History of Architecture 1

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE CAN BE DESCRIBED AS THE SUM OF THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC,
POLITICAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS. THE PLACES PEOPLE LIVE IN ALSO LIVE FOR
YEARS. THE REPRESENTATIVES OF ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE EACH HAVE ITS OWN
ARCHITECTURAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MESSAGE HAVE UNDERTAKEN A SOCIAL DUTY
TO GIVE CULTURAL MESSAGES TO THEIR ENVIRONMENTS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS.
ARCHITECTURE TAKING PLACE AT THE INTERSECTION ZONE OF TECHNIQUE AND ART IS THE
PHYSICAL AND PERMANENT SIGN OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE CULTURE AND NATIONAL
STRUCTURAL CULTURE.

IT’S 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 ST'YLES OF ARCHITECTURE THE PARTICULAR METHOD, THE CHARACTERISTICS,

MANNER OF DESIGN WHICH PREVAILS AT A CERTAIN PLACE AND TIME.

INFLUENCING FACTORS, THE PARTICULAR DESIGN OF A BUILDING, FROM PLANNING TO

WELLING, COLUMNS, OPENINGS AS IN DOORS AND WINDOWS, ROOFINGS, MOULDINGS AND
ORNAMENTS, ALL OF THESE DESIGNS ARE INFLUENCED BY THE FOLLOWING FACTORS:

A. GEOGRAPHICAL-PINPOINTS THE LOCATION OF A PARTICULAR COUNTRY.LT DESCRIBES

WHETHER IT IS NEAR THE SEA, AN ISLAND, ON THE MOUNTAINS, DESERTS AND OTHERS.

B. GEOLOGICAL-DESCRIBES THE MATERIALS FOUND IN THE LOCALITY. THE CHARACTER AND

COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH AND THE CONTOUR OF THE GROUND. MATERIALS LIKE STONES,
TREES, REEDS, BAMBOO, CLAY FOR BRICKS, MARBLE, METALS, ALL INFLUENCE THE CHARACTER
OF THE BUILDINGS.

C. CLIMATIC-THE PRE11AITING WEATHER IN THE COUNTRY. IF THERE IS MUCH SUNSHINE OR

LITTLE RAIN, IF THERE ARE WINTERS WITH MUCH SNOW, THESE AFFECT THE CHARACTER LIKE
FOR EXAMPLE THE ROOFING OF A COUNTRY WITH SNOW SHOULD BE STEEP TO WARD OFF
THE SNOW WHILE THE WINDOWS IN COLD CLIMATES SHOULD BE WIDE TO PERMIT LIGHT TO
ENTER AND WARM THE ROOMS.

D. RELIGION-THIS IS THE EMOTIONAL TEMPERAMENT AND SPIRITUAL TENDENCIES OF THE

PEOPLES IN A PARTICULAR COUNTRY. LF THEY ARE PAGANS THEY BUILD TEMPLES FOR
NUMEROUS GODS IF THEY ARE CHRISTIANS THEY BUILD CHURCHES WITH ALTARS. MUSLIMS
BUILD MOSQUES.

E. HISTORICAL -THE BACKGROUND OF THE PEOPLE AS A WHOLE. WERE THERE WARS IN THE
PAST? IF SO, BUILDINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN RUINED AND NEW STRUCTURES BUILT. F. SOCIAL
AND POLITICAL-HOW THE PEOPLE LIVED AND GOVERNED. WHETHER THEY ARE HOSTITE,
FIENDLY, RULED BY A KING OR UNDER DEMOCRATIC RULE.

[Date] 1
https://web.archive.org/web/20130115130452/http://www.ledolmendebagneux.com/accueil.php
 History of Architecture 2

PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
11,600 B.C. TO 3,500 B.C

B
EFORE RECORDED HISTORY, HUMANS CONSTRUCTED EARTHEN MOUNDS,
STONE CIRCLES, MEGALITHS, AND STRUCTURES THAT OFTEN PUZZLE MODERN-
DAY ARCHAEOLOGISTS. PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE INCLUDES
MONUMENTAL STRUCTURES SUCH AS STONEHENGE, CLIFF DWELLINGS IN THE
AMERICAS, AND THATCH AND MUD STRUCTURES LOST TO TIME. THE DAWN OF
ARCHITECTURE IS FOUND IN THESE STRUCTURES. PREHISTORIC BUILDERS MOVED
EARTH AND STONE INTO GEOMETRIC FORMS, CREATING OUR EARLIEST HUMAN-
MADE FORMATIONS. WE DON'T KNOW WHY PRIMITIVE PEOPLE BEGAN BUILDING
GEOMETRIC STRUCTURES. ARCHAEOLOGISTS CAN ONLY GUESS THAT PREHISTORIC
PEOPLE LOOKED TO THE HEAVENS TO IMITATE THE SUN AND THE MOON, USING
THAT CIRCULAR SHAPE IN THEIR CREATIONS OF EARTH MOUNDS AND
MONOLITHIC HENGES.

PLACED WITHIN THE NEOLITHIC AGE. NEW STONE AGE WHICH LASTED ROUGHLY
FROM 8,000 TO 3,000 B.C. BEFORE THE NEOLITHIC AGE, MAN OFTEN USED EXISTING
CAVES FOR SHELTER. AS MAN WAS A HUNTER AND FOOD GATHERER, HE ALSO
CONSTRUCTS TEMPORARY SHELTERS FROM PERISHABLE MATERIALS.

MEGALITHIC ARHITECTURE
PRESERVE REMAINS OF MONUMENT MADE PARTIALLY OR WHOL.LY OF
QIANT STONES ARE FOUND ON ISLANDS OR NEAR THE, SEA COAST OF THE
MAINLAND.

