02 History of Construction

history of
CONSTRUCTION
► how things were
built ◄
► what things
were built ◄
TH E H I S TORY OF C ON S TRU C TI ON C ON S I S TS
OF ON E I N N OVATI ON A FTE R A N OTH E R, A N D
B RI C K B Y B RI C K W E H AVE A RRI VE D AT TH E
I N D U S TRY W E KN OW TODAY.
INTRODUCTION
 People have constructed buildings and other

structures since prehistory, including bridges,
amphitheaters, dams, roads and canals.
 Building materials in present use have a long history
and some of the structures built thousands of years
ago are regarded as remarkable.
 The history of construction overlaps that of
structural engineering and many other fields.
THE H I STORY OF BUI L D I NG
IS MARKED BY A NU MBER OF
TR END S PERISHABLES:
LEAVES, BRANCHES, AND ANIMAL HIDES.
MORE DURABLE NATURAL MATERIALS:

CLAY, STONE, AND TIMBER.
One. THE INCREASING DURABILITY OF THE

MATERIALS USED…
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS:
BRICK, CONCRETE, METALS, AND PLASTICS WERE USED.
1. DEVELOPMENT OF STRONGER MATERIALS

Two. THE QUEST FOR BUILDINGS OF EVER
GREATER HEIGHT AND SPAN…
2. KNOWLEDGE OF HOW MATERIALS BEHAVE
(EXPLOIT THEM TO GREATER ADVANTAGE)
THE DEGREE OF CONTROL EXERCISED INCREASINGLY PRECISE REGULATION OF
Three. OVER THE INTERIOR ENVIRONMENT OF

BUILDINGS…
AIR TEMPERATURE, LIGHT AND SOUND LEVELS, HUMIDITY,
ODORS, AIR SPEED, AND OTHER FACTORS
THAT AFFECT HUMAN COMFORT
Four. THE CHANGE IN ENERGY AVAILABLE

TO THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS…
HUMAN MUSCLE POWER
POWERFUL MACHINERY (USED TODAY)
THE H I STORY OF BUI L D I NG
ENC OMPAS S ES THE FOL L OWING
SUBJ EC TS
One. histor y of building materials
Two. histor y of engineering
Three. histor y of building techniques
Four. economic and social histor y of builders and workmen
Five. histor y of construction machiner y and temporar y works
etc. E a c h w i t h c o mp l e x l i t e r a ture
devoted to it.
CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
01 Neolithic Construction 07 Eighteenth Century

02 Copper Age and Bronze Construction
Age Construction 08 Nineteenth Century
03 Iron Age Construction Construction
04 Medieval Construction 09 Twentieth Century

Construction
05 Construction in the
Renaissance 10 Twenty-first Century
Construction
06 Seventeenth Century
Construction
01 NEOLITHIC CONSTRUCTION
 a.k.a. the New Stone Age
 Roughly from 9000 B.C. to 5000 B.C.
 The last period of the age before wood working began.
 Archaeology is utilized for prehistoric buildings
 Investigate how the builders lived their accomplishments.
 Record:
 form of the parts that survived
 tools used
 other branches of history
 architecture
Neolithic buildings in Skara Brae,

listed as a UNESCO world heritage site
 TOOLS WERE MADE FROM  BUILDING MATERIALS
(locally available materials)
 bone
 antler  bones (mammoth ribs)
 hide  hide
 stone  stone
 wood  bark
 grasses  bamboo
 animal fibers  clay
 use of water  etc.
 TOOLS USED TO
CUT MATERIALS
 hand axe
 chopper
 adze ● hand axe ● ● chopper ●
 celt
Also scrape, chop (flake

tool), pound, pierce, roll, ● adze ● ● celt ●
pull, leaver, and carry
A reconstruction of a pit-house type dwelling made with mammoth bones
A reconstruction of a neolithic fortified village showing a palisade wall

and stilt houses at the Pfahlbau Museum Unteruhldingen, Germany.
 Late Neolithic Period (5000 to 4600 B.C.):
dry-stone-walling techniques
The absence of metal tools

placed limitations on the
materials that could be worked,
but it was still possible to build
quite elaborate stone structures
with ingenuity.
The first mud bricks, formed with the hands

rather than wooden molds, belong to the late
Neolithic period and were found in Jericho.
02 COPPER AGE AND BRONZE AGE
CONSTRUCTION
 Copper Age is the early part of the Bronze Age
 Copper came into use before 5000 B.C.
 Bronze came into use around 3100 B.C.
(although the times vary by region)
 The period when bronze replaced
stone as the preferred material
for making tools and weapons.
CONSTRUCTION
 The Corbelled Arch came into use such as for beehive tombs.
 Heavy loads were moved on boats, sledges (a primitive sled) or
on rollers.
Royal Palace of Ugarit, Bronze Age Syria

