Brief Guide to the History of Architectural Styles

Brief Guide to the History of Architectural Styles

By Tatyana Fedulova

Copyright 2016 by Tatyana Fedulova

Smashwords Edition

Table Of Content

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1 - Prologue. Brief Guide to the History of Architectural Styles

Chapter 2 - Architecture of Ancient Egypt

Chapter 3 -.Architecture of Ancient Mesopotamia

Chapter 4 - Cretan-Mycenaean architecture

Chapter 5 - Architecture of Ancient Greece

Chapter 6 - Architecture of Ancient Rome

Chapter 7 - Byzantine Architecture

Chapter 8 – Romanesque

Chapter 9 - Gothic Architecture

Chapter 10 - The Renaissance

Chapter 11 – Baroque

Chapter 12 – Rococo

Chapter 13 – Classicism

Chapter 14 – Eclecticism

Chapter 15 - Modern Architecture

Chapter 16 - Functionalism

Dedication

Brief Guide to the History of Architectural Styles is a full-color illustrated edition of the classic study of the history of architecture.

This handbook has been written by Tatyana Fedulova - Russian art critic, lecturer and popularizer of history of Fine Arts, the expert in the History of Art and Religion.

It is a Must Have book for tourists, students, and architecture and arts enthusiasts.

It provides you with the most comprehensive and at the same time brief information of how the architectural styles were developed and flowed through the ages to our time.

The author reviewed the most significant structures that represent different styles and cultures of the world from the late 4th millennium BC. Extensively illustrated the guidebook includes photos, plans, scales for world-famous structures such as the Roman Colosseum, the tower of Babel, the Pantheon and many others.

Architecture of Ancient Egypt is just 1st chapter of the series containing:

- Ancient Egypt

- Ancient Mesopotamia

- Cretan-Mycenaean

- Ancient Greece

- Ancient Rome

- Byzantine architecture

- Romanesque

- Gothic architecture

- The Renaissance

- Baroque

- Rococo

- Classicism

- Eclecticism

- Modern

- Functionalism

Chapter 1

Prologue

Architecture is the most important form of human activity. In ancient Greece, the word architekton meant chief builder, the creator of the building. In those early days, he was both: a designer, engineer and an organizer of the construction, and often - a painter and a sculptor, like a great Phidias.

The craftsman of the epoch of Renaissance Leon Battista Alberti in the tractate Ten Books on Architecture defined architecture as the Art, without which you can do nothing, and that benefit, with pleasure and dignity. Alberti’s conclusions clearly followed the Roman theorist Vitruvius, who called the three main qualities of architecture: utility, solidity and beauty. All later attempts to give an exhaustive characterization of architecture have been more verbose, but always included the triad of Vitruvius.

The benefit of each building - is its practical application in the life of a man, in other words, to perform a specific function. According to its purpose the building can be a residential house or fortress, a temple or a bank, but the goal is always the same - to serve people.

In each historical epoch buildings were erected that meet the requirements of the time. For example, an ancient Greece needed temples and public buildings - theaters, gymnasiums, stadiums. And in the Middle Ages the main requirement was the protective and the defensive, so the castles and fortresses were widely built besides the temples.

Durability - is a prerequisite for the long and safe existence of any building. It must be stable and reliably protect people from external influences. This problem is solved with the help of building materials and engineering structures.

All historic constructions can be divided into two groups (Fig.1): 1) supporting and load bearing ceilings – these are walls and columns. 2) Overlapping and carrying – these are beams and vaults.

Figure 1

The overlappings are always particularly difficult because they are largely dependent on the construction material available in the area. For example, in ancient Egypt temples were built of stone by chopping down large blocks of it for the pillars and overlapping beams. There a post-and-beam construction appeared.

Because of the lack of stone in Ancient Mesopotamia, they used clay brick and for the ceilings and were forced to invent vaults.(Fig.2)

Figure 2

In the 20th century metal structures gained widespread use, this completely changed the methods of construction. The wall - the basis of bases of the architecture of the past - started to lose its bearing functions, transforming into a thin protective plate hanging on a metal frame.(Fig. 3)

Architects have always used the latest technical advances to solve complex engineering problems. But the architectural form is fundamentally different from the technical forms. In technology, every new invention invalidates and replaces the previous one, but in architecture the technical progress does not negate the structures already built, over time their value only increases: such are Parthenon, the Colosseum, St. Basil's Cathedral and many other historic buildings.

Figure 3

The language of architectural forms affects all people. Even an amateur perfectly perceives the harmony of proportions and expressiveness of decorative elements.

Beauty is the third indispensable condition under which construction can be called architecture. Vitruvius emphasized that the architect must ensure that the building has a nice, smart, handsome and perfect form. Architecture – is a type of Fine Arts, along with painting and drawing the Architect creates an artistic image, using the language of large three-dimensional shapes, arranged in space. Although the building is not able to portray an event, it can express great social ideas. For example, a Roman triumphal arch (Fig.4) – is a visible embodiment of the Imperial spirit of the nation-winner, and the Gothic cathedral, aspired skywards with its towers- is a symbol of religious pathos in medieval society. (Fig.5)

Figure 4 - Constantine arch in Rome

Figure 5 - Chartres cathedral

To create a particular artistic impression the architect uses an arsenal of tools - these are different compositional techniques, the proportional distribution of the main mass and decorative details. The main role is given to proportions. According to the words of the 18th century French architect Jacques-François Blondel Jr., The satisfaction that we experience from the beautiful work of art depends on how well are the ratio is complied. The feeling of pleasure is determined only by proportions, and if they are violated, then no external decorations can replace the appeal, which they lack in substance.