THE MOST COMMON MEGALITIHIC STRUCTURES ARE:

A. DOLMEN -CONSISTS OF
SEVERAL LARGE-STONES SET ON END
WITH A LARGE COVERING SLAB.

[Date] 2
https://web.archive.org/web/20130115130452/http://www.ledolmendebagneux.com/accueil.php
 History of Architecture 3

B. PASAGE GRAVE (TUMULI) -THE DOMINANT MEGALITHIC TOMB TYPE, OF

WHICH MAY EXIST IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, HAS A· CORRIDOR LINED WITH
LARGE STONE SLABS LEADING TO A ·CIRCULAR CHAMBER OFTEN HAVING A
CORBELLED VAULT.

•TUMULUSI -A MOUND OF EARTH OR STONE PROTECTING A TOMB

CHAMBER OR SIMPLE GRAVE

C. MENHIRS-(MONOLITHS)- ARE SINGLE GREAT STONES SET ON END AND

ARRANGED IN PARALLET ROWS, SOME OF WHICH RUN FOR SEVERAL MILES AND
CONSISTS OF THOUSANDS OF STONES PURPOSE IS OF RELIGIOUS IN NATURE

---CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE---

BRUTE STRENGTH. SOME OF THE STONES USED IN BUILDING STONE HENGE

WERE APPARENTLY HAULED LABORIOUSLY ACROSS SALISBURY PLAIN ON SLEDGES
AND ROLLERS BY SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE

SINKING THE STONE. SARSEN STONES FROM THE MARLBOROUGH DOWNS

WERE LOWERED INTO DEEP PITS WITH ONE SLOPING SIDE. PRIMITIVE HAULING
APPARATUS THEN RAISED THEM UPRIGHT.

RAISING THE LINTEL. THE LINTEL STONE WAS RAISED ON A CRADLE OF

TIMBER SCAFFOLDING, AND HOLES CUT INTO IT FITTED PROJECTIONS ON THE
WAITING UPRIGHTS A MORTISE AND TENON JOINT.

DOLMEN STRUCTURES
TRETHEVY QUOIT, ENGLAND -TRETHEVY QUOIT WAS ORIGINALLY COVERED BY
A MOUND. THE REMNANTS OF THIS SUGGEST A DIAMETER OF 6.5 METRES.
THE REMAINING SEVEN STONES AND THE 3.7 M LONG AND 10.5-TON COVER
SLAB WERE INSIDE THE MOUND. AT THE UPPER END OF THE COVER SLAB IS A
NATURAL HOLE, WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN USED FOR ASTRONOMICAL
OBSERVATION

CHUN QUOIT, ENGLAND - COVERED BY A ROUND BARROW (35 FT IN DIAMETER. IT

WAS A CLOSED CHAMBER AND ITS MUSHROOM-DOMED CAPSTONE MEASURES 3.3 M

[Date] 3
https://web.archive.org/web/20130115130452/http://www.ledolmendebagneux.com/accueil.php
 History of Architecture 4

(11 FT) BY 3 M (10 FT), WITH A MAXIMUM THICKNESS OF 0.8 M (2 FT 7 IN). THERE IS
A CUP MARK ON TOP OF THE CAPSTONE. IT IS SUPPORTED ABOUT 2 M (7 FT) FROM
THE GROUND BY FOUR SUBSTANTIAL SLABS.

LANYON QUOIT, ENGLAND- Lanyon Quoit currently has three support stones which stand to a
height of 1.5 metres These bear a capstone which is 5.5 metres long, and which weighs more than
12 tonnes

SPINSTERS ROCK, ENGLAND- The dolmen consist of three granite supports rising to between 1.7
and 2.3 metres (5 ft 7 in and 7 ft 7 in) surmounted by a capstone measuring 4.5 by 3.1 metres (15 by
10 ft).

BAGNEUX DOLMEN, FRANCE - The overall length of this dolmen is over 23 meters (75 feet) and
its chamber is over 18 meters (59 feet) long. As all dolmen, the 'Great Covered stone' in Bagneux,
was a large chamber tomb which must have contained a great number of prehistoric skeletons
during the neolithic period, i.e. from 4,000 to 2,000 B.C., that is about 5,000 years ago. That took
place long before Gallic times, since the Gauls only appeared between 700 and 600 B.C.

DOLMEN DE LA BAJOULIERE, FRANCE-

CARNAC, FRANCE

MADELAINE DOLMEN, FRANCE

LA PIERRE COUVERT, FRANCE

KILCOONEY, IRELAND

BROWNESHILL, IRELAND

POULNABORNE, IRELAND

WERIS, BELGIUM

TA CENC. MALTA

MALTA, SANSUNA

CAUCASUS, RUSSIA.

[Date] 4
https://web.archive.org/web/20130115130452/http://www.ledolmendebagneux.com/accueil.php
 History of Architecture 5

RIO TORTO, PORTUGAL

SAO DINIS, PORTUGAL

COMMENDA DA IGREJA, PORTUGAL.

SÃO BRISSOS, MONTEMOR DE NOVO.

ANTA DE TAPADAO, PORTUGAL.

Monolith

1. CARNAC // MEGALITHIC STANDING STONES IN FRANCE

2. COSTA RICA // MYSTERIOUS STONE BALLS

3. STONEHENGE // NEOLITHIC STONE CIRCLE

4. MONGOLIA & SIBERIA // DEER STONES

5. AVEBURY // THE WORLD’S LARGEST STONE CIRCLE

6. SOUTH KOREA // GOCHANG DOLMEN SITE

[Date] 5
https://web.archive.org/web/20130115130452/http://www.ledolmendebagneux.com/accueil.php