CONSTRUCTION
 The wheel came into use but was not common until much later.
 The invention of the wheel paved the way for more advanced
technology such as pulleys, gears, cogs and screws.
 A flint point or stick spun with a bow was another important
advancement. It could be used to make fire and employed as a
drill.
CONSTRUCTION
 Other uses of copper and bronze
 “harden” the cutting edge of tools
(e.g. Egyptians: copper and bronze points >> working soft stones >> quarrying
blocks & making rock-cut architecture)
 The Egyptians began building stone temples with the post
and lintel construction method and the Greeks and Romans
followed this style.
CONSTRUCTION
 TOOLS WERE MADE FROM
 Copper
• ore chalcopyrite
(volcanic earth veins)
 Bronze
• copper + tin
 Brass
• copper + zinc
A bronze saw from the archaeological site of Akrotiri,

Museum of prehistoric Thera, Santorini, Greece
CONSTRUCTION
 TOOLS USED TO
CUT MATERIALS
 axes
 chisels
 saw (new) ● axes ●
(same types of tools as stone

but less brittle, more durable,
cut better)
(cast into desired shapes)
(if damaged could be recast)
● chisels ●
CONSTRUCTION
● saw ●
03 IRON AGE CONSTRUCTION
 A cultural period from roughly 1200 BC to 50 BC with the
widespread use of iron for tools and weapons.
 Iron is not much harder than bronze but by adding carbon iron
becomes steel which was being produced after about 300 BC.
 Steel can be hardened and tempered producing a sharp, durable
cutting edge.
Reconstructed Roman treadwheel crane at Bonn, Germany

03 IRON AGE CONSTRUCTION
 A new woodworking tool allowed by the use of steel is the
hand-plane.
The hand plane developed in the Iron Age

and was known to be used by the Romans.
These Roman planes were found in Germany
and date to the 1st to 3rd century AD
03 IRON AGE CONSTRUCTION:
3 . 1 . ANC I ENT MESOPOTAMI A
 The earliest large-scale buildings for which evidence survives

have been found in ancient Mesopotamia.
 Major technical achievement is evidenced by the construction of
great cities such as Uruk and Ur.
 Another fine example is the ziggurat at Chogha Zanbil in
modern Iran.
Ziggurat of Ur, an outstanding building of the period,

despite major reconstruction work
3.1. ANC IENT MES OPOTAMIA
 BUILDING MATERIALS
 The chief building material were the  By 3500 BC, fired bricks
mud bricks, formed in wooden molds. came into use.
Mud bricks varied widely in size and format Fired bricks and stone were used
from small bricks that could be lifted in one for pavement.
hand to ones as big as large paving slabs.
Rectangular and Square bricks were both
common. They were laid in virtually every
bonding pattern imaginable and used with
considerable sophistication.
A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick known from 9000 BCE Since 4000 BC, bricks have also been fired, to increase their
• mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with strength and durability. In warm regions with very little timber
a binding material such as rice husks or straw. available to fuel a kiln, bricks were generally sun-dried.
• In some cases, brick-makers extended the life of mud bricks by putting fired bricks on top or covering them with stucco.
 Surviving records show a very

complex division of labor into
separate tasks and trades.
Life in general was governed by complex ritual
and this extended to rituals for setting-out
buildings and moulding the first bricks.
 Drawings survive on clay tablets

from later periods showing that
buildings were set out on brick
modules.
Proto-Cuneiform tablet with seal impressions: administrative

account of barley distribution with cylinder seal impression of a
male figure, hunting dogs, and boars (ca. 3100 - 2900 BC)
 The later Mesopotamian

civilizations, particularly Babylon
and thence Susa, developed glazed
brickwork to a very high degree,
decorating the interiors and
exteriors of their buildings with
glazed brick reliefs.
Detail of the Ishtar Gate (575 BC) showing the

exceptionally fine glazed brickwork of the later period.
Glazed bricks have been found from the 13th century B.C.
3 . 2 . ANC I ENT EGY PT
 As opposed to the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia which built

in brick, the pharaohs of Egypt built huge structures in stone.
 The arid climate has preserved much of the ancient buildings.
Karnak, Hypostyle hall

3.2. ANC IENT EG YPT
The grandest buildings
 Adobe (sunbaked mud brick) construction were constructed in
was used for ancillary buildings and normal stone, often from massive
houses in ancient times and is still masonry blocks.
commonly used in rural Egypt.
• The hot, dry climate was ideal for mud- The techniques used to move
massive blocks used in pyramids
brick, which tends to wash away in the rain.
and temples have been subject
• Extensive storehouses with mudbrick to extensive debate.
vaults also survive.
Some authors have suggested
• All constructed with sloping courses to that the larger blocks may not
avoid the need for formwork. be cut stone but fabricated with
concrete.
 TECHNOLOGY
 Although the Egyptians achieved
extraordinary feats of
engineering, they appear to have
done so with relatively primitive
technology.
 As far as is known they did not
use wheels or pulleys to
transport the huge stones.
 They transported massive stones
over great distances using
rollers, ropes and sledges
hauled by large numbers of slaves.
Aerial view of the Ramasseum in Thebes, Egypt (Luxor) with its associated Karnak, Hypostyle hall
adobe structures, one of the finest examples of mud brick construction.
Great Pyramid of Giza, remained the tallest structure in the world

