
As the Islamic empire expanded towards the non-Arab speaking world, the Arabic calligraphy became an "abstract expression of Islam". This lead to two important factors that changed Arabic calligraphy, the first is the need to reform the written script into a clear and universal manuscript in order for non-Arab Muslims to learn the Arabic language. This is done gradually by the introduction of dots, vowel signs, and other marks known as "Tashkeel", usually written with different colors to be distinguished. The second factor is the introduction of new regional calligraphy. This is mainly influenced by the integration of Arabic calligraphy into non-Arabic cultures forming new calligraphic styles, most notably those that were formed in Persia and Turkey.
9th-10th century Quran in Early Kufic style, Iraq
11th century Quran in Eastern Kufic style, Iran
Styles
Kufi: This is perhaps the oldest calligraphic style which was developed in Kufa in Iraq, hence the name. A number of variations have been introduced to this style. It is characterized by its pronounced angularity, geometrical construction and being considerably wider than it is high. Because of its adaptability to ornamental form, it remains favorable for use in exterior and interior decorations.
Thuluth: This is a cursive script that was formulated during the Umayyad Dynasty. The name means "one third" which is supposed to be the proportion between straight lines and curves. It is characterized by its curved letters with barbed heads, elaborate graphics and it is popular for being used in inscriptions, titles and headings.
Naskh: This cursive script is considered the most popular calligraphic style used. Derived from Thuluth, it was probably redesigned during the Abbasid Dynasty. It is relatively easy to read and write; it uses short horizontal stems, equal vertical depth above and below the medial line, and generally well spaced.
Riq'a: Derived from Thuluth and Naskh, it is a simplified modern cursive style and considered the easiest script for daily handwriting. Letters are similar to those of Thuluth but are smaller, rounded and densely structured with short horizontal stems, and barbed heads are never used.
Ta'liq: Also known as Farsi, it is a cursive script developed by the Persians. This style is considered the native calligraphy among the Persian, Indian, and Turkish Muslims. A lighter and more elegant version of Ta'liq, called Nasta'liq, has been developed by combining it with Naskh. Ta'liq and Nasta'liq are both used extensively in Persian literary works but not for the Qur'an.
Deewani: This style is developed from Ta'liq by the Turks during the Ottoman Empire. It is excessively cursive and its letters are unconventionally joined together. Deewani also developed an ornamental variety called Deewani Jali. The spaces between the letters are filled with decorative devices which do not necessarily have any linguistic value.
Applications
As pictorial ornaments were forbidden in Islam to prevent Idolatry, geometrical patterns and calligraphy became the main decoration elements. For this reason, artists have applied those two elements outside the world of elegant books and into architecture and many crafts such as rugs, woodworking and pottery. But calligraphy have been a decoration element long before Islam, and perhaps the best example for this is the Mu'allaqat (The Hanging Poems), a group of seven long poems written by the best poets of the pre-Islamic period. Those poems were written in gold and hung over the Kaaba as a decoration, showing a very early application of calligraphy as a decorating element.
Today, calligraphy stands as an art on its own, establishing itself as a subject for artists that is open to experimentation. Many artists are specialized in this field and are creating works with innovative approaches to calligraphy in the hopes of developing this art further. More on this will come in the following parts.
The calligraphy decoration of the "kiswah", the cover of the Kaaba
Calligraphy decoration on the entrance of the Taj Mahal
More info can be found here and here and here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
