History of Architecture

 Early Culture

- The story of Architecture begins with the story of civilization.

 Pre-colonial culture ------ 170,000 BC

 Paleolithic [Old Stone Age] ----- 32,000 – 12,000 BC

- Nomadic hunter-gatherers
- Cave dwellers

 Mesolithic [Middle Stone Age] ----- 12,000 – 8,000 BC

- Food gatherers; e.g Aetas
- Temporary shelter from perishable materials.

 Neolithic [New Stone Age] ----- 8,000 – 3,000 BC

- Farmers / Farming
- Permanent settlement
- “The Beginning of Architecture”

* The settlement of Jericho - oldest settlement

- 8,000 – 7,000 BC

* The settlement of CATAL HUYUK, Turkey - 6,500 – 5,700 BC

** oldest settlement - houses (for the people) – per family

- storage / warehouse (important)
- grains - oil
- wine - other provisions
- meeting place
- house of rulers
 Megalithic

 Monolith
- Megalithic – huge stone
- A single block of stone of considerable size, often in the form
of an obelisk or column.
- Example: Averbury in England

 Menhir
- A prehistoric monument consisting of an
upright megalith, usually standing alone
but sometimes aligned with others.

 Dolmen
- A prehistoric monument consisting of two or more large
upright stones supporting a horizontal slab, usually
regarded as a tomb.

 Tumulus
- An artificial mound of earth or stone,
especially over an ancient grave.

 Cromlech
- A circular arrangement of megaliths enclosing a dolmen or burial mound.
- “Dance of the Giants” – the most imposing megalithic monument in existence, known in
the 12th century known today as the “Sarcen Circle”
- Example: STONEHENGE – Salisbury Plain, Southern England
 Mesopotamian
- “Mesos” meaning Middle
“Potamos” meaning River
- The land between rivers
- In the bible, the land of Shinar
- By tradition, the site of the
Garden of Eden – the place where
human life begins
- At present, partly Iran & Iraq

“The Cradle of Civilization”

 Chaldean (Babylonian) – 4000-1275 BC

 Assyrian – 1275-538BC
 Persian – 538-333BC ---------------- intervention of God

- Wide Mesopotamian plain irrigated by the twin rivers

- Architecture concentrated at the mouth of these rivers

 CHALDEA – ASSYRIA

 Materials:
- Man-made clay
- Plain & glazed bricks
- Bitumen & pitch (for cementing)
- Calcerous earth (mortar)
- Stone
- Brick (extensively used)
- Alabaster
- Limestone (for facing)

 Climate:
- In a swampy are with a hard rainfall
- Long summer

 Religion
- Worship is centered on the heavenly
bodies thus had astrologer – priest

They have multiple Gods:

- ANU – God of Heaven
- BAAL – God of Earth
- EA – God of Water
- SHAMASH – Sun God
- SIN – Moon God
 - ISTHAR – God of Life

- Superstition & symbolism shown in

bullheads & other architectural motifs.

 Historical and Social (CHALDEA)

- Priest and Physician form the ruling class
- Babylonian Code of Laws by Khammurabi was written
- Khammurabi established powerful Babylon & formulated his Code of Laws

 Historical and Social (ASSYRIA)

- Military class was the dominant social group
- Conquest of Babylon
- Defeat of Egyptian army
- Building of Hanging Gardens of Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar

 Architectural Characteristics
- Arch and vault
- Buttress
- Glazed tiles adornment
- Principal buildings were built
on platform
- No columns due to absence of
good building materials

 PERSIA

 Materials:
- Hard and colored limestone
- timber

 Climate:
- Hot dry climate
- Country of sunshine
- Gardens & Desserts

 Religion
- Adoration of ZOROASTER in the form of fire worship with sacrificial altar.

 Historical and Social

- Hard militaristic life
- Land owners were horseman & the people were the infantry
- Persian supremacy under the rule of syrus
- Contact with Greek thru Darius & Xerxes
  Architectural Characteristics
- Columnar & trabeated
- Flat timber roof or domed
- Adapted the architectural of Babylonians, Greece & Egypt
- Polychrome brickwork

 Architectural Character (MESOPOTAMIAN)

- Massiveness
- Monumentality
- Grandeur

 BABYLON: ZIGGURATS (Holy Mountain)

- Chief building structure, square or rectangle in plan with steeply battered sides & an
open platform on top.