for 3800 years
Menkaures Pyramid, Giza
3 . 3 . ANC I ENT GR EEC E
 The ancient Greeks, like the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians,

tended to build most of their common buildings out of mud
brick, leaving no record behind them.
 However very many structures do survive, some of which are in
a very good state of repair, although some have been partly
reconstructed or re-erected in the modern era.
 The most dramatic are the
Greek Temples.
3.3. ANC IENT G REEC E
 Before 650 BCE, the now famous ancient Greek temples were
built of wood, but after this date began to be built of stone.
 The process of a timber structure being repeated in stone is
called petrification or “petrified carpentry”.
 For the longer spans it is uncertain if the Greeks or Romans
invented the truss but the Romans certainly used timber roof
trusses.
(No timber structures survive, so our knowledge of how these were put together is limited)
 The oldest “construction drawing” is in the Temple of Apollo

at Didyma.
 An unfinished stone wall was etched with the profiles of
columns and moldings, and the wall was never finished so the
drawing was not erased: a rare glimpse into the history of
working construction drawings.
Temple of Apollo, Didyma

 Fired clay: restricted to Later cultures tended to construct
elaborate roofing tiles and their stone buildings with thin skins
associated decorations. of finished stones over rubble
 Roof tiles: allow a low roof cores, the Greeks tended to build
pitch characteristic of ancient out of large cut blocks joined with
Greek architecture. metal cramps.
 Fired bricks: began to be
This was a slow, expensive and laborious
employed with lime mortar.
process which limited the number of
 Stone tiles: roofing for very buildings that could be constructed.
prominent buildings, The metal cramps often failed through
mimicking the form of their corrosion.
terracotta counterparts.
 TECHNOLOGY
 Plumbing Building structures used a simple
 Spiral Staircase beam and column system
without vaults or arches, which based
 Central heating
strict limits on the spans that could
 Urban Planning achieved.
 Water Wheel
 Crane
 etc.
 Greek mathematics was technically advanced and we know for

certain that they employed and understood the principles of
pulleys, which would have enabled them to build cranes to lift
heavy stonework to the upper parts of buildings.
 Their surveying skills were exceptional, enabling them to set out
the incredibly exact optical corrections of buildings like the
Parthenon, although the methods used remain a mystery.
 Simpler decoration, such as fluting on columns, was simply left
until the drums of the columns were cut in place.
 The ancient Greeks never developed

the strong mortars which became an
important feature of Roman
construction.
An illustration showing masonry techniques

of ancient Greece and Rome.
3 . 4 . R OMAN EMPI R E
 In striking contrast to previous cultures, an enormous amount is

known about Roman building construction.
 A very large amount survives, including complete intact buildings
like the Pantheon and very well preserved ruins at Pompeii and
Herculaneum.
We also have the first surviving
treatise on architecture by
Vitruvius which includes
extensive passages on
construction techniques.
Pompei, Province of Naples,

Campania, Italy
3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
The Romans substituted bronze for

wood in the roof trusses of the
Pantheon’s portico which was
commissioned from 27 BC -14 AD.
The bronze trusses were unique but in

1625 Pope Urban VIII had the trusses
replaced with wood and melted the
bronze down for other uses.
Pantheon, Rome
3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
 The Romans had trade guilds. Most construction was done by

slaves or freed men.
 The use of slave labor undoubtedly cut costs and was one of
the reasons for the scale of some of the structures.
 The Romans placed a considerable emphasis in building their
buildings extremely fast, usually within two years.
 For very large structures the only way this could be achieved
was by the application of vast numbers of workers.
3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
 BUILDING MATERIALS Also:

 Hydraulic Lime Mortar: the great  Glass: colored glass in
Roman development breakthrough mosaics; commonly
called Roman cement. used in windows.
 Brick or Stone: for building the outer  Wood: for formwork
skins of the wall and then with massive and scaffolding.
amounts of concrete.  Bronze: for roof tiles,
 Concrete: used for filling wall cavities statues, ornaments, and
and for forming arches, barrel vaults and other decorations.
domes.
 Lead: for roof covering material; water
supply and waste pipes.
(The Latin name for lead is plumbum thus plumbing)
3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
 Previous cultures had used lime mortars but by adding volcanic

ash called a pozzolana, the mortar would harden under water.
This provided them with a strong material for bulk walling.
 Filling wall cavities with concrete effectively using the brickwork
as permanent shuttering (formwork).
 The concrete was made of nothing more than rubble and
mortar it was cheap and very easy to produce and required
relatively unskilled labor to use, enabling the Romans to build on
an unprecedented scale.
3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
 TECHNOLOGY  ARCHITECTURE
 Hollow Pots Systems: making domes.  Arches
 Heating and Ventilation Systems:  Roads: corduroy roads and
thermal baths and central heating in the paved roads, sometimes
form of a hypocaust, a raised floor heated supported on raft or pile
by the exhaust of a wood or coal fire. foundations and bridges.
 Waterwheel and Sawmill  Bridges
 Sewerage and Water Supply  Aqueducts
Systems  Covered Amphitheaters
 Glass Double Glazing: for insulated  Timber Roof Structures:
glazing triangulated roof trusses
 Timber Cranes: to lift considerable built for constructing the
weights to great heights with an upper immense spans achieved, the
limit of about 100 tons. longest exceeding 30m.
3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
● hollow pots systems ●

