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Architectural Art

Architecture, the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. The practice of architecture is employed to fulfill both practical and expressive requirements, and thus it serves both utilitarian and aesthetic ends. Although these two ends may be distinguished, they cannot be separated, and the relative weight given to each can vary widely. Because every society—settled or nomadic—has a spatial relationship to the natural world and to other societies, the structures they produce reveal much about their environment (including climate and weather), history, ceremonies, and artistic sensibility, as well as many aspects of daily life.

The basic methods of building design and construction have been used for thousands of years. Stacking stones, laying brick, or lashing wood together in one form or another are still used today in all parts of the world. But over the centuries, innovations in methods and materials have given new expression to architecture and the human footprint on the landscape. We can look to historical examples for clues that give context to different style periods.

In western culture, one of the earliest settlements with permanent structures was discovered at Catalhoyuk in Turkey (pictured below). The rich soil that surrounds the settlement indicates the inhabitants relied in part on farming. Dated to about 7500 BCE, the dwellings are constructed from dried mud and brick and show wooden support beams spanning the ceilings. The design of the settlement incorporates a cell-like structure of small buildings either sharing common walls or separated by a few feet. The roofs are flat and were used as pathways between buildings.

There are various types of Architectural Art, some of which are:

• Architectural Painting
• Architectural Drawing
• Furniture and wood construction
• Buildings:
  • Greek and Roman Classical Architecture. ...
  • Gothic Architecture. ...
  • Baroque. ...
  • Neoclassical Architecture. ...
  • Victorian Architecture. ...
  • Modern Architecture. ...
  • Post-Modern Architecture. ...
  • Neofuturist Architecture

History

Architectural advances are an important part of the Neolithic period (10,000-2000 BC), during which some of the major innovations of human history occurred. The domestication of plants and animals, for example, led to both new economics and a new relationship between people and the world, an increase in community size and permanence, a massive development of material culture and new social and ritual solutions to enable people to live together in these communities. New styles of individual structures and their combination into settlements provided the buildings required for the new lifestyle and economy, and were also an essential element of change.

Although many dwellings belonging to all prehistoric periods and also some clay models of dwellings have been uncovered enabling the creation of faithful reconstructions, they seldom included elements that may relate them to art. Some exceptions are provided by wall decorations and by finds that equally apply to Neolithic and Chalcolithic rites and art.

In South and Southwest Asia, Neolithic cultures appear soon after 10,000 BC, initially in the Levant (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) and from there spread eastwards and westwards. There are early Neolithic cultures in Southeast Anatolia, Syria and Iraq by 8000 BC, and food-producing societies first appear in southeast Europe by 7000 BC, and Central Europe by c. 5500 BC (of which the earliest cultural complexes include the Starčevo-Koros (Cris), Linearbandkeramic, and Vinča).

Modern imaginings of ancient Egypt are heavily influenced by the surviving traces of monumental architecture. Many formal styles and motifs were established at the dawn of the pharaonic state, around 3100 BC. The inspiration for many of these styles lay in the organic elements used in early buildings made from perishable materials. While the original structures are almost totally unknown, stylised motifs of plants continued to be replicated and adapted well into the Roman period. The endurance of forms over such a long period means that pharaonic architecture is easily recognizable today, and has been sometimes imitated by architects in modern times.

The Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife. They also believed that in order for their soul (known as ka) to live eternally in their afterlife, their bodies would have to remain intact for eternity. So, they had to create a way to protect the deceased from damage and grave robbers. This wasy, the mastaba was born. These were adobe structures with flat roofs, which had underground rooms for the coffin, about 30 m down. Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest and architect, had to design a tomb for the pharaoh Djoser. For this, he placed five mastabas, one above the next, this way creating the first Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. The most iconic Ancient Egyptian buildings are the pyramids. They were built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms (circa 2600-1800 BC). The most imposing one was the Great Pyramid of Giza, made for Pharaoh Khufu in circa 2589-2566 BC. The Ancient Egyptian pyramids were built with precision, their massive stones so finely joined that the edge of a knife cannot fit between them. The stone blocks were held together by mortar, and the entire structure was covered with highly polished white limestone, with their tops topped in gold. What we see today is actually the core structure pf the pyramid. Despite being highly associated with the Ancient Egyptians, pyramids have been built by other civilizations to, like the Mayans or the Aztecs.

