HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

MODULE-1
PRE-HISTORY
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

What are the board exams like?

1. Memorization is necessary – you must remember many facts

2. Wide in Scope – from pre-historic to modern styles
3. Repetitive – questions from previous exams are reused
4. History amounts to only around 10% of your total score

OUR METHOD OF STUDYING HISTORY:

To try not to memorize… but to understand
History is not a list of facts… it is a story that can be retold over and over

DEFINITIONS
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

1. Post & Lintel Construction
2. Arch & Vault Construction
3. Corbel or Cantilever Construction
4. Trussed Construction
Traces the changes in Architecture
 The Historical Timeline of Architecture

Egyptian Byzantine

Pre-Historic Greek Roman Early Christian Romanesque Gothic Renaissance 18 th-19 th C: 20 th C:

Revival Modern

Near East Islamic

Indian Chinese & Japanese

• STONE AGE
a. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age )-
appeared first in Africa and are
marked by the steady
development of stone tools
b. Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age )-
period of the Stone Age
intermediate between the
Paleolithic and the Neolithic
periods, characterized by
adaptation to hunting, collecting,
and fishing economy based on
the use of forest, lakeside, and
seashore environments.
c. Neolithic (New Stone Age) -
characterized by the development
of agriculture and the making of
polished stone implements.

• BRONZE AGE
• IRON AGE
INFLUENCES

HISTORY • Humans spread from Africa into Southern Europe, Asia

• Direct human ancestors evolved in A frica from 2.3 million • Could not settle far north due to the cold climate
years ago - Homo habilis, Homo erectus, homo sapiens, • From Siberia by foot into North America
homo sapiens sapiens • From Southeast Asia by boat into Australia

• The success of the human race was largely due to the
development of tools – made of stone, wood, bone
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
MATERIALS
• Animal skins, wooden frames, animal bones
• 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, Cent ral
America, India and China

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
• Existing or excavated caves
• Megalithic, most evident in France, England and Ireland

• Some people needed not farm, so they spent time on

other work - pot-making, metal-working, art and…
architecture!

RELIGION
• No organized religion
DECORATION
• Caves paintings in Africa, France and Spain • The dead are treated with respect - burial rituals and
monuments
• Sculpture
Stone Age divided into 3 periods:
1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC
PALEOLITHIC AGE

• Ice Age
• Cro-Magnon nomadic hunters and
gatherers
• Lived communally, simple social
organization
• Built shelters at cave entrances and
under rock overhangs
• Animal skin tents, mud huts, fire for heat
• No writing, but symbolic marks (maybe
to keep time)
• Used simple tools
• Ritual burial practices

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC Multi-chambered caves and rock shelters
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC Fragile tent like assembly
 OVAL NICE HUT
• As they were nomadic, they did not
construct a permanent shelter.
• Entire structure was covered with
mammoth skin.
• Even such primitive house was divided
into different parts for utility.
• There was a hearth.

• Located in southern French cities.

• Oval in shape(8m-15m X 4m-6m).
• Built close to sea shores.
• Built using stakes with stones as
supports. Stout posts along axis.
• Floor made of organic matter and ash.

CAVES
• The oldest and most common types of dwellings.
• Natural underground spaces, large enough for a human.
• Example: Rock shelters, Grottos, Sea caves.

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC
DOLNI VESTONICE
• Palisade of mammoth bones and tusks
set into ground, filled with brush wood
and turf.
• Oval shape(16m x10m) MOLODOVA
• A more sophisticated sought.
• Limestone used for walls
• Wood framework covered with skins, held in place by rough
• Central hearth capped with an earthen
oval mammoth bones, enclosing 15 hearths.
dome.
• Summer structure open to sky.

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC Reconstruction Drawing of Mammoth-Bone Houses16,000–
10,000 BCE.
 TENTS
• Skirts weighed down with
pebbles.
• Paved interiors.
• Open air hearths.
• Wooden posts driven into
earth covered with skins.
• At a later stage, were
secured by reindeer
antlers.

MEZHIRICH
• Consisted of foundation wall of mammoth jaws
and long bones, capped with skulls.
• Roofed with tree branches, overlaid by tusks.

