As time pass, everything changed through time, from little things to large things like the evolution of human being or even people's perception toward things. The fact that different person has different ideas, make changes and development through time which created a historical aspect for new generation to study from. History recorded the past which included things that are right and things that are wrong, therefore human learn from history and mistakes from the past then created new theory as new period start. Anyhow, difference does not limit and indicated what is actually right and what is actually wrong, as i said, different person has different ideas as well as recorded history.
Historical aspect from the past indicated changes in many things, from the development of paper to the alteration of architecture. I believed that architecture also recorded history as history recorded architecture. Residential, building, house, or what ever architecture are, has been one of the significant factors in human's life since the time of stone age that human lived in a cave until presently of modernism and contemporary world. The development and changes write down clearly in the book as well as architecture itself. Every footmarks, colors that became pale as time pass, stone wall that eroded, or even scratches on the wall, recorded the history. Once I was in a historical monument or significant places in Italy, where Renaissance period started, I could feel the sense of memories which exploded in my mind even though I was standing on the ground in a present day.
The development through time of architecture period from the very first beginning of classical until presently contemporary, indicated differences among themselves. Major change that seems to stands out to me is the differences between a massive stone building with details of magnificent sculpture on the exterior facade and geometrical lean shape with skeleton structure that built in a completely different material like glass and steel. For me, when talking about architecture periods from the past until present time, it seems to divided into two era: Classicism, Greek, Roman, Renaissance, Baroque, and more periods that the building look like I mentioned “massive stone building”, versus “geometrical lean shape of glass box” of Modernism period. Nevertheless, architecture in present day as we called “Contemporary style”, use and adapt history from the past and combine into one piece which created different style for each architects to have their uniqueness in their works. It could be said that these architects learned from master then apply into their works that created various style depends on the subject architects focusing on.
Back to the topic of changes and developments through time again, there seems to be a contradiction or change and break down theories, and the battle of arguments in each period that somehow rejected the idea of others or accepted in some way. Starting from Renaissance period that setting up rules of proportion and symmetry, and then Baroque architects that learned from Renaissance period but somehow change and break down these rules with their complex structure that they modified from a simple geometry also with their invention of the oval and its axis line. Later on in the period of Modernism or “The White”, came up with new theories and sets of rules with the design of “Glass box” as Tom Wolfe said in his book, “From Bauhaus to our house”, or the concept of “Less is more” by Mies Van De Rohe, or as I called “Guys who created thoery”. When there are people who crated the rule and accepted the rules, there always be “Those who rejected the rule” and of course will created and modify those rule into new one like “The Grey”, which rejected the idea of perfection so they made their architecture with “imperfect” figure. It seems to be hilarious for me when studying history of each architecture period among those who created the rule and break down the rules in which I think there is no balance among them. Anyway, changes and development in each period brought us a new innovation and new ideas which may be somehow bring us to the new period of change, again.
