HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE MIDTERMS

PRE-CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
* TOMB ARCHITECTURE:
* A. PYRAMIDS
The Great Sphinx: body of a lion and
Pharaoh face, guardian to the burial ground, stands
at four storey high.
After Pharaoh Mykerinus (Chefren) Period,
the era of pyramid construction end.
end of the Old Kingdom marked the end of
pyramid construction.
* B. UNDERGROUND TOMBS
* 1. Rock-Hewn/Rock Cut Tombs:
carved out of rock, many along cliffs of
the Nile
* Beni-Hasan: ancient cemetery site

! ! !  
* 2. Shaft Tombs: complex series of
underground corridors & rooms, cut out
of mountain side in the Valley of the
Kings at Del-Al-Bahari: designed like
puzzle or maze to avoid robbers

* Tutankhamon: egyptian pharaoh,

tomb discovered fully intact

* Valley of Kings/Tombs of the

Pharaohs: constructed for the
pharaoh in the new kingdom, first
used as royal necropolis by
Thutmosis I
* Ramses XI: last known king
* Tomb of Tut: only tomb not entered
by robbers, discovered by Howard
Carter 1922
* Cleopatra’s Tomb in the temple at
Taposiris Magna
* 3. Pit Graves: shallow graves, round or
ova, bodies contracted in fetal position w
grave goods, poor and rich
 * TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE 3. TEMPLE OF QUEEN HAPSHEPSUT: closest
* A. MORTUARY TEMPLES: chapels of temple to classical architecture, turning point of ancient
mastabas & pyramids, serve spirit of the egypt, forsook megalithic geometry of old kingdom
deceased
* B. CULT TEMPLES: official worship of gods,
* Ancient Egyptian Temples
1. THE GREAT TEMPLE OF AMUN, KARNAK,
THEBES: grandest of all Egyptian temples

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENTS

2. GREAT TEMPLE OF RAMISES II at Abu-

Simbel: one of rock-hewn temples at this place, one of the
most beautiful temple in Egypt

3. TEMPLE OF KHONS: cult temple, pylon, court,

hypostyle, hall, sanctuary, and various chapels,

EGYPTIAN COLUMNS
EGYPTIAN COLUMN CAPITAL 2. LOTUS COLUMN:
A. PIERS LOTUS COLUMN
1. PAPYRUS COLUMN: B. LOTUS & VOLUTE CAPITALS
A. BUNDLED SHAFT CLOSED BUD CAPITAL
B. SMOOTH SHAFT OPEN CAPITAL

3. PALM COLUMN CAPITAL:

C. SMOOTH SHAFT OPEN BELL CAPITAL
D. SMOOTH SHAFT CLOSED BUD CAPITAL

E. SMOOTH SHAFT OPEN CAPITAL

F. COMPOSITE CAPITAL
4. HATHOR HEADED CAPITAL

G. BUNDLED PAPYRUS STALKS

H. VOLUTE CAPITAL-BUNDLED PAPYRUS
STALKS WITH VOLUTE
 THE FORTRESS: usually at the west bank of the
Nile, close communication fortress and next headquarters
at BUHEN, largest stronghold

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER OF EGYPT

Egyptian monumental construction is mainly of a

post and beam style.

Columns are designed to look like plant

material.

The shaft resemble bundles of plant stems tied

together.

Their capital are derived from lotus bud or

THE OBELISKS: from sacred symbol of the sun papyrus flower or the palm leaves.
god HELIOPOLIS; stood in pairs across temple entrances;
huge square monoliths with electrum shaped pyramidion at Great importance was attached to relief carving
summit which was the sacred part, sides cut with and it was an integral part in Architecture.
hieroglyphics;
HATSHEPSUT OBELISK AT KAMAK: tallest in Egypt The true arch was not extensively used in Ancient
OBELISK OF RAMESES II Egypt.
LUXOR OBELISK at Temple of Khons
Ancient Egyptian Architecture shows more
concern with massing, and limited attention to
space function.

The spaces are limited for ritual activities such

as chapels dedicated to the gods.

Egyptian Architecture also displays

understanding of the application of geometry in
design.

It also displays understanding of the principles

EGYPTIAN PYLON: monumental gateway to of harmony and contrast.
temple, slanting walls flanking the entrance portal
The Nile had an important influence in the
linearity and axiality of ancient Egyptian
Architecture, it being a straight river,  
 CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

A. AEGEAN ARCHITECTURE – Circa 3000 – 1000

B.C.
Before the dawn of Ancient Greece, a vibrant
Neolithic and then Bronze Age society thrive in
several different cultures found along the Aegean
Sea.

