PART 4:

GREEK
ARCHITECTURE
(TYPES OF BUILDINGS)

History of Architecture 1
GREEK ARCHITECTURE
 Ancient Greek architecture is widely revered for its formal
elements that have come to be called “classical.”
 These include a canon of proportion based on the human
body, symmetry and harmony in terms of the relationship
between all parts and the whole, and a standardized
design created for a variety of building types.
 Greek buildings, made of stone, were highly sculptural,
free-standing monuments of enduring appeal.
GREEK ARCHITECTURE
 Greek architecture is a very
specific and influential type
of design, which was based
off of the post-and-lintel
system.
 A structural system with a
raking, or slanted roof, which
provided for the use of
triangular pediments on
either short end of the
rectangular structure.
 Greek Architecture

TYPES OF BUILDINGS
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Temples: Temples are the most common type

of public buildings in ancient Greece. The
purpose of a temple was to store a religious
statue.
 Greek temples are described according to the
number of columns on the entrance front, the
type of colonnade, and the type of portico.
GREEK TEMPLE SITES
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Temples were actually framed in the landscape

by a temenos, or sacred precinct, which could
consist of something as simple as a row of
stones but could also be a built-up wall. The
temenos was the territory of the deity and had
to be approached in a prescribed manner and
entered only at a special place defined by a
propylon (i.e., pro-pylon, or “before the gate”).
ACROPOLIS PLAN
The PROPYLAEA
at the Acropolis
The PROPYLAEA (437–432 BCE) is approached
by a massive ramp 20 meters wide and 80 meters
long. The central parts are ceremonial and
symmetrical; the outlying spaces serve various
functions. To the left was a banquet hall, or
PINACOTHECA, that reached to the very edge of
the Acropolis wall.
The area to the south led to the Temple of Athena
Nike (ca. 427 BCE), which was the first construction
on the Acropolis following the devastation by the
Persians. It was also the first temple on the Acropolis
to be built in the Ionic style and the first temple built
entirely of Pentelic marble. In this area there was also
a statue to Hermes, a god traditionally associated
with boundaries.
TEMPLE OF ATHENA
NIKE
Acropolis, Athens, Greece
PARTHENON, Athens
ACROTERION - the figures or ornaments at the
lower angles or apex of a pediment. Carvings that
were placed where the roof and the cornice meet and
at the top of the pediment. They were often statues
or faces of mythological creatures.

Detail of the pediment of the Parthenon

Statue of ATHENA
in the PARTHENON,
Athens
 PARTHENON, Athens
Ictinus, Callicrates and Carpion
(architects of the Parthenon)
Pheidias
(sculptor of the Parthenon)
ENTASIS is a countermeasure that corrects for an optical distortion: numerous parallel
vertical lines appear slightly concave.

Diagram of the curved stylobate and inclined vertical axes of the

perimeter columns of the Parthenon
ERECTHEUM from the south, as it stands today
ERECTHEUM Plan
ERECTHEUM
CARYATID porch, Erectheum, Acropolis
 THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO
was made in the 5th century BC but not finished until the 4th century
The Temple of Apollo at Corinth,
one of the earliest stone-built Doric
temples. Note the monolithic
columns.
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS was most recognized as the perfect Doric example.
TEMPLE OF CONCORD in Agrigento
TEMPLE OF HERA in Segesta
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Tholos: a circular temple of Ancient Greece.

 The Tholos at Athens, a building which housed the
Prytaneion, or seat of government, in ancient
Athens
 The Tholos at Delphi, a circular building located
approximately 800 metres from the main site of the
ruined Temple of Apollo
 The Tholos at Epidaurus, a circular building with an
ornate astronomical floor design
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Theatres: The theatres were large, open-air

structures constructed on the slopes of hills.
 They consisted of three main elements: the
orchestra, the skene, and the theatron.
The 4th century stone version of the THEATRE OF DIONYSUS ELEUTHEREUS, on the slopes of
the acropolis of Athens. The theatre was orginally constructed in the 6th century BCE.
 THEATRE OF DELPHI
The capacity of the theatre was around 5,000 spectators.
THEATRE PARODOI, Epidaurus
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Agora: a market place or town square. An open

meeting-places for the transaction of public
business, were large open spaces surrounded
by stoa or open colonnades, giving access to
the public buildings, such, as temples,
basilicas, stadion (racecourse), and the
palaestrae or gymnasia.
STOA
STOA OF ATTALOS
STOA OF ATTALOS
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Bouleuterion: as council house, assembly