3.4. ROMAN EMPIRE
● heating and ventilation systems●

3 . 5 . ANC I ENT I ND I A
 During the early times, there was an ecological balance

maintained amongst the human and natural environment.
 They believed in combining nature with the building to
create a picturesque scenario so did not harm the natural beauty
of the environment.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA
 TECHNOLOGY Also:
 Utilizing innovative techniques by creating  The mass of most temple structure
a strong ecological field developed decreases in size from bottom to top.
around areal boundaries. • this unique technique of reduction
of load is implemented so that
• Natural Security Scape: for the protection
there is no extreme pressure on the
of the structures (ex: moats, forts, etc.)
ground floor.
• Moats: infested in crocodiles in order to
 Interior of Roofs of temples:
protect the island from enemy attacks
domical yet seems flat from outside.
• Bamboo Plantation: profusely developed
• a method adopted in order to make
for material, esp. used as a natural fort.
the structure heat resistant.
 This widely highlights the strong sense • the gap between the exterior flat
of security developed naturally. roof and the dome generally had a
 Location of structures were typically mud and rice husk filling to
self-sufficient and ensured sustainable prevent heat from transferring
inside.
resources.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA
 BUILDING MATERIALS  ARCHITECTURE

 Burnt Clay Bricks and Lime  Forts: had an essence of
Mortar: common materials used for European architectural style
the building construction  Courtyard Planning
• the bricks were of a smaller size with a Technique: involved which
height of 2 inches, made in the intensifies natural ventilation
temporary kiln constructed within the  Arches: supported huge load-
site. bearing structures
• pillars were also made with brick giving • the intelligent utilization of round
it its own shape, usually circular. arches and multi-foiled arches
helps in transmitting the heavy load
• the ultimate calculation of load- without damaging the structure
bearing wall made of brick beneath it thereby enhancing
construction was one of the most cost reduction.
innovative methods adopted.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA
 India has been recognized worldwide for its variant culture and
its contribution.
 India at present boasts about 3650 approximately renowned
ancient heritage structures and sites of national
importance.
 A common factor that is distinctive: construction technique and
structural stability which ensures existence even till date in spite of
calamities, manmade disasters, and negligence.
 The three particular architectural styles: Vedic, Buddhist, and
Gupta have distinct characteristics.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: VED I C AR C H I TECTURE
 Made use of Hindu architecture believing in the positive

impact of pinning down Vastupurusa or “the spirit of the site”.
 Houses were made of wood with bamboo rigging.
 Roofs were thatched.
 Walls were made of reed bundles in wooden framework.
 Palace and temple construction brought new challenges for
the ancient Indian builders.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: VEDIC ARC HITEC TU RE
pinning down Vastupurusa or “the spirit of the site”.

Temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara,Tirupati, India, 300 AD

Konarak Sun Temple, Orissa, India, 13th century

3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: BUD D H I ST AR C H I TECTURE
 Three types of structures are associated: Monasteries (viharas),

Stupas, and Temples (chaitya grihas).
 Viharas were initially only temporary shelters used by wandering
monks during the rainy season.
• Later developed to accommodate the growing and increasingly formalized
Buddhist monasticism.
 Stupas were molded as large as 120 feet in diameter with a central
chamber containing relics of Buddha.
• The inner part of the structure made of unbaked bricks.
• The outer was made of baked bricks.
• The outer layer was plaster.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: BU DDHIS T ARC HITEC TU RE
Vihara: Former Centre of Learning: Nalanda, Bihar, India, 700 BCE

Stupa: Great Stupa at Sanchi, Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India, 3rd century BCE
Chaitya Griha: Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, India, 600–1000 CE

3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: GUPTA AR C H I TEC TUR E
 Very diverse in style, design and features.