Due to the lack of resources and a shift in power towards priesthood, ancient Egyptian steeped away from pyramids, and temples became the focal point of cult construction. Just like the pyramids, Ancient Egyptian temples were also spectacular and monumental. They evolved from small shrines to large complexes, and by the New Kingdom (circa 1550-1070 BC) they have become massive stone structures consisting of halls and courtyards? Ancient Egyptian temples in general consisted of four parts: the entrance with a massive pylon, a peristyle courtyard, a hypostyle hall, and a sanctuary. The pylons had about 40 m. In front of them were obelisks and sculptures of the pharaoh.

An architectural element specific to ancient Egyptian architecture is the cavetto cornice (a concave molding), introduced by the end of the Old Kingdom. It was widely used to accentuate the top of almost every formal pharaonic building. Because of how often it was used, it will later decorate many Egyptian Revival buildings are objects. No formal plans or pattern books survive, and the question of exactly how the pyramids were built continues to provoke debate. Similar to the Ancient Greek and Roman orders, there were certain types of Ancient Egyptian columns, like Composite, Hathoric, Lotiform, Palmiform, Papyriform, and other ones. The temples were decorated with reliefs and painted in bright colors, mainly red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and white. Because of the desert climate of Egypt, parts of these painted surfaces were preserved well.

Without a doubt, ancient Greek architecture, together with Roman, is one of the most influential styles of all time. From circa 850 BC to circa 300 AD, ancient Greek culture flourished on the Greek mainland, on the Peloponnese, and on the Aegean islands. Five of the Wonders of the World were Greek: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. However, Ancient Greek architecture is best known from its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, and the Parthenon is a prime example of this, mostly as ruins but many substantially intact. Later, they will serve as inspiration for Neoclassical architects during the late 18th and the 19th century. The most well-known temples are the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, both on the Acropolis of Athens. Another type of important Ancient Greek buildings was the theatres. Both temples and theatres used a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios.

Ancient Greek temples usually consist of a base with stairs at each edges (known as crepidoma), a cella (or naos) with a cult statue in it, columns, an entablature, and two pediments, one on the front side and another in the back. By the 4th century BC, Greek architects and stonemasons had developed a system of rules for all buildings known as the orders: the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. They are most easily recognised by their columns (especially by the capitals). The Doric column is stout and basic, the Ionic one is slimmer and has four scolls (called volutes) at the corners of the capital, and the Corinthian column is just like the Ionic one, but the capital is completely different, being decorated with acanthus leafs and four scrolls. Besides columns, the frieze was different based on order. While the Doric one has metopes and triglyphs with guttae, Ionic and Corinthian friezes consist of one big continuous band with reliefs.

Besides the columns, the temples were highly decorated with sculptures, in the pediments, on the friezes, metopes and triglyphs. Despite how they look now and how most people imagine them today, completely white, all temples were partially painted in bright colours, including red and blue. Ornaments used by Ancient Greek architects and artists include palmettes, vegetal or wave-like scrolls, lion mascarons (mostly on lateral cornices), dentils, acanthus leafs, bucrania, festoons, egg-and-dart, rais-de-cœur, beads, meanders, and acroteria at the corners of the pediments. Pretty often, ancient Greek ornaments are used continuously, as bands. They will later be used in Etruscan, Roman and in the post-medieval styles that tried to revive Greco-Roman art and architecture, like Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical etc.

References

Braun, Hugh, An Introduction to English Mediaeval Architecture, London: Faber and Faber, 1951.

Francis Ching, Mark Jarzombek, Vikram Prakash, A Global History of Architecture, Wiley, 2006.

Copplestone, Trewin. (ed). (1963). World architecture – An illustrated history. Hamlyn, London.

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, The Pelican History of Art: Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Penguin Books, 1958.

Nuttgens, Patrick (1983), The Story of Architecture, Prentice Hall

Renault, Christophe and Lazé, Christophe, les Styles de l'architecture et du mobliier, Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot, 2006 (in French). ISBN 978-2-87747-465-8

Watkin, David (Sep 2005), A History of Western Architecture, Hali Publications

Modernism

Banham, Reyner, (1 Dec 1980) Theory and Design in the First Machine Age Architectural Press.

Curtis, William J. R. (1987), Modern Architecture Since 1900, Phaidon Press

Frampton, Kenneth (1992). Modern Architecture, a critical history. Thames & Hudson- Third Edition.

Jencks, Charles, (1993) Modern Movements in Architecture. Penguin Books Ltd – second edition.

Pevsner, Nikolaus, (28 Mar 1991) Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius, Penguin Books Ltd.