HISTORY OF ARCHITETURE SUMMARY

• History of Architecture


  It is a record of man's effort to build beautifully. It traces the origin, growth and decline of architectural styles which have prevailed lands and ages.
• Historic Styles of Architecture


  The particular method, the characteristics, manner of design which prevails at a certain place and time.
• Six Influences of Architecture


  • Geographical
  • Geological
  • Climatic
  • Religious
  • Social
  • Historical
• Four Great Constructive Principles


  • Post & Lintel Construction
  • Arch & Vault Construction
  • Corbel or Cantilever Construction
  • Trussed Construction
• The Historical Timeline of Architecture


  • Pre-Historic
  • Near East
  • Egyptian
  • Greek
  • Roman
  • Early Christian
  • Byzantine
  • Romanesque
  • Gothic
  • Renaissance
  • 18th-19th C Revival
  • 20th C Modern
  • Islamic
  • Indian
  • Chinese & Japanese
  • Filipino
• Influences


  • History
  • Religion
• History


  • Direct human ancestors evolved in Africa from 2.3 million years ago - Homo habilis, Homo erectus, homo sapiens, homo sapiens sapiens
  • The success of the human race was largely due to the development of tools – made of stone, wood, bone
  • Humans spread from Africa into Southern Europe, Asia
  • Could not settle far north due to the cold climate
  • From Siberia by foot into North America
  • From Southeast Asia by boat into Australia
  • Before 9000 BC, nomadic life of hunting & food gathering
  • By 9000 BC, farming and agriculture was practiced
  • Fertile soil and plentiful food
  • Animal domestication for work, milk, wool
  • People wanted to settle down, live in communities
  • First villages in the Middle East, South America, Central America, India and China
  • Some people needed not farm, so they spent time on other work - pot-making, metal-working, art and… architecture!
• Religion


  No organized religion<|>The dead are treated with respect - burial rituals and monuments
• Architectural Character


  • Materials: Animal skins, wooden frames, animal bones
  • Construction System: Existing or excavated caves, Megalithic, most evident in France, England and Ireland
  • Decoration: Caves paintings in Africa, France and Spain, Sculpture
• Menhir


  • A single, large upright monolith
  • Serves a religious purpose
  • Sometimes arranged in parallel rows, reaching several miles and consisting of thousands of stones
• Dolmen


  • Tomb of standing stones usually capped with a large horizontal slab
• Cromlech


  • Enclosure formed by huge stones planted on the ground in circular form
• Stonehenge, England (2800 – 1500 BC)


  • Most spectacular and imposing of monolithic monuments
  • Outer ring, inner ring, innermost horseshoe-shaped ring with open end facing east
  • Largest stones weigh 45 to 50 tons, came from Wales 200 km away
  • Stones transported by sea or river then hauled on land with sledges and rollers by hundreds of people, raised upright into pits, capped with lintels
  • Genuine architecture - it defines exterior space
  • A solar observatory - designed to mark the sun's path during sunrise on Midsummer Day
• Tumulus or Passage Grave


  • Dominant tomb type
  • Corridor inside leading to an underground chamber
• Primitive Dwellings


  • Wigwam or Tepee: conical tent with wooden poles as framework, covered with rush mats and an animal skin door
  • Hogan: primitive Indian structure of joined logs
  • Igloo: Innuit (Eskimo) house constructed of hard-packed snow blocks built up spirally
  • Nigerian hut: with mud walls and roof of palm leaves
  • Iraqi mudhif: covered with split reed mats, built on a reed platform to prevent settlement
  • Sumatran house: for several families, built of timber and palm leaves, the fenced pen underneath is for livestock
  • Mostly had one room
  • The development of more complex civilizations led to division of the room into smaller ones for eating, sleeping, socializing
  • In places where no industrial revolution has occurred to transform building methods and increase population density, houses show little difference from primitive ones
  • Natural or Artificial Caves
  • Beehive Hut
  • Trullo: dry walled rough stone shelter with corbelled roof
• Near East
• Influences


  • History
  • Religion
  • Geography and Geology
• History


  • Started as villages on the flat land between Tigris and Euphrates rivers - "Mesopotamia"
  • Turned into city-states with populations of thousands
  • Each city-state surrounded by a wall and dominated by a large temple
  • Society of kings, craftsmen, soldiers, farmers, priests
  • Fought and traded with each other
  • Sometimes would conquer each other and form an empire
  • Mesopotamian: City-states of Ur, Babylon, Agade, Ashur and Damascus
  • 2334 BC, King Sargon of Agade formed the first major empire
  • 1792 BC, next by King Hammurabi
  • Instituted laws to keep order
  • Invention of writing - pictograms or cuneiform records on clay tablets
  • Assyrian: Based in Ashur, biggest empire under King Ashurbanipal – conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt
  • Persian: Begun by Cyrus the Great from 559 to 529 BC
  • Covered Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Eastern Mediterranean, Bactria, Indus Valley and North Africa
  • Darius I had provinces ruled by a satrap, who guarded the roads, collected taxes and controlled the army
  • Local peoples were allowed to keep their religions and customs
  • Capital moved from Susa to Persepolis
  • Network of roads linking the royal court to other parts of the empire – from Susa in Persia to Sardis in Anatolia
  • Traded raw materials, carpets and spices
  • Darius and Xerxes tried to conquer Greece
  • Ended with the defeat of Darius III to Alexander the Great of Macedonia
• Religion


