Stonehenge

A global history of Architecture falls within the broad category of social sciences. The study
of architectural history helps one to understand the landscape and urban built environment,
beginning with ancient times and progressing to contemporary life. Understanding such history is
important in fostering appreciation for how surrounding structures affect our lives in a broader
cultural context.

Stonehenge (11,600 BCE to 3,500 BCE)

The prehistoric sites in southern Britain (Stonehenge, Avebury, and associated sites) are
collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "The design, position, and inter-relationship of the
monuments and sites," according to UNESCO, "are evidence of a wealthy and highly organized
prehistoric society able to impose its concepts on the environment." To some, the ability to change
the environment is key for a structure to be called architecture. Prehistoric structures are sometimes
considered the birth of architecture. If nothing else, primitive structures certainly raise the question,
what is architecture?

Prehistoric Stonehenge (left) and Moshe Safdie's

How did Neo-Modernism begin? Perhaps with Frank Gehry's sculpted designs, especially the
success of the 1997 Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Maybe it began with architects who
experimented with Binary Large Objects—BLOB architecture. But you might say that free-form
design dates back to prehistoric times. Just look at Moshe Safdie's 2011 Marina Bay Sands Resort
in Singapore: It looks just like Stonehenge.