Republic of the Philippines

Palawan State University

College of Engineering, Architecture and Tech.
Department Of Architecture

History 2
 Church Architecture
 Romanesque Architecture
 Gothic Architecture
 Architecture in the Renaissance Period
 Baroque and Rococo Architecture
 Architecture during the growth of European
States
 Architecture in Colonial and Post Colonial
America
 Architecture in Industrial Revolution
 Architecture at the beginning of the Twentieth
Century
 International Style and Modernism
 Contemporary Architecture

August 23, 2019

2014 – 4 - 0273
Renaissance Architecture in Europe (15th to 19th
Century)

The Renaissance architects made several new

contributions, like the Rusticated Masonry
walls, rusticated wall angles or corners called Quoins.

2. doorways are flanked by columns

They also introduced the Baluster, not known to the 3. consoles or chambanel
Romans developed from the 4. Rusticated block
Candelabra.

Baluster - one of a number of short vertical members

often circular in section used to
support a stair handrail or a coping.

Balustrades - a series of balusters.

VENICE -Arcades have round arches resting on columns

or on piers faced with columns.
Doorways are flanked by columns and pilasters
supporting cornice and semicircular or
triangular pediment or are enclosed in rusticated blocks.

ROOFS
Florence - low, tiled, 'roofs are sometimes visible above
cornices. Domes were favorite
features in churches. Raking vaults to staircases and
waggon or crossvaults are general both frescoed and
coffered.
Rome - roofs are rarely visible and often hidden by
balustrades. Domes on high drums and
crowned with lanterns are usual in churches.
Venice - Roofs with balustrades are frequent vaulted
ceilings of halls, staircases, and churches were
elaborately moulded in plaster and frescoed while
Rome - Arcades have arches supported an piers. timber ceilings are a feature in
1. faced with columns or pilasters palaces.

COLUMNS
Florence - The orders, not at first in general use for
facades; frequently supported the arches, both in cortile
and church arcades.

Rome - The orders, either single or coupled, were at first

superimposed, but tater one great
order frequently included the whole height of the
building. They regulated arcades of
semicircular arches appear in courtyards and streets. The great inventions contributed to the general upheaval
of this period.

a. Gunpowder changed the character of warfare.

b. The mariner's compass led to the discovery of the cape
of Good Hope by Diaz
1487 and of America by Christopher Columbus 1492.
c. Printing by movable types, contributed greatly to the
circulation of ideas, and underlay the rapid expansion of
ROCOCO humanist studies, vernacular literature, and from 1520
Style of architecture the protestant reformation. Copperplate engraving also
primarily French in origin, which represents the final came into use toward the end of the 15th-century and
phase of the Baroque around the middle helped to spread knowledge of architectural forms.
of the 18th century. Characterized by profuse, often
semiabstract ornamentation and Architecture as a whole returned to a profound regard
lightness of color and weight for the Roman and Greek antique, in what is known
alternatively as the 'Neo-classical ' or
Rococo - {rock work). A term applied to a type Antiquarian phase.
of Renaissance ornament in which rock like forms, Antiquarian - The phase in western European
fantastic scrolls, and crimped shells are worked up Renaissance· architecture, 1750-1830, when renewed
together in a profusion and confusion of detail, often inspiration was sought from ancient Greek and Roman
with architecture.
out organic coherence, but presenting a Mannerists - a term coined to describe the
lavish display of decoration. characteristics of the output of Italian Renaissance
architects of the period 1530-1600. This is characterized
A. RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY (15TH-19TH by unconventional use of classical elements.
CENTURY)

The Renaissance in Italy is best considered geographically THREE MAIN REGIONS: (FLORENCE. ROME, VENICE)
under the three great cities of its
activities, FLORENCE: ROME and VENICE. 1. FLORENCE:
The Renaissance of thy 15th century in Italy had its birth
1. FLORENCE-Centrally situated was one of the chief in Florence, where under unique conditions and
powers of Italy. The Florentines not only exerted influences, a type of palace-building was evolved, to
considerable influence over the whole of Tuscany but which huge blocks of rusticated masonry give a usually
carried Renaissance architecture, much farther afield. massive and rugged appearance.
Under Florence are included Genoa a maritime republic,
and Milan, centre of yet another powerful state and in Rustication - a method of forming stonework with
which Florentine architects were the first to build in roughened surfaces and recessed joints, principally
Renaissance style. employed in Renaissance building

2. ROME-The ruins of ancient Rome, then better Astylar - a treatment of facade without columns
preserved than now, supplied the models for new Pilaster - 1/3 of the column is shown.
buildings which in turn, became models for' all Europe.
The popes claimed temporal rights over the Papal states, Florentine craftsmanship shows highly developed artistic
extending from the region of Rome northwards along the perception and technical skill.
east coast to link with the Republics of Florence and Not only does ornament depend upon the personality of
Venice. the artist, but architectural design also now becomes the
3. VENICE - The greatness of Venice was founded during product of the individual architect rattler than of a school
the Mediaeval period on her oriental commerce. By 1500 of craftsmen working on traditional lines.
her territories in Italy extended westward almost to
Milan thus embracing Padua, Vicenza, Verona Brescia, cantoria - in the Renaissance their term was general used
Bergamo and other cities along the valley of the river PO. to denote a 'singers' gallery often elaborately carved in a
The history of the Venetian state·was always influenced major church.
by her impregnable location in the venetian lagoon, Tabernacle - a recess or receptable usually
protected by a belt of island, and by her seapower which above an altar-to contain the encharistic Host.
secured her maritime trade with the East; when Reliquary - a light portable receptacle for sacred
geographical discoveries opened up new routes she relics.
gradually sank into decline. Pulpit - an elevated closed stand in a church. in
which the preacher stands.
cortile - the Italian .name for the internal court, Holy water stoup - a basin for holy water, some·
surrounded by an arcade, in a palace or other edifice. times free standing but more often affixed to or carved
out of a wall or pillar near the entrance of a church.
Examples of Florence Renaissance Architecture Fenestration - the arrangement and design of
A. EARLY Renaissance – (Famous architect is
windows in a building.
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI)

1. Palazzo Riccardi-Michelozzi's best known building. The

rooms are arranged around an open cortile the main EXAMPLES of ROMAN RENAISSANCE
apartments being those on the 'piano nobile',
A. EARLY RENAISSANCE (Luciano Laurana is the known
approached by an unpretentious but generous staircase,
not symmetrically placed. architect)

1. Ducal Palace, Urbina-is transitional in some ways. It is

Palazzo - in Italy, a palace, or a term applied to celebrated for the beauty and charm of its apartments,
any public building or private residence
with their doorways, simple plaster vaults, marble
which is impressive.
hooded chimney pieces and gracious windows.
Piano noble or noble floor - The principal floor of an
Italian palace, raised one floor above ground level and B. High Renaissance and PROTO-BAROQUE
containing the principal social apartments.
2. Palazzo Strozzi, begun by Benedetto da Majano, It is 1. The Palazzo della Cancellaria, is the first really
the representative Florentine important Renaissance building in Rome, and was a
palace of the period. The chief features are a large rebuilt residence for Cardinal Riario, incorporating St.
central cortile with arcades on the three storeys, of Lorenzo in Damaso, an ancient Basilica which previously
which are the stairs and surrounding rooms. had been on another site.

B. HIGH RENAISSANCE AND PROTO-BAROQUE-

(Famous architect is BARTOLOMEO AMMANATI)

1. PALAZZO Municipo, Genoa, has a magnificent plan on

axial lines, with central entrance leading to a large
vestibule and cortile, beyond which stairs lead to the
'pianonobile' and terraced gardens. The cortile
established a type followed by many

Loggia - a gallery behind an open arcade or colonnade.

C. BAROQUE- (best known architect is Pilaster - a rectangular feature in the shape of a pillar,
'BARTOLOME BIANCO) but projecting only. about 1/6th of its breadth from a
wall , and the same design as the order.
The Porta Pila, Genoa. a gateway now re-erected away
Modillions - also called brackets or consoles or ancones
from its original position. has
is a projecting member to support a weight generally
the full power and vigour of the true Baroque. T-he formed with scrolls or volutes which carry the upper
massive entablature and heavily member of a cornice.

rusticated columns have precedents in gateways built for Pedestal - a support for a column statue or vase, it
the defensive walls of Verona usually consists of a base, die, and cornice or cap mould

more than a hundred years earlier; their impressive scale 2. The Tempietto in St. Pietro in Montorio , Rome ,
is emphasized by the relative erected to mark the spot where St. Peter was martyred,
is a perfect architectural gem by Bramante, in full High
delicacy of the shrine which stands aloft.
Renaissance style, resembling in design a small Roman
2 Palazzo Carignano., Turin, is the best known of Circular temple.
Guarini's domestic buildings. The un
3. St. PETER, Rome is the most important building of this
dulating central part, masking paired grand staircases period, was the outcome of the work of many architects
alongside a spacious oval hall, under the direction of many Popes during a period of 120
years. The present.
relives this majestic mass from any danger of monotony
that might arise from the Peristyle - a range of columns surrounding court or
temples.
regular fenestration much more effectively than would
any other means. The Lantern - a construction, such as a tower at the crossing
of a church rising above the neighboring roofs and glazed
facades are almost wholly in brick and terra-cotta. at the sides.
Piazza - a public open place, surrounded by buildings;
may vary in shape and in civic purpose.

C. BAROQUE

1. Sta. Susana, Rome, has a facade virtually devoid of

windows, their place being taken by enframed niches,
comprised of two tiers of superimposed Corinthian
orders, expressed in crisply-projecting pilasters except
on the centre bays of the lower tier, where attached
columns appear.

2. St. Carlo aile Ouattro Fontane shows ingenious Triangular, segmental and broken pediments any roof
planning to meet the difficulties of a small and cramped end.
site. The plan begins at wall level internally as an Spandrel - The triangular space enclosed by the curve of
undubted Greek cross, made up of four concave lobes an arch, a vertical line from its springing, and a horizontal
passing into one another in convex curves. line through its apex.
3. Fontana di Trevi -made by Nicola Salvi. Keystone - the central stone of a semicircular arch.

2. The Palazzo Pomepeii, Verona, is a stately

The Pro-Baroque period is denoted by the use of large composition on axial lines; with a simple arched portal
and small orders together. coupled columns and leading to a cortile.
'tabernacle' windows. 3. The Palazzo Grimani, Venice, facing the grand canal, is
Coupled columns - columns set as close pairs with a San Michelle's greatest work. The plan is most cleverly
wider intercolumniation between the pairs tabernacle - contrived on an irregular island site with three large
a decorative the often topped with a canopy and housing openings to the columned vestibule and long hall, off
a statue. which are the staircase.

