History

Main article: History of architecture

Origins and vernacular architecture
Main article: Vernacular architecture
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In Norway: wood and elevated-level





 
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In Lesotho: rondavel stones





 
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In Ireland: Yola hut





 
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In Romania: peasant houses in the Dimitrie Gusti National
Village Museum (Bucharest)




Building rst evolved out of the dynamics between needs

(shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building
materials and attendant skills). As human cultures developed
and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions

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and practices, building became a craft, and "architecture" is
the name given to the most highly formalized and respected
versions of that craft. It is widely assumed that architectural
success was the product of a process of trial and error, with
progressively less trial and more replication as the results of
the process proved increasingly satisfactory. What is
termed vernacular architecture continues to be produced in
many parts of the world.
Prehistoric architecture
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Göbekli Tepe from Turkey, founded in 10th millennium BC
and abandoned in 8th millennium BC





 
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Pottery miniature of a Cucuteni-Trypillian house





 
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Miniature of a regular Cucuteni-Trypillian house, full of
ceramic vessels





 
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Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae (Mainland,
Orkney, Scotland, UK)



Early human settlements were mostly rural. Hence,
Expending economies resulted in the creation of urban
areas which in some cases grew and evolved very rapidly,
such as that of Çatalhöyük in Anatolia and Mohenjo Daro of
the Indus Valley Civilization in modern-day Pakistan.
Neolithic settlements and "cities" include Göbekli
Tepe and Çatalhöyük in Turkey, Jericho in the
Levant, Mehrgarh in Pakistan, Knap of Howar and Skara
Brae, Orkney Islands, Scotland, and the Cucuteni-Trypillian
culture settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.
Ancient architecture
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Mesopotamian architecture: Reconstruction of the Ishtar
Gate in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin, Germany), circa 575
BC





 
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Ancient Egyptian architecture: The Great Pyramid of
Giza (Giza, Egypt), circa 2589–2566 BC, by Hemiunu





 
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Ancient Greek architecture: The Parthenon on the Athenian
Acropolis, made of marble and limestone, 460–406 BC





 
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Ancient Roman architecture: The Maison
Carrée from Nîmes (France), one of the best-preserved
Roman temples, circa 2 AD





 
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Japanese architecture: Hōryū-ji, a Buddhist temple in Nara
Prefecture, Japan, 607 AD




In many ancient civilizations such as those

of Egypt and Mesopotamia, architecture and urbanism
re ected the constant engagement with the divine and
the supernatural, and many ancient cultures resorted to
monumentality in architecture to symbolically represent the
political power of the ruler or the state itself.
The architecture and urbanism of the Classical
civilizations such as the Greek and the Roman evolved from
civic ideals rather than religious or empirical ones and new
building types emerged. As the Architectural "style" developed
in the form of the Classical orders. Roman architecture was
in uenced by Greek architecture as they incorporated many
Greek elements into their building practices.[22]
Texts on architecture have been written since ancient times.
These texts provided both general advice and speci c formal
prescriptions or canons. Some examples of canons are found
in the writings of the 1st-century BCE Roman
Architect Vitruvius. Some of the most important early
examples of canonic architecture are religious.
Asian architecture
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Indian architecture: The Kandariya Mahadeva
Temple (Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India), circa 1030





 
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Chinese architecture: The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests,
the main building of the Temple of Heaven (Beijing, China),
1703–1790





 
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Japanese architecture: The Himeji Castle (Himeji, Hyōgo
Prefecture, Japan), 1609





 
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Khmer architecture: The Bakong (near Siem
Reap, Cambodia), earliest surviving Temple Mountain at
Angkor, completed in 881 AD