Essay assignment
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The document discusses the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was designed in the Palladian style by architects including Aston Webb in the late 19th century. The museum houses over 4.5 million objects from its founding in 1857 and serves as both an artwork collection and place of education and research in design and art. It reflects the spirit of its time through its Palladian architecture and emphasis on arts education.
Essay assignment
- 1. Essay Assignment Introduction This is a research essay about Victoria and Albert Museum which we made it as our research buildingin the era of Palladian architecture. Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect started the Palladianism style in the 16th century. Palladio was inspired by the design and architecture of the buildings in the ancient Rome. The façade and structure of this museum are unique and were designed by a few architects. There are few characteristics of Palladianism such as Corinthian Columns, scallop shells, pediments used on doors and windows, symmetry and others. Victoria and Albert museum is the world greatest museum of art and design. Victoria and Albert museum is a well-known museum in the world as it is also the largest museum of decorative arts and design. There are over 4.5 million objects that are being exhibited in the museum. The main architect of the Victoria and Albert museum is Aston Webb who is also the one who designed the main façade of the Victoria and Albert museum built from red brick and Portland stone after winning a competition in 1891 to extend the museum. Retrieved fromwww.allabroaduk.com
- 2. Architects of Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A museum) Here are the lists of some architects who had contributed to the building Victoria and Albert museum. NAME OF ARCHITECT PART OF THE BUILDING Fowke North and west side of garden F. W. Moody Ceramic staircase at northwest corners James Gamble and Reuben Townroe North Façade that adopt the Italian Renaissance Besides, there are also some other designers that had contributed to the interior of this museum. Year of V&A museum been founded The V&A museum was founded in 1857. At first, the museum was called the South Kensington Museum. In +1899, the museum was renamed as Victoria and Albert museum and is located along Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road. Form and Shape of V&A museum In this museum, there are two top stories the façade done by Sir Paul Pindar’s house. Bishopsgate shows the wood work and leaded windows of the museum. A rare survivor of the Great Fire of London, there is a brick portal from a London house of the English Restoration period and a fireplace from the gallery of Northumberland house. Besides that, this building shows European architecture that includes a dormer window from the chateau of Montal. The main architecture gallery in this building has a series of pillars from various buildings from different periods.
- 3. Function and the Purpose of V&A museum After talking about the form and shape of V&A museum, we would like to introduce the function and purpose of this museum. “The first seed of what was to become the V&Amuseum was the founding of the Government School of Design, established in Somerset House in 1837.”(Retrieved from: http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStory Of/VictoriaAndAlbertMuseum/VictoriaAndAlbertMuseum.aspx) The founding of the School was aimed to offer education in design. In year 1852, the department, the Museum of Manufactures was set up in Marlborough House for artwork exhibition. Besides that, it also functions as a place for artwork collection and preservation. There are lots of artistic objects been collected in the galleries. The collections in this museum include paintings, sculptures, costumes, furniture and etc. Nowadays, it also acts as a tourist attraction. Furthermore, there are also some study rooms and library that were built for research on arts purpose. Materials used to build V&A museum Besides designs, materials are also one of the most important components to build the building. There are some materials that had been used to build the part of building that we are focus on, the main entrance, such as terracotta, brick, mosaic, wood, stained glass, and red brick, bronze and iron glass. The materials mostly used in the entrance of V&A museumare terracotta, brick and mosaic. The door of the main entrance of V&A museumwas actually made by bronze. The embellishment in the building is made from terracotta and mosaic. Retrieved from: http://asemus.museum/museum/victoria-and-albert- museum/
- 4. Some of the common materialshad been used in the interior of the V&A museum. The walls were paneled with the wood and also plastered.The walls were decorated with the stained glass windows. Besides that, the columnswere designed with Corinthian style and were coated with the ceramic tile. The ceiling is made from the metal sheets, stained glass and also marble. On the other hand, the lower parts of the walls werecoated with the blue ceramic tiles with figures on it and some other parts were only coated with the wood. Stained glass whichelaborates with iron grillis to make the window glasses. The materials being used in constructing the V&A museum can be easily found at that era. (Source: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-44/materials-and- their-interaction-with-museum-objects/) What makes V&A museum historically significant? The collections in V&A museum had span almost two thousand years to being collected from many parts of the world in different media. This allows the visitors to encounter a treasure house of amazing and beautiful objects. (Source: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/a-brief-history-of-the-museum/ ) The success of Great Exhibition in the previous year had made V&A museum become historically significant with the collections include musical instruments, architecture, costumes and etc. How does V&A museum reflect the spirit of time and place for which it was built? Palladianism started in the 16th century in Italy. It was an influence which spread out through few ways such as travel of businessman to different country. In 18th century, some of the architects in England had used Palladianism concept to design buildings. Few characteristics as we mentioned in the introduction are the characteristics of Palladian architecture such as symmetry, Corinthian column and so on. As the greatest museum of arts in the world, it had shown that the enthusiasm of British to educate their generation with arts. It also shows the importance of arts and design indirectly.
- 5. Conclusion Victoria and Albert Museum is a significant building that shows the Palladian architecture in London. It had shown its uniqueness among the buildings in the same period. Besides that, variety of collections in it allows people to gain inspiration based on the beautiful objects that had been collected.