DESIGN THEORY- II

GOTHIC AND ROMANESQUE

ARCHITECTURE
ROMANESQUE
ARCHITECTUR
E

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INTRODUCTIO
N:
• Charlemagne (742-814)
was the first strong king
after the fall of the Roman
Empire.
• United much of
Europe and brought
back learning and
architecture.
 MAJOR INFLUENCES
ON ROMANESQUE
ARCHITECTURE:

• Due to collapse of Roman Empire,

Romanesque (means: ‘descended
from Romans’) architecture
developed in Western Europe.
• Bricks, volcanic tufa, marble were
available from Italy whereas good
building stone, colored pumic
stone, were got from France.
• Religious feelings became very
strong and expressed in
cathedral, churches and
monastic buildings.
 CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES:
• Direct modification of Roman
architecture.
• Gathered the materials from
ruins of Roman buildings.
• Later Romanesque style started
new construction methods using
comparatively small sized
dressed stones with thick mortar
joints.
• Heavy Roman cross- vaults
were gradually replaced by ‘rib
and panel’ vaulting.
CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES:
• Breadth of Transcepts was equal to the
nave.
• Towers, which were square,
octagonal or circular, are the
outstanding features of this style.
CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES:
• Ornamentations were vegetal and
animal forms.
• Frescoes were more common than
mosaics for interior decoration.
CHARACTERISTI
C FEATURES:
• Arcades were common where
columns or piers were used to support
semi-circular openings or arches.
• Monolithic columns were employed
similar to Romans in Italy.
• Columns were fluted and enriched
with Corinthian or Ionic
Capitals.
TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF
ROMANESQUE CHURCHES
Speyer Cathedral
SPEYER
CATHEDRAL
SECTION

SPEYER CATHEDRAL
PLAN
PIZA BAPTISTRY, CATHEDRAL
AND CAMPANILE PIZA ITALY.
1063-1272
CHARACTERISTICS
• Projecting transepts.
• Towers are freestanding and circular as at Pisa.
• Windows are small.
• Facades and interiors that are faced with polychrome marb
le.

• Wall surface above the arcade was covered with decora

tive marble, mosaic or fresco.

• Central Italy classical decorative elements: Corinthian capi

tals, coloured marble, open arches, colonnades and facade
Piza Baptistry, Cathedral and Campanile Piza Italy
LEANING TOWER OF PISA, ITALY
1063-1272
Roman Romanesque
Strong, consistent rulers Frequent political changes

Power with the emperor Power with the church

Formal urban design Informal urban design

Single strong Roman Significant regional styles

Compare
style and Contrast of Roman & Romanesque
Civilizations
• Class and Rank significant in both societies.

• Primarily Arcuated construction (with trussed

naves). Later, Romanesque became vaulted
stone.
• Axial and symmetric building design.

• Church and government work together (late Roman);

Constantine and Charlemagne examples.
• Roman “classical style” followed for prominent
buildings.
 GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE
MAJOR INFLUENCES
ON GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE :

Religion :
• Immense power was of Bishops
and Popes.
• Eventually, power of church
became dominant.
Society :

• Towns and cities developed rapidly

and consequently public buildings
were constructed.
• City life developed with great
freedom.
 MAJOR INFLUENCES
ON GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE :

Environment :
• Varying climate influenced the
architecture techniques.
• North being dull andSouth being
hot.

• White and colored marble

used in Italy, coarse grained
stone in France.

• Germany bricks determined the

character of the architecture of
those countries.
CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES :

• Airy and bright

• Focus on verticality
• Pointed arches
• Rib vaults
• Flying buttresses
• Large stained glass windows
• Ornaments and pinnacles
PARTS OF
A GOTHIC
CATHEDR
AL:
 CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES :
• Medieval masons developed a ribbed
vault, in which arching and intersecting
stone ribs support a vaulted ceiling
surface that is composed of mere thin
stone panels.

• This greatly reduced the weight (and thus

the outward thrust) of the ceiling vault.

• The vault's weight was now carried at

discrete points (the ribs) rather than along a
continuous wall edge.

