2011 AR 103

History of

Architecture
CLASS 26

Nipun George
SCMS School of Architecture, Karukutty, Kochi.

MODULE 2

a. Neolithic Age / Bronze Age

b. Iron Age 1300BC 0AD

Iron Age 1300BC 0AD

ASIA

EUROPE

AMERICA

AFRICA

HOLICITY VARANASI
(1200 BC)

MINOAN CULTURE
(2700 BC 1450BC)

POVERTY POINT
(1650 BC 700BC)

IRON AGE EGYPT

(1500BC 0AD)

EASTERN ZHOU
DYNASTY
(1046BC 256BC)

HATTUSAS
(2000 BC 1200BC)

MACHALILLA
CULTURE
(1500BC 1100BC)

THE GREAT SUN

TEMPLE AT AMARNA
(1353BC 1336 BC)

NEO ASSYRIAN
EMPIRE
(911BC 609 BC)
TEMPLE OF
SOLOMON
(~950BC)
BUDDHA PERIOD
MAURYAN EMPIRE
ASHOKA PILLAR
(approx.300BC)

GREEK CULTURE
(900BC )

OLMEC CULTURE
(1500 BC 400BC)
PRECLASSIC MAYA
CULTURE
(1000BC 250 AD)

Greek Culture 900BC

Mycenaean Civilization
~1500 BC

Geometric Period (Greek Dark Ages)

900 BC 700 BC

Archaic Period (Ancient Period)

800 BC 480 BC

Classical Period
510 BC 323 BC

Hellinistic Period
323 BC 31 BC

Archaic Period Classical Period

the Greek enterprise was based on sea trade.
Greek temple design changed wood was
abandoned for stone desire for permanence and
influence of Egyptian architecture.
In the Doric order at theTemple of Poseidon at
Isthmia (600 BC) , the oak columns were
replaced by stone columns some were huge
monoliths others superimposed drums.
In Greece, stones were brought to the site in an
almost finished state, whereas in Egypt, stones for
columns arrived at the site still quite rough
finishing taking place when the stones were in
situ.

Greek Architecture & Language

Greek temples are described according to the
number of columns on the entrance front, the type
of colonnade, and the type of portico.
The most basic element was the colonnade.
a unique innovation of the Greeks pteron , it
was a sacred form reserved for temples. Pteron
means wing fin"
the Greeks saw the building as a dynamic
locationas something that literally catches the
wind and hears the voices of the gods.
evoked the idea of a grove of trees,
associated with stout soldiers protecting the
statue within the cella

 Peripteral: one row of columns

Dipteral: two rows of columns
Tripteral: three rows of columns
Pseudodipteral: suggesting a dipteral
colonnade, but without the inner
colonnade

Henostyle: one column

Distyle: two columns
Tristyle: three columns
Tetrastyle: four columns
Pentastyle: five columns
Hexastyle: six columns
Heptastyle: seven columns
Octastyle: eight columns
Enneastyle: nine columns
Decastyle: ten columns

 surfaces of the templethe steps, columns,

capitals, walls, even the figures on the
pedimentwere painted in bright reds, blues,
blacks, and yellows.
The pigments were made from minerals, soot,
ground stones, vegetables, and animal matter.
Temples framed in the landscape as a
'Temenos' territory of the God to be
approached in a certain way through 'propylon'

cella

prostyle portico
(columns in front)

amphiprostyle
portico
(columns on either
side)

Greek Orders
Cornice

Doric Orders
Entablature

the oldest, plainest,

and most sturdy traced
to Egyptian roots.
The Doric capital,
carved out of a single
stone block, consists of a
spreading convex
molding, the echinus.

Frieze

Architrave

Triglyphs

Metope
Regula
Guttae

Abacus

Capital

Echinus
Necking

Shaft

The column shaft tapers

from the bottom upward
in the form of a delicate
curve called an entasis.
Base

The shaft of a Doric column stands directly on

the floor (no base)
The shafts were fluted after the columns were
in place 20 broad and shallow flutes that meet
to form sharp edges.
The steps were often too tall so a flight of
stairs or a ramp was provided at the entrance.
The foundation from roughly dressed
masonry designed to appear as steps leading
up to the platform.

 On the abacus of a capital rests the architrave

the main stone or marble beam running from
column to column.
Above is the frieze, which consists of
alternating triglyphs and metopes. Beneath each
triglyph, on the face of the architrave, is a
smooth bandthe regulaon the underside of
which hang six stone pegs, or guttae.
There is normally one triglyph to each column
and one to each intercolumniation (space
between columns, expressed in column
diameters)
The metopes were decorated with paintings or
relief sculpture depicting stories of the local
hero/ God.

