History Of Architecture

PREHISTORICAL ARCHITECTURE TILL

Prehistorical Architecture

• Prehistorical Era as known as the Stone age can be

categorize into three main sub Eras
• Paleolithic Era or Old Stone Age (2.5 millions years ago)
• Mesolithic Era or Middle Stone Age (15000 years ago)
• Neolithic Era or New Stone Age (11000 years ago)
Paleolithic Era
• The Paleolithic is a prehistorical period of human history distinguished
by the development of the most primitive stone tools,
• It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools, 2.6 million years
ago, till around 10,000 B.
• Dwellings of the Paleolithic Era can be caterorized into 5 types, these
structures are created in wood, stones and the skin and bones of their
prey.
 Paleolithic Dwellings
- Caves
- The oldest and most
common types of dwellings
- Natural underground
spaces, large enough for
human
- Example: Rock shelters,
Grottos and Sea Caves
- Huts
- Located in southern French -
Cities
- Oval in shape
- Built close to sea shores
- Built using stakes with
stones as supports
- Stout posts along axis
- Floor Made of organic
matter and ash
- Molodova - Mezhirich - Pit Houses
A more sophisticated - Consisted of foundation - More common in eastern
sought wall of mammoth jaws and Europe with severely low
- Wood framework covered long bones, capped with temperatures
with skins, held in place by skulls - Central post holes
rough oval mammoth - Roofed with tree branches, indicating existence of roof
bones, enclosing 15 hearths overlaid by tusks - Constructed by making
shallow depressions in the
ground surrounded by a
ring of mammoth bones
and tusks
Mesolithic Era
• Villages arranged systematically.
• Houses aligned in rows. More regular plans.
• Artefacts came into existence.
• Settlements began around water bodies. Fishing, cultivation of cereals and
vegetables began. Animals were domesticated, farming tools were developed.
• Dwellings were more durable as compared to that in the Paleolithic age.
Mesolithic Era
• Mesolithic Era comes after the end Paleolithic Era, it welcomes an age
of forests, as many forests begins to develop. This establishment of
forests lead to a differences in behaviour and patterns of people.
• People becomes more nomadic with new mobility, due to the end of
the Ice age.
• The architecture changed to reflect this less hostile period of time,
more timber and other similar materials are used in the construction of
the dwellings as compare to the use of bones and skins.
• Architecture of this time period reflected a new freedom and less stoic
way of life, the structures took on a new openness.
 Mesolithic Dwellings

HUTS
The structure mainly comprised of bamboos. Plans were trapezoidal in
shape. They had wide entrances facing the water bodies (rivers). Floors
were plastered with lime. Posts were reinforced with stones.

PIT HOUSES
Shallow oval pits 6m-9m long and 25m wide. Roofs were made of
timber. Stone hearths were used as working slabs.
Neolithic Era
• Neolithic exists between the 10,000 – 900BC, the people were great
builders.
• Many changes took place, they utilized mud-brick to construct houses
and villages.
• Production of food.
• Developments in agriculture lead to settling down.
• Dwellings became more sustainable.
Neolithic Dwellings
LONG HOUSES
• The Neolithic long house was a long, narrow
timber dwelling built by the first farmers
in Europe beginning at least as early as the period
5000 to 6000 BC.
• The long house was a rectangular structure, 5.5 to
7.0 m wide, of variable length, around 20 m up to
45 m.
• Outer walls were wattle-and-daub, sometimes
alternating with split logs, with pitched, thatched
roofs, supported by rows of poles, three across.
• The exterior walls would have been quite short
beneath the large roof. They were solid and
massive, oak posts being preferred.
• Clay for the daub was dug from pits near the
house, which were then used for storage.
 Neolithic Dwellings
DRY STONE HOUSES

• Stone built houses with 3m thick cavity

walls.
• Inner, outer caves were made of dry
stones and the interiors were covered
with domestic refuse.
• Rectangular plan with circular corners.
• Thatched roofs with a smoke hole at the
top positioned over central hearth.