EXAMPLES OF VENETIAN Architecture 4. The Basilica, Vicenza, is famous for its Renaissance
arcades added by Palladdio. The design was won in
A. EARLY RENAISSANCE competition in 1545 and completed in 1614. The end
bays on each facade were unrestricted in width, so
1. The DOGE'S Palace
palladia made them narrower in order to give an effect
The cortile facades are transitional in retaining series of of strength at the angles.
pointed arcades, but are otherwise quite renaissance in
C. BAROQUE
character.
1. Sta. Maria della Salute. Venice
2. Palazzo corner Spinelli, Venice
The church is octagonal in form, with a central space,
The-symmetrical elevation, the dignified axial entrance
20m ~ ft.) in diameter, with corinthian columns in the
from the grand canal; the balconied windows, so
angles, and the spacious surrounding ambulatory and
disposed as to give extra light to the large rooms reaching
radiating chapels make it one of the largest aisled,
the centre of the facade; the strong angle treatment
polygonal churches.
B. HIGH RENAISSANCE AND PROTO-B AROQUE

1. The Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona

2. Palazzon Rezzonico, Venice
Has rustications carrying across the pilasters on the
The decorative columns are single rather than coupled, it
ground storey and spirally-fluted corinthian attached
has a regular disposition of windows across the facade.
columns on the upper tier, arranged in alternating
There is also an attached order on the ground storey, the
spacings suggestive of the Roman triumphal arch'l motif.
column shafts, as well as the walls, being rusticated.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE portion named after mansart. Also known as a gambrel
roof.
15th-19th Century
papier-mache - a material composed principally
The Renaissance style in France took 75 years to take
of paper; usually prepared by pulping a mass of paper
root than Italy. It may be divided into
(sometimes glue is added) to a dough-like consistently
three periods:
and molding to a desired
form.
1. The EARLY PERIOD-{1494-1589 or 16th century.
3. The Late Period - 18th centu ry
The special character of this transitional period lies in the
Architectually, three stylistic phases may be di
combination of Gothic and Renaissance features to form
stinguished.
a picturesque ensemble, while in Italy, a, return to classic
1. sovereign Louis XV
forms took place, In France there was a period of
2. sovereign Louis XVI
transition, during which Renaissance details were grafted
3. Empire - 1790-1830
on to such Gothic features as flying buttresses and
pinnacles.
Rococo - (Fr. Rocalle = rockwork} a term applied
to a type of Renaissance ornament in which rock-like
 Sta. Maria della Salute. Venice
forms, fantastic scrolls, and crimped shells are worked up
together in a profusion and confusion of detail often
The church is octagonal in form, with a central space,
without organic coherence, but presenting a lavish
20m ~ ft.) in diameter, with Corinthian columns in the
display of
angles, and the spacious surrounding ambulatory and
decoration.
radiating chapels make it one of the largest aisled,
*Empire style - The elaborate neoclassic style of
polygonal churches. The circular dome with high drum is
the French first Empire
connected to the outer walls by scrolled buttress which
(1804-1815).
contribute much to the effect. The second dome with its
flanking turrets over the wide chacel adds to the -
picturesqueness of this majestic group, which throned EXAMPLES
upon its measured steps above canal, is the apotheosis A. SECULAR ARCHITECTURE
of the Baroque style in Venice. 1. The Chateau de Blois (1 498-1524) begun in the 13th
 Palazzon Rezzonico, Venice century was continued in 1494, by Louis XII in an addition
to the East wing which shows very little Renaissance
The decorative columns are single rather than coupled, it influence, and completed by Francois Mansart.
has a regular disposition of windows across the facade.
There is also an attached order on the ground storey, the Boss -(Lump or knob) a projecting ornament
column shafts, as well as the walls, being rusticated. at the intersection of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted
or flat.
2. The CLASSICAL Period (1589-1715) or 17th century
The period is notable for the dignity, sobriety and 2. CHATEAUX de Chambord {1519-47) designed by an
masculine quality of its foremost buildings, resulting Italian architect, Domenico da Cortona is the most
from the subordination of plan, composition and detail famous in the Loire district.
of the unity of the whole, and the charity and simplicity
with which the elements were used. Donjon - the inner great tower or a 'keep' of a
castle.
Quoins - in masonry a hard stone or brick used,
with similar ones, to reinforce an external Lantern - a construction, such as a tower, at the
corner or edge of a wall or the like; often crossing of a church, rising above the neighbouring roofs
distinguished decoratively from adjacent and glazed at the sides.
masonry; may be imitated in non-load
bearing materials.
chaines - (chain) vertical strips of rusticated 3. The Chateau d ' Azay-Rideau (1518-27) is an attractive
masonry rising between the horizontal string-mouldings building built on an island with similar characteristics to
and cornice of a building, and so dividing the facades into the original at chenonceaux, yet with the features much
bays or panels. more sedately disposed.
Dormer - a window in a sloping roof usually that 4. Palais, du Louvre, Paris (1546-1878) was in course of
of a sleeping -apartment. construction from the time of Francis I to Napoleon Ill in
Mullion - vertical members dividing windows into the 19th century. The louvre, together with the Tuileries,
different numbers of lights. constituted one of the most imposing, Palaces in Europe,
transom - the horizontal divisions or crossbars of and enclosed an area of over 45 acres.
windows. 5. Palais de Fontainebleau (1528-401-bythe master
Mansard - a roof having a double slope on all four sides; mason Gilles Le Breton for Francis I. The exterior is
the lower slope being much steeper, and flatter upper remarkably ineffective in composition, and the palace
depends for its attraction on the court.
6. The Chateau de Maisons, (1642-6)- is one of the most 1. The Early Period (1492- 1556) is notable for the
pleasantly harmonious of all the chateaux. It was grafting of Renaissance details on to Gothic forms. and
designed by Francois Mansart on a symmetrical E-plan was influenced by the exuberant fancy of Moorish art.
with central entrance and twin oval-shaped side
vestibules.
Plateresque - a phase of the Early period of Spanish
Salon - a room used primarily for exhibition of art architecture of the later 15th and early 16th century, an
objects, or a drawing room. intricate style named after its likeness to silver work.
Hermes - a bust on a. square pedestal instead of a human
2. The CLASSICAL PERIOD (1556-1690) was marked by a
body, used in classic times to
mark boundaries on highways, and used closer adherence to Italian Renaissance art.
decoratively in Renaissance times. 3. The Baroque Period (1650-1750) was characterized by
a reaction from the correct and frigid formalism
B. ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE
observed by Herrera and his followers.
1. St. Etienne du Mont, Paris (1517-601- has nave piers
crowned with Doric-like capitals supporting ribbed Churrigueresque - an expression of Spanish Baroque
vaulting, arid there is an unusual ambulatory above, the architecture and sculpture associated with the
nave arcade. churringuera family of artists and architects, but not
inharmonious, decorative exuberance.
Ambulatory - (to walk) the cloister or covered
passage around the east end of a · 4. The ANTIQUARIAN PERIOD (1750-1830) architecture
church, behind the altar. turned more and more towards ancient classical models
at this time.
2. St: Eustache, Paris (1 532-891-planned like a five-aisled
mediaeval church with apsidal end, high roofs, window PORTUGAL
tracery, flying buttress, pinnacles and deeply recessed
The 'Manueline style', a peculiarly Portuguese
portals, all clothed with Renaissance details.
3. St. Germais, Paris (1616-21 I-the earliest wholly phenomenon, was contemporary with the 'Early period'
classical church facade of importance of the French of the Spanish Renaissance.
renaissance. It has three tiers of coupled columns of the Manueline architecture - The last phase of Gothic
Doric, Ionic, and Cori nthian orders arranged to give
architecture in Portugal, So named after King Manuel I
direct straight forward expression which is typical of
(1521).
architect, Salomon de Brosse's work.
4. The Church of the Val de Grace, Paris (1645-67)-has a Candelabra - candelabrum - a · movable candle
fine projecting portal by Francois Mansart, and the aisles lampstand with central shat, and, often, branches o r a
are connected to the nave by vigorous scrolled consoles, decorative representation thereof.
while the distance rises Lemercier's massive and ornate
dome, retained by sixteen buttresses faced with pilasters RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN
and capped with inverted consoles above the serrated
entablature. 16th-19th Century
*console (orbracket/ - is a projecting member support a
GEOLOGICAL
·weight generally formed with scrolls or volute ·when
carrying the upper member of a cornice, brackets are Sheathing - The covering usually of wood boards or
termed consoles or modillions. plywood placed over exterior studding or rafters of a
building; provides a base for the application of wall or
roof cladding.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE in
SPAIN and PORTUGAL English Bond - brickwork with alternate courses of
16th-19th Century stretches and headers.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER Header - a masonry unit laid so that its ends are exposed,
SPAIN overlapping two or more adjcacent withes of masonry
and tying them together; a bonder.
Reja - an ornate iron grille or screen , a characteristic
Stretcher - a masonry unit laid horizontally with its length
feature of Spanish church interiors.
in the direction of the.face of the wall.
Patio - a Spanish arcaded or colonnaded court yard
Stretcher bond - vertical joints of one course falling
Renaissance Spain was heir to two civilizations. Moslem midway between those of adjacent course.
and Christian and is divided into
Flemish bond - a bond in which each course consists of
tour phases:
headers and stretchers laid alternately, each header is
centered with respect to the stretcher above and
stretcher below it.
Stack bond - a pattern bond the facing brick is laid with
all vertical joints continuously aligned.

Soldier - (a masonry unit which is set on end, with its face

showing on the wall surface.

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE in
EUROPE
9th to 12th Century
INFLUENCES
The decline of the Roman Empire in the west led to the rise of
the independent states and nations of Europe.
5. Groins had previously been settled naturally by the
The coronation of the pope of the Frankish king Charlemagne intersection of the vault surfaces; this arrangement produced
in 800 as Holy roman emperor marked the beginning of a new the quadripartite (four part) vault.
era, with the establishments of a pan-Germanic Christian state,
politically ordered and bound of both ecclesiastical and
political ties to Rome.

The great monastic foundations proliferated and expanded,

being closely linked with economic revival, the fusion of Latin
and teunatic communities, and the survival of Roman law in
the monastic rule.

After the middle of the tenth century, an increasing number of

major building were vaulted, partly to guard against fire risks, 6. If the cross vaults were semi-cylindrical the
partly to create strong structures to resist the raids of the diagonal groin would be a semi-ellipse.
Norsemen, Hungarian and the moors.

