Thinking Architecture - from the Greeks to the Gothic

Thinking Architecture - from the Greeks to the Gothic

Thinking Architecture: Greece and Rome 

  • Architecture as an ‘intellectual idea’ such as the Great Pyramids Thebes, Egypt (C 1520 BC) architecture is used here as a an signifier/ a symbol.


Other examples:
  • Architecture as a monument
  • Architecture as a signifier of power
  • Architecture as narrative with a story/ meaning
  • Architecture of hierarchies
  • Architecture of complexity
  • Architecture of worship
  • Architecture as language 
  • Architecture as social order
The Classical Period - 
Five orders of classical orders:
  • Tuscan
  • Doric
  • Ionic
  • Corinthian
  • Composite
Increase in complexity and detail as we move through these orders.
All of these orders contained the element of ‘entasis’, which is an optical illusion to ensure columns looks elegant and uniform when instead the columns are far from the same thickness.

- Parthenon optical corrections

Yet again, sacred geometry is an important aspect to informing architectural ideas.

Rome - 
Timeline:
The origin of Roman architecture we’re influenced by trades with Greece demonstrating the cultural transference 

Etruscan and Early Roman - 
- Temple of Juno Sospita Lanuvium, 500 BC
- Temple of Fortuna Virlis Forum Boarium, Rome, 200BC
- Late Republican and early Imperial Rome, Maison Carree, Nimes France, 1-10 AD

Urban order is then began to be imposed with urban planning acted on a significant scale (e.g. Imperial Fora, Rome).

Roman architectural technology:
  • Aqua Engineering
  • Underfloor heating 
  • Sewers and sanitation 
  • Bathing 

What have the Romans given us?:
  • Social order
  • Law
  • Beginnings of democracy





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