Remains of Skara Brae, a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on

the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the
Orkney archipelago of Scotland.
Monuments
• Settlements lead to building of
monumental stone architecture. Collective Tombs
• These were mainly collective • Passage Graves
tombs. Such as Passage Graves
and Gallery Graves. • Gallery Graves
• Others are Menhirs that can
exist as monoliths or a part of Menhirs
group.
• Dolmens
• Henges
 MEGALITHIC PASSAGE GRAVES
• A long passage leads to a chamber deep
inside. The walls of the passage are
made of large upright slabs.
• Covering mound (38m x32m)
surrounded by wide space with wide
ditch beyond.
• Entrance passage 1m wide and 1.5m
high. burial chamber(5sqm)
• Smooth walls built with rectangular
blocks and fine joints.
• Three cells at three sides of the
chamber. Built mainly with masoned
walls and corbelled roof.
MEGALITHIC GALLERY GRAVES
• 23m long chamber divided into twelve
sections.
• Covered with a rectangular mound .
MENHIRS
• Large, upright standing
stones.
• Uneven textured, square
shaped, tapered towards the
top.
• May exist as monoliths or a
part of group.
• Existed as identification
marks at burial sites or
otherwise.
DOLMENS HENGES
• Two or more stones supporting a large one at • Open air ritual structures. The plan comprised
the top. of concentric circles.
• Burial features. • An altar located in the centre.
• Also called cromlechs (brythonic origin). • Surrounded by five trilithon pairs of stones.
• Followed by a circle of blue stones.
• Example: The stone henge.
 Ancient Near East
CRADLES OF CIVILIZATION AND THE BRONZE AGE
Ancient Near East
• The ancient Near East was the home of
early civilizations within a region
roughly corresponding to the modern
Middle East: Mesopotamia ,ancient
Egypt and ancient Iran are a few of the
many civilizations.
• Mesopotamia
• Earliest of all civilizations as people formed
permanent settlements
• Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means
“between the rivers”, specifically, the area
between the Tigris River and Euphrates
River (present day Iraq)
• Its peoples were the first to irrigate fields,
devised a system of writing, developed
mathematics, invented the wheel and
learned to work with metal
 Mesopotamia Architecture: Ziggurats
Mesopotamian Ziggurat at Ur, c. 2100 B.C.
• Large temples dedicated to the god of the city
• Made of layer upon layer of mud bricks in the
shape of a pyramid in many tiers (due to
constant flooding and from belief that gods
resided on mountaintops)
• Temple on top served as the god’s home and
was beautifully decorated
• Inside was a room for offerings of food and
goods
• Temples evolved to ziggurats- a stack of 1-7
platforms decreasing in size from bottom to
top
• Famous ziggurat was Tower of Babel (over
100m above ground and 91m base)
Mesopotamia Architecture: Palace
• The Mesopotamians erected many
splendid palaces and temples, within a
Mesopotamian city, much of the architecture
(including palaces, temples, and city walls)
was often linked together, forming a vast
municipal complex. The architectural bulk of
a Mesopotamian city was relieved with
spacious courtyards
• Kings celebrated their victories, wealth and
power by building large palaces
• Variety of architectural styles
• This includes, audience halls, reception halls,
storerooms for tributes and valuables, military
quarters
• Apadana – tallest building, with 36 columns of
20m height.
Mesopotamia Architecture: Ishtar Gate
• The greatest surviving work of
Mesopotamian architecture is
the Ishtar Gate, one of a series of gates
that guarded the route into the heart
of Babylon (during the Neo-
Babylonian period). Coated in glazed
blue tiles, the gate is graced
with reliefs of lions, bulls, and dragons,
providing a taste of the glazed-tile
decoration that once coated large
portions of Mesopotamian palaces,
temples, and ziggurats.G125 Like other
Mesopotamian gates and defensive
walls, the Ishtar gate features a flat
roof (upon which defenders could
stand) edged with a battlement (a wall
with regular gaps, providing defenders
with shelter).
Mesopotamia Architecture: Dwellings
• Known as Megaron
• Entrance at end rather
than on the long sides
• Portico - colonnaded
space forming an entrance
or vestibule, with a roof
supported on one side by
columns
Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa,
concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the
modern country of Egypt.

• Wealthy country despite the desert - every year, Nile would overflow,
leaving the land fertile for growing crops

• Nile River was a trade route

• Gold from Nubia in the south

• Two kingdoms, Lower and Upper Egypt, combined by King Menes in

3100 BC

• Many small towns, but royal cities at Memphis and Thebes

• A single kingdom for most of its existence - unified under the centralized
omnipotent authority of the pharaoh (king)

• The many achievements of the ancient Egyptians include the quarrying,

surveying and construction techniques that supported the building of
monumental pyramids, temples, and obelisks and a system
of mathematics.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• DESCRIPTION • MATERIALS

• Afterlife - life and house on earth is • Stone was abundant in variety and
temporary, the tomb is permanent quantity

