Evolution of Construction Strategies Across Architectural Eras Essay

Summary

Humankind was able to create ostentatious architectural marvels even in antiquity. The scale of the construction was made possible by spanning long spatial distances, which were the outcome of the development of humankind’s architectural abilities. As shown by the architecture of many different regions and eras, the strategies of such constructions have changed due to changes in available materials. Still, the design principle has remained essentially unchanged.

Ancient Architecture of West Asia and Europe

The technical heritage that medieval Western European builders inherited was extensive and varied. Among the materials are sawn wood, hewn stone, bricks and tiles, lime mortar with hydraulic additives, concrete, and metals like iron, copper, and lead. The third church in Cluny is one of the most prominent examples of architecture, and it spans a lot of space. It was intended to serve as the primary Benedictine church for the entire order, and generous subsidies were provided for its construction. While cross vaults covered the side naves, the central nave was covered by a cylindrical vault.

The main elements of the composition – a square cella with four pillars and a cult place surrounded by a colonnade – are undoubtedly connected with the ancient tradition of southern Arabia. The entablature becomes rounded over the middle span as an arch in porticos. The wide, almost square opening of the upper Seiya-Shi courtyard is surrounded by an ornamental profile, the rods of which form a threshold at the bottom; at the top, the opening ends with an arch with a bust of a deity under the gable of the pediment.

Architecture of Africa

All the temples of Carthage and other cities of North Africa had a three-, five-, seven-, or nine-nave basilica structure. Almost all the capital churches face the central apse to the west; in suburban churches, sometimes, there is a southwestern or northwestern orientation. The Basilica of Notre Dame de la Paix is a Catholic church in the capital of Cote d’Ivoire, the city of Yamoussoukro. It was built between 1985 and 1989 on the St. Peter in Rome model. Although the basilica in Yamoussoukro surpasses the Vatican prototype in area (30 thousand square meters) and the dome’s height (158 meters), the interior space is designed to accommodate at most 18,000 worshipers.

Another example is the Nubian pyramids, which are substantially smaller than the Egyptian ones, ranging in height from 6 to 30 meters, with pointed summits and an estimated 70-degree inclination angle. The pyramids of Nubia are different from Egyptian structures: they are built from stepped rows of horizontally placed stone blocks. The burial chamber was divided into two side aisles and a central nave with six enormous pillars carved out of natural rock. Each aisle and nave had a vaulted ceiling. A moat-like corridor encircles the chamber, and steps descend from the vestibule doorway.

Architecture of East, Central, and North Asia

The composition, scale, and order of the construction methods were very diverse in various regions of East, Central, and North Asia. In the construction of buildings, proportions based on a modular system were often used. In the Square House of Nisa, a modular unit equal to 2.28 m determined the thickness of the walls, fit multiple times into the spans of the premises, the layout of the columns, and other general dimensions of the plan (Tian and Xiao 106). In the lower tier of the wall colonnade of the Nisa church, the modular unit was the diameter of the column, based on which the height of the columns, intercolumns, capitals, bases, and other architectural elements was built.

In ancient Central Asian architecture, the laws of symmetry were applied only when they corresponded to the functions of the building. In single-cult buildings, the symmetry of the plan and facades is observed. However, large, multi-room buildings such as the Toprak-Kala Palace, the Southern Complex of Nisa, and the Buddhist monastery on Kara-Tepe receive an asymmetric plan. In the three-dimensional compositions of these buildings, the same picture is observed – the symmetry of the primary three-dimensional forms and their facade development, with the asymmetry of the elements that make up the complex.

Architecture of South and Southeast Asia and Oceania

In the Middle Ages, a unique culture from many nations emerged in the vast South and Southeast Asia region, with roots in the slave-owning states. The abundance of forests was a characteristic of the natural resources found in most South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian nations. The only monuments that give an idea of Indian palatial architecture date from the time after the 15th century BCE. (Tian and Xiao 107). A sizable reception hall or a cluster of rooms arranged around an inner courtyard with portico-like cells in a convent served as a palace.

Another important example of architecture that spanned long, spatial distances is the Temple of Heaven in Ancient China. Its construction had symbols of the earth and sky, respectively. There were large square and round halls to convey the scale of these objects in the temple.

Architecture of North and South America: Ancient to 1492

The ruins found in South America are mostly the remains of either temples or fortifications. By the eighth century, at the end of the classical Maya era, urban centers served as royal residences rather than places of worship. The palace El Tajin, which was built on high plinths, had a lot of space and a very high ceiling.

Numerous regional styles were distinctive due to regional situations and the conquests and unions of other kingdoms. From 1100 to the Spanish conquest in 1532, the pre-Columbian Inca civilization of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador produced colossal buildings. By positioning their construction, such as the Temple of the Inscriptions, at key locations and building an intricate network of terraces, the Incas could use the Andean mountain terrain. They erected religious or sacred buildings around natural springs and rock formations, such as the wushu.

The Architecture of Mycenaean, Persian, and Greek

The Mycenaean civilization, the second to appear between the two major civilizations of the Aegean, developed gradually on the Peloponnese and mainland Greece starting in the 17th century BC. Along with the palace in Knossos on the northern coast of Crete, a second palace, the country villa Hagia Triada, with remnants of 16th-century before Christ murals, was opened nearby in Phaistos.

The Athena-dedicated Parthenon temple is the main structure of the Acropolis (Neglia 20). The building was under the watchful eye of renowned sculptor Phidias. The Parthenon’s columns are not parallel, and a unique foundation that aids earthquake absorption was used during construction.

The Roman Republic and Empire

The widespread use of Roman concrete and the development and improvement of arched, vaulted, and dome structures made ceilings with large spans possible. The Colosseum is an ellipse with a long side of 187.77 m and a short side of 155.64 m. The height of the four-tiered building is 48.5 m. (Tolqin 83). The facade of the amphitheater is divided into three tiers of arcades, with 80 arches in each tier.

The Phidias-era creations in ancient Greece served as the inspiration for the architecture of the Roman Empire. The Aurelian defensive wall was one of the most significant structures in Roman Empire architecture at the end of the third century AD.

Works Cited

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