HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

&
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT – I
LECTURE-I

Lecture by: Ar. Aarti Pal

 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

WHAT IS HISTORY?
History is an account of the past.
• Accounts/narratives differ depending on one’s perspective.
• We rely on evidence to construct our accounts of the past.
• We must question the reliability of each piece of evidence.
• Any single piece of evidence is insufficient.
• We must consult multiple pieces of evidence in order to build a plausible account.
•These include not just written documents, but also through objects such as buildings,
artifacts and paintings.
WHY TO STUDY HISTORY?
• To Help Us Understand Change and How the Community, Nation and World We Live
in Came to Be.
• To Inspire Us
• A respect for the past – a sense of excitement about new ideas, peoples and places; as
well as a rather normative belief in its powers to inform the present.
• It also behaves us to study the mistakes and mindsets of our forebears
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE ?

•The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings or any complex structure.

WHAT IS HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE ?

•The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions,
regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates.

WHAT IS BUILT ENVIRONMENT?

•The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting
for human activity.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Changes in method
design ofofvarious
structures construction
building types & functions
 Components of the Built Environment

PRODUCTS, INTERIORS, STRUCTURES, LANDSCAPES, CITIES, REGIONS, AND EARTH

The sum of the seven defines the scope of the total built environment

Products include materials and commodities generally created to extend the human capacity to perform specific
tasks: graphic symbols such as the Western alphabet (letters form words, sentences combine into paragraphs and
chapters, such as in this book); tools(pen and pencil, hammer and saw, peace pipe or weapon); materials (bricks and
mortar, wood, concrete and steel, polymers and plastics); machines (radios and stereos, televisions and
telecommunication systems, calculators and computers, roller skates and automobiles, aircraft and spaceships).
 Components of the Built Environment

Interior spaces are defined by an arranged grouping of products and generally enclosed within a structure. They are
generally created to enhance activities and mediate external factors (living room, workrooms, private rooms, public
assembly halls, stadiums, etc.)
Structures are planned groupings of spaces defined by and constructed of products; generally, related activities are
combined into composite structures (housing, schools, office buildings, churches, factories, highways, tunnels, bridges,
dams, etc.). Generally, structures have both an internal space and an external form.
Landscapes are exterior areas and/or settings for planned groupings of spaces and structures (courtyards, malls,
parks; gardens, sites for homes or other structures; farms, countryside, national forests and parks). Landscapes
generally combine both natural and built environments.
Cities are groupings of structures and landscapes of varying sizes and complexities,
generally clustered together to define a community for economic, social, cultural, and/or
stereos, televisions and telecommunication systems, calculators and computers, roller
skates and automobiles, aircraft and spaceships). environmental reasons (subdivisions,
neighborhoods, districts, villages, towns, and cities of varying sizes).
Regions are groupings of cities and landscapes of various sizes and complexities; they are
generally defined by common political, social, economic, and/or environmental
characteristics (the surrounding region of cities, counties, or multicounty areas, a state or
multistate regions, countries, continents).
The Earth includes all of the above, the groupings of regions consisting of cities and
landscapes—the entire planet, the spectacular, complex, beautiful, still mysterious Earth,
which, as human power expands, may be considered the ultimate artifact.
 ARX2107 - HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT – I
1st – SEMESTER
August 2014 - Dec 2014
Objective:
To understand the role of geo-physical, societal, political and technological factors in the evolution of architectural and urban form and, to
develop a holistic approach to architecture as an integral component of the built environment.

Content:
Unit-I
•Definition and scope of Architecture. Interdependence of various components of the built environment. Need for a holistic approach.
•Man’s early/prehistoric attempts to colonise and personalise space. Examples of early shelters, Stonehenge, tumuli, etc. as expression of
man’s physical and spiritual needs
•Determinants of Built Form - geo-physical, societal, political and technological, etc. Global examples of vernacular architecture.
•Introduction to the River Valley Civilizations. Comparative study of different manifestations with reference to location, materials and
techniques, socio-cultural influences and other contextual factors

Unit-II
•Egyptian Civilization: Concept of the Royal Necropolis, locational context and architectural characteristics of public buildings, e.g.
mastabas, pyramids and temples(rock-cut & structural) -one example of each type to be chosen. Worker’s settlement- city of Kahun.
•Mesopotamian Civilization; the urban context and architecture of public buildings (ziggurats and palaces). Examples of the city and
Ziggurat of Ur, city and palace and of Khorsabad.