PIT HOUSES
More common in eastern Europe with severely low
temperatures.
Oval trapezoidal, pear shaped size(5m-8m x2.5m-3.5m).
Central post holes indicating existence of roof.
Constructed by making shallow depressions in the
ground surrounded by a ring of mammoth bones and
tusks.
LEAN TOS
Stone Age divided into 3 periods: • Erected against one wall of cave.
1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC • Defined at base by stones(12m x 4m).
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC • Skin curtain and roof draped over posts.
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC • May have two compartments, each having an
entrance on the longer side.
• MESOLITHIC AGE
• Transition period; Ice Age over
• Some overlap with Paleolithic period
• Important cultural and environmental changes
• Animals disappeared; people left the caves and
gathered around water bodies
• Fishing became a major source of food
• Settling into agricultural communities
• Crude farming tools
• Villages arranged systematically.
• Houses aligned in rows.
• More regular plans.
• Artefacts came into existence.
• Settlements began around water bodies.
• Cultivation of cereals and vegetables began.
• Animals were domesticated, farming tools were
developed.
• Dwellings were more durable as compared to that in
the Palaeolithic age.

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC
HUTS
• The structure mainly comprised of bamboos.
• Plans were trapezoidal in shape.
• The size varied from 5.5-30m.
• They had wide entrances facing the water bodies (rivers).
• Floors were plastered with lime.
• Posts were reinforced with stones.

PIT HOUSES
• Shallow oval pits 6m-9m long and 2-5m wide.
• Roofs were made of timber.
• Stone hearths were used as working slabs.
Lepinski vir

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC
NEOLITHIC AGE
• Organized villages surrounded by cultivated fields
• Domesticated animals
• Went from hunters to herdsmen to farmers to townsmen
• Polytheistic (more than one god) religion
• Made pottery and textiles; 1st food producers with storage for food

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC
 NEOLITHIC CONSTRUCTION
UTILITARIAN MONUMENTAL
• For utility (Serving a purpose) • For the purpose of making a strong
• Lasts for less time impression on the people.
• Lasts for a long time
MEGALITHIC
POST AND LINTEL MASORING (Using mortar to bind the blocks)
• Column and beam SUBMEGALITHIC – No mortar used
(Also called trabeated method) SMALL SCALE BLOCKS – Mortar is used

CORBELLING
• Solid roof for space in between.
• Dome like ceiling
• Weight on the top will get equally distributed on
both the sides
NOTE
• Quarrying (Cutting of stone) by crudely splitting the logs
• Transporting by barge and sleds pulled by large crews over
rollers
• Lifting through leverage over inclined masses of earth
• Abundance of Labor, endurance of effort, limitless time frame.
 UTILITARIAN ARCHITECTURE

• We find Prehistoric architecture in southern parts of

Europe.
• We see groups of houses, flat roofed but with no doors and
windows.
• There was one opening at the top for movement which was
from
• natural calamities like flood
• Attack from enemies ( other humans)
• It was effective for protection from floods and enemies for a
very long time
• Climate had a strong influence on architecture
• House constituted of two parts – Living area and store room
• Nature of materials used for construction for the walls were
sundried bricks and mud mortar. Flat roofs were timber
planks and over that was a layer of mud for insulation.

Passage to the roof

Stone Age divided into 3 periods:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone) 45,000/50,000 BC
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone) 8,000-4,000 BC
3. Neolithic (New Stone) 6,000/4,000 BC
Entrance to the shaft
• The inhabitants lived in mud-brick houses that were crammed
together in an agglutinative manner.
• No footpaths or streets were used between the dwellings, which
were clustered in a honeycomb-like maze.
• Most were accessed by holes in the ceiling, with doors reached by
ladders and stairs. The rooftops were effectively streets.
• The ceiling openings also served as the only source of ventilation,
allowing smoke from the houses' open hearths and ovens to escape.
• Houses had plaster interiors characterized by squared-off timber
ladders or steep stairs. These were usually on the south wall of the
room, as were cooking hearths and ovens. Each main room served
for cooking and daily activities. The main rooms contained raised
platforms that may have been used for a range of domestic
activities. All interior walls and platforms were plastered to a smooth
finish. Ancillary rooms were used as storage, and were accessed
through low openings from main rooms
TYPES OF MEGALITHS