 This illustrates that Hindu temple architecture was in its formative
stage and was yet to arrive at the standardized situation of later centuries.
 Square was considered the most perfect form and temples were designed
to be appreciated from all sides.
 Gupta temples were also made of blocks of stone.
 No mortar was used in their design.
 In some places, iron pegs fixed in sockets in the adjacent faces of stone
blocks held them together.
 These structures could reach heights of 200 feet, and often sported a heavy
monolithic sculpture at their peak.
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: G U PTA ARC HITEC TU RE
Elaborately detailed stepwell in Patan in the state of Gujarat:

Rani Ki Vav, India, 11th century CE
Vittala Temple Complex, Hampi, Karnataka, India, 1336-1646 CE
3.5. ANC IENT INDIA: G U PTA ARC HITEC TU RE
Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur,Tamil Nadu, India, made of some 60,000 tons of granite, completed 1010 CE
3 . 6 . C H I NA
 China is a cultural hearth area of eastern Asia, many Far East

building methods and styles evolved from China.
 Ancient Chinese architecture is mainly timberwork.
 Wooden posts, beams, lintels and joists make up the framework of a house.
 Walls serve as the separation of rooms without bearing the weight of the
whole house, which is unique to China.
 The oldest archaeological examples of mortise and tenon
type woodworking joints were found in China dating to
about 5000 BC.
3.6. C HINA
● mortise and tenon joints ●

3.6. C HINA
● mortise and tenon joints ●

3.6. C HINA
 The Yingzao Fashi is the oldest complete technical manual on

Chinese architecture.
 Yingzao Fashi - a technical treatise on architecture and craftsmanship
written by the Chinese author Li Jie, the Directorate of Buildings and
Construction during the mid-Song Dynasty of China.
 Li Jie - a promising architect, who revised many older treatises on
architecture from 1097 to 1100.
 The Chinese followed the state rules for thousands of years so
many of the ancient, surviving buildings were built with the
methods and materials used in the 1100s.
3.6. C HINA
 Chinese temples are typically wooden timber frames on an earth

and stone base.
 Chinese temple builders regularly rebuild the wooden temples
so some parts of these ancient buildings are of different ages.
(oldest wooden building)
Nanchan temple, Wutai mountains, Shanxi, China, 782 CE

3.6. C HINA
 Traditional Chinese timber frames do not use trusses.

 rely only on post and lintel construction.
 an important Architectural Element are the Dougong Bracket Sets.
3.6. C HINA
3.6. C HINA
 The Far East used a different method of sawing logs than the
West's method of pit-sawing with a saw pit.
 The concept is the same but the log is angled and no pit is used.
3.6. C HINA

 Wood: most used material for construction,  Paint: for decorative
rather than stone. purposes/beautification.
 Fired Bricks: for building some pagoda  Bamboo: used for
(tomb) walls and for building raised making doors, windows
platforms. and few light furniture.
 Clay mortar: used for filling wall cavities  Thick Paper, Fabric,
and for plastering. Etc.: for making
screens for doors and
 Sandstone: for building raised platforms
windows.
and forming stepping stones.
 Bronze: for engraved
 Glazed Ceramic Tiles: as roofing material
pictures, ornaments,
 Dried Mud Bricks, Rough Stones, Stilts: and other decorations.
used for building some small private homes.
3.6. C HINA
 The Songyue Pagoda (Dengfeng, Zhengzhou, Henan, China) is

the oldest brick pagoda dating to 523 AD.
 built with yellow fired bricks laid in clay mortar, with twelve sides
and fifteen levels of roofs.
3.6. C HINA
 The Anji Bridge (Zhao County, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China) is

the worlds oldest “open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge” built
in 595-605 AD.
 built with sandstone joined with dovetail, iron joints.
3.6. C HINA
 The famous Great Wall of China (700-200 BC),

 built with rammed earth, stones, and wood.
 later built with bricks and tiles with lime mortar.
 wooden gates blocked passageways.
3.6. C HINA
 THE (RESTORED) GREAT WALL Also:

BUILDING MATERIALS  Paint: for decorative
 Bricks purposes/beautification.
 Cut Stone Blocks/Slabs  Bamboo: used for making
doors, windows and few
 Local Materials light furniture.
• Tamped Earth  Bronze: for engraved
• Uncut Stones pictures, ornaments, and
• (Sometimes) Reeds other decorations.
• Wood: for forts and as an  Dried Mud Bricks,
auxiliary material Rough Stones, Stilts:
used for building some
small private homes.
3.6. C HINA
 Stone Great Wall Sections (mountain areas)

 Footing: mountains themselves
 Outer Layer: stone blocks and bricks
 Fillers: uncut stone and anything available (earth and dead workers)
 Soil Great Wall Sections (plains)
 Built with local soil (sand, loess, etc.) and layered rammed earth
 West China (Jiayuguan): built with dusty loess soil, claimed as "the most
erodible soil on the planet".
3.6. C HINA
 Sand (and Reed/Willow) Great Wall Sections

