For this task I first needed to get used to the new search engine “Alice”. Fortunately, it is very simple and very effective. Almost to effective as I was a bit overwhelmed with all the different results which appeared when I first just searched for the name of my book. Given the very broad range of results I adjusted my search to keywords from my book. I searched specifically for “fortification” and “dome” as these are the two chapters which Ermenegildo Pini discusses in his work “Dell’architettura”. With “fortification” I did not find very interesting results although trying different brains as “Xenotheka” and “Architecture Library”. But I was more successful with “dome” as an explorer and “architecture” as the topic of conversation. At first the proposed works seemed far off, of what I would have imagined popping up. However, by reading the context paragraph it became clearer and more interesting. So now I had the agony of choice and I decided for Eighteenth Century Architecture by Van Eck and Capsules Typology of other Architecture by Senk.
Van Ecks work connects with Dell’architettura” as he describes the the way the eighteenth-century architect John Soanes develops the most practical way for storing liquids used for housing. He designs it specifically for a southern country with warm temperatures throughout the year. While Pini writes more about the perfectly theoretical calculated and constructed dome, Van Eck first has the problem of storing liquiods and then finds the dome through the process as the best solution. It shows that the dome has also very good climatic attributes. Also, the size and form make it likely to store grains, strew or obviously every liquid or gaseous material.
About 200 years later, Senk discusses the topic of the dome again. But again, the time and the context are completely new given. The radical leftwing hippies called the Red Rockers founded their own individual commune with the philosophy that their buildings should not remind them of anything they knew. With other communes doing the same thing they decided for dome like buildings. In their case the dome embodies a symbolical connection between equal elements. It became the place to meditate, meet and enjoy live as independents. Senk takes to topic of the dome again one step further and dives into the dome as a form of housing but also discusses the construction like Pini. However, in Senks case, the construction materials are mostly recycled car tops which are connected to one large dome. It reminds me of Iglus with mosaiques on top and makes a beautiful and colorful appearance in the desert.