➢ MENHIR/PEULVAN – a long, standing stone, anchored in the earth,

used to mark a place as a memorial, sign of respect, or for
astronomical observations
➢ HENGES - prehistoric oval or circular area,
bounded by a mound or ditch, that contains
standing stones or wooden pillars
➢ DOLMENS - Large horizontal slab of stone supported by two or more
vertical slabs, and was used as a tomb/burial chamber
MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE OF NEW STONE AGE PEOPLE w.r.t TOMBS

1. CHAMBER TOMB / DOLMEN TOMB

• The arrangement was two vertical stones and

one horizontal stone over it.
• Purpose was to bury only one person.
• Also called Dolmen Tomb
• Early- tombs
• Later- passageways
2. GALLERY TOMB

• It was a long rectangular chamber space for

collective burials.
• It was not only for one person but many at a time
• The tombs are often associated with deities,
whose representations are depicted on the rock
walls. Found in France.
3. PASSAGE TOMB
• Long passage in the front
which leads to a polygonal
chamber
• Once the tomb was built it was
covered by earth. Found in
Ireland
• There was a central burial
chamber where mass burial
was done. (Around 400 people)
• Almost 20 at a time
• There was a central chamber
with corbelled roof surrounded
by 6 more chambers with
corbelled roof.
• There was a passage covered
by a retaining wall
MENHIR

A menhir is a standing stone,

orthostat, or lith is a large upright
standing stone. Menhirs may be
found singly as monoliths, or as part
of a group of similar stones
Although there are suggestions of
astronomical significance at many of
the larger menhirs, it by no way
means that that this was true for all
menhirs.
CROMLECHS
• Groups of menhirs arranged to form circles or semi-circle
• Outer circle is post & lintel
• Post-and-lintel construction- massive posts that support crossbeams, or
lintels

Ex- Stonehenge Wiltshire, England c. 2,000 BC

HENGES

Over 1,300 have been found in Britain, Ireland, and France

Possible purposes of these henges:
➢ Communal ceremonies
➢ Calendrical purposes
➢ Created Authority

FUNCTIONS
1. Sun worshipping
➢ Slaughter stone
➢ Track sun movement
2. Astronomy
➢ Winter solstice and summer solstice
➢ Told when to perform ceremonies and when to change priests
➢ Could predict eclipses

Stonehenge was an astronomical observatory

They could predict eclipses, lunar phases and seasons.
Nevertheless, it was possible that it was not the original function
because it took more than 1000 years to finish it.
Stonehenge was a cemetery
Scientists found human bones buried there.
Alignment at Stonehenge
BRONZ AGE 14000 BC marked the last ice age
The best examples of on earth.
Bronze Age art 8000-4000 BC marked farming,
appeared in the 'cradle hunting and domestication of
of civilization' around animals, growing of crops,
the Mediterranean in the pottery, weaving of cloth. It also
Near East, during the saw village communities, complex
rise of Mesopotamia social structure, buildings of
(present-day Iraq). timber, straw, wattle and daub,
mud etc

For the first time, people no longer lived in a nomadic way of life.
They started a settled way of life. This led to the beginning of
civilizations. First was Mesopotamian civilization, which was
situated between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.. Significant
change was the ability to store surplus food. Pottery was needed
for the storage of crops . Over a period of time people started to
grow surplus food i.e. more than what was required. This led to
the new professions and started the barter system.
LAKE DWELLINGS:

Consisted of wooden huts built on piles in the water for protection against attack
 QUESTIONS TO KEEP IN
MIND:
• How did geography impact the
first civilizations?
• How did changes in the Neolithic
Revolution lead to the
development of River Valley
Civilizations?
REFERENCES

1. Ching, Francis D.K., A Visual Dictionary

of Architecture

2. Fletcher, Bannister, A History of

Architecture 20th Ed.

3. Mercado, Jose L., The Architectural

Reviewer Volume III: History & Theory of
Architecture

4. Salvan, George S., Architectural

Character & the History of Architecture

5. The Children’s Atlas of World History

6. The World Atlas of Architecture