Parthenon

Villa Savoy By Le Corbusier, Poissy, France 1931

PARTHENON, Athens ,Greece. 438 B.C

 people of Athens established democracy (510

BCE ), win the battle of Marathon (490 BCE ) over
the Persians, and build an economic and
political empire within mainland Greece.
Parthenon was rebuilt (initially destroyed by
Persians) designed by Ictinus (with advice from
Callicrates and Phidias)
built between 447 and 438 BC on an acropolis
(a city on the heights)
It stood as a grand monument of Athena
(Goddess of Wisdom), the citys patron deity.
The Parthenon was bigger than any temple
ever before built on the Greek mainland, its
stylobate measuring 30 x 70 m.

 made of Pentelic Marble and sits on a great

isolated slab of limestone, tilted toward the west
side (its approach path).
the east and west facades were lined with
eight towering Doric columns, making the
Parthenon the only octastyle, peripteral temple
in Greece.
The columns in the naos supported a 2nd tier
of columns above.
A shallow rectangle in front of the statue of
Athena was present possibly used as a
reflecting pool.

The stylobate was not a flat

plane a section of a very
large sphere it curved
upward toward the middle
This curve carried upward
through the entire structure,
imparting a subtle upward
curvature on the architrave,
the cornice.

 Every column had entasis (slight bulging of

the middle of the columns shaft)
Entasis is a countermeasure that corrects for
an optical distortion numerous parallel vertical
lines appear slightly concave.
46 perimeter columns was tilted slightly
inward, with the corner column tilting on a
diagonal.
Functional advantages the curvature to shed
water, the angling to increase lateral structural
support during earthquakes, and the corner
adjustments to maintain proper column
alignments with the metopes above and also
for aesthetic quality.

Greek Orders
Ionic Orders

 Developed alongside Doric order

Ionic columns rest on molded bases that stand on
square plinths combinations of torus, scotias and
rondels
The capital is voluted (or scrolled )with two large
spirals that spring outward from the shaft spirals
end in a button.
At the base of the capital echinus, usually carved
with egganddart moldings.
The architrave has three bands of fasciae of unequal
height, each projecting a little.
Frieze has a band of egganddart molding and
over that a row of dentils.

Ionic Capital,Temple of Artemis,Turkey

 projecting cornice
often decorated with
lions faces and plant
motifs.
Unlike Doric, the Ionic
did not derive from a
structural system.
from symbolic
headdresses.
Height = 9 x Lower
Diametre of column

Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens.

Greek Orders
Corinthian Orders

The last to emerge (of the 3 orders)

leaves of acanthus were an influence
(Acanthus associated with immortality)
Unlike the Doric and Ionic (less
modification), the Corinthian capital
numerous variations described by the
number of rings of acanthus leaves (typically
two).
2 of these (at the corners) curves into
volutes under the abacus.
At the center of the abacus, one often
finds a blossom or a Rosette (pattern
resembling rose)
eg.Temple of Zeus at Olympia (170 BC),
Temple of Apollo at Bassae (400 BC)

Delphi
Sacred City of Greece
Delphi most
sacred of the
religious sites
Initially, the
site dedicated to
the mother
goddess of
Minoan tradition
superimposed
by worship of
Apollo (Patron
God of Delphi)

Temple of Apollo
Delphi

 It is an imposing temple of the Doric order.

Only foundations survive today with columns
made of porous stone and limestone (hence the
decay)
From inside the temenos, the viewer would see the
silhouette of theTemple of Apollo floating against the
the cliff.
The path to the temple was not a direct one but
rather snaked its way upward past the various
buildings.
the site was occupied earlier by two previous Doric
temples.

Acropolis
Athens

1.The Parthenon
2.The Erechtheion
3. IonicTholos
4. Statue of Athena
5.The Propylaea
6. South Wing of Propylaea
7. North wing
8.Temple of Athena Nike

Acropolis
The Erechtheion 421405 B.C.

 best example in the Ionic order

famous for its quality not size.
built of Pentelic marble
no side colonnades, hence it is called apteral.
it housed three deities so the unusual plan three
facades / porticoes, east, north and south, all at
different levels and different design.
Eastern Ionic hexastyle portico, a northern Ionic
tetrastyle portico, and a southern Caryatid portico.
The eastern portico the principal entrance.
Eastern part dedicated to Athena, north & west
dedicated to Poseidon & Erechtheus.

The north porch is the largest and projects

forward two intercolumniations.
The south porch is low but raised upon a terrace.
south porch has no columns but caryatids
columns in the shape of young womencarrying the
load of the entablature on their heads.
All the figures face southwards, the three
western leaning on their right (outer) legs, and the
three eastern on their left.
The east porch consists of six Ionic columns.
The central block that holds all this together has two
levels.

Acropolis
The Propylaea

The monumental gateway

to the Acropolis.
Made of pentelic marble.

The Propylaea (437432 BC ) is approached

by a massive ramp 20 m wide and 80 m long.
It enters into a Ushaped structure with a Doric
facade. The road continues through the building and
is flanked by slender Ionic columns.
The central parts are ceremonial and symmetrical
To the left was a banquet hall were spaces for
seventeen couches contained paintings on walls.
The area to the south led to theTemple of Athena
Nike first temple in Ionic Style
There was also a statue to Hermes, a god
traditionally associated with boundaries.