• For sustenance and eternal enjoyment • Used for monuments and religious
of the deceased buildings

• Religion is the dominant element in • Durability of stone is why monuments

Egyptian architecture still exist to this day

• ROOF & OPENINGS • Other materials, metals and timber

were imported
• Roof was not an important
consideration • Mud bricks: for houses, palaces
(reeds, papyrus, palm branch ribs,
plastered over with clay)
• Flat roofs sufficed to cover and
exclude heat

• No windows

• Spaces were lit by skylights, roof slits,

clerestories
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• WALL

• Batter wall - diminishing in width towards the top for

stability

• Thickness: 9 to 24m at temples

• Unbroken massive walls, uninterrupted space for

hieroglyphics

• DECORATIONS

• Mouldings such as "gorge" or "hollow and roll" was inspired

by reeds

• Torus moulding

• Common capitals used were the lotus, papyrus, palm which

echoed indigenous Egyptian plants, and were symbols of
fertility as well

• The shaft represented bundle of stems

Ancient Egypt Architecture : MASTABAS
• Rectangular flat-topped
funerary mound, with
battered side, covering a
burial chamber below
ground
• First type of Egyptian tomb
• Developed from small and
inconspicuous to huge an
imposing
Parts:
• Stairway with 2 doors: one for ritual, second
was a false door for spirits
• Column Hall
• Offering Chapel
• Serdab (contains statue of deceased)
• Offering room with Stelae (stone with name
of deceased inscribed)
• Offering table
• Sarcophagus – Egyptian coffin
Ancient Egypt Architecture : PYRAMIDS
• massive funerary structure of stone or brick

• Came in complexes:

• Offering chapel (north or east side)

• Mortuary chapel

• Raised and enclosed causeway leading to

west

• Valley building for embalmment and

internment rites

• Immense use of labor and materials, built in

layers, like steps

Step Pyramid of Zoser, Saqqara

• World's first large-scale monument in stone
Ancient Egypt Architecture : ROCK-HEWN TOMBS
• A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber
that is cut into an existing, naturally
occurring rock formation, usually
along the side of a hill. It was a
common form of burial for the
wealthy in ancient times in several
parts of the world.

• Built along hillside

• For nobility, not royalty

Ancient Egypt Architecture : TEMPLES
MORTUARY TEMPLES
• worship/ in honor of pharaohs Temple of Khons
• Typical temple: pylons, court,
CULT TEMPLES hypostyle hall, sanctuary, chapels all
enclosed by high girdle wall
• Avenue of sphinxes and obelisks
• worship/ in honor of god fronting pylons

Parts:
Great Temple of Ammon, Karnak,
• Entrance pylon Thebes
• Grandest temple and the work
of many kings
• Large outer court open to sky (hypaethral court)
• Hypostyle hall
• Sanctuary surrounded by passages
• Chapels/chambers used in connection with the Great Temple of Abu-Simbel
• Example of rock-cut temple
temple service • Constructed by Rameses II
• Entrance forecourt leads to imposing pylon with 4 rock-
cut colossal statues of Rameses sitting over 20 m high
Ancient Egypt Architecture : PYLONS & OBELISKS
PYLONS OBELISKS
• upright stone square in plan, with an electrum-capped
• monumental gateway to the temple pyramidion on top
consisting of slanting walls flanking the • sacred symbol of sun-god Heliopolis
entrance portal
• usually came in pairs fronting temple entrances

• height of nine or ten times the diameter at the base

• four sides feature hieroglyphics

Great Obelisks at Luxor

Temple of Isis, Philae

Ancient Egypt Architecture : DWELLINGS & FORTRESSES

DWELLINGS FORTRESSES
• Made of crude brick
• Mostly found on west bank of Nile or
• One or two storey high
on islands
• Flat roof deck

• 3 parts:
• Close communications with other
• Reception suite on north side - central hall or living room with high ceiling and clerestory
fortresses
• Service quarters • Fortress of Buhen

• Private quarters • Headquarters & largest fortified town near Nubia

• From here they could trade and invade lands to the south
References
• https://www.pinterest.com/pin/516788125973513944/

• https://www.slideshare.net/surabhi527/paleolithic-architecture

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_long_house

• https://www.slideshare.net/siobhanholland9/ancient-ireland-1

• http://www.orkney.com/whats-new/maeshowe-webcam

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Mesopotamia

• https://www.slideshare.net/patricehigh/mesopotamia-power-point

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_East

• http://www.essential-humanities.net/world-art/mesopotamian/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-cut_tomb