Architecture

Your project was really interesting (and you seem to be passionate about architecture), with hardly any mistakes in the texts. However, you should have made it more "personal". I know you carried out an awful lot of research to do the work on this page but your texts should be entirely written by yourself and not "taken" directly from some website or written by someone who speaks perfect English !

Your mark is 15/20

Introduction

Hello my name is Arthur, I'm 15 years old and… Welcome on my web page. Here we are going to talk about architecture and everything around it.
Architecture is the art of designing spaces and buildings.
It is recognized as the first of the major arts in the commonly accepted twentieth century classification of the nine major arts and is part of the fine arts category .

The history of architecture.

The architecture is not as recent as one might think.
Indeed, it has marked history and even prehistory.
Over time, it has been inspired by different styles and artistic trends.

I) Prehistory :

a) Paleolithic (The age of the cut stone or the Old Stone Age)

During the Paleolithic period , architecture was almost non-existent. This does not mean, however, that it was not present. At that time architecture was only the construction process and the purpose of construction. The artistic side was absent. Indeed, the dwellings were caves and tents made of animal skins.

Paleolithic hunter's hut made of mammoth bones

b) Neolithic (age of the polished stone or the New Stone Age)

Neolithic architecture refers to a group of structures spread over a period from about 10000 BC to 6000 BC. During this period, architecture existed in the form of basic housing. However, in some areas dolmens or menhirs can could be seen. Dolmens are stone constructions which, according to researchers and archaeologists, were probably used as funerary monuments, i.e. they were used to bury one or more corpses. Menhirs were probably the first form of artistic architecture.

A Neolithic house


Dolmens

Menhirs

II) Antiquity:

Antiquity knows saw the first men whose profession was architecture: the architects.

a) Rome

Although a Roman architect is was skillful, designing creative and intelligent, his identity remains remained unknown to the public in most cases because it is was the name of his sponsor that is was sometimes displayed in large format on monuments when he is was the principal author. The social situation over time is probably one of the reasons for this behaviour, as Roman architects sometimes came from a lower social stratum, they were either slaves or freedmen.

The Colosseum of Rome

In spite of their social origin, Roman architects were forced to follow a strict training course covering several fields of knowledge. At the end of their training, Roman architects were able to design technical plans for monuments, to coordinate major works, as the subjects taught concerned geometry, hydraulics, high-level drawings, light effects, and in addition they had to master the financial management of projects.

Roman Domus (house) in Pompei

It must be recognized that Roman architects have made several improvements in this field, building very remarkable monuments such as amphitheatres and many other styles of buildings. During the Roman period, more than 220 amphitheatres were built and several are still standing in Rome, Arles, Verona, El Jem, Pompei, etc. After several centuries of existence, it can be said that these buildings can still mark the skills of Roman architects, despite the occasional restoration.

b) Greece

In ancient Greece, on the contrary, architects were recognized for their work. Ancient Greek architecture was divided into three architectural streams:
-Doric:
The Doric style was mainly used in Greece and then spread all the way to Italy. The Doric style was more conventional and austere. The Doric order is the most sparse of the three Greek orders. The Doric columns are characterized by their capitals with flat spine (naked, without decoration), by their shaft decorated with 20 flutes and by the absence of a base.

Doric Order Column

-Ionic:
The Ionic style was used in the cities of Ionia (now the west coast of Turkey) and some islands in the Aegean Sea. The Ionic style was more decorative and creative. The Ionic order (also called Ionic column) is characterized by its scrolled capital, its shaft decorated with 24 flutes and its molded base.
Sometimes a group of caryatids (women in togas) takes the place of Ionic columns, the folds of the garments evoking the flutes of these columns.

Ionic order column

-The Corinthian:
The more ornate Corinthian style was a late evolution of the Ionic style. The Corinthian order is the last of the three Greek architectural orders, whose character is mainly determined by a great wealth of elements and a capital decorated with two rows of acanthus leaves. The flared shape and vegetal decoration that characterise the Corinthian capital appeared in Egypt, Assyria and other parts of the East before being adopted by the Greeks.

Corinthian Order Column

These styles are well known through the three forms of capitals overhanging the columns, but it can also be recognized in the architectural and decorative elements of the buildings.

Parthenon on Athens acropolis.

c) Mesopotamia

The brick Bricks
For geological reasons, the basic material used to make buildings in Mesopotamia is not stone but clay.
This clay is used to make mud bricks. Sometimes the bricks are fired for more solidity. Indeed, raw bricks tend to crumble over time.

All buildings are built according to the same principle
Three types of residences can be distinguished: those of the common people, those of the rulers (palaces), and those of the gods (temples).
They function according to the same principle, since they are generally organized around a central space, and are closed in on themselves (and not open to the outside world).
Conventional residences may have one floor. It is common practice to bury the dead of the family under the residences where they lived.

Representation of the Sumerian God Imdugud.

Palaces were originally built as houses, only larger, sometimes with a second floor. Eventually they take up more space, and have a more complex space.

Inner courtyard of Zimri-Lim's palace in Mari.

