MIAD Paris 2013: Keri - Moving away from medieval

Friday, May 24, 2013

Keri - Moving away from medieval

The next couple of days we focused on moving away from medieval times. I really enjoyed the tour of the city that pointed out the transitions still evident in the city. Real roads started to be paved and cut through the city.

The second floor was the best and most expensive in the building. It made important by the larger windows, and bigger balconies. It lets everyone know that it's the cream of the crop. Some buildings even cantalivered over the street to allow the 2nd floor tenants extra square footage.

We walked down streets that were widen, and also peeked down narrow streets left over from medieval times. During the restucuturing of the roads the started to make streets lead to important buildings. The new roads you can see clear all the way down to a monument. You can't see down the older roads becuase they bend and twist without real plans. I thought it was charming that such old structures were still sprinkled around.

Medieval skinny structure in between the updated buildings.

We entered into beautiful cathedrals. The first was a pre-Notre Dame cathedral that had been updated on the outside, but on the inside showed traditional Romanesque arches along side gothic features. It was also so much smaller than Notre Dame, but it was a good sized average cathedral for the time.

Pre-Notre Dame cathedral

Sketchbook: Pointing out the Romanesque arches and single columns vs. the gothic pointed arches and muliple coulmn aesthetic.

Then we went to a post-Notre Dame cathedral. The ceiling was much higher and it had a lot more light because they used the new technology of having the structural supports on the outside. I thought they went crazy with the vaults. It seemed more crowded than notre dame though it was smaller because the spacing between bays was smaller. The large windows would never have been supported using the old techniques.