 Fillers: Sand between reed and willow layers.
 West China (Dunhuang) desert: used reeds and willow brought in from
rivers and oases to build a strong wall
 Jade Gate Pass (Yumenguan): built with 20-cm layers of sand and reed
with a height of 9 meters.
 Brick Great Wall Sections
 Ming Dynasty: built with bricks while using lime mortar, building brick
and cement factories with local materials near the wall.
04 MEDIEVAL CONSTRUCTION
 a.k.a. the Middle Ages (mostly Europe)
 Span from the 5th to 15th centuries AD.
 Divided into Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque periods.
 Where fortifications, castles and cathedrals were the
greatest construction projects.
 Began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire with many
Roman building techniques lost.
 one technique that survived was the use of iron ring-beams,
supposedly used in the Palatine Chapel at Aachen, c. 800 AD.
 Timber: what most buildings in  Dry Vegetables
Northern Europe were constructed of (straw, water reed,
until 1000 AD sedge, rushes,
 Bricks: manufactured in Italy heather, or palm
throughout the period 600–1000 AD branches): for
 Stone: cut blocks used for exterior thatching house
walls roofs
 Rubble: for infills
 Lime Mortars
 Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation,
layering them so as to shed water away from the inner roof.
 Since the bulk of the vegetation stays dry and is densely packed—
trapping air—thatching also functions as insulation.
 A revival of stone buildings in the 9th century and the
Romanesque style of architecture began in the late 11th century.
 Medieval stone walls were constructed using cut blocks on the outside
of the walls and rubble infill, with weak lime mortars.
Notre Dame,
Paris
Bodiam Castle,
England
 ARCHITECTURE  OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL
 Gothic style architecture ACHIEVEMENTS
(achieved in stone)  Large scale fortifications and
• Vaults castle building
• Flying Buttresses • Ex: Gothic Cathedrals
• Pointed Gothic Arches  Thin Masonry
• Thin Stone Vaults  Vaults

 Walls Of Glass
• Towering Buildings
 ex: Beauvais Cathedral,
(by trial and error)
Chartres Cathedral, King’s
 Crossing Towers
College Chapel, Notre Dame,
 TECHNOLOGY: etc.
 Pile Driver (c. 1500)
● Wooden Pile Drivers ●

05 CONSTRUCTION IN THE
RENAISSANCE
 In Italy, the invention of moveable type and the Reformation
changed the character of building.
 The rediscovery of Vitruvius had a strong influence.
 During the Middle Ages buildings were designed by the people that built
them.The master mason and master carpenters learnt their trades by
word of mouth and relied on experience, models and rules of thumb to
determine the sizes of building elements.
 Vitruvius however describes in detail the education of the perfect
architect who, he said, MUST BE SKILLED IN ALL THE ARTS AND
SCIENCES.
RENAISSANCE
 Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the first of
the new style of architects.
 He started life as a goldsmith and educated
himself in Roman architecture by studying ruins.
 He went on to engineer the dome of Santa
Maria del Fiore in Florence, completed in 1436.
RENAISSANCE
 BUILDING MATERIALS Also…
 Bricks: used in increased  Plain Tiles: used in northern Europe
quantities for roofing
 Iron: used in roof carpentry for  Stone: remained the material of
straps and tension members choice for prestige buildings
• iron was fixed to structures using  BRICK-MAKING

forelock bolts
 In Italy, brick-makers were organized
• screw-threaded bolt (and nut) into guilds.
are made and found in clock-
 Kilns were mostly in rural areas to
making, but were labor-intensive
avoid the risk of fire and for easy
and thus not used on large
availability of firewood and
structures.
brickearth.
 Terracotta Roof Tiles: typical  Regulations on minimum sizes and
material for roofing measures of bricks.
RENAISSANCE
 TECHNOLOGY  ARCHITECTURE
 Conversion  Renaissance architecture
Technologies: • Columns • Niches
technologies capable of (use of the • Domes
converting unrecyclable classical orders) (imaginatively used
• Pediments in buildings of all
solid waste into useful
• Arches types)
products, such as green
fuels and renewable energy,  DESIGN
in an environmentally  Mathematically precise ratios of height and
beneficial way. width
 Water mills: used to saw  Desire for symmetry, proportion, and
harmony
timber and convert trees  Classical Style: emphasis on the column
into planks. and pediment, based chiefly on the post-
and-beam system
RENAISSANCE
 The rebirth of the idea of an architect radically changed the
nature of building design.
 The Renaissance reintroduced the classical style of
architecture.
 Leon Battista Alberti's treatise on architecture raised the
subject to a new level, defining architecture as something
worthy of study by the aristocracy.
 Previously it was viewed merely as a technical art, suited only
to the artisan.
RENAISSANCE
 The Renaissance architect was often an artist (a painter or
sculptor) who had little knowledge of building technology but a
keen grasp of the rules of classical design.
 The architect thus had to provide detailed drawings for the
craftsmen setting out the disposition of the various parts.
 This was what is called the process of design, from the Italian
word for drawing―disegno.
RENAISSANCE
 Occasionally the architect would get involved in particularly
difficult technical problems but the technical side of
architecture was mainly left up to the craftsmen.
 This had a fundamental difference on the way problems were
approached.
 Where the Medieval craftsmen tended to approach a problem with a
technical solution in mind, the Renaissance architects started with an idea
of what the end product needed to look like and then searched
around for a way of making it work.
 This led to extraordinary leaps forward in engineering.
06 17TH CENTURY CONSTRUCTION
 The period for the birth of modern science which would have
profound effects on building construction in the centuries to
come.
 The major breakthroughs at the end of the century when
architect-engineers began to use experimental science to
inform the form of their buildings.
 It was in the eighteenth century that engineering theory developed
sufficiently to allow sizes of members to be calculated.
 Structures relied strongly on experience, rules of thumb and the use
of scale models.
 Glass:  lime mortar: for
• a major breakthrough, with the first cast plastering
plate glass being developed in France  hydraulic mortar:
 Iron: was increasingly employed in experiments made
structures mixing lime with other
• Christopher Wren used materials
• but no equivalent of
• Iron Hangers: suspend floor beams
the Roman concrete.
at Hampton Court Palace
• Iron Rods: repair Salisbury Cathedral  Cut and gauged
: strengthen the dome of St. brickwork: used to
Paul’s Cathedral. provide detailed and
ornate facades.
 Stone Ashlar: for most buildings surfaces
 Triangulated roof
covering rubble cores
truss
 TOOLS  METHOD
 Many tools have been  Despite the birth of
made obsolete by experimental science, the
modern technology, methods of construction
but … in this period remained
• line gauge largely medieval.
• plumb-line
 The same types of crane that
• carpenter’s square
had been used in previous
• spirit level
centuries were being still
• drafting compass
being employed.
are still in regular use.
 Flying scaffolds were employed at St. Paul’s Cathedral (England)
and in the dome of St. Peters Basilica (Rome).
 But, the same types of timber scaffolding that had been in
use centuries before were retained.
 Cranes and scaffolding depended on timber.
 Complex systems of pulleys allowed comparatively large
loads to be lifted.
 Long ramps were used to haul loads up to the upper parts of
buildings.
 ARCHITECTURE
 Baroque architecture
• A highly decorative and
theatrical style
• Baroque architects took the
basic elements of
Renaissance architecture,
including domes and colonnades,
and made them …
 Higher
 Grander
 more decorated
 more dramatic
St. Gervais and St. Protais