 Types of Ziggurats:

a) Two or more stages Ziggurats

- Rectangular in plan, design with several stages
- Examples: Ziggurat at Ur, Ziggurat at Bursippa, Tower of Babel

b) Seven stages Ziggurats

- Square in plan
- Example: Palace of
Nebuchadnezzar with the
famous “Hanging Garden
of Babylon”

c) Archaic Ziggurats
- Usually have one flat top
rectangular mound carrying
the upper temple
 - Example: White Temple at Warka

 City of Babylon
- 100 towers
- 100 bronze doors

 Palace of Sargon
- Example: Khorsabad
(Assyrian Period)
- Entrance portals flanked with
statues of headed winged
bulls & lions
- Contains 700 rooms

* important parts of the palace:

 Seraglio – palace proper which includes kings residence, halls, men’s apartment & reception
court.
 Harem – private family apartments or women’s quarter
 Khan – an “inn” for travelers or service chambers

 Ishtar Gate
 EGYPTIAN

 Periods:

Ancient Kingdom - 4400 – 2466 BC

Middle Kingdom - 2466 – 1600 BC
New Empire - 1600 – 332 BC
Ptolemic - 332 – 30 AD
Roman - 30 – 395 AD
Later - 395 – present

 Geographical:
- A land consisting of a narrow fertile strip bound by desert area
- Most cities situated along the Nile River.

 Geological (Materials):
- Natural Products:
o Timber
o Stone
o Brick
o Clay

- Masonry Materials:
o Limestone
o Sandstone
o Alabaster
o Basalt
o Porphyry
o Granite

- Timber used:
o Acacia (boats)
o Date Palm (roofing)
o Sycamore (mummy case)
  Climate
- Seasons: Spring and Summer
- Brilliant sunshine resulted in reduced openings & in some cases total omission of
windows

 Religion
- Religion and Architecture were
closely related
- The belief in life after death was
greatly reflected in Egyptian
architecture

 Social
- Centralized & despotic government made possible for the employment of slave labor
for monumental construction
- Craftsmanship was highly develop & was used in the building trade
- Science studied:
o Astronomy
o Mathematics
o Philosophy
 Architectural Characteristics
- Ancient Egyptians regarded the dwelling-house as a “temporary lodging” and the tomb
as the “permanent abode”
- Houses:
o Clay
o Bricks
o Bundles of Papyrus Stalk
- Tombs:
o Stone
o Battered walls
o Living rock
- Hierarchy of Egyptian Tombs:
Mound – Mastaba – Stepped Pyramid – Bent Pyramid – Royal Pyramid
- Simplicity
- Solidity
- Grandeur
- Disregard symmetry in planning of major buildings
- Planning form was rectangular with an open court surrounded by colonnade.
- Buildings were monumental & largely of columnar & trabeated style
- Battered wall & gorge cornice were frequent in masonry construction
- Additions of MAST END to columns and a POST & LINTEL were basics
- Columns were employed mainly for support and not as decoration
- Massive columns and windowless walls were decorated with hieroglyphics, carvings, &
plant motifs (lotus & papyrus)
- Color was absolutely essential

 Classes of Buildings:
- Tombs:
o Mastaba – Rectangular structure with
walls (75°) and flat roof.

o Rock-hewn Tombs – Tombs cut deep into mountain rocks where the entrance is the
only exposed outside.
 Example: Great Temple of Ramses II & Valley of the Kings

o Royal Pyramid – Square in plan with four nearly equilateral triangular walls
- Walls were oriented to face the cardinal points of the compass
- Entrance is on the North side
- The body was enclosed in granite sarcophagus, sycamore coffin, &
bituminous mummy cloth
- Exterior was encased with sloping face of limestone
- Example: Pyramid of Cheops (Bent Pyramid; First Pyramid)
 Uses 2,300,000 blocks of stone weighing an
average of 2.5 tons each
 Could contain the Cathedrals of Milan, Florence,
St. Peter & St. Paul, plus Westminster Abbey
 Base = 756 ft
 Height = 481 ft
 Angle = 52°


o Temples – Erected primarily for the kings & priests

- No uniform system of orientation
- Types of Temple:
 Mortuary – Built in honor of the pharaohs
 Cult – Built for the worship of the Gods

 “only high priests can enter in both types of temples”

- Parts of a Temple:
 Entrance Pylon – Massive sloping towers known to be gateway in
the temples
 Hypaethral Hall – Large outer court open to the sky
 Hypostyle Hall – A pillared hall in which the roof rests on columns
 Sanctuary – Usually surrounded by passages & chambers used in
connection with the temple service
 Avenue of Sphinx – Where mystical monster were placed
- Examples: Temple of Isis – Philae, Egypt
 Temple of Amon-Re – Karnak, Egypt

o Obelisks – Square monolithic monumental

pillars tapering into a pyramidal
top with metal capping.
- Height varied from nine to ten
times the base diameter

o Sphinx – A sculptural form of a semi-recumbent

lion with a head of a man
(Horus) – God of the rising sun

o Dwellings – Crude planning which consisted of an open courtyard, external steps

leading into upper stories.
- Roofs are either flat or rounded made of padded clay or sun-dried bricks

 CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

 GREEK
- Considered as one of the most aesthetically perfect bodies of work in the Western
European tradition.
- The foundation of many subsequent styles in different parts of the world.