Temples are traditionally considered to have three main parts: a vestibule, an antechamber, and then the "holy of holies" housing the statue of the main deity. These buildings are organized according to the same principle as a normal residence, i.e. around a central space, sometimes opening onto shops and administrative buildings, or libraries.

Remains of a Mesopotamian temple.

d) Egypt

The architecture of ancient Egypt includes some of the most famous monuments in the world such as the pyramids of Giza and the temples of Thebes.

Giza Site

Thebes Temple

The ancient Egyptians were skilled builders, using simple but effective tools and observation instruments. Architects could build great stone buildings with accuracy and precision.
The dwellings of the Egyptians, both high and low condition, were built with perishable materials such as mud bricks or wood and did not survive.
Important structures such as temples and tombs that were intended to last forever were built of stone rather than brick. The architectural elements used in the world's first large-scale stone monument, the funerary complex of Djoser, include architraves (the part of the entablature that bears horizontally on the columns in ancient architecture) decorated with papyrus and lotus motifs.

Djoser Funeral Complex

III) Middle Ages:

The fall of the Western Roman Empire put an end to architectural unity. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, many architectural styles emerged deriving from ancient Greco-Roman architecture. In the Middle Ages, two types of buildings can be considered as true architectural works: religious buildings and military buildings.

a) Religious architecture

In the Middle Ages, religion had a very important place in everyday life, in political life and therefore in architecture.

- Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is the first great style created in the Middle Ages in Europe after the decline of the Greco-Roman civilization. Its development is fully established around 1060 but the first signs of change are different according to the region. Gothic architecture. Romanesque architecture developed over a vast area stretching from the northern half of Spain to Ireland, Scotland and half of Scandinavia. Eastern Europe, the Slavic countries from Poland to Slovakia, Bohemia and Moravia, Hungary and Slovenia also adopt this style, as does the whole of Italy with its islands. This area corresponds to the influence of the Roman Church in the Middle Ages, the great family of Romano-Germanic peoples, the West Slavs and some ethnic relics. Any definition of Romanesque architecture is necessarily simplistic in that it covers a great variety of buildings built over a long period of time. The term Romanesque is sometimes used to describe buildings whose dating is very uncertain, simply because they use techniques or have an atmosphere that seems Romanesque to the modern observer: barrel vaulting, round arches or historiated capitals, for example, are all examples of Romanesque architecture.

Legend

- Gothic Architecture
Although it is common to define Gothic architecture by the use of the pointed arch (the "ogive" of the ancient antique dealers that replaces the round arch) that allows the walls to gain height, the cross vault that allows the building to gain width and the buttress arch to support the master vault, a specific architectural style, or any other art, cannot be reduced to technical characteristics. Opposing the Romanesque to the Gothic by the use of the semicircular arch or the use of the ogive is absurd and has no historical meaning. Contrary to popular belief, the pointed arch, the cross vault and the buttress are not Gothic inventions. They were used long before the first Gothic buildings appeared.

Legend

b) Military architecture

During the medieval period, military architecture constantly evolved with the improvement of weapons, siege engines, warfare tactics and strategies.
Contrary to popular belief, fortifications don't originate from the Occident. Indeed, long before medieval times, in the fertile crescent (from Mesopotamia to Egypt), in China and in the Indus Valley, fortifications (walls, fortified enclosures or fortified houses) were already being built.

c) Other Architectural Styles

In some regions, foreign conquests or influences or isolation have altered the buildings, classifying them in architectural styles in their own right.

- Mudéjar architecture
Mudéjar architecture is an architecture that developed in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from the 12th to the 16th centuries in the regions conquered by the Christian kingdoms and which results from the application of Muslim influences, techniques and materials to Christian (or Jewish) buildings. There are seven types of Mudéjar architecture, some of which can be described as 'architectural style' (Roman-Mudéjar, Gothic-Mudéjar), while others are characterized by an eclectic mix of Umayyad, Taifa, Almohad and Nasrid influences (Judeo-Mudéjar, Court Mudéjar, Military Mudéjar, Renaissance Mudéjar).

Legend

- Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architectural style that developed in the Byzantine Empire and countries marked by its imprint such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, Armenia and Georgia after Constantine transferred the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330.

Legend

- Norman medieval architecture
Norman architecture is a term used to describe the Romanesque style created in the 11th and 12th centuries by the Normans in the various territories under their domination or influence. They introduced a large number of civil monuments such as castles, fortifications, including Norman dungeons, at the same time as large religious monuments: monasteries, abbeys, churches and cathedrals. This style, which originated in Normandy, spread to northern Western Europe, particularly England, following its conquest in 1066 by William the Conqueror. England contributed considerably to the development of Anglo-Norman art and preserves the largest number of examples.

Legend

- Norwegian medieval architecture
The best examples of Norwegian architecture are the stavkirkes. A stavkirke is a medieval wooden church typical of Norway, although excavations suggest that other churches of this type may have existed elsewhere in northern Europe. About 1,300 medieval churches have been recorded, 28 of which have been preserved in Norway.

Legend

IV) Modern times:

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V) Contemporary times:

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Architectural professions

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