B. GREEK ARCHITECTURE – Circa 3000 – 30 B.C.

It is the Architecture produced by the Greek
speaking people (Hellenic People), whose culture
flourished in the Greek mainland and
Peloponnesus and the Aegean island and in
colonies of Asia Minor and Italy.

C. ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE – Circa 750 – 100

The Mesopotamians, Sumerians, Persians, B.C.
Ancient Egyptian and Greeks used sun-dried Made lasting contribution to the Architecture of
bricks for their building materials.   Italy, which were adopted by the Romans.

D. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE – Circa 3000 B.C. –

365 A.D.
Stands today as a testament to the ability and
grandeur of the one great civilization that at one
time covered three continent.

AEGAN ARCHITECTURE

Ancient Egyptian Mud Brick House, CATAL

HYUK:- A settlement with Mud Brick Houses in Turkey

!
Catal Huyuk – Reconstruction: touching each other, no
doors, entered thru hatches on the roof
INFLUENCES: Citadel places became centers of small but
powerful empire.
1. Geographical:
island of Crete that arose the first great power of the wealth of Helladic towns began to decline.
the Mediterranean;flourished a thousand years
before the Greek civilization reached its peak In 1,200 B.C. the Trojan war began. The
destruction of Helladic citadels was one of many
culture extended to Greece and her island; he events which brought about the end of Bronze
rugged nature of the Greek peninsula and its Age civilization and the advent of the Iron Age in
islands, with mountainous hinterlands which Greece.
rendered internal communication difficult, made
sea inevitable means of interaction. Some centers survived so that a certain
continuity of traditions and standards obtained to
2. Climatic: give rise to slow development through age of
The climate was intermediate between rigorous Homer. Athens was once such center.
cold and relaxing heat, thus the porticos and
colonnades which were such important features
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER:
3. Historical: Minoan buildings had the flat roofs typical of eastern
embraces the civilization of Crete and mainland countries; buildings are made of timber frames fills
Greece then became a commercial empire clay bricks.
protected by naval power
The Minoans were a non-urban culture that lacked
there was a particular invasion of migrant people large scale architecture.
from South Russia, spoke language something
like Greek, and introduced houses originally Places were the foremost type of Minoan architecture.
designed for more wintry climate. The largest Minoan places is at Knossos, the capital
city.
Mycenean ruled the late Bronze Age of Greece.

city of Mycenae is ruled by Agamemnom, the The Minoan palace at Knossos: 1,700 – 1,400 B.C.
conqueror of Troy
Flat roofs allowed buildings to be drawn together, in
Between 1,800 and 1,600 B.C. the whole Aegean large blocks, two, three or even four storey high. Light
culture developed until by the latter date it had walls being used to admit natural light to the inner
achieved a power co-equal with the civilizations parts of the block.
of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

total absence of the monumental class structures

as compared with Egypt and Mesopotamia

Cretan influence declined after 1,500 B.C.

! !
Knossos and the other palace towns were
destroyed and the civilization they represented
collapsed in ruin.

4. Social:
Mycenaean or Helladic Greece

Mainland centers had always required defense;

quarrelling and violence among the towns
perpetuated insecurity and the necessity for
protection, and the magnificent but grim
fortifications of Mycenae and Tiryns conjures up
an atmosphere of somewhat barbaric cruelty in ! Porch at the Palace of
strange contrast to the refined architecture, art King Minos
and living which existed within.
 ! !
Throne Room; Stairwell
!
Typical Mycenaean Palace:
- central rectangular hall called Megaron
- grand entrance hall, covered porch and column,
Portico

! !
Storage Jar; Miniature ship Fresco

!
Megaron is a throne room, constructed for religious
purposes. The center is a large circular hearth.

!
Mycenaean City:
- flat roofs !
- single storey
- massive defence walls

! !
Gate of Lions:
- main entrance of bronze age citadel of
Mycenaea
- myth says walls were constructed by the cyclops

!
The Treasury of Atreus or
the tomb of Agamemnom: the conqueror King of
Troy, a compressive tholos tomb, a pointed dome,
world’s largest purely domed space of corbelled
construction.
Methods of Walling