 Reason for Greeks Perfect Architecture:

- Climate
- Society

 Geographical:
- The rugged nature of the Peninsula & its widespread islands made communication
difficult
- Greece is bounded by seas; the Black Sea & the Mediterranean Sea
- Athens as its Center Kingdom contains the upper city known as “citadel”
- Athens developed around an “acra” or a hill

 Geological (Materials):
- Chief building materials:
o Marble
o Other stones

 Climate:
- Intermediate between “cold and hot”
- The climate favored outdoor life and open air ceremonies

 Religion:
- Aegeans: Worships the “nature”
- Greeks: Worships the “deities”

 Social:
- Tyrannic, aristocratic & democratic were the forms of government
- Chief diversion were music, dancing, wrestling, boxing, gymnastics, & bull-fighting often
with religious connections
- Women took part in hunting & more strenuous games, as well as in craftworks

 Architectural Characteristics:
- Early Period (AEGEAN)
o Low pitch or flat roof on multi-storey structure
o Stairway was developed for vertical circulation
o Houses termed as “megaron” & palaces were principal building types
o Parts of Megaron:
 Enclosed porch
 Living apartment or megaron proper
 “Thalamus” or sleeping area
o Methods of walling surfaces or finishes:
 Cyclopean – A masonry made-up of huge stone blocks laid mortar.
  Polygonal – A masonry which is constructed with stones having polygonal
faces.
 Rectangular – Block of stone cut into rectangular shapes.
 Inclined Blocks – Stones with inclined blocks.

- Greek Period (HELLENIC)

o Simplicity & Harmony
o Purity of Lines
o Perfection of Proportions
o Refinement of Details

o Use of rectangular plan

o Followed symmetry in most of their
plans

o Buildings for public entertainment and other

activities were designed in open air.

o Principal buildings are the Temples

o Provision of temple gateways or Propylaea
o Colonnade surrounding the Temple

o Use of Timber paneled coffers called “lacunaria” for ceilings

o Walls were made up of stones
o Marble sculptures completed the buildings
o Mural paintings on the walls of temples were
highly developed
o Employment of optical corrections in
architecture

- Parts of a Temple:
o Cella (naos) – Shrine room at center of temple.
- The principal chamber or enclosed part of a classical temple, where
the cult image was kept.
o Pronaos – An open vestibule before the cella of a classical temple. Also called
“Anticum”
o Peripteros – Single row of columns surrounding building
o Opisthodomos – Enclosed section at the rear of the temple
  Epinaos – The space at the back of the naos which serves as treasury
chamber. Also called as Opisthodomos.
o Columniation – The use or arrangement of columns in a structure.
o Distyle – Having two columns on one or each front.
o Tristyle – Having three columns on one or each front.
o Tetrastye- Having four columns on one or each front.
o Pentastyle – Having five columns on one or each front.
o Hexaastyle – Having six columns on one or each front.
o Heptastyle – Having seven columns on one or each front.
o Octastyle – Having eight columns on one or each front.
o Enneastyle – Having nine columns on one or each front.
o Decastyle – Having 10 columns on one or each front.
o Dodecastyle – Having 12 columns on one or each front. Also, dedocastylar,
duodecastyle.

 The Greek “Temenos”

o Also called as “sacred enclosure, citadel
or acropolis” usually located in the
upper portion of the city.
o “Acra” – Hill
“Polis” – City
Acropolis – City on a Hill

 The Erechtheum
o The temple for the ancient statues by
Mnesicles.
o Constructed on the site where Erechteus
once dwelled.
o Used Ionic columns
o Uses “Caryatid porch” facing the Parthenon
o Uses “egg & dart” ornament

 The Agora (Civic Square)

o The center of the city’s bustling business, social & political life.
o Example: Agora at Miletus
Agora at Ephesus
Agora at Priene

 The Stoa
o The long colonnaded building which
Serves to connect public structures
And also for shelter
o Example: Stoa of Eumenes, Athens
Stoa of Poikile, Olympia
Stoa of Attalos 11, Athens

 The Prytaneion (Senate House)