History of architecture

Neolithic architecture
Neolithic architecture is the architecture of the Neolithic period. In
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). With the exception of the Andes, the Isthmo-Columbian area
and Western Mesoamerica (and a few copper hatchets and spear
heads in the Great Lakes region), the people of the Americas and the
Pacific remained at the Neolithic level of technology up until the time of
Western contact.
The neolithic people in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia were great
builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. At Çatalhöyük, houses were plastered
and painted with elaborate scenes of humans and animals. The Mediterranean neolithic cultures of
Malta worshiped in megalithic temples.
In Europe, long houses built from wattle and daub were constructed. Elaborate tombs for the dead
were also built. These tombs are particularly numerous in Ireland, where there are many thousands
still in existence. Neolithic people in the British Isles built long barrows and chamber tombs for their
dead and causewayed camps, henges flint mines and cursus monuments.

Antiquity
Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamia is most noted for its construction of mud brick buildings and the construction of
Ziggurats, religious temples made for worship of the gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia. The word
Ziggurat is an anglicized form of the Akkadian word ziqqurratum, the name given to the solid stepped
towers of mud brick. It derives from the verb zaqaru, ‘to be high'. The buildings are described as being
like mountains linking Earth and heaven. The ziggurat at Ur, excavated by Leonard Woolley, is 64 by
46 meters at base and originally some 12 meters in height with three stories. It was built under Ur-
Nammu (c.2100 B.C.) and rebuilt under Nabonidus (555-539 B.C.) when it was increased in height to
probably seven stories.

Ancient Egyptian architecture

In Ancient Egypt and other early societies, people believed in the omnipotence of gods, with many
aspects of daily life carried out with respect to the idea of the divine or supernatural and the way it was
manifest in the mortal cycles of generations, years, seasons, days and nights. Harvests for example
were seen as the benevolence of fertility deities. Thus, the founding and ordering of the city and her
most important buildings (the palace or temple) were often executed by priests or even the ruler
himself and the construction was accompanied by rituals intended to enter human activity into
continued divine benediction.
Ancient architecture is characterized by this tension between the divine and mortal world. Cities would
mark a contained sacred space over the wilderness of nature outside, and the temple or palace
continued this order by acting as a house for the gods. The architect, be he priest or king, was not the
sole important figure; he was merely part of a continuing tradition

Greek architecture

The architecture and urbanism of the Greeks and Romans was very
different from that of the Egyptians and Persians. Civic life gained
importance for all members of the community. In the time of the
ancients religious matters were only handled by the ruling class; by the
time of the Greeks, religious mystery had skipped the confines of the
temple-palace compounds and was the subject of the people or polis.

Greek civic life was sustained by new, open spaces called the agora
which were surrounded by public buildings, stores and temples. The
agora embodied the newfound respect for social justice received
through open debate rather than imperial mandate. Though divine
wisdom still presided over human affairs, the living rituals of ancient
civilizations had become inscribed in space, in the paths that wound
towards the acropolis for example. Each place had its own nature, set Ceiling decoration in the peristyle hall
of Medinet Habu, an example of
within a world refracted through myth, thus temples were sited atop
ancient Egyptian architecture
mountains all the better to touch the heavens.

Roman architecture

The Romans conquered the Greek cities in Italy around three hundred
years BCE and much of the Western world after that. The Roman
problem of rulership involved the unity of disparity — from Spanish to
Greek, Macedonian to Carthaginian — Roman rule had extended itself
across the breadth of the known world and the myriad pacified cultures
forming this ecumene presented a new challenge for justice. Temple of Concordia in Agrigento,
Sicily.

One way to look at the unity of Roman architecture is through a new-found realization

of theory derived from practice, and embodied spatially. Civically we find this happening in the Roman
forum (sibling of the Greek agora), where public participation is increasingly removed from the
concrete performance of rituals and represented in the decor of the architecture. Thus we finally see
the beginnings of the contemporary public square in the Forum Iulium, begun by Julius Caesar, where
the buildings present themselves through their facades as representations within the space.

As the Romans chose representations of sanctity over actual sacred spaces to participate in society,
the communicative nature of space was opened to human manipulation. None of which would have
been possible without the advances of Roman engineering and construction or the newly found marble
quarries which were the spoils of war; inventions like the arch and concrete gave a whole new form to
Roman architecture, fluidly enclosing space in taut domes and colonnades, clothing the grounds for
imperial rulership and civic order. This was also a response to the changing social climate which
demanded new buildings of increasing complexity — the colosseum, the residential block, bigger
hospitals and academies. General civil construction such as roads and bridges began to be built.