Christianity, the chief source of education and culture, was

gradually spreading throughout northern Europe, and the
erection of a church of resulted in the foundation of a city, for
the papacy had been rising to Great power and influence.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
1. The Romanesque style of the tenth to the twelfth centuries
was remarkable for the tentative
use of a new constructive principle; the deliberate articulation
of structure, in
which each constructive part played a designed role in 7. In vaulting an oblong compartment the difference between
establishing equilibrium. the heights of diagonal and transverse ribs was still greater
than in a square compartment and produced an awkward
2. The general characteristics of the Romanesque style is sober waving line of the ribs on plan, but little attempt was made to
and dignified, while formal vault any but square compartment. The difficulty of vaulting
massing depends on the grouping of towers and the projection oblong nave compartments was partially surmounted.
of transepts and choir.
8. In some instances, the intermediate pier was carried up as a
3. The character depends on the employment of vaulting, vaulting shaft to support a rib which altered the quadripartite
based initially on Roman vaulting compartment into six parts, known as "Sexpartite"
methods. vaulting.

9. The addition of transepts and the prolongation of the

sanctuary of chancel made the church a well-defined cross on
plan.

4. Roman cross-vaults were used throughout Europe tilt the

beginning of the twelfth century,
but they were heavy and difficult to construct and were
gradually superseded by rib and panel' vaulting, in which a
framework of ribs supported thin stone panels. The new
method consisted in designing. The profile of the transverse,
longitudinal and diagonal ribs to which the form of the panels 10. Transepts were generally the same breath as the nave;
was adapted; which was usually twice the width of the aisles.
 constructed in receding concentric rings which followed the
11. The choir was often raised on piers above the level of the lines of recesses below.
nave and over a vaulted crypt,
in which saint or martyr had been buried.

12. Towers, square octagonal or circular are prominent

features of most Romanesque churches,
either over the crossing, at the West end centrally with the
nave, or at East end, sometimes arranged in pairs. at the west
end and at the ends of transepts or at the eastern ends of the
aisles, often rising to a great height in well-marked stages 17. A Rose or wheel window was often placed over the west
pierced with windows. door.

18. Glass seems not to have come into general use till the ninth
century.

19. In Italy, the traditional monolithic column was usual but in

the west, in France and England, the columns were generally
cylindrical and of massive proportions, built up with ashlar
masonry and having a rubble core. These were treated with
plutings or with spiral, trellis or chevron patterns.

13. Roman methods of craftsmanship still influenced

constructive art in Europe. Walls were
often roughly built, and were relieved externally by shallow
buttresses or pilaster strips connected at the top by bands
horizontal mouldings or by a. series of semi-circular arches.

20. Variations of Corinthian or tonic capitals were used.

21 .In later times the capital was often of a cushion (cubiform

shape).
14. Attached columns, with rough capitals supporting semi-
22. Mouldings were often elaborately
circular arches, formed wall arcading which was a frequent
carved.
decorative feature.
23. Ornament, into which entered vegetable and animal forms,
was treated with conventionally
and carving and sculpture were often rough.

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE in ITALY 9th-12th

Century
GEOGRAPHICAL

The long, narrow peninsula of Italy stretches from the Alps on

the North, right down through the waters of the
Mediterranean, almost to Africa on the South.

These geographical variations were accompanied by over

differences which influenced architecture in such varying
degrees that it may be most conveniently considered under:

a. Central Italy - lies between Florence, commanding the

15. Arcades c6nsisted of massive circular columns or piers passage of the arno in the North; Pisa, the maritime power to
which supported semi-circular arches, as in the naves or the West; and Naples, the naval port of the South Rome, rich
Norman cathedrals. in ancient pagan monuments and Early Christian churches,
here exercised a paramount influence on architecture.
16. Door and window openings are very characteristic, with
jambs or sides formed in a series of receding moulded planes b. North Italy - Milan, the capital of Lombardy enjoyed great
known as orders, in which are set circular shafts surmounted prosperity on account of its proximity to several Alpine passes
by a continuous abacus. The semi-circular arch above was also
and its situation in the fertile plains of Lombardy. Venice and
Ravenna, which were connecting trade links between East and
West, tell geographically under the influence of Byzantine art.

c. South Italy and Sicily -was by position specially susceptl51e

to influence from the East, and, after passing under Greek and
Roman rule, it formed part of the Byzantine Empire under
Justinian. Sicily facing Greece on one side, Italy on another and
North Africa on the third, was exposed to influences from all
three countries.

GEOLOGICAL

a. Central Italy - Tuscany possessed great mineral wealth and

an abundance of stone. Various building materials were used
in Rome, including bricks, volcanic tufa or peperino, travertine
stone from Tivoli, and marble from Carrara. Much materials
was obtained from the ruins of classic buildings. This decorative use of arcaded galleries is one instance of· the
employment of an architectural feature having a constructive
b. North Italy. The low-lying plains of Lombardy supplied clay origin. When a wooden roof was placed over a vault there was
for making bricks, which, used with marble from the hills, gave no need to continue the solid external walls above the
a special character to the architecture. springing of the vault, as wooden rafters exerted little thrust.
c. South Italy and Sicily - the mountains of Sicily of South Italy
supplied calcareous and. shelly limestone as well as many kinds
of marble.

HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS

a. Central Italy - Piss sent merchant fleets to the Holy land for
the Easter fair at Jerusalem. The Pisans captured and defeated
the Moslems in wars and this contact with the Moslems
accounts for the characteristic Pisan use of striped marbles.
During this period the Popes began to exercise influence in
Italian politics.

b. North Italy -In spite Of the intervening Alps, the invaders

who had occupied the valley of the Po Kept up commercial
communications with those on the Rhine by means of the
In consequence of the brilliant climate, while arcades are
Alpine passes.
universal, doors, and windows are small and unimportant, with
c.South Italy and Sicily - in 827 the Moslems landed in Sicily 'jambs' in rectangular recesses or 'orders' filled in with small
and gradually overran the island. The latter part of the 10th shafts, crowned with semi-circular arches in contrast with the
century was their most prosperous period, but bloody religious classic architrave.
struggles ended in the downfall of the Moslem dynasty.
Window tracery was at no time employed to any great extent
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER in Italy, and even wheel windows are only rudimentary in
pattern.
a. Central Italy - the basilican type of church was closely
adhered to during this period; Italians were slow to adopt a Timber roofs over naves are of the si(llple, open basilican type
new system of construction and preferred to concentrate on with rafter and tie beams often effectively decorated in colour.
beauty and delicacy of ornamental detail, while the While aisles occasionally have groined vaults of small span,
architectural character was governed by classic traditions. ... divided into compartments by transverse arches.

The most pronounced features of facades were the

ornamental arcades which rose one above the other,
sometimes even into the gables.

In all parts of Italy Christian symbolism now entered into

decorative carving and mosaics. The monogram of Christ, the
emblems of evangelists and .saints, and the whole system of
symbolism. represented by trees, birds, fishes and animals, are
all worked into the decorative scheme.
b. North Italy. It was in Lombardy that the most important
developments took place. The principal innovation was the
development of the ribbed vault which brought about the
adoption of many new constructive features. The churches are
basilican in type, but naves as well as side aisles are vaulted
and have external wooden roofs. Aisles are often two storeys
in height, while thick walls between the side chapels act as The composition of facades usually relies upon simple pilaster
buttresses to resist the pressure of the vaults. strip decoration running from the ground and ending in small
The flat, severe entrance facades stretch across the whole arches under the eaves.
church, thus masking externally the division of nave and aisles.
There is often a central projecting porch, with columns
standing on the backs of crouching beasts and a wheel window
above to light nave.

The halt-columns on the side towards the nave carried up as

vaulting shafts, and this was the beginning of a system which
was destined in the Gothic period to transform the shape of
piers. Roughly carved grotesques of men and beasts occur,
There were many baptisteries, usually octagonal or circular, along with vigorous hunting scenes and incidents of daily life.
which is connected to the cathedral by an atrium similar to the Crouching beasts support columns of projecting porches and
famous atrium at St. Ambrogio, Milan. Open arcades round the of bishop's thrones.
apses, with the arcaded octagonal lantern at the crossing, give
great charm to the buildings externally.

Projecting porches, which Were preferred to recessed

doorways, are bold arched structures often two storeys,
flanked by isolated columns on huge semi-grotesque beasts.

Narthex - An Iong arcaded entrance porch to a Christian

basilican.

Pulpit-an elevated enclosed stand in a church in which the

preacher stands.
 light in weight that they were also employed in large blocks of
the solid stone vaulted roofs peculiar to the district.

Buttresses are internal and form the divisions between the

chapels which flank the nave! as at Vienne cathedral. Towers
are sometimes detached, like Italian campanili. Cloisters are
treated with the utmost elaboration. And form a special
feature in the plan of many churches of this period.

Cloisters - (a secluded place) covered passages round an open

space connecting the church to the chapter houses refectory
and other parts of the monastery.

c. South Italy and Sicily. The changing architectural character

can be traced through Byzantine, Moslem and Norman route,
and each successive period carried with it something from the
past. Byzantine influence is evident in the mosaic decoration
of interiors and predominates in the plans of such buildings as Circular churches are rare, but the development of the semi-
the church of the Martorana at Palermo, where the dome, circular east end as an ambulatory, with radiating chapels is
supported on four columns, covers the square Central space. common in Southern France. In the North, plans were of the
Moslem influence is especially seen in the application of basilican type with nave and aisles.
stripes of coloured marbles and in the use of stilted pointed
arches. The development of vaulting progressed, and naves were
often covered with barrel vaults whose thrust was resisted by
halfbarrel vaults over two-storeyed aisles thus suppressing the
clear-storey; as a~ Notreme Dame du Port.

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE in FRANCE 9th-12th

Century
Geographical
France has great natural highways along the valleys of the Nave wall arcades of aisleless churches are semi-circular, with
Rhone, Saone, and Garonne which connects the mouldings in recesses or 'orders'.
Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean and the English
Channel. Roman civilization had spread through France along
the historic highway of the fertile Rhone valley.

GEOLOGICAL
France has an abundance of good stone, easily quarried and
freely used for all types of buildings. In the North the fine-
grained Caen stone was available throughout Normandy. In
the volcanic district of Auvergne. the coloured pumice and tufa
were not only used for walls and inlaid decoration, but were so
Narrow windows with semi-circular head and wide splays
inwards suffice to admit light in the South.

The massive walls characteristic of this period were of rubble

faced with squared stone, sculptured and moulded ornament
was concentrated on wall arcades, especially on western
facades, which thus stand out in contrast to the general
simplicity of the external wall treatment.

Facades were often divided by string courses or horizontal

In the North, where remains were less abundant there was
mouldings into storeys relieved by single, coupled or grouped
greater freedom developing a new style, and western facades
windows and frequently had arcading as at Echillais.
of churches, especially in Normandy, are distinguished by the
introduction of two flanking towers, while plain, massive side Mouldings executed in stone are coarser than those in the
walls with flat buttresses emphasize the richness of the marble of Italy. Capitals and bases are either rough imitations
facades. of the old Roman Corinthian type.