house, and senate house, was a building
in ancient Greece which housed the council of
citizens (boulē) of a democratic city
state. Remnants of bouleuterion survive at
Athens, Olympia and Miletus, the latter having
held up to 1200 people.
BOULEUTERION at Miletus
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Prytaneion: was the seat of

government in ancient Greece. The Prytaneion
normally stood in centre of the city, in
the agora. The building contained the holy fire
of Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, and
symbol of the life of the city.
PRYTANEION
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Stadion/Stadium: a foot racecourse found in

cities where games were celebrated, and it
came eventually to be used for other athletic
performances.
 Hippodrome: a similar type of building used for
horse racing.
 Palaestra - a wrestling school

 Gymnasium – for all types of physical exercises

The STADION AT ATHENS, now completely restored, was commenced in B.C. 331, and
finished by Herodes Atticus, and accommodates between 40,000 and 50,000 people.
 HIPPODROME
a racecourse used for horse racing.
TYPES OF BUILDINGS

 Palaestra or Gymnasia: as at Olympia and

Ephesus, were the prototypes of the Roman
thermae, and comprised exercise courts, tanks
for bathers, exedrae or recesses for lectures,
with seats for spectators.
PALAESTRA, Olympia, Greece
TOWN PLANNING

 During the late 5th and 4th centuries BC, town

planning became an important consideration of
Greek builders, with towns such as Paestum
and Priene being laid out with a regular grid of
paved streets.
 PAESTUM

Towns such as Paestum and Priene being

laid out with a regular grid of paved
streets.
PRIENE
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 PLANS
These were simple, well judged, nicely
balanced, and symmetrical, exceptions to the
latter being the Erechtheion and the Propylaea
at Athens, and probably the private houses.
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 OPENINGS
Door and window openings were spanned with
a lintel, which in a stone building limited the
possible width of the opening. Temples were
constructed without windows, the light to the
naos entering through the door. It has been
suggested that some temples were lit from
openings in the roof.
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 ROOFS
The widest span of a temple roof was across
the cella, or internal space. In a large building,
this space contains columns to support the
roof, the architectural form being known as
hypostyle.
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 COLUMN AND LINTEL

The architecture of Ancient Greece is of a
trabeated or "post and lintel" form, i.e. it is
composed of upright beams (posts) supporting
horizontal beams (lintels).
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
 COLUMNS
The Doric is the oldest and plainest of the orders,
The Ionic was more ornate. The Corinthian was little
used by the Greeks. Caryatids and Canephora or
carved female figures which were sometimes used
in the place of columns.

caryatid - sculpted female figure serving

as an archl. Support, supporting an
entablature on her head. Greek term
‘karyatides” means “Maiden of Karyai”

Canephora - a column or pillar supporting a basket on her head

GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 MOULDINGS
(a.) The cyma-recta (Hogarth's "line of beauty"). When
enriched it is carved with the honeysuckle ornament.
(b.) The cyma reversa. When enriched it is carved with
the water-lily and tongue.
(c.) The ovolo (egg-like). When enriched it is carved with
the egg and dart, or egg and tongue ornament.
(d.) The fillet, a small plain face to separate other
mouldings. This is usually without enrichment.
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 MOULDINGS
(e.) The beid serves much the same purpose as the
fillet, and approaches a circle in section. When
enriched it is carved with the bead and reel or with
beads, which in fact gave the name to the moulding.
(f.) The cavetto is a simple hollow.
(g.)The scotia is the deep hollow occurring in bases,
and is generally not enriched.
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 MOULDINGS
(h.)The torus is really a magnified bead moulding. When
enriched it is carved with the guilloche or " plat "
ornament, or with bundles of leaves tied with bands .
(i.)The bird's-beak moulding occurs frequently,
especially in the Doric order, and giving a deep shadow
is very suitable for the English climate.
(j.) The corona, the deep vertical face of the upper
portion of the cornice. It was frequently painted with a
Greek "fret" ornament.
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 ORNAMENTS
The acanthus leaf and scroll play an important part in
Greek ornamentation.
 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE
• Group Project
• In 20x30 Bristol Paper
• COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GREEK AND
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE (Sample Drawing with
Description)
• To be submitted on August 31, 2017.