The Romans widely employed, and further developed, the arch, vault and dome (see the Roman
Architectural Revolution), all of which were little used before, particularly in Europe. Their innovative
use of Roman concrete facilitated the building of the many public buildings of often unprecedented size
throughout the empire. These include Roman temples, Roman baths, Roman bridges, Roman
aqueducts, Roman harbours, triumphal arches, Roman amphitheatres, Roman circuses palaces,
mausolea and in the late empire also churches.

Roman domes permitted construction of vaulted ceilings and enabled huge covered public spaces
such as the public baths like Baths of Diocletian or the monumental Pantheon in the city of Rome.

Art historians such as Gottfried Richter in the 1920s identified the Roman architectural innovation as
being the Triumphal Arch and it is poignant to see how this symbol of power on earth was transformed
and utilized within the Christian basilicas when the Roman Empire of the West was on its last legs: The
arch was set before the altar to symbolize the triumph of Christ and the after life. It is in their
impressive aqueducts that we see the arch triumphant, especially in the many surviving examples,
such as the Pont du Gard, the aqueduct at Segovia and the remains of the Aqueducts of Rome itself.
Their survival is testimony to the durability of their materials and design.
 Examples of key Roman architectural forms

Roman Temple: Maison Triumphal Arch: Arch of Arch: Roman aqueduct in Dome: Interior of the Pantheon in
Carrée, Nimes, France Constantine, Rome Segovia, Spain Rome
(contrast with Greek temple)

Byzantine architecture

The Byzantine Empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from the Roman
Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire
east from Rome to Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople and now called Istanbul). The empire
endured for more than a millennium, dramatically influencing Medieval and Renaissance-era
architecture in Europe and, following the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453,
leading directly to the architecture of the Ottoman Empire.

Early Byzantine architecture was built as a continuation of Roman architecture. Stylistic drift,
technological advancement, and political and territorial changes meant that a distinct style gradually
emerged which imbued certain influences from the Near East and used the Greek cross plan in church
architecture. Buildings increased in geometric complexity, brick and plaster were used in addition to
stone in the decoration of important public structures, classical orders were used more freely, mosaics
replaced carved decoration, complex domes rested upon massive piers, and windows filtered light
through thin sheets of alabaster to softly illuminate interiors.

Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture has encompassed a wide range of both secular and religious architecture styles
from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings
and structures within the sphere of Islamic culture. Some distinctive structures in Islamic architecture
are mosques, tombs, palaces and forts, although Islamic architects have of course also applied their
distinctive design precepts to domestic architecture.

The wide spread and long history of Islam has given rise to many local architectural styles, including
Abbasid, Persian, Moorish, Timurid, Ottoman, Fatimid, Mamluk, Mughal, Indo-Islamic, Sino-Islamic
and Afro-Islamic architecture. Notable Islamic architectural types include the early Abbasid buildings,
T-type mosques, and the central-dome mosques of Anatolia.-Also, Islamic architecture also
discourages illustrations of anything living, such as animals and humans.
 Various regional styles of medieval Islamic architecture, as show in religious structures (from west to east)

Sudano-Sahelian: Persian architecture:

Moorish architecture: Mughal architecture:
Ottoman architecture: Shah Mosque, Isfahan,
The Great Mosque of The Great Mosque of Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Badshahi Mosque, Pakistan
Iran.
Djenné in present-day Kairouan in Tunisia Istanbul, Turkey.
Mali, illustrating the
mud construction of
western Africa.

Southern Asia
Indian architecture

Indian architecture encompasses a wide variety of geographically and historically spread structures,
and was transformed by the history of the Indian subcontinent. The result is an evolving range of
architectural production that, although it is difficult to identify a single representative style, nonetheless
retains a certain amount of continuity across history. The diversity of Indian culture is represented in its
architecture. It is a blend of ancient and varied native traditions, with building types, forms and
technologies from West and Central Asia, as well as Europe. Architectural styles range from Hindu
temple architecture to Islamic architecture to western classical architecture to modern and post-modern
architecture.
India's Urban Civilization is traceable originally to Mohenjodaro and
Harappa, now in Pakistan. From then on, Indian architecture and civil
engineering continued to develop, manifesting in temples, palaces and
forts across the Indian subcontinent and neighbouring regions.
Architecture and civil engineering was known as sthapatya-kala,
literally "the art of constructing".

Chennakesava Temple, Belur in

Karnataka, India.

Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh, India,

an early example of the architecture
of the Mughal Empire.

The temples of Aihole and Pattadakal are the earliest known examples of Hindu temples. There are
numerous Hindu as well as Buddhist temples that are known as excellent examples of Indian rock-cut
architecture. According to J.J.O'Connor and E. F. Robertson, the Sulbasutras were appendices to the
Vedas giving rules for constructing altars. "They contained quite an amount of geometrical knowledge,
but the mathematics was being developed, not for its own sake, but purely for practical religious
purposes."