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE in CENTRAL

EUROPE 9th-12th Century
GEOGRAPHICAL
What is now known as " Germany" was through many
centuries a conglomeration, first of various tribes fighting
Windows with semi-circular heads are sometimes grouped amongst themselves, and then of various independent state,
together and enclosed in a larger arch. As in the nave wall or principalities and powers occupying the great central district of
dear-storey immediately beneath the vault. Europe. Roman civilization spread North-west along the
fertible Rhineland and into Saxony.

GEOLOGICAL
Stone from the mountains along the Rhine valley was the
material used for buildings in this district. Along the Baltic
shores and in central and southern Germany there was an
ample supply of timber. As there was no stone or timber in the
plains of the North, brick was used almost exclusively in the
district east of the Elber, and the style consequently differs
from that of other districts.

HISTORICAL. SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS

Under the influence of Rome Christianity took root in Southern
Germany and in the Rhineland, while the rest of the country
remained pagan. As early as the 6th century the bishop of trier
and cologne were conspicuous in promoting church building,
of which evidences can still be traced.

Charlemagne, the first Frankish king who became Roman

Emperor. was crowned in 800 at Rome by the Pope, and ruled
over the Franks, which included Central Germany and
Northern France. He restored civilization in a great measure to
Western Europe and was a patron of architecture. He forced
the people of Saxony to embrace Christianity, and this re·
suited in the erection of a number of circular baptisteries, as
the conversion of the tribes made a great demand for the
baptismal rite.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Romanesque architecture in Central Europe exhibits a
continuous combination of Carolingian tradition and Lombard Internally, the flat wall surfaces may have been painted
influence. The significant structural developments in the high originally, but the general effect today is extremely bare.
Romanesque of Burgundy, Normandy and Lombardy, were Characteristic carving in bands was employed and in the north,
followed in Germany with reluctance, however, and pointed lines of coloured bricks were used externally.
arcades and ribbed vaults made only a late appearance.

Crypt - a space entirely or partly under a building; in churches

generally beneath the chancel and used for burial in early
times.

A distinctive characteristic of the architecture of the lower

Rhineland, and of the valleys of the Moselle and Main during
the later 11th and 12th centuries a three-apse plan of trefoil
form. This appears to be an idea imported from early Christian
Lombardy.

The church of the Apostles, Cologne-is one of the series of

trefoil churches in that city. The plan forms a broad nave, aisles
half of its width, western transepts, and a triapsidal choir while
over the crossing a law octagonal tower gives dignity' to the
effective external grouping.
In the Rhineland the semi-circular cross-vault of the nave is of
a domical nature, owing to the use of semi-circular ribs, which
rise to a greater height over the diagonal of the compartment.
The system of including two bays of the aisle in one nave
vaulting compartment was generally adopted. Timber roofs
were also employed for naves with large spans, as at Genroda:
Square towers, divided into storeys by moulded courses,
frequently terminate in four gables with hipped rafters rising
from the apex of each, and the roofing planes intersect at
these rafters and thus form a pyramidal or "helm roof" with
four diamond-shaped sides meeting at the apex.

Helm roof- type of roof in which four faces rest diagonally Worms Cathedral- The plan is apsidal at both ends, with
between the gables and converge at the top. eastern and western octagons, while one vaulting bay of the
Windows are usually single, but occasionally grouped and nave corresponds with two of the aisles, and cross-vaults are
sometimes have a mid-wall shaft. employed in both cases.
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE in SPAIN, St. Maria, Ripoll - is the finest of the 11th century early
PORTUGAL AND THE HOLY LAND Romanesque churches. It has a double-aisled Basilican nave of
seven bays and the outer arcades alternate to produce double
GEOGRAPHICAL bays in the outer aisles, in the Lombardic manner. The bold
transept is modelled on the basilican church bema, and there
1. Spain and Portugal are seven eastern apses.
The Iberian Peninsula is divided into distinct natural regions by St. Tirso, Sahagun - one of the earliest brick Mudejar churches,
the principal mountain ranges which cross it from East to West, has much of the 11th· century of Catalan Romanesque, though
enclosing high bare plateau lands. In the middle ages, the with Moorish overtones, such as the horseshoe headed blind
natural divisions provided boundaries for rival races and arcading to the apses, set in rectangular panels .
kingdoms. Portugal is divided from Spain by the western limits
of these high table lands and by the steep gorges of four great
rivers. French influence was dominant in the North, but
Moorish influence in the South persisted until 1492 in the
emirate of Granada, centred on a fertile plain surrounded by
high ranges.

2. The Holy Land

The most influential single geographical characteristic of the

Latin kingdom of the crusaders was its shape. From North to St. Mart-in de Fromista - is the only complete example of the
South it included the country of Edessa, the principality of Spanish. 'Pilgrimage' style, with a four-bay nave, shallow
Antioch. The country of Tripoli and the kingdom of Jerusalem transept, and three parallel apses. 'tt has barrel vaults
and this whole territory was nearly 800 km: (500 miles) Iong, throughout, but it approaches 'hall church' form, the aisle vault
but generally very narrow between the Mediterranean coast springing nearly at the level of that of the high vaults, so that
and the eastern frontier with the semi-desert. there is no clear-storey, There is tall octagonal lantern at the
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER crossing .

1. Spain and Portugal The tangible remains of this period are

scarce, but are sufficient to show that Visigothic art provided a
link between Eastern and Western Mediterranean cultures
long before the· Moorish influences were introduced.

Some features of church design of this period anticipated the

distinctive characteristics of nature Spanish Romanesque
architecture. The most important of these was the horseshoe
arch.

Diaconicon - the vestry, or Early Christian church.

Prothesis - that part of a church where the credence table

stands. Absidole or Apsidoles - a small apsidal chapel one projecting
from an apse.
The spacious eastern arm has a cluniac ambulatory with five
radiating apsidal chapels, the central chapel of San Salvador City Walls
composed in the tradition of Auvergne, with cusped arches The town defences at Avila, in Castile include a curtain wall2.5
sufficient to provide a suspicion of Moorish influence. Km. (11 /2 miles) long, with 86 identical circular towers, built
A quite distinct contribution to the later Romanesque art of in granite by Raymond of Burgundy, largely in a French
Spain and Portugal was made by Cistercian abbeys. The finest masonry manner. There are ten gates, each formed by a
is at Alcobaca in Portugal, where the abbey church is of an arched opening between two adjoining towers.
unusual composition with aisles of full height in the form of a -
'hall church'.

1. Religious Buildings·
2. The Holy land
A. Military Buildings double rampart system. This was combined with the use of
round towers of bold, salient, grouped at gates and in some
The castles of the Crusaders were of three kinds, each having cases to provide an inner refuge or donjon for security from a
a specific function: disaffected mercenary garrison.
1. Pilgrim Forts Talus - the slope as inclination of any work, or. a coarse rock
Sited and designed to secure the routes from coastal ports to fragments, mixed with soil at the foot of a cliff.
Jerusalem. They were generally designed on a Byzantine Glacis - a sloped embankment in front of a fortification so
pattern derived from the ancient Roman 'castrum' or legionary raised as to· bring an advancing· enemy into the most direct
fort. The installation included a thin curtain wall with line of fire.
rectangular corner towers of .small projection, a large fosse or
ditch, and an outer earth rampart. In some cases there was a Bent entrance - an arrangement of two gateways not in line so
central citadel. These forts were of no very great strength, and that it is necessary to make a sharp turn to pass through the
relied upon relatively plentiful manpower. · second, for privacy in houses or temples. For security in
fortifications.
2. Coastal Fortifications
Allure - an alley, walk or passage. A gallery behind a parapet.
The levantine coastal ports were fortified to secure the sea
links with the west. They took the form either of a 'bastide Parapet - the portion of wail' above the roof gutter or
town' -a civil settlement under the protection of a castle. balconies sometimes battlemented.

3. Strategic Inland Castles Battlement - a parapet having a series of indentations or

embrasures, between which are raised portions known as
The principal functions of these great castles were to protect merlons.
the coast road. A large part of the strategic strength of the
crusader castles lay in an elaborate system of communication Merlons - the upstanding part of an embattled parapet,
between them by means of carrier pigeon and visual signalling. between two 'crenelles' or embrasure openings.

a. The first type are those of the 12th century when the main Machicolations - a projecting wall or parapet · allowing floor
strategic process was one of hopeful expansion, and the openings through which molten lead, pitch, stones, were
purposes of the fortifications was primarily offensive. New dropped on an enemy below.
works were usually relatively simple in form which to effect the Drawbridge - at the entrance of fortifications, a bridge over the
capture of the ports still under moslem control, and castles on moat or ditch, hinged and provided with a raising and lowering
remote eastern sites, intended to support attacks upon the mechanism so as to hinder or permit passage.
inland trade routes.

The common characteristic of most of the new work of this

kind was the tower keep. The early 12th century keep in
crusader work was therefore derived from relatively small
models, usually having a single entrance at ground level and
was commonly of two storeys. The upper floor was supported
on vaulting, in place of the timber beams of the higher stages
of western European castle keeps of the time, for heavy
timbers were not generally available.

Keep and donjon - the stronghold of a mediaeval usually in the

form of a massive tower and a place of residence, especially in
times of siege.

Portcullis - a defensive grating, of massive iron or timber

movable, vertically in retaining grooves cut in the jambs of a
fortified gateway.

b. The second type of castle belongs mostly to the period of

nearly one hundred years after Hattin, and shows the need for
increasing defensive strength in place of depleted manpower.
The design of these. castles illustrate the most important and
influential features of the military architecture of the crusades.
Several were carefully planned in concentric form, having a
The most remarkable single feature of the inner castle is the ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE in THE BRITISH
colossal glacis on the west and south sides, which the Arabs ISLES AND SCANDINAVIA 1st to 12th Century
call 'the mountain', rising formidably above the great cistern
and the outer ward, more than 25m (80ft.) thick at the base. GEOGRAPHICAL
Loggia - an arcaded or colonnaded structure open on one or In Northern Europe, remote from Rome, development
m6re sides, some· times with an upper storey. depended largely upon a common concern with sea and river
routes. The geographical similarities of political divisions of
Scandinavia are sufficient to give the whole region a unity
which was emphasized by the greater ease of sailing across the
narrow waters within the region than of crossing the
mountains toward the rest of Europe.

Skill in navigation during the early middle ages .led to the

Nordic colonization of Iceland and Greenland and to cultural
and commercial contact with Ireland and Britain.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER THE BRITISH ISLES

a. ROMAN PERIOD

Examples of Mosaic Flooring, pottery and sculptures indicate

the cave which the Romans bestowed on dwellings houses and
public buildings. The characteristics of Roman Architecture
B. Religious Buildings were so virile that they inevitably influenced subsequent
Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque architecture in Britain.
The church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, by its origin and
its function is the most sacred in Christendom, and its holy
places were the final objective of the crusades. It is to be
expected, it represents the finest and most ambitious of
crusader church architecture, the sources of which can be
traced to Provence, Burgundy and Poitov, and to the art of the
Santiago pilgrim routes, all overlaid with native levantine
characteristics.

