HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF ARCHITECTURE

 Ancient architecture was characterized by tension between the divine and mortal world.

Ancient Architecture of Egypt:

 For at least ten thousand years, the Nile valley has been the site of one of the most
influential civilizations in the world
 Due to the scarcity of wood, the two predominant building materials used in ancient
Egypt were unbaked mud brick and stone.
 Stone was generally reserved for tombs and temples, while bricks were used even for
royal palaces, fortresses, the walls of temple precincts and towns, and for subsidiary
buildings in temple complexes.

Classical Architecture:

 The architecture and urbanism of the Greeks and Romans were very different from those
of the Egyptians or Persians in that civic life gained importance
 Greek civic life was sustained by new, open spaces called the agora which were
surrounded by public buildings, stores and temples.
 The Romans conquered the Greek cities in Italy around three hundred years before Christ
 Roman engineering and construction or the newly found marble quarries which were the
spoils of war; inventions like the arch and concrete gave a whole new form to Roman
architecture.
 Social changes demanded new buildings of increasing complexity — the coliseum, the
residential block, bigger hospitals and academies. General civil construction such as
roads and bridges began to be built.

1
 The Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, showing columns with Doric capitals

Medieval architecture (Gothic and Romanesque)

 Brick replaced stone, classical orders were used more freely,

 mosaics replaced carved decoration,

 Complex domes were erected.

 Architects invented a complex system providing for a smooth transition from a square
plan of the church to a circular dome (or domes) by means of squinches or pendentives.

Notre-Dame Cathedral of Gothic Architecture

2
Renaissance architecture

 The cultural movement called the Renaissance (which literally means re-birth) was just
that in architecture, a rebirth of the Roman traditions of design recognized by
contemporaries.

 Classically-styled columns, geometrically-perfect designs, and hemispherical domes

characterized Renaissance architecture.

Baroque architecture

 If Renaissance architecture announced a rebirth of human culture, Baroque that followed

signaled an increasing anxiety over meaning and representation.
 In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes,
light-and-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and
void.

Ludwigsburg Palace near Stuttgart, Germany's largest Baroque Palace

3
Rococo

 Rococo was characterized by grace, playfulness, and lightness.

 Rococo motifs focused on the carefree aristocratic life and on lighthearted romance rather
than heroic battles or religious figures; they also revolve heavily around nature and
exterior settings.

 In the mid-late 18th century, rococo was surpassed by the Neoclassic style.

Rococo movement enlivens the façade of the Cathedral, Càdiz

4
 NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

Origins of Neo classical Architecture:

 The neoclassical movement that produced Neoclassical architecture began in the

mid-18th century,
 It was a reaction against both the surviving Baroque and Rococo styles,
 and as a desire to return to the perceived "purity" of the arts of Rome
 Sudden increase in man’s capacity to exercise control over nature

 Fundamental shift in the nature of human consciousness, which gave birth to a new
cultural formation and the decline of aristocracy

 Neoclassical architecture became an international style, each country held some

distinct characteristic in their style.
 It was prevalent in France, Germany and England

Features of Neo classical Architecture

 Neoclassical, or "new" classical, architecture describes buildings that are inspired by
the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
 A Neoclassical building is likely to have some or all of these features:
1. Symmetrical shape
2. Tall columns that rise the full height of the building
3. Triangular pediment
4. Domed roof

Neoclassic Architecture in France

 Neoclassicism first gained influence in Paris, through a generation of French art

students trained at the French Academy in Rome

Architects associated with Neo Classical architecture in France:

 Claude perrault : he gave his concept of “Positive beauty” and “Arbitrary beauty.
 Abbe’De Cordemoy- he challenged the Vituvian principle and was against the
inappropriate application of classical orders, he argued that many buildings did not
need ornamentation at all.

 J.-G. Soufflot: determined to recreate the lightness , spaciousness and proportion of

Classical architecture

5
  J.F. Blondel: opened an architecture School in 1743 and was the teacher of the
Enlightenment or Visionary architects

Buildings of Neo Classical Style:

 In France, Paris, J.-G. Soufflot attempted the classical building in Panthenon

(1757-90).
 The facade, like that of the Roman Pantheon, is formed by a porch of Corinthian
columns and triangular pediment

Interiors of J.-G. Soufflot classical building

 Piercier and Fontaine copied the detail of Arch of Constantine and carved into Arc de
Triomphe du Carrousel Paris (1806-08)

Arch of Constantine Rome

6
 Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel Paris (1806-08).

Enlightenment Architects:

 J.F.Blondel after his opening of the architectural school in 1743, became the master of
the so called “Visionary” or Enlightenemtn generation of Architects
 It included “Etinne Louis Boullee, Pierre Patte, Jacques Gondion, and probably the most
visionary of all “Claude Nicolas Ledoux.

Boullee :

Étienne-Louis Boullée (February 12, 1728 - February 4, 1799) was a visionary French
neoclassical architect whose work greatly influenced contemporary architects and is still
influential today.

Born in Paris, he studied under Jacques-François Blondel, Germain Boffrand and Jean-Laurent
Legeay, from whom he learned the mainstream French Classical architecture in the 17th and
18th century and the Neoclassicism that evolved after the mid century. He was elected to the
Académie Royale d'Architecture in 1762 and became chief architect to Frederick II of Prussia, a
largely honorary title. He designed a number of private houses from 1762 to 1778, though most
of these no longer exist; notable survivors include the Hôtel Alexandre and Hôtel de Brunoy,
both in Paris. Together with Claude Nicolas Ledoux he was one of the most influential figures of
French neoclassical architecture

 Evoked the sublime emotions of terror and tranquility through the grandeur of his
conceptions

7
  He adopted the unadorned geometrical purity of monumental form and the immensity of
vista to promote more exhilaration and anxiety.
 He used the capacity of light to invoke the presence of divine.
 In his design of the cenotaph of Sir Issac Newton, he adopted a vast masonry sphere
 He used light to portray divinity.
 A fire was suspended at night and extinguished during day time
 The illusion of light was produced by the daylight shining through the spheres perforated
walls.

Leodux:

Claude Ledoux was born in Dormans, France in 1736. He was educated at a private architectural
school in Paris.. Established by J. F. Blondel, the school emphasized native Baroque tradition but
exposed students to English architecture. After completing his studies, Ledoux assumed several
goverment positions as an engineer, mainly of bridge design.

Ledoux' dramatic style owes much to the fact that he never visited Rome. His concepts of Roman
architecture were accordingly warped by the engravings of Piranesi from which he derived his
knowledge. He did visit England, where he was influenced by the Palladian tradition with which
he was already familiar.

Although much of Ledoux's architecture is quite practical and functional, the "visionary" aspects
of his work are better known. His designs became symbols of the ancient regime and their
exaggerated use of classical elements seems to anticipate post-modern classicism.
8
Palais de Justice
 The strict cubic block shows one opposite the numerous city palaces of the baroque
 Columns and pilaster function now no more than decorative arrangement elements
separate than an integral component of a tectonic system. This shows up
approximately to the The columns upper projectile possess ionische Kapitelle.
 The columns, pilaster and timberworks oriented at classical models are just as
characteristic of the direct early classicism as the reduction on stereometrische basic
forms.
 The latter attaches to the revolution architecture crucially along-coined/shaped by
Ledoux, whose flowing transition is represented to the classicism.