During the Kushan Empire and Mauryan Empire, Indian architecture and civil engineering reached
regions like Baluchistan and Afghanistan. Statues of Buddha were cut out, covering entire mountain
cliffs, like in Buddhas of Bamyan, Afghanistan. Over a period of time, the ancient Indian art of
construction blended with Greek styles and spread to Central Asia. It includes the architecture of
various dynasties, such as Hoysala architecture, Vijayanagara architecture and Western Chalukya
architecture.

The Church of St. Anne which is cast in the Indian Baroque Architectural style under the orientation of
the most eminent architects of the time. It is a prime example of the blending of traditional Indian styles
with western European architectural styles.
Eastern Asia
Chinese architecture

Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many
centuries.especially Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Ryukyu. The structural principles of Chinese
architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details.
Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of
Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

From the Neolithic era Longshan Culture and Bronze Age era Erlitou culture, the earliest rammed earth
fortifications exist, with evidence of timber architecture. The subterranean ruins of the palace at Yinxu
dates back to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC–1046 BC). In historic China, architectural emphasis was
laid upon the horizontal axis, in particular the construction of a heavy platform and a large roof that
floats over this base, with the vertical walls not as well emphasized. This contrasts Western
architecture, which tends to grow in height and depth. Chinese architecture stresses the visual impact
of the width of the buildings. The deviation from this standard is the tower architecture of the Chinese
tradition, which began as a native tradition and was eventually influenced by the Buddhist building for
housing religious sutras — the stupa — which came from India. Ancient Chinese tomb model
representations of multiple story residential towers and watchtowers date to the Han Dynasty

(202 BC–220 AD). However, the earliest extant Buddhist Chinese pagoda is the Songyue Pagoda, a 40
m (131 ft) tall circular-based brick tower built in Henan province in the year 523 AD. From the 6th
century onwards, stone-based structures become more common, while the earliest are from stone and
brick arches found in Han Dynasty tombs. The Zhaozhou Bridge built from 595 to 605 AD is China's
oldest extant stone bridge, as well as the world's oldest fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch
bridge.

The vocational trade of architect, craftsman, and engineer was not as highly respected in premodern
Chinese society as the scholar-bureaucrats who were drafted into the government by the civil service
examination system. Much of the knowledge about early Chinese architecture was passed on from one
tradesman to his son or associative apprentice. However, there were several early treatises on
architecture in China, with encyclopedic information on architecture dating back to the Han Dynasty.
The height of the classical Chinese architectural tradition in writing and illustration can be found in the
Yingzao Fashi, a building manual written by 1100 and published by Lie Jie (1065 –1110) in 1103. In it
there are numerous and meticulous illustrations and diagrams showing the assembly of halls and
building components, as well as classifying structure types and building components.
There were certain architectural features that were reserved solely for buildings built for the Emperor of
China. One example is the use of yellow roof tiles; yellow having been
the Imperial color, yellow roof tiles still adorn most of the buildings within the Forbidden City. The
Temple of Heaven, however, uses blue roof tiles to symbolize the sky. The roofs are almost invariably
supported by brackets, a feature shared only with the largest of religious buildings. The wooden
columns of the buildings, as well as the surface of the walls, tend to be red in colour.

Many current Chinese architectural designs follow post-modern and western styles.
Japanese architecture

Japanese architecture has as long a history as any other aspect of Japanese culture. it also shows a
number of important differences and aspects which are uniquely Japanese.
Two new forms of architecture were developed in medieval Japan in response to the militaristic climate
of the times: the castle, a defensive structure built to house a feudal lord and his soldiers in times of
trouble; and the shoin, a reception hall and private study area designed to reflect the relationships of
lord and vassal within a feudal society.
Because of the need to rebuild Japan after World War II, major Japanese cities contain numerous
examples of modern architecture. Japan played some role in modern skyscraper design, because of its
long familiarity with the cantilever principle to support the weight of heavy tiled temple roofs. New city
planning ideas based on the principle of layering or cocooning around an inner space (oku), a
Japanese spatial concept that
was adapted to urban needs, were adapted during reconstruction. Modernism became increasingly
popular in architecture in Japan starting in the 1950s.

Europe to 1600
Medieval architecture

Surviving examples of medieval secular architecture mainly served for defense. Castles and fortified
walls provide the most notable remaining non-religious examples of medieval architecture. Windows
gained a cross-shape for more than decorative purposes: they provided a perfect fit for a crossbowman
to safely shoot at invaders from inside. Crenellation walls (battlements) provided shelters for archers on
the roofs to hide behind when not shooting.