Lesser churches in the Latin kingdom are well-preserved

largely because of sound construction in fine masonry. Even in
examples of nearly pure· Romanesque character, pointed
arches are common, both in arcades and wall openings. High
vaults are usually of barrel form, with transverse arches and
only occasionally grained, though groin vaults to aisles are not
uncommon. Apses quite frequently are enclosed in rectangular
masonry masses in Provencal or Early Norman manner.
This was a small church, with a Basilican plan, built early in the
Sta. Anne, Jerusalem which commemorates the site held to be 4th century. It had a western apse, for the virtual at this time
that of the home of the parents of the virgin, and consequently required that the celebrant face east from beyond the altar.
her birth-place. It has a typical· Benedictine plan, aisled, with a
b. ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
groined nave vault, shallow transepts, three eastern apses, and
unusually a dome on pendentives at the crossing of exactly the Domestic building was largely dependent upon the use of
.Perigord kind The arches are generally pointed and the central Timber, but little evidence remains of methods of
west door is a finely-proportioned near-Gothic feature construction. The masonry of church buildings from about the
embellished with moulding enrichments which anticipate the middle of the 7th century shows signs of dependence on
13th century dog-tooth. Timber prototypes, as in the 'long and short work in groins.

Triangular-headed openings.
 church architecture, the characteristics directly or indirectly
inherited from Cluny were the long nave exemplified in
Norwich (14 bays).

St. Albans (13 bays) and Winchester {12 bays}, and also double
transepts and (The 'patriarchal' plan) as seen in Conrad's work
at Canterbury of about 1100.

Before the period of-the Heptarchy, architecture of any

pretension free from direct Roman influence was' in framed
timber. But 'a link 'with earlier stone-built forms was expressed
in Some permanent post carolingian building in Ireland where
in spite of remoteness from Rome, there were strong carry
connections with the coptic church in Egypt.

Features imported directly from Normandy are the typical

Benedictine pl<m having three eastern apses, such as those in
Durham and Peterborough.

Helm roof - a roof having four faces, each of which is steeply

pitched so that they form a spire, the four ridges rise to the
point of the spire from a base of four gables.

It also occurred transept apses ('absidoles') introduced by

Archibishop Lanfranc at. Canterburry in 1065. It was common
in both secular and monastery churches, to find a central
lantern tower over the choir crossing. The municipality of
apsidal chapels in monastic churches was necessitated by the
growing demand for facilities for the individual offices of a
Benedectine community.

The most sophisticated of Anglo-Saxon masonry building Mouldings are generally enriched by comentional carving with
includes the decorative devices of Carolingian Germany increased vigour through the late 11th and 12th centuries.
probably based on timber forms inherited from Roman Doorways and windows have jambs in square recesses or
antiquity (pilaster strips, triangular arcading and the 'orders' enclosing nook-shafts. These 'orders' are frequently
ubiquitous monolithic arch with impost blocks), but carved with zigzag and· beak-head ornament.
occasionally is associated with ashlar facings and either in-and-
Windows .are small and the internal jambs are deeply splayed.
out bands or 'long and short works' in quoins.

c. Norman Period

During the last three decades of the 11th century there was in
enormous surge of military and church building centred
particularly upon the great Benedictine abbeys. In greater
 were an outcome of the feudal system, which did not apply in
England until the conquest.

b. Norman Period - there were 1,500 castles in England and

1,200 were founded in the 11Th to 12th centuries. Only a few
of the most important had stone keeps from the outset, the
majority began as 'motte and Bailey' earthworks. The motte or
mound usually was partly natural, partly artificial, its sides
steepened by a ditch dug around its base. The flat-topped crest
sometimes was broad enough to accommodate a timber
dwelling. In other cases it served solely as a citadel, carrying a
wooden defence tower, raised on angle posts.
BRITAIN
Motte - a steep mound of earth surrounded by a ditch and
1. Cathedral Churches surmounted by a timber stockade and tower; the main feature
of a Norman castle.
a. The old foundation
Bailey - the open area within a mediaeval fortification; the
Served by secular clergy. outer wall of a Feudal castle.
b. Monastic foundation Rampart - earthen or masonry defense wall of a fortified site.
Originally served by regular clergy or monks, and were Palisade - a series of stout poles, pointed on top and driven
reconstituted at the Dissolution of the monasteries as chapters into the earth, used as a Fence or fortification.
of secular canons.
Baulks - a squared timber used in building construction or a low
c. New foundation ridge of earth that marks a boundary line.
The cathedral of the new foundation are those to which 4. Manor Houses
bishops have been more recently appointed.
One of the earliest types of dwelling in England was the aisled
hall, known well before Roman times. In Anglo-Saxon times it
could be on the one hand a palace or mansion or on the other
a husbandman's steading, accommodating corn and fodder in
the 'nave', oxen and horses in the 'aisles' and living quarters in
the end opposite the entrance.

Manor house - the most important house in a country or village

neighbourhood.

Norman Period

Such few examples as remain are mostly in the south-east. In

the majority, stone-built, the domestic accommodation is
raised on a first floor, over an 'under croft' or storage 'cellar'.

Under croft - a vaulted basement of a ch£ir.ch or secret

passage, often wholly or partly below ground level. Also a
2. Monastic Buildings A representative example of mature crypt.
largely Romanesque monastic architecture is Fountains Abbey,
Yorkshire. Cellar - a storey having half or more of its clear height below
grade.

On the first floor there might be little more than the one room,
the hall, or additionally a smaller private chamber or 'solar' at
the opposite end to the entrance. Cooking was probably done
outdoors, and supplementary accommodation provided in frail
shelters elsewhere in the enclosure. ·

Solar - a room or apartment on an upper floor, as in an Early

English dwelling house.

Lapped - a joint formed by placing one piece partly over

another and uniting the overlapped portions.

3. Castles

a. Anglo-Saxon Period - there were no castles, as the Forts or

'burhs' built at this time were for community use; privately
speaking castles were private strongholds for kind or lord, and
Masonry techniques in church building readily revealed an GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE in CENTRAL EUROPE
early dependence particularly upon English and Norman (GERMANY) 13th-16th Century
models churches at Husaby.

And church at Signatuna, have axial towers and eastern apses, INFLUENCES
with either continuous or crossing vaults.
GEOGRAPHICAL
1. Religious Buildings
The former collection of states which became the German
The Stave churches represent a most distinctive indigenous
Empire, was inevitably in geographical touch with the
architectural phenomenon of the early middle ages in
architecture of neighbouring countries. The chief influence on
Scandinavia.
German Gothic architecture came from France and is
Stave church - a Scandinavian wooden church with vertical conspicuous in the Rhine provinces and Westphalia, notably in
planks forming the walls. Cologne Cathedral and other churches, castles, town halls and
domestic buildings along the Rhine.

GEOLOGICAL

The northern plains of Germany provide little building material

but brick. Which gives a special character to the architecture.
In the centre and south and along the Rhine, excellent stone
was found, while timber from the great forests in these
regions gives an individuality to domestic buildings, as in
wooded districts of England.

HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND REUGI.OUS

2. Secular Buildings
Central European History in this period is complicated by the
Early Mediaeval minor domestic architecture in Scandinavia successive rise and fall of imperial and royal dynasties, by the
generally conformed to the strong tradition of timber intrigues of princely and ducal houses of the various states to
construction, and little original work survives. The traditional secure kingly power, and by the secular ambition of prince-
forms themselves are fairly readily discerned and the bishops who combined the intolerance of ecclesiastical with
constructional techniques were apparently similar in many the arrogance of secular tyrants.
respects. Stone-built dwellings followed the continental
custom, and must have had much in common with the Norman Germany was not one, but many states, thus the style of
manor house in England. An example is at Tynnelso. The lower architecture varies with the locality, just as does the
storey is a cross-vaulted under croft probably used for storage constitution of the various states and cities. Trade guilds during
and occasional accommodation of livestock, with a hall and this period acquired great importance and built elaborate
chamber at first- floor level. halls, while freemasons have been credited with much
influence in the design and working out of the Gothic style.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

The style came from France and was not evolved from German
Romanesque, and this method of its introduction may be due
to the extent to which Romanesque building had been
developed in Germany, where a preference to the ponderous
Romanesque style had resulted in the adaptation of vaulting to
new needs without resorting to the pointed arch and other
Gothic features.

TOWN HALLS (Rathauser)

Regensburg are prominent and impressive buildings, and, like

the town gates in the Baltic provinces are evidence of the
prosperity of those times.
 people as well as the revolt of the same lords against the Kingly
power. When Kings were strong, the nobles were kept in check
and-the people prospered, and thus Kings and traders
naturally fostered the towns against the nobles.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Evolution of styles leading tc1 Gothic architecture.

CUSTOMS HOUSE, Nuremburg 1498

Is remarkable, with three storeys in the walls and no less than

six storeys in its high roof, finished with a fine traceried gable.

The OLD HOUSES

Are characteristic examples of the secular architecture of the

period.

The term Gothic was a term of reproach of this style, which had
departed from those classic lines and is also given to mediaeval
architecture of the 12th to 16th century. Gothic evolved from
Romanesque architecture and is mainly distinguished by the
introduction and general use of the pointed arch.

Voussoirs - the truncated wedge shaped blocks forming an

arch .

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE FRANCE 12th-16th Century

INFLUENCES

GEOGRAPHICAL
France is divided into two parts by the River Loire with the
Franks on the North and the Romance races on the South,
architecture was influenced not only by geographical position,
but also by racial differences.

HISTORICAL, SOCIAL and RELIGIOUS

It was during the Philip that a number of French Cathedrals
were begun. In 1337 the .'Hundred Years' war with England Both pressures were collected by the meeting of the ribs at the
began, over claims arising from the marriage of Isabella of angles of vaulting compartments and the resultant oblique,
France with Edward II of England, and in 1346 the battle of pressure was then counteracted and transmitted to the
Crecy was won by the English. During the reign of Charles VII ground by Buttresses and Flying Buttresses weighted by
there was a great outburst of National Sentiment when Joan of pinnacles. The weight of the roof, transmitted by the nave
Arc raised the siege of Orleans and was burnt at Roven as a arcades also played its part in directing thrusts to the earth.
witch by the English. In 1453 the English was expelled from the
whole of France except Calais. So ended the 'Hundred Years'
war.

The period during which Gothic architecture in France had its

growth was marked by all the restlessness that characterizes
the style, which is instinct with the intellectual and spiritual
aspirations of that age. The Feudal System, though it has
obvious military and government advantages, was the root
from which sprang the tyranny of the lords over the common
 Chevet - a circular or polygonal apse when surrounded by an
ambulatory of which are chapels.

