History of Architecture 1

introduction
The origins of architecture must
have been connected intimately
with the endeavours of man to
provide for his physical wants
 According to Vitruvius, man in his
primitive savage state began to
imitate the nest of birds and the
lairs of beasts, commencing with
arbours of twigs covered with mud,
then huts formed of branhces of
trees and covered turfs.
 Early civilization shifted from
hunter –gatherer system to
combination of farming and
hunting, then to domestication of
animals and plants until they
created societies of villages.
Rock caves
The earliest form of human settlement,
occupied by Hunters and gatherers
Lascaux Cave
A cave in France
containing wall
paintings and
engravings of
Paleolithic
humans thought
to date from c.
13,000-8500 BCE
Built shelter
Temporary shelter designed in response to
climate, local materials and hunting patterns
by nomadic primitive lifestyle.
Tipi
A portable
Indian Shelter
Beehive hut
Clochan is a stone
beehive shaped
hut with a
corbelled roof,
commonly
associated with
the Irish coastline
Trullo
A traditional
rendered stone
dwelling in Apulia,
southern Italy in
which square
chambers are
roofed with conical
vaulted roofs
 Wigwam
An American
Indian dwelling,
usually of
round or oval
shape formed
of poles
overlaid with
bark, rush mats
or animal skins
Hogan
A Navaho
Indian dwelling
constructed
usually of earth
and logs and
covered with
mud and sod.
Igloo
An Eskimo
house, usually
built of blocks
of hard snow or
ice in the shape
of a dome or
when
permanent of
sod and wood
or stone
Religious Structures
After people started sharing community life, they
begun turning their attention to architecture that
celebrated the spiritual and the sacred
Megaliths
Ancient stone monuments
Menhir

A monolith: a
prehistoric
monument
consisting of an
upright stone,
usually standing
alone but
sometimes aligned
with others in
parallel rows.
Represents a
victory over a tribe
Dolmen
From the words
daul, a table and
maen, a stone;
Dolmen is a
prehistoric
monument
consisting of two
or more large
upright stone
supporting a
horizontal stone
slab or capstone
and usually
regarded as a
tomb
Cromlech
A circular
arrangement
of megaliths
enclosing a
dolmen or
menhir or a
burial ground.
Cromlech
Stonehenge in
Salsisbury Plain in
Wilthshire,
England is a
megalithic
monument
consisting of four
concentric rings of
trilithons and
menhirs centered
around an altar
stone. It is
believed to have
been used by a sun
cult or for
astronomical
observations.
Tumulus

An artificial
mound of
earth or
stone,
especially
over an
ancient grave.
Also called
barrow.