Pre-Romanesque

Western European architecture in the Early Middle Ages may be divided into Early Christian and Pre-
Romanesque, including Merovingian, Carolingian, Ottonian, and Asturian. While these terms are
problematic, they nonetheless serve adequately as entries into the era. Considerations that enter into
histories of each period include Trachtenberg's "historicising" and "modernising" elements, Italian
versus northern, Spanish, and Byzantine elements, and especially the religious and political
maneuverings between kings, popes, and various ecclesiastic officials.

Romanesque

Romanesque, prevalent in medieval Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, was the first pan-
European style since Roman Imperial architecture and examples are found in every part of the
continent. The term was not contemporary with the art it describes, but rather, is an invention of
modern scholarship based on its similarity to Roman architecture in forms and materials. Romanesque
is characterized by a use of round or slightly pointed arches, barrel vaults, and cruciform piers
supporting vaults.
Gothic

The various elements of Gothic architecture emerged in a number of

11th- and 12th-century building projects, particularly in the Île de
France area, but were first combined to form what we would now
recognise as a distinctively Gothic style at the 12th century abbey
church of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Verticality is
emphasized in Gothic architecture, which features almost skeletal
stone structures with great expanses of glass, pared-down wall
surfaces supported by external flying buttresses, pointed arches using
the ogive shape, ribbed stone vaults, clustered columns, pinnacles and
sharply pointed spires. Windows contain beautiful stained glass,
showing stories from the Bible and from lives of saints. Such advances
in design allowed cathedrals to rise taller than ever, and it became
something of an inter-regional contest to build a church as high as
possible.

Norse architecture: Byzantine architecture: Romanesque architecture: Brick Gothic Gothic architecture:
Borgund Stave Church, Church of St. Eleftherios Cathedral of Santa Maria architecture: Doberan Notre-Dame de
Norway in Athens, Greece (early Maior, Lisbon, Portugal Minster in Germany Chartres, France (1194
13th century) (1280-1368) –1260) -

Renaissance architecture

The Renaissance often refers to the Italian Renaissance that began in the 14th century, but recent
research has revealed the existence of similar movements around Europe before the 15th century;
consequently, the term "Early Modern" has gained popularity in describing this cultural movement. This
period of cultural rebirth is often credited with the restoration of scholarship in the Classical Antiquities
and the absorption of new scientific and philosophical knowledge that fed the arts.
Art Deco

The Art Deco style in architecture emerged in Paris just before World War I with
the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by Auguste Perret (1911-1913) and the
Majorelle Building by Henri Sauvage (1913). Its revolutionary use of reinforced
concrete, geometric forms, straight lines, and decorative sculpture applied to
the outside of the building in plaques of marble, ceramics and stucco, and later
in stainless steel, were a departure from Art Nouveau. The style reached its
peak in the 1920s and 1930s, and took its name from the International
Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925. Art Deco
became especially popular in the United States in the late 1920s, where the
style was used for skyscrapers including the Chrysler Building (1930) and
Empire State Building (1931), and for lavish motion picture palaces including The Art Deco Chrysler
Radio City Music Hall (1932) in New York City and the Paramount Theater in Building in New York
City (1930)
Oakland, California. In the 1930s a stripped-down variation called Streamline
Moderne emerged, which was inspired by the curving aerodynamic forms of
ocean liners, airplanes and trains. Art Deco was used for office buildings,
government buildings, train stations and movie theaters around the world in the
1930s, but declined rapidly at the end of the decade due to the Great
Depression and intense criticism of the style by modernist architects such as Le
Corbusier, who denounced what he felt was its excessive ornament. By 1939,
the style was largely out of fashion and was replaced by the more austere
International Style.

Contemporary architecture

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from
the structure and theme

of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope
varying widely.[23] Modern architecture has continued into the 21st century as a contemporary style,
especially for corporate office buildings. In a broader sense, modern architecture began at the turn of
the 20th century with efforts to reconcile the principles underlying architectural design with rapid
technological advancement and the modernization of society. It would take the form of numerous
movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often
equally defying such classification.
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture is an international style whose first examples are generally cited as being from
the 1950s, and which continues to influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is
generally thought to be heralded by the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in
response to the formalism of the International Style of modernism. As with many cultural movements,
some of postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in architecture. The
functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the modernist movement are replaced by
unapologetically diverse aesthetics: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of
viewing familiar styles and space abound.

Classic examples of modern architecture are the Lever House and the Seagram Building in commercial
space, and the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright or the Bauhaus movement in private or communal
spaces. Transitional examples of postmodern architecture are the Portland Building in Portland and the
Sony Building (New York City) (originally AT&T Building) in New York City, which borrows elements
and references from the past and reintroduces color and symbolism to architecture. A prime example of
inspiration for postmodern architecture lies along the Las Vegas Strip, which was studied by Robert
Venturi in his 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas celebrating the strip's ordinary and common
architecture. Venturi opined that "Less is a bore", inverting Mies Van Der Rohe's dictum that "Less is
more".