Church, Paris
Church of Santa Prisca,
Taxco de Alarcon
 The period of development of many the ideas that had been

born in the late seventeenth century.
 The architects and engineers became increasingly
PROFESSIONALIZED.
 Experimental science and mathematical methods
became increasingly sophisticated and employed in buildings.
 The birth of the industrial revolution saw an increase in the
size of cities and increase in the pace and quantity of
construction.
 Iron:  Brick: many buildings were
• a major breakthroughs in the use of iron built out of, often coated in
lime render, sometimes
(both cast and wrought)
patterned to look like stone.
• Iron Columns: used in Wren’s designs
• Brick production increased
for the House of Commons and were
markedly during this period.
used in several early eighteenth-century
churches in London, but these • The production itself
changed little.
supported only galleries.
• Large-scale mill construction required • Molded by hand and fired in
kilns no different to those
fire-proof buildings
used for centuries before.
• cast iron became increasingly used for
columns and beams to carry brick vaults  Terracotta: in the form of
Coade stone (“stone fired
for floors.
twice”), used as artificial stone
 Steel: used in the manufacture of tools
 The decreasing costs of iron production allowed the
construction of major pieces of Iron Engineering.
 The Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale (1779) is a particularly
notable example.
 ARCHITECTURE
Excavation sites like those in
 Neoclassical architecture Pompeii and Herculaneum
• emphasizes the wall rather allowed architects to make
than the overall contrast, in-depth interpretations of
Classical architecture and
and maintains separate
synthesize their own unique
identities to each of its style.
parts.
The style is manifested both in
• defined by… its details as a reaction
 Symmetry AGAINST the Rococo (Late-
 Simple Geometry Baroque) style of naturalistic
 Social Demands ornament.
(instead of ornament)
 a.k.a. the Industrial Revolution

 Manifested in new kinds of transportation installations
(requiring large amounts of investment)
 Railways
 Canals
 Macadam Roads
British Railway, 19th century

Panama Canal construction, 19th century

19th century road-laying with John Loudon McAdam:

The Father of the Modern Road
 TECHNOLOGY  BUILDING
 Steam Engines: combined with the MATERIALS
circular saw and machine cut nails  Steel: mass-produced
• lead to the use of balloon framing and used in form of
and the decline of traditional timber I-beams and
framing. reinforced concrete
 Machine Tools  Glass panes: also
 Explosives mass-produced,
 Optical Surveying changed from luxury
to every man's
 Plumbing: gave common access to
property.
drinking water and sewage collection
 ARCHITECTURE
 Greek Revival
 Gothic Revival
• English Gothic architecture
 Neo-Renaissance and Richardson Building Codes have
Romanesque been applied with special
 Second Empire respect to fire safety.
 Exoticism
 Industrial architecture
 Skyscraper design
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy's oldest active

shopping mall and a major landmark, Milan, Italy
The redbrick structure, St. Pancras Railway Station

designed by Sir William Henry Barlow. 19th century
Kotelnicheskaya Embankment
Building, Moscow, Russia
Skyscraper Reliance Building,
Chicago, Illinois
 a.k.a. the Second Industrial Revolution