• Hence, separate widely spaced vertical

piers to support the ribs could
replace the continuous thick walls.
GOTHIC RIB
VAULTING UNDER
CONSTRUCTION :
Why the high vaulting?
• To lighten the weight of the walls.
• Walls could be built thinner.

• Hence, it provided greater openings

to allow more light to enter the church
interiors.
• This extra light was subdued by the
use of stained glass.
The round arches of the barrel vault were replaced by pointed (Gothic) arch
es which distributed thrust in more directions downward from the topmost p
oint of the arch.
The outward thrust of the ribbed ceiling vaults was carried across the
outside walls of the nave, first to an attached outer buttress and then
to a freestanding pier
by means of a half arch known as flying buttress.
 GOTHIC CHURCH
ARCHITECTURE CAN
BE REMEMBERED AS:
Height:
• Almost unimaginable interior ceiling
heights
Light:
• Beautiful and abundant light entering
through expansive stained glass
windows.
Fright:
• Grotesque gargoyles and figurines adorn
most Gothic cathedrals. Gargoyle is the
carved termination of spouts
which convey water away from the sides
of buildings.
• A tympanum is the semi-circular • The origin of the rose window may be f
or triangular decorative wall ound in the Roman oculus.​
surface over an entrance.
• It is bounded by a lintel and • These large circular openings let in bot
arch.
• It often contains sculptures or h light and air, the best known being th
other ornaments. at at the top of the dome of
the Pantheon.
When rose windows
are used in the
transept ends, then
one of those windows
is frequently
dedicated to Mary as
the Mother of Jesus.
PERIODS OF GO
THIC ARCHITECT
URE IN WESTER
N EUROPE
• Early Gothic Period: 1140- 1190
• High Gothic Period: 1194-1225
• Rayonnant Gothic Period:
1226-1350
• Late Gothic Period:
o Flamboyant Style (1453-1521)
o Perpendicular Style(1443-
1580)
 1.EARLY GOTHIC PE
RIOD:
• Gothic rib vaulting
• Radiating Chevet
• Stain-glass Windows

• The earliest surviving

Gothic building was the abbey of Saint-
Denis in Paris, begun in about 1140.

• A series of four horizontal levels in the cathedral's

interior were evolved, beginning with a ground
level arcade, over which ran one or two galleries,
over which in turn ran an upper, windowed story
called a clerestory.
• The columns and arches
used to support these
different elevations
contributed to the
powerfully repetitive
geometry of the interior.

• Window tracery (decorative

rib-work subdividing a window
opening) was also gradually
evolved, along with the use of
stained (colored) glass in the
windows.

• The typical French early

Gothic cathedral terminated
at its eastern end in a semi-
circular projection called an
apse.
• The western end was much more
impressive, being a wide facade
articulated by numerous windows
and pointed arches, having
monumental doorways, and being
topped by two huge towers.

• The long sides of the cathedral's

exterior presented an array of piers
and flying buttresses.

• The basic form of Gothic architecture

eventually spread throughout Europe
to Germany, Italy, England, Spain, and
Portugal.
ROYAL
ABBEY
CHURCH OF
SAINT-
DENIS:
 Royal
Abbey
Church of
Saint-
Denis
1140–1144

GROUND FLOOR
PLAN
WEST (ENTRY)
FAÇADE
• Note that the
distinctive pointed
(stilted) Gothic arched
openings are not
evident on this very
early Gothic example.
Looking back at the nave just beyond the crossing.
 2. HIGH GOTHIC PERIOD: 13th century, from about
1200 to 1280.

The construction of a series of refined and richly-

decorated cathedrals of exceptional height and size.
SCULPTURAL CARVING
EXAMPLE OF STAINED
GLASS
CENTRAL TYMPANUM OF THE ROYAL PORTAL
VIEW OF FLYING BUTTRESSES
NON MATCH
ING TOWER
S
 3.
RAYONNANT
GOTHIC
PERIOD
• New arrays of geometrical
decoration which grew
increasingly elaborate over ti
me, but hardly any structural i
mprovements.