  Each city-state worshipped their own god for protection<|>People aimed to make peace with their wrathful god
• Geography and Geology


  • Fertile Crescent: Marshlands with few natural advantages aside from water and soil, Import materials like hardwood and metals
  • Also: Deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, Mountains and plateaux from west to east
• Architectural Character


  • Materials: Only materials readily available was clay, soil, reeds, rushes, Bricks made of mud and chopped straw, sun-dried or kiln-fired, Timber, copper, tin, lead gold, silver imported
  • Decoration: Colossal winged-bulls guarding chief portals, Polychrome glazed bricks in blue, white, yellow, green, Murals of decorative continuous stone
• Ziggurats


  • Religious buildings built next to temples
  • On top was a small temple
  • Development: Archaic ziggurat, Two or Three-staged ziggurat, Seven-staged ziggurat during the Assyrian period
  • Ziggurat at Ur: 2000 BC
• Palaces


  • Kings celebrated their victories, wealth and power by building large palaces
  • Palace Platform at Persepolis: Ruins still exist, 50 years to build, People from all over the empire were involved in its construction, Variety of architectural styles, parts: audience halls, reception halls, storerooms for tributes and valuables, military quarters, apadana – tallest building, with 36 columns of 20m height
• Dwellings


  • Known as Megaron
  • Entrance at end rather than on the long sides
  • Portico - colonnaded space forming an entrance or vestibule, with a roof supported on one side by columns
  • Suited to climate of Anatolian plateau
• Influences


  • Geography & Climate
• History


  • Wealthy country despite the desert - every year, Nile would overflow, leaving the land fertile for growing crops
  • Nile River was a trade route
  • Gold from Nubia in the south
  • Two kingdoms, Lower and Upper Egypt, combined by King Menes in 3100 BC
  • Many small towns, but royal cities at Memphis and Thebes
  • A single kingdom for most of its existence - unified under the centralized omnipotent authority of the pharaoh (king)
  • Pharaohs: Seen as gods dwelling on earth, Sole masters of the country and its inhabitants, Builders and leaders, Initiated the design, financing, quarrying and transporting of materials, organization of labor and construction itself
  • Society: Divided into groups, by order of importance: senior priests, officials, noblemen, and army commanders, Most ordinary Egyptians were farmers, Architects, engineers, theologians, masons, sculptors, painters, laborers, peasants, prisoners, Weaving, glass-making, pottery, metal, jewelry and furniture, Astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, music and writing literature and history written on papyrus and stone tablets
• Geography & Climate


  • Narrow stretch of fertile and arable land along the Nile
  • Beyond riverbanks, barren desert and rugged cliffs prevented attack from invaders
  • Mediterranean and Red seas
• Giza, Egypt
• Existence


  Unified under the centralized omnipotent authority of the pharaoh (king)
• Pharaohs


  • Seen as gods dwelling on earth
  • Sole masters of the country and its inhabitants
  • Builders and leaders
  • Initiated the design, financing, quarrying and transporting of materials, organization of labor and construction itself
• Society


  • Senior priests
  • Officials
  • Noblemen
  • Army commanders
  • Farmers
  • Architects
  • Engineers
  • Theologians
  • Masons
  • Sculptors
  • Painters
  • Laborers
  • Peasants
  • Prisoners
  • Weaving
  • Glass-making
  • Pottery
  • Metal
  • Jewelry
  • Furniture
  • Astronomy
  • Mathematics
  • Philosophy
  • Music
  • Writing literature and history written on papyrus and stone tablets
• Geography & Climate


  • Narrow stretch of fertile and arable land along the Nile
  • Beyond riverbanks, barren desert and rugged cliffs prevented attack from invaders
  • Mediterranean and Red seas
• Influences


  • Pre-historic
  • Near East
  • Egyptian
  • Greek
  • Roman
  • Early Christian
  • Byzantine
  • Romanesque
  • Gothic
  • Renaissance
  • 18th-19th C Revival
  • 20th C Modern
  • Islamic
  • Indian
  • Chinese & Japanese
  • Filipino
• Religion


  Cult of many gods representing nature: sun, moon, stars, animals
• Afterlife


  A person's soul went on to enjoy eternal life in kingdom of the God Osiris - imagined this kingdom as a perfect version of Egypt
• Burial


  • Pharaohs were buried, bringing with them the things they might need in the afterlife, even living people
  • Wished for a fine burial, embalmment and funeral rites, and a permanent tomb or "eternal dwelling"
  • Dead body had to be preserved to house the spirit
  • Remove insides, dry out the body, filled with linen, masked and bandaged
• Architectural Character


  Afterlife - life and house on earth is temporary, the tomb is permanent<|>For sustenance and eternal enjoyment of the deceased<|>Religion is the dominant element in Egyptian architecture
• Materials


  • Stone was abundant in variety and quantity, used for monuments and religious buildings, durability of stone is why monuments still exist to this day
  • Other materials, metals and timber were imported
  • Mud bricks: for houses, palaces (reeds, papyrus, palm branch ribs, plastered over with clay)
• Roof & Openings


  • Roof was not an important consideration, flat roofs sufficed to cover and exclude heat
  • No windows, spaces were lit by skylights, roof slits, clerestories
• Wall


  • Batter wall - diminishing in width towards the top for stability
  • Thickness: 9 to 24m at temples
  • Unbroken massive walls, uninterrupted space for hieroglyphics