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- Art Deco:
- Art Deco is a style of architecture and decorative arts. Art deco was
popular in the 1920's and 1930's. It is notable for its use of classified
form such as as ziggurats fountains, creatures or floral motifs in colorful
glazed terra cotta, black glass, bronze or natural aluminum. In Douglas
Ellington's day it was known as the Romantic style, but the term Art Deco did
not become popular until the 1960's.
The following list of design characteristics are common elements in
Romantic/Art Deco buildings. See how these elements were incorporated into
Douglas Ellington's buildings by visiting: First
Baptist Church, City Building, S
& W Cafeteria, and Asheville High School.
- Setbacks that create a ziggurat iconography.
- Towers as part of the overall form or crowning element.
- Ornamentation, such as the use of geometric patterns: chevrons, zigzags,
straight lines or curvilinear forms.
- Exterior walls made from smooth materials ranging from concrete to
limestone with veneers and accents in terra cotta, aluminum or stone.
- Polychromatic colors in subdued pastels or combinations such as black and
gold.
- Roofs are predominately flat buy may include terraces or dramatic spires.
- Parapets, low protective or decorative wall extensions that are placed
along roof edges, often as a site for projecting elements.
- Windows are composed in vertical bays or horizontal bands with occasional
ornamental windows in geometric shapes.
- Expansive display windows placed at ground level in stores or other retail
facilities.
- Dramatic doorways or entrance surrounded by elaborate ornamentation.
- Ornamental sculptures integrated into the building, usually in the form of
low-relief stone panels that can feature allegorical figures or contrasting
colors and textures.
The definitions of some Art Deco terms.
- Allegorical:
- Having to with or using allegory.
- Chevrons:
- A emblem made of made up of one or more stripes meeting at
an angle, worn on the sleeve of a military, naval, or police uniform.
- Curvilinear:
- Curved lines.
- Expansive:
- Able to or trending to expand.
- Geometric:
- Of or according to the principles of geometry.
- Horizontal:
- Parallel to the horizon level.
- Iconography:
- An icon.
- Integrated
- To fit or bring together into a whole.
- Ornamentation:
- The act of ornamenting.
- Parapet:
- A low wall around the edge of a structure, as a roof or terrace.
- Polychromatic:
- Many colors.
- Subdued:
- To make less intense or prominent.
- Ziggurat:
- An ancient Mesopotamian temple in the shape of a stepped
pyramid.
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