• Use of more and more stained glass

and less masonry in the design of the
structure, until the walls seemed
entirely made of glass
• Radiating spokes of rose window.
• Reduced height, but lighter walls.
St. Chapelle,
Paris 1242-
1248
St. Chapelle, Paris 1242- 1248
Upper level interior
4. LATE GOTHIC PE
RIOD:

• Flamboyant Style: 1453-1521

• Perpendicular Style: 1443-1580
 FLAMBOYANT STYLE (1453-1521)
• More decorative than Rayonnant, and continued until a
bout 1500.
• Widespread use of S- shaped curve in stone window
terrace.

• Geometrical logic was frequently concealed by covering

the exterior with tracery, which overlaid masonry as wel
l as windows, augmented by complex clusters of gables
, pinnacles, lofty porticos, and star patterns of extra ribs
in the vaulting.
Beauvais Cathedral, France 1225-1272
Only the choir section was built because the overly high ceiling and
some flying buttresses collapsed in 1284 and caused the builders to
not continue the project.
PERPENDICULAR
GOTHIC :
• Emphasis on strong vertical lines, seen most
markedly in window tracery and wall
paneling.
• Fan vaulting.
• Roof vaulting became elaborate and ornate,
with a multitude of vaulting ribs spreading
outwards in a fan shape, ornamented with
pendants and cross-ribs that served a purely
decorative function.
• Hammer-beam roofs,
form of timber roof truss,
allowing a hammer-beam roof
to span greater than the
length of any individual piece
of timber function.

• Hammer-beam construction
makes use of short
horizontal and vertical
beams to distribute the
weight of a roof.
FAN VAULTING
King’s College
Chapel, Cambridge
(1446-1515):
Painting of Entry (West) Façade
SOUTH FAÇADE FAN VAULTING
 EXTERIOR DETA
REFLECTED CEILING PLAN SH IL
OWING RIB VAULTING PATTER
N
INTERIOR VIEW OF CEILING SHOWING RIB VAULTING PATTERN AND FLAT-ARCH DESIGN.
OTHER GOTHIC
PERIOD
BUILDINGS :

• Secular Buildings.
• Forts & Military
Design.
• Urban spaces and
Public Buildings.
 SECULAR BUILDINGS
• Bridges from this period are characterized by typically Gothic arches.

• The Palais des Papes, the residence of the Pope, is one of the largest
and most important Gothic buildings in Europe.

Ponte Vecchio, Florence The Hospital of the Holy Spirit, Lübeck Mob Quad at Merton College,
Oxford in England
FORTS &
MILITARY
DESIGN :

• Many towns and cities in Europe during this

time were protected by more or less extensive
town walls.

Château de Coucy
Château de Coucy

• Château de Coucy has been listed

as a monument historique by
the French Ministry of
Culture since 1862,and is
managed by the Centre des
monuments nationaux.

• The ruins were declared "a

memorial to barbarity" after the
destruction by German army.

• At the four corners are cylindrical

towers 20 m in diameter
(originally 40 m in height).
Between two towers on the line of
approach was the
massive donjon (keep).
PALAZZO VECCHIO 1299 FLORE
NCE, ITALY

• Built as a city palace

(administrative center)
around an existing tower.
• The building shows the
importance of security
and fortifications at this
time in central Italy.
URBAN SPACES AND
PUBLIC BUILDINGS:

• Cities grew and new towns

established.

• The growing power of the cities was

reflected in the erection of town halls
, and commercial and civic buildings.
Plan showing three
successive city walls
: 1st century BC, 11
72 and 1284.​

Florence, It
aly
CORE OF FLORENC
E, ITALY

• Old center of the town

dates back to early
Roman days and retains
the original grid street
pattern in that area.

• The forum in the center

became the principal
marketplace.
COMPARE AND CONTRAS
T CIVILIZATIONS OF
ROMANESQUE AND GOT
HIC:

COMPARISION
• Strong influence of Christian Church in society.
• Primarily Arcuated construction (late Romanesque).
• Axial and basically symmetric building design.
• Church and government work together.
• Strong design influence on all architecture (religious and s
ecular).
• Dressed stone used to construct permanent buildings.
• Little development of planned urban design.
ROMANESQUE GOTHIC
Roman “classical First “New” design ideas
style”
Rounded Pointed vaults/arches
vaults/arches
Ceiling weight on Ceiling weight on
walls column/pier
Massive wall Lightweight walls
structures
Thrust resisted by Thrust resisted by flying