Unit-III
•Indus Valley Civilization: Form of the Harappan City, location and role of public buildings.
•Architecture of the typical Harappan dwelling, Granary and Bath.
•The Vedic Village, Building typology and construction
 ARX2107 - HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT – I
1st – SEMESTER
August 2014 - Dec 2014
Assignment - 1

On A4 size sheets give a write up on ‘What is the relevance of study of History of built environments’.
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
&
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT – I
LECTURE-2

Lecture by: Ar. Aarti Pal

 The Historical
Timeline of Architecture

Egyptian Byzantine

Pre-Historic Greek Roman Early Christian Romanesque Gothic Renaissance 18th-19th C: 20th C:
Revival Modern

Near East Islamic

Indian Chinese & Japanese

 Man’s early/prehistoric attempts to colonise
Pre-historic and personalise space

• Humans spread from Africa into Southern Europe, Asia

• Could not settle far north due to the cold climate
• From Siberia by foot into North America
• From Southeast Asia by boat into Australia
•Before 9000 BC, nomadic life of hunting & food gathering
• By 9000 BC, farming and agriculture was practiced
• Fertile soil and plentiful food
• Animal domestication for work, milk, wool
• People wanted to settle down, live in communities
• First villages in the Middle East, South America, Central
America, India and China
• Some people needed not farm, so they spent time on other
work - pot-making, metal-working, art and… architecture!
RELIGION
• No organized religion
• The dead are treated with respect - burial rituals and
monuments

INFLUENCES
HISTORY
• Direct human ancestors evolved in
Africa from 2.3 million years ago -
Homo habilis, Homo erectus, homo
sapiens, homo sapiens sapiens

• The success of the human race was

largely due to the development of
tools – made of stone, wood, bone
Man’s early/prehistoric attempts to colonise and personalise space

FOR SHELTER FOR FOOD FOR DRESS

Caves Lascaux, France
 PRE-HISTORIC

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
MATERIALS EXAMPLES
• Animal skins, wooden frames, animal bones
1.MENHIR
CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM • A single, large upright monolith
• Existing or excavated caves • Serves a religious purpose
• Megalithic, most evident in France, England and • Sometimes arranged in parallel
Ireland rows,reaching several miles and
consisting of thousands of stones

2.DOLMEN
• Tomb of standing stones usually
capped with a large horizontal slab

DECORATION
• Caves paintings in Africa, France and Spain
• Sculpture
3.CROMLECH 4.TUMULUS or PASSAGE GRAVE
• Enclosure formed by huge stones planted on the ground in • Dominant tomb type
circular form • Corridor inside leading to an underground chamber

Stonehenge, England (2800 – 1500 BC)

• Most spectacular and imposing of monolithic monuments
• Outer ring, inner ring, innermost horseshoe-shaped ring with
open end facing east

• Largest stones weigh 45 to 50 tons, came from Wales 200 km

away
• Stones transported by sea or river then hauled on land with
sledges and rollers by hundreds of people, raised upright into pits,
capped with lintels

Genuine architecture - it defines exterior space

• A solar observatory - designed to mark the sun's path during
sunrise on Midsummer Day
Stonehenge 1
At this stage, it was a large circular ditch or "henge" with an entrance at the northeast part, and a smaller entrance at the south part.
It was about 110 meters in diameter and enclosed a circle comprised of about 56 holes that were about 1m wide by 1m deep. Many
people believed that these holes held large wooden posts and created a circle of timbers. It seems that this stage was left untouched
for about a millennium.

Stonehenge 2
This stage included the use of bluestones which were arranged in concentric arcs. These bluestones weighed about 4 tons each, and
evidence suggests that they were transported from as far as 240 miles away. Also, there was an "avenue" that led to the entrance of
the stone arch. The entrance and the avenue were aligned with the sunrise at Summer Solstice.

Stonehenge 3
This is the stage that is primarily visible today. The perimeter was formed by 30 evenly spaced sarsen stones that are placed upright
in a circle. These stones are topped by horizonatlly placed and interconnected stones called lintels. The lintels were connected to
each other via tongue and groove joints and were connected to the upright sarsen stones via tenon joints. Without mortar, these
joints provided stability to the outer structure. There are also 5 trilithons inside the circle of sarsen stones. Each trilithon is made of
2 massive stones (over 40 tons) that are topped by a third stone. There is also a Heelstone located in the avenue about 70 to 80
meters from the center of the stone circle.
PRIMITIVE DWELLINGS
Wigwam or Tepee
• Mostly had one room
• conical tent with
• The development of more complex
wooden poles as
civilizations led to division of the room
framework
into smaller ones for eating, sleeping,
• Covered with rush
socializing
mats and an animal
skin door
• In places where no industrial
Hogan - primitive
revolution has occurred to transform
Indian structure of
building methods and increase
joined logs
population density, houses show little
difference from primitive ones Igloo - Innuit
(Eskimo)house
Beehive Hut constructed of hard-
Trullo - dry walled rough stone shelter packed snow blocks
with corbelled roof built up spirally
Nigerian hut - with
Natural or Artificial Caves mud walls and roof
of palm leaves

Iraqi mudhif - covered with split reed mats, built on a reed platform
to prevent settlement
Sumatran house - for several families, built of timber and palm
leaves, the fenced pen underneath is for livestock