Thus, the architect should work in three directions simultaneously: do his best to provide the practical application of a building (utility), construction steadiness (solidness) and aesthetic expressiveness (beauty). These concepts also define the style in Architecture.

Style is the unity of functional, structural and artistic features of the architecture of a given nation at a certain time. For centuries, architectural styles were creating an environment for the synthesis with other types of visual arts and exerted a significant influence on them.

In the process of art study it is evident that not a single style appears all of a sudden, but gradually develops from the previous one. In the early 20th century German scientist E. Cohn-Wiener described some general patterns in the movement from one style to another (History of Fine Arts styles. Moscow, 1936, 2000). He proposed to take as a basis the system, in which each style is defined by three main qualities – structural, decorative and ornamental. According to Cohn-Wiener, the important concept for the understanding of the essence of style-formation is architectonics.

Architectonics (Greek - base of the structure) - is the artistic expression of regularities inherent in the structural system of a building. Architectonics reveals the ratio of its major and minor parts, especially the carried and bearing parts. In other words - it is an artistic interpretation of the building structure.

An illustrative example of architectonics can be found in the architectural Order.

The Order - is an order of arrangement of bearing and carried parts in the post and beam construction.

In the Greek Order the supporting part of the construction - is a stylobate (socle) and columns. The carried part is an entablature (covering) and a gable roof. The trunk of a Greek column is perceived as an elastic bar, under the load. The smooth line of a widening downwards column-support corresponds to a really effective effort (i.e. column really bears the weight of an overlap), and evokes a sense of sustainability. The carried part of the Order - the entablature - represents a weighty and reliable coverage as well as the basis for a gable roof. The substantiated interrelation is evident in the ratio of all the details of an Order. (Fig.6) The column is completed with a capital that acts as a bolster, which supports the entablature. The capital consists of a circular plate that extends upwards - an Echinus and a square in plan plate - an Abaca. The shape of an Echinus, which is similar to the pillow, well reflects the work of the supporting element - a resilient outline of its profile is associated with the tension arising in the top of the column under the weight of a beam, lying on it.

Figure 6 - Greek orders

Equally logical is the solution of an entablature - the upper, carried part of the Order. It consists of an architrave (bottom bar), a frieze (stripe decorated with reliefs) and the cornice (overhanging horizontal belt). The architrave is the strongest beam, which is not impaired by any visual ornamentation. An overlying frieze consists of alternating plates- triglyphs and metopes. The metopes are filled with decorative reliefs and add dynamics and lightness to the frieze. Embossed columns of triglyphs seem to rest on the architrave and visually support the overlying plate cornice, which ledge forms a canopy for water drainage.

The logical culmination of all the overlap is the triangle pediment that covers the abutting end of the gable roof. The art forms of all the architectural details in the Order correspond to its design and functionality. The proportional ratio between the height of all parts of the column and entablature is meant to stir the sense of harmony and aesthetic pleasure in people. This is the manifestation of tectonics – the visual expression of the design in the ratio of its major and minor parts. While the notion of architectonics is mainly connected with architecture, the term tectonics is applied to other types of visual arts. If the notion of the architectonics way connected principally with architecture, the concept of tectonics - applies in relation to other types of visual art. For example, in the structure of ancient Greek amphora (Fig. 7), we find that the shape of the container is clearly divided into the foot, the body and the neck. The foot is wide and strong, convincing in its sustainability. The rounded body is balanced by the side handles, which by means of their bends continue the lower part of the body and finish it. The neck is not too wide and not too narrow. Transitions between different parts are very organic and emphasized with the paintings. And overall design of the vase completely corresponds to its function – to serve as a convenient and reliable jar.

Figure 7 - Greek amphora

The Hellenes’ tectonic sense also manifested itself in the creation of clear and proportionally coherent forms, congruent with their purposes.

According to the theory of Cohn Wiener, Greek classical style can generally be called constructive or tectonic. It is easy to define the styles where the purpose (i.e. function) of the creation is the basis for its shape - these are Romanesque, Early Renaissance, Classicism. In the historical sequence it is obvious that decorative style always replaces the structural one, when the tectonic feeling weakens and ornamental qualities come to the fore.

Thus, Greek Classics is completed with Hellenism, Gothics follows the Romanesque style and Renaissance is substituted by Baroque. There is a kind of law of complication, when a clear purity of the design starts to be blocked more and more by decorative elements, until it visually dissolves in the abundance of decoration. This third phase in the movement of style Cohn-Wiener called ornamental. These are late Roman style, late Gothic, Rococo.

Thus, in the history of Western architecture three gradually changing stages can be distinguished:

The rule of constructive start

An intensification of decorativeness

The destruction of the wall tectonics by ornament

In the third stage rudiments of the first one always appear, to start a fight and revive expediency. For example, in the rise of the most intricate ornamental art of rococo there begins a motion towards austere Classicism, and in the early 20th century constructivism appears as a reaction to excessive decorativeness Art Nouveau.

Chapter 2

Architecture of Ancient Egypt

The Gift of the Nile – That was what the Greek Historian Herodotus called Egypt. In five words he has precisely expressed the main feature of the most ancient country: life had been concentrated here on the banks of the Nile, whose waters gave food and building material to people and served as a convenient transportation route. It was necessary to build irrigation facilities, dams and thousands of channels to control flooding. Such works required an orderly participation of a large number of people. That was one of the reasons a slave owning state appeared here in the late 4th millennium BC under the reign of a despotic ruler. A strict social hierarchy was established in the society. The cult of a deified pharaoh and belief in afterlife became the basis of religion for ancient Egyptians for a long period of existence of the state (periodization: 30-24 centuries B.C. - Old Kingdom, 22-17 centuries B.C.- Middle Kingdom, 16-11 centuries B.C. - New Kingdom).

The main building materials provided