 Trade unions were formed to protect construction workers’
interests.
 Governmental construction projects were used as a part of
macroeconomic stimulation policies, especially during the Great
depression.
 Economy of great scale are often planned and constructed within
the same project. Whole Suburbs
 Towns or Cities
 Infrastructures
 Ex: Brasília (Brazil) and Million Programme (Sweden)
(called megaproject if the cost exceeds US$1 billion)
 At the end of the 20th century, ecology, energy conservation
and sustainable development have become more important
issues of construction.
 TECHNOLOGY  BUILDING MATERIALS
 Elevators and Cranes:  Steel and Concrete
made constructing high rise
buildings and skyscrapers
possible
 ARCHITECTURE
 Heavy Equipment and  Modern architecture (Modernism)
Power Tools: decreased the • Expressionism • High-tech
workforce needed • Constructivism • Brutalism
• Bauhaus • Deconstructivism
 Prefabrication
• Functionalism • Minimalism
 Computer-aided Design • International • De Stijl
 Personal Protective • Desert Midcentury • Metabolism
Equipment Modernism • Organic
• Hard Hats • Structuralism • Postmodernism
• Formalism • Parametricism.
• Earmuffs
Empire State Building. Workers were often referred to as "old timers"

because most men working on building structures were middle-aged.
Woolworth Building under construction, 1912
Beinecke Rare Book Library,Yale University, Gordon Bunshaft, 1963
Construction of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, finished in 2010

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, New York, c. 1930
Towers of the former World Trade Center, before destruction in 2001,

built between 1966 and 1971
10 21ST CENTURY CONSTRUCTION
 A new generation of wood building products and
techniques are being used in increasing numbers and many
types of buildings.
 Advanced technology and modern Building Codes are
also expanding the use and opportunities for wood in
construction.
 Latest Technology: reduces cost of construction, increases
strength of building, and efficiates time management.
Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario, Canada, Ar. Daniel Libeskind, 2007
8 Spruce Street, New York, USA, Ar. Frank Gehry, 2018

Contemporary Jewish Museum, California, USA, Ar. Daniel Libeskind, 2008
Aqua Tower, Illinois, USA, Ar.: Studio Gang, 2010

fin.
► Corporal, Allan
◄
► Pacardo,
Julia◄

02 History of Construction

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

02 History of Construction

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

02 History of Construction

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

history of

 People have constructed buildings and other

MORE DURABLE NATURAL MATERIALS:

One. THE INCREASING DURABILITY OF THE

1. DEVELOPMENT OF STRONGER MATERIALS

THE DEGREE OF CONTROL EXERCISED INCREASINGLY PRECISE REGULATION OF

Three. OVER THE INTERIOR ENVIRONMENT OF

Four. THE CHANGE IN ENERGY AVAILABLE

One. histor y of building materials

Two. histor y of engineering

Three. histor y of building techniques

Four. economic and social histor y of builders and workmen

Five. histor y of construction machiner y and temporar y works

01 Neolithic Construction 07 Eighteenth Century

04 Medieval Construction 09 Twentieth Century

Neolithic buildings in Skara Brae,

Also scrape, chop (flake

A reconstruction of a pit-house type dwelling made with mammoth bones

A reconstruction of a neolithic fortified village showing a palisade wall

The absence of metal tools

The first mud bricks, formed with the hands

Royal Palace of Ugarit, Bronze Age Syria

A bronze saw from the archaeological site of Akrotiri,

(same types of tools as stone

Reconstructed Roman treadwheel crane at Bonn, Germany

The hand plane developed in the Iron Age

 The earliest large-scale buildings for which evidence survives

Ziggurat of Ur, an outstanding building of the period,

 Surviving records show a very

 Drawings survive on clay tablets

Proto-Cuneiform tablet with seal impressions: administrative

 The later Mesopotamian

Detail of the Ishtar Gate (575 BC) showing the

 As opposed to the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia which built

Karnak, Hypostyle hall

Great Pyramid of Giza, remained the tallest structure in the world

 The ancient Greeks, like the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians,

 The oldest “construction drawing” is in the Temple of Apollo

Temple of Apollo, Didyma

 Greek mathematics was technically advanced and we know for

 The ancient Greeks never developed

An illustration showing masonry techniques

 In striking contrast to previous cultures, an enormous amount is

Pompei, Province of Naples,

The Romans substituted bronze for

The bronze trusses were unique but in

 The Romans had trade guilds. Most construction was done by

 BUILDING MATERIALS Also:

 Previous cultures had used lime mortars but by adding volcanic

● hollow pots systems ●

● heating and ventilation systems●

 During the early times, there was an ecological balance

 BUILDING MATERIALS  ARCHITECTURE

 Made use of Hindu architecture believing in the positive

pinning down Vastupurusa or “the spirit of the site”.

Temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara,Tirupati, India, 300 AD

Konarak Sun Temple, Orissa, India, 13th century

 Three types of structures are associated: Monasteries (viharas),

Vihara: Former Centre of Learning: Nalanda, Bihar, India, 700 BCE