Ambulatory - the cloister or covered passage around the east

end of a church, behind the altar.

Nave - the central aisle of the church.

Buttress - a mass of masonry built against a wall to resist the Chapels - places for worship, in churches, in honour of
pressure of an arch or vault. particular saints. Sometimes erected as separate buildings.

Flying Buttress - an arch starting from a detached pier and Aisle - lateral divisions parallel with the nave in a basilica of a
abutting against a wall to take the thrust of the vaulting . church.

Pinnacles - a small turrel like termination on the top of Transept - the part of a cruciform church, projecting at right
buttresses often ornamented with bunches ·of foliage called angles to the main building.
crockets.

Crocket – a projection block or spur of stone carved with

foliage to decorate the raking lines formed by angles of spires
canopies.

Finial – The upper portion of a pinnacle, bench end.

Gargoyle – a projecting water sprout grotesquely carved to

throw off water from the roof.

Clear-storey – above the triforium to light the nave

composed of a range of windows.

Triforium – a blind story is the space beneath the sloping roof

over the aisle vault and enclosed on the nave side by a series Gothic architecture in France lasted from 1150-1550 c and is
of arches commonly divided into:

Tracery - the ornamental pattern work in stone, filling the 1. Primaire (12th c) sometimes called 'a lancettes a period
upper part of a Gothic .window; it may either be 'place distinguished by pointed arches and geometric traceried
tracery' which appears to have been cut out of a plate of windows, exemplyfing the change or transition from
stone, with special reference to the shape of the lights, or Romanesque.
'bar tracery' designed principally for the pleasing forms
produced by combinations of geometrical figures. Formed by
interlocking bars of a stone.
 France is rich in many types of secular Gothic buildings. The
style of Gothic architecture was employed not only in
churches but for all buildings, whether domestic, military, civil
or ecclesiastical.

2. Secondaire (13th c) or 'Rayonnant' a period characterized

by circular windows with whell tracery, as at Reims, amiens.

3. Hotel de ville

These are few, as there was little municipal life under

the Feudal system, Communal business was probably
3. Tertiaire (14, 15 and part 16th c) or 'Flamboyant', from the carried on in the market place or in churches and
flame-like window tracery or free flowing tracery. cloisters.

4. Palais de Justice

These were originally the great halls in which Kings and

nobles dispensed justice to their vassals, while
ecclesiastical courts dealt with matrimonial cases and
laws of inheritance.

5. Castles
1. Churches and Cathedrals Castles were generally built on mounds above rivers to
The use and intention of these structures was so different command valleys and had thick walls and small windows to
from their modern function, which has become purely resist attack. Many castles were adapted to make more
religious and ecclesiastical. French Cathedrals were erected in convenient residences in the Renaissance period, as found
the thirst half of the 13th century out of funds provided along the river Loire.
chiefly by the Laity. They did not originate as part of monastic 6. Country Houses
establishments and so their plan and design was dif. Feren:
from those of England. On the introduction of gunpowder, and with the
development of the new social order in the 15th century,
Since there were practically no other public meeting places country houses took the place of fortified castles, though
then in France, French Cathedrals were part of the life of the they were still called 'chateaux'.
townspeople and jostled their houses shoulder to shoulder.
These National Churches, by means of the painted glass of
the interior and the statuary of the exterior. Served the
citizens as illustrated Bible when few of them could read.

Fleche - a slender wooden spire rising from a roof.

2. Fortified Towns
7. Town Houses

The 'maisons nobles' began to rise in the 15th c. When French

nobles ceased to be feudal lords in fortified castles, and 2. TRANSITIONAL-1154-89
erected houses, known to this day as 'hotels', planned as in This phase is most obvious in the work carried out in the reign
the country, round a court and with an elaborate facade to of Henry 11. One often finds for example, pointed arches
the street. introduced into structures otherwise Romanesque in
Turret - small towers, often containing stairs, and fanning character.
special features in mediaeval buildings.

3. EARLY ENGLISH-1189-1307

This period is the English Equivalent of the High Gothic of

Northern France, and is occasionally known as the 'Lancet'
style, from the characteristic shape of the long narrow
Oriel window - a window corbelled out from the face of a windows, or as 'First Pointed.
wall by means of projecting stones.

Ambry - a cupboard or recess in a church and contain sacred

vessel.

Ambo - a raised pulpit from which the epistle of gospel were

read.

Apse - the circular or multangular termination of a church

sanctuary.

Boss - plough share twist.

4. DECORATED - 1307-77
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE in BRITISH ISLE 12th-16th
Century There is an early' phase in which window tracery is usually
'Geometrical' in form, followed by a period of flowing tracery
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER patterns and surface decoration which is normally called
'curvilinear'. Occasionally the term 'Second Pointed' is used.
When the High Gothic Style was gaining acceptance in
The French 'flamboyant' style is in some respects equivalent to
England during the reign of Henry II (1154-89), the techniques
later decorated work in England.
of solid Norman work were progressively modified over a
number of years. This process is especially obvious, and the
period label "transitional" was coined.

Style names of periods suggested by Edmund Sharpe who

modified the nomenclature a little, based on the evolution he
observed in the character of window tracery. Styles changed
unevenly and gradually, as follows:

1. NORMAN-1066-1154

This period includes the raising of most of the major

Romanesque churches and castles.
5. PERPENDlCULAR-1377-1485

Edmund Sharpe's nomenclature uses the term 'Rectilinear',

based on the observed tendency for large windows to be
divided by horizontal tracery members or transoms. Some
would claim this 'Third Pointed' style as a purely English
development.

Arched openings were generally equilateral and wider than

they had been before, and were enriched by somewhat
shallower mouldings at wider intervals.

6. TUDOR- 1495-1558

This period is marked by an increasing application of

Renaissance detail to buildings, otherwise late perpendicular
Gothic.

7. ELIZABETHAN- 1558-1603 Window tracery developed very rapidly; at first the patterns
were simple interlocked designs of circles and arcs, but soon
Whilst the new ideas of the Renaissance took strong hold in
with the introduction of cusps and raised mouldings the
this period, a number of traditional mediaeval characteristics
essential geometry was merged into web like 'curvilinear'
still appear; for example, the persistence of the Great Hall in
compositions.
house plans, mullioned windows and the Gothic outline of
building masses.

WALLS, COLUMNS, OPENINGS, DECORATION

EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD

Walls retain the massive character of preceding Norman work,

but using less interior rubble and more cut stone. The
concentration of roof and vaulting loads· on deeper buttresses
began the process of reducing the intervening walls to mere
enclosing screens.

PERPENDICULAR PERIOD
Late Gothic designs became attenuated, essentially linear, at
times over-refined and brittle.

As windows grew larger to accommodate brilliant displays of

coloured glass, buttresses and the remaining walls (and even
columns and arch-soffits were decorated with tracery-like
panels.

Columns were more slender; mouldings often ran without

interruption from floor to ceiling or up the shaft and round
the arch itself, with capitals reduced to vestigial form or not
Columns were compound, cylindrical or octagonal, sometimes
present at all. Arches, while they continued to be moulded,
surrounded by detached shafts of Purbeck marble, held by
were simpler, even severe, and like windows tended to be
rings of stone or metal.
wide, and flat in outline, with four-centered or square heads.
Capitals boldly moulded to give deep shadows, were often
Window tracery became stereotyped after the necessary
carved with upright 'stiff leaf' foliage; the normal abacus· was
introduction of horizontal transornes for stability. Small lights
circular on· plan and not square as was usual in France.
in the upper parts framed stylized painted glass figures.
Columns, sometimes of a lozenge-shaped plan. Were
surrounded by a subsidiary engaged shafts; capitals, not so
deeply undercut, were frequently carved with more
naturalistic oak, ivy or maple leaves.
 B. DECORATED VAULTING

A general elaboration of vaulting is characteristic of this

period, and this is due not only to the greater use of both
intermediate and ridge ribs, as in the nave vault of Exeter
Cathedral, but also to the addition of 'Lierne ribs'.
The maintenance of strong geometry and variation in tracery
thickness sometimes produced designs of great beauty; Lierne ribs - {French, lien-tie) a short intermediate rib which
characteristically some, if not all, mullions ran up without does not rise from the impost and is not a ridge rib.
interruption from sill to window-head with the common use of
silver stain, late Gothic glass achieved great splendour.

Mullions- vertical tracery members· dividing windows into

different numbers of lights.

THE EVOLUTION OF GOTHIC VAULTING

A. EARLY ENGLISH VAULTING

The pointed arch came into general use in the 13th century,
and, without use being made of stilting or any other
contrivances, surmounted the difficulties created by the
intersection of semi-circular vaults of different spans.

Cornoid - having the form of a cone. The term applied to the

lower part of a Mediaeval vault where the ribs converge
against the outer wall and form an approximation of an
inverted half-cone or half pyramid.

Stellar vault - a vault in which the ribs compose· a star-shaped

pattern.

C. PERPENDICLULAR VAULTING

The intricate 'stellar' vaulting evolved in the late 14th and early
The plain four-part {Quadripartite} ribbed vault, primarily
15th centuries led, by experimental stages, to the type known
constructed as a skeleton framework of diagonal and
as 'fan', 'palm' or 'conoidal' vaulting, in which the rising ribs are
transverse ribs, was chiefly used in this period, as in the naves
formed at equal angles or inverted concave cones and are thus
of Durham, Salisbury and Glouchester.
of the same curve, and these are connected at different
The 'Ploughshare Twist', which sometimes occurs in the panels heights by horizontal lierne ribs.
between diagonal and wall ribs, is produced by raising the
springing of the wall rib above that of the diagonal rib in order
to increase the size of clear-storey· windows, whose shape was
thus influenced by the vault.

Plough - share twist-the irregular or winding surface, in a vault,

where the wall ribs, owing to the position of the clear-storey
windows, start at a higher level than tl1e other ribs (the
diagonal" rib is warped like a plowshare.
 2. TIE-BEAM ROOFS

Are found in connection both with steeply-pitched and low-

pitched roofs. In early use the tie-beam represents a 'Bulk-Tie'
which joined the wall-posts of timber buildings, and in stone
buildings was often haphazardly placed in order to prevent the
wall plates from spreading.

Baulk-tie - a tie-beam joining the wall posts of a timber roof

and serving also to prevent walls from spreading.

Camber - a slight convex curvature built into a truss or beam

to compensate· for any anticipated deflection so that it will
have no sag when under load.

D. TUDOR VAULTING
The four central arch, so typical of the period seems to have
had its origin in the difficulty of making the various ribs in the
oblong vaulting compartments of naves reach the same height.

CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF TIMBER

ROOFS
Timber outer roofs were almost always used above a vaulted
ceiling, in these cases internal appearance was of no account, 3. THE COLLAR- BRACED ROOF
and there was hardly any development in the design of such a
wooden covering over the period as a whole. Which may be said to originate about 1300 is a natural
descendant of the 'cruck truss' roof of the western half of the
Open roofs, that is those meant to be seen from the underside, country in which principals of the cruck type-spaced down the
show a rich variety from the 13th century right up to Tudor length of a building to carry purlins and a ridge, and these the
times, generally most elaborate towards the end of the period. rafters-are raised upon walls instead of starting from the
The English open roofs of the middle ages may be classified as: ground as formerly.

1. Trussed- rafter roofs Crucks - pairs of timbers, arched together and based near the
ground, erected to form principals for the support of the roof
2. Tie-beam roofs and walls of timber-framed small houses.

3. Collar-braced roofs

4. Hammer beam .roofs

5. Aisle roofs

1. TRUSSED-RAFTER ROOFS

Are nearly always pitched, averaging 55 degrees; they are rare

in churches after C. 1400. The fundamental form of roof in the
South-east was that composed of 'couples' of rafters, each pair
separate without a ridge-piece; but as the rafters exercised
outward thrust they were usually joined together by a collar,
or pair of collars, or were stiffened further by braces· from
4. THE HAMMER-BEAM ROOF
collar to rafters.
This consists of a series of trusses repeated at intervals, to
support the intermediate purlins and rafters, and its object is
to transmit the weight and thrust of the roof as low down as
possible in the supporting wall the component parts of each
truss are the two principal rafters and hammer beams with
struts, curved braces and collars which vary in number and
design.

Century

INFLUENCES
The establishment of the Spanish Inquisition (1477) in castle
and later in other provinces as designed to bring about
national unity by first securing religious unity. This inquisitorial
scheme resulted in the expulsion from Spain of both Jews and
Moslems, who were important communities in commercial
and industrial life, and Spain was thus materially weakened by
their departure.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Despite the fall of the Moslem capital of Toledo in 1085,

Moorish influence remained a salient aspect of Spanish art and
architecture until the final expulsion of the Moors with the fall
of Granada in 1492. The Gothic style was most highly
developed in Catalonia where, though mainly on French lines,
the grand scale of the single-span vaulted interiors gives it, a ·
specifically Spanish character.

The cloisters of many cathedrals are very characteristic.

Retablo - is a sumptuously ornate form of reredos.
EXAMPLES
Reredos - the screen or ornamental work rising behind the
I. Ecclesiastical altar.

BURGOS CATHEDRAL (1221·1457) Retable - a ledge or shelf behind an altar for holding vases or
candles.
Is irregular in plan and the most poetic of all the Spanish
cathedrals. The two western towers, with open-work spire The exterior has a low roof, usual in most Spanish churches,
recall cologne, and a richly treated central lantern or and has a fine ornamental north-west steeple.
"cimborio" is a feature of the exterior.
Steeple - the term applied to a tower crowned by a spire.
cimborio - special term for a lantern or raised structure above
Spire - the tapering terminatior.t of a tower.
a roof admitting light into the interior .
TITE COLLEGES of STO. GREGORIO, VALLADOLID (1488-
96)
Now the town hall, has a sculptured facade embellished with
statues, heraldic devices and a genealogical tree of Ferdinand
and Isabella, all framed with canopied niches and pinnacles,
which allow the influence of Moorish art in church ornament.

BARCELONA CATHEDRAL (1298-1448)

Is remarkably fine, with nave vaulted in square and aisles in

oblong bays, in the Italian manner, and with characteristics
"coro'' west of the crossing.

Reja - an ornate iron grille or screen a characteristic feature of

Spanish church interiors.

The 'coro' is in the usual Spanish position west of the crossing,

which reduces the nave to a vestibule.

coro - special for choir usually occupied two or more bays of

the nave.

TOLEDO Cathedral-1227-1493

With five aisles and a range of side chapels, resembles Bourges

Chatedral, in general plan, but is wider, with the choir
enclosure, as is usual in Spain, west of the crossing.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE in NETHERLANDS 12th- each side of the choir is typical of the Netherlands. Tracery wall
16th Century panelling, many I slender pier shafts, often without capitals,
and huge clear-storey windows mark the period. It is 122m
GEOGRAPHICAL 1400 ft.) High and capped by a three stage lantern with
pinnacle buttresses.
The Netherlands consists of the basins and delta-lands of the
Rhine, Meuse Maas) and Scheldt, the flat. Low-lying coastal
areas and the hills of the Ardenes. The fertile land and the
great navigable rivers created and maintained a number of
mediaeval states and prosperous cities dependent culturally
on either France or Germany.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Gothic architecture of the Netherlands was governed by the
same principles as applied to the rest of Europe. French
Cathedral Gothic formed its basis, and from this grew the
Brabantine style. From another direction, through Cologne,
the Gothic of Reims and Amiens was the inspiration for the
cathedral of Utrecht in the mid-13th century, while the older
traditions and the manners of Westphalia and the Rhineland
were continued in the Eastern and Northern parts of Belgium
and Holland.

These latter include the long narrow and low-set sanctuary

windows and, later, the 'hall' churches, in which nave and
aisles were approximately of equal height. In Flanders, a
national variant adapted to brick, developed and spread
northward along the coast of Zealand, Holland and Friesland,
arid far beyond to Scandinavia and the Baltic.

Adaption to brick entaled simplification of detail and

ornament, most evident in the Dutch churches; many of these
lack vaults or the ·vaults are of timber, though sometimes the
reason is instability of the ground. Nonetheless, few Dutch or Secular Architecture
Flemish churches are without ·an immense, high and ornate Castle of Muilden - 13th Century In Holland near Amsterdam,
tower, the product of civic rivalry in wealth and splendour . . .., relied largely on water for its defence.
Not only did the rich towns build vast churches and elaborate
town halls, guilhalls and trade halls, but also, merchants built
houses and warehouses, with stepped gables and many
regular windows.

EXAMPLES

Ecclesiastical Architecture
St. Gudule, Brussels {1220-1475)

Has a choir which is the earliest example of Gothic in the

Netherlands. Typical of the Netherlands is the plan which lacks
aisles to the transepts and a full chevet of chapels but includes Cloth Hall, and BELFRY-BRUGES
wide chapels flanking the choir.
Has a tower 80 m (260 ft.) high is typical of Flemish brick and
stone civic architecture.

ANTWERP Cathedral (1352-1411)

Is in the mature Belgian style, with further outside influences.

It is remarkable for its great width-a nave flanked by triple
aisles-yet the transepts are aisle less and the spread of chapels
Baroque and Rococo Architecture elaborate, contrasting surface textures, used to heighten
immediacy and sensual delight. Ceilings of Baroque churches,
dissolved in painted scenes, presented vivid views of
History of Baroque Architecture the infinite to the worshiper and directed him through his
In 16th-century Italy, an architectural style developed to create senses toward heavenly concerns. Seventeenth-century
a dramatic, impressive appearance. This style, which had Baroque architects made architecture a means
connections to the Catholic religion, was known as Baroque of propagating faith in the church and in the state. Baroque
architecture. palaces expanded to command the infinite and to display the
power and order of the state. Baroque space, with
Baroque architecture rose during a time of turmoil for the directionality, movement, and positive moulding, contrasted
Catholic Church. It was part of a reaction to the Protestant markedly with the static, stable, and defined space of the High
Reformation, when reformers led a series of challenges that Renaissance and with the frustrating conflict of unbalanced
resulted in Protestants leaving the Catholic Church. The latter spaces of the preceding Mannerist period. Baroque space
responded with the Counter-Reformation, which was a series invited participation and provided multiple changing views.
of reforms, but also a display of power and wealth meant to Renaissance space was passive and invited contemplation of
reaffirm the church's status in society and faith. You could its precise symmetry. While a Renaissance statue was meant
consider early Baroque architecture, which focused on to be seen in the round, a Baroque statue either had a principal
churches, as a visual form of propaganda promoting the view with a preferred angle or was definitely enclosed by
church. It was not a style found on modest structures like a niche or frame. A Renaissance building was to be seen
homes, although it was used on palaces and other large equally from all sides, while a Baroque building had a main axis
buildings. Baroque architecture spread through Europe, or viewpoint as well as subsidiary viewpoints. Attention was
including England and Spain, and as far away as South America. focused on the entrance axis or on the central pavilion, and its
symmetry was emphasized by the central culmination. A
Characteristics of Baroque Architecture Baroque building expanded in its effect to include the square
facing it, and often the ensemble included all the buildings on
Baroque architecture was meant to make a statement. the square as well as the approaching streets and the
Structures often had grand curving walls and elongated, surrounding landscape. Baroque buildings dominated their
distorted architectural elements. Niches (recessed areas in environment; Renaissance buildings separated themselves
walls for sculptures), porticoes (covered entrance porches), from it.
and columned arcades (rows of columns covered by a roof) The Baroque rapidly developed into two separate forms: the
increased the interplay of light and shadow, making structures strongly Roman Catholic countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal,
seem dramatic. Baroque architecture also included massing or Flanders, Bohemia, southern Germany, Austria, and Poland)
grouping of elements like columns and pilasters (square pillars tended toward freer and more active architectural forms and
that are not completely freestanding) to make structures seem surfaces; in Protestant regions (England, the Netherlands, and
impressive and substantial. It often repeated architectural the remainder of northern Europe) architecture was more
elements across surfaces. Interiors were full of bold colors and restrained and developed a sober, quiet monumentality that
decoration. They had rich surface treatments, including plenty was impressive in its refinement. In the Protestant countries
of gilt, or very thin layers of gold. and France, which sought the spirit through the mind,
architecture was more geometric, formal, and precise—an
Baroque architecture was deeply emotional. All those shadows
appeal to the intellect. In the Roman Catholic south, buildings
and curves created a sense of movement and a powerful
were more complex, freer, and done with greater artistic
impression. It was an attempt, through architecture, to pull license—an appeal to the spirit made through the senses.
people back to the Catholic Church.
The periods of Mannerism and the Baroque that followed the
Baroque was at first an undisguised term of abuse, probably Renaissance signalled an increasing anxiety over meaning and
derived from the Italian word barocco, which was a term used representation. Important developments in science and
by philosophers during the Middle Ages to describe an philosophy had separated mathematical representations of
obstacle in schematic logic. Subsequently, this became a reality from the rest of culture, fundamentally changing the
description for any contorted idea or involutes process of way humans related to their world through architecture. [citation
needed]
thought. Another possible source is the Portuguese It would reach its most extreme and embellished
word barroco, with its Spanish form barrueco, used to describe development under the decorative tastes of Rococo.
an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl; this usage still
Baroque architects took the basic elements of Renaissance
survives in the jeweler’s term “baroque pearl.”
architecture, including domes and colonnades, and made
The derivation of the word Rococo is equally uncertain, though
them higher, grander, more decorated, and more dramatic.
its source is most probably to be found in the French
The interior effects were often achieved with the use
word rocaille, used to describe shell and pebble decorations in
of Quadratura, or trompe-l'oeil painting combined with
the 16th century. In the 18th century, however, the scope of
sculpture; the eye is drawn upward, giving the illusion that one
the word was increased when it came to be used to describe
is looking into the heavens. Clusters of sculpted angels and
the mainstream of French art of the first half of the
painted figures crowd the ceiling. Light was also used for
century; neoclassical artists used it as a derogatory term.
dramatic effect; it streamed down from cupolas, and was
Fundamentally a style of decoration, Rococo is much more a
reflected from an abundance of gilding. Twisted columns were
facet of late Baroque art than an autonomous style, and the
also often used, to give an illusion of upwards motion,
relationship between the two presents interesting parallels to
and cartouches and other decorative elements occupied every
that between High Renaissance and Mannerist art.
available space. In Baroque palaces, grand stairways became a
central element.
During the Baroque period (c. 1600–1750), architecture,
painting, and sculpture were integrated into decorative
ensembles. Architecture and sculpture became pictorial, and
painting became illusionistic. Baroque art was essentially
concerned with the dramatic and the illusory, with vivid
colours, hidden light sources, luxurious materials, and
History of Rococo Architecture Architecture during the Growth of the European
Rococo, sometimes called Late Baroque, was a style found in States
decorative arts, architecture and fine arts. It emerged in France
The period of the growth of European states, traced back from
in the early 1700s, associated not with the church but with a
the age of enlightenment or age of reason in Europe, saw the
monarch, namely King Louis XV. It represented a turn away
dominance of classical designs particularly for architecture.
from the heavy emotion and drama of Baroque architecture to
There are several reasons why architecture during this period
a more light-hearted but still very decorative style. It grew out
is considered and viewed as classical. First, much of the designs
of the Baroque, but rejected the heavy, overly emotional
during this period are roman-inspired and they exhibit
elements of that style. If Baroque represented the power of
characteristics such as beauty, splendor and magnificence that
the church, Rococo represented secular high fashion.
are common depictions of being Roman; and knowing that
However, while the focus was palaces and manor homes,
roman culture is a very important contributor to the classical
Rococo was also used on some churches.
period, having Roman-like characteristics makes the designs
Rococo developed first in decorative arts and interiors and classical. The second is reason is the prevalence of
spread to architecture. It was used for special rooms like architectural structures like columns, buttresses in churches,
salons. Salons were spaces for entertaining visitors and guests temples and castles, which for instance, are frequently made
and holding gatherings with the intelligentsia. Rococo was during the classical period. These are the very reasons why the
favoured by French aristocrats, and it spread to places where designs during this period are very classical in characteristics.
growing aristocratic classes wanted to demonstrate how
fashionable they were. It became popular across Europe in the Moreover, the architecture during this period of growth has
18th century, especially in places like Germany, Poland and been a factor and a catalyst of progress for European states.
Russia. It declined in popularity in France by the late 1780s, but This is because aside from being classical, the architecture in
hung on longer in other places; in fact, some of the most the period is neo-classical as well. Neo-classicism, another
fanciful examples of Rococo were built in Germany. term for romanticism, is described to be an antidote of
progress. In this case, being neo-classical in nature,
In Rococo architecture, decorative sculpture and painting are architecture really does contribute to the progress and growth
inseparable from the structure. Simple dramatic spatial of European states in this period.
sequences or the complex interweaving of spaces of 17th-
century churches gave way to a new spatial concept. By The architecture during the period of growth of European
progressively modifying the Renaissance-Baroque horizontal states, therefore, is something that is of grandeur and an
separation into discrete parts, Rococo architects obtained aspect which gave a meaningful contribution to what has been
unified spaces, emphasized structural elements, created attributed as advancement, progress and growth for European
continuous decorative schemes, and reduced column sizes to states.
a minimum. In churches, the ceilings of side aisles were raised
to the height of the nave ceiling to unify the space from wall to Architecture in Colonial and Post-Colonial America
wall (e.g., church of the Carmine, Turin, Italy, 1732, by Filippo
Juvarra; Pilgrimage Church, Steinhausen, near Biberach,
Influences The study of the progress of architecture in new
Germany, 1728, by Dominikus Zimmermann; Saint-Jacques,
country, untrammelled with precedent and lacking the
Lunéville, France, 1730, by Germain Boffrand). To obtain a
conditions obtaining in Europe, is interesting; but room is not
vertical unification of structure and space, the vertical line of a available for more than cursory glance. During the eighteenth
supporting column might be carried up from the floor to the century (1725-1775) buildings were erected which have been
dome (e.g., church of San Luis, Sevilla, Spain, begun 1699, by termed “colonial” in style, corresponding to what is
Leonardo de Figueroa). The entire building was often lighted understood in England as “Queen Anne” or “Georgian”. In the
by numerous windows placed to give dramatic effect (e.g., “New England” States wood was the material principally
Schloss Brühl, near Cologne, by Balthasar Neumann, 1740) or employed, and largely affected the detail. Craigie House,
to flood the space with a cool diffuse light (e.g., Pilgrimage Cambridge (1757), is typical of the symmetrical buildings. It has
Church, Wies, Germany, by Zimmermann, 1745). elongated Ionic half-columns to its façade, shuttered sash
windows the hipped roof and the dentil cornice of the “Queen
Anne” period; the internal fittings resembling those of Adam
and Sheraton.

Character European influence in both North and South

America remained strong throughout the period, although
materials, local skills, social customs and especially climatic
conditions played their part, and buildings continued to
possess strong regional characteristics. In the U.S.A. itself, a
conscious striving for a truly ‘national’ architecture became
evident soon after the war of independence, and architecture
in that country can be considered as passing through three
broad and loosely phases:

a.) Post-Colonial

b.) First Eclectic Phase

c.) Second Eclectic Phase

a.)Post-Colonial (1790-1820) Architecture of this period moved BILTMORE, Ashville, North Carolina (1890-5) by R.M. Hunt,
away from the English Georgian idiom which had become the first American architect to be trained at the Ecole des
established along the eastern seaboard of the country Neo- Beaux-Arts in Paris, in style of an early French Renaissance
classic elements were introduced. chateau.

b.) First Eclectic Phase (1820-1869) During this period the STOUGHTON HOUSE, Cambridge, Mass (1882-1883) by
revived Greek style was predominant receiving a more whole- Mckim, Mead and White, is a timber-framed house, its walls
hearted acceptance that it did in England and developing clad externally with wood shingles providing an important
specifically American characteristics. The Gothic and Egyptian example of the so-called ‘Shingle style’.
styles found some popularity but compared with the Greek
revival, these were minor streams. The type of timber –
Charles Follen Mckim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909)
framing known as the ‘baloon – frame’ came into use during
was an American Beaux-Arts architect ofthe late 19th century.
this period and revolutionized timber construction.
Along with Stanford White, he provided the architectural
expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead &
c. ) Second Eclectic Phase (1860-1930) American architecture White.
achieved international significance during this period and
followed two main streams. The first related to the Gothic
William Rutherford Mead (August 20, 1846 – June 19, 1928)
revival and initiated as a Romanesque revival with H.H.
was an American architect, and was the "Center of the Office"
Richardson as its first important exponent, gained
of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural
considerable momentum and reached great vigor and vitality
firm.
in the work of Louis Sullivan. In some respects the movement
in its later stages can be equated with that of the arts and
crafts in Britain and it culminated in the work of Frank Lloyd Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an
Wright. American architect and partner in the architectural firm of
McKim, Mead & White, and the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts
firms.
The second stream was more academic in character. Influence
by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris its architecture inspired by
the great periods of the past, the Italian and French
Renaissance, ancient Greek and Roman and late Gothic.

Two important and influential exhibitions belongs to this

period; the centennial expositions 1876, Philadelphia and the
world’s Columbian exposition (Chicago 1893).

The period is noteworthy for structural experiment and

achievement. The Skyscraper, often regarded as America’s
greatest single contribution to architectural development, was
a product of this phase and was closely related to metal frame
construction the non-load-bearing ‘curtain wall’ and the lift or
elevator. The period saw also the establishment of many
schools of architecture in the U.S.A., the first at Massachusetts
Institutes of Technology in 1868, under W.R. Ware.

Examples (Domestic Buildings)

The WHITE HOUSE, Washington D.C. (1792-1829)

The official residence of the president of the U.S.A. was

designed by James Hoban, an Irish architect, in the English
Palladian Style.

Robie House, Chicago (1908) by Frank Lloyd Wright, is

dominated externally by its strong horizontal lines which seem
to make it almost one with the land on which it is built.
Constructed of fine, small brick with low-pitched hipped roofs,
the house is planned in an open and informal manner,
interesting use being made of changes of level internally, the
flowing internal spaces being generated by a central core
containing staircase and fireplaces.

Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia (1793) Was designed

by Thomas Jefferson third person of the U.S.A. For his own use.
The first house, and elegant example of colonial Georgian, was
completely remodelled in a free and imaginative Palladian
manner.
Architecture in the Industrial Revolution positive facet – as the architecture which moves forward with
time, futuristic or on can be seen as a subject seized by the
aliens outside the culture of architecture.
Introduction The Industrial Revolution was a movement that
started in 19th century and lasted for about a century and half.
And then, followed by the „Machine Age‟ which is
characterized by arrival of „electric power from the mains and
reduction of machines to human scale. The introduction of
manually controlled machines such as cars, aeroplanes,
vacuum cleaners and most importantly computers which
marked the late decades of the 20th century for the domestic
continuum of life. The architects of the 19th century were the
first ones to embrace the idea of science and technology over
the cultural legacy which had been carried over last plenty of
centuries. The idea of the buildings before were all static,
designed for the same purpose (like taking the example of the
parish churches). But with this upcoming of new period the
demand arouse for the new building types because the needs
of the user outstripped the state of art building envelope. Than By the end of nineteenth century machinery was becoming
after some decades of mutiny among the ideas the rapid string more massive and intricate; and it was fond that industrial
of new range of buildings came up like housing, schools, buildings were not functional enough to cope up with the
hospitals and banks. With the radical change in the impact of requirements of the machines. New heavy machines like
new technological environment the need for serviced floor dynamos, presses and turbines made a new approach to
space coincided with the upcoming contemporary age. It architectural design comparative. There was beauty in the
created the same possibilities for the architects at 1980s as it lines of these pieces of machinery, and there was no suitable
created the inventors of pre-fabricated building systems in or efficient architecture to accommodate them. Remember
1930s. that the appearance of well-installed machinery is always good
salesmanship.
The days of the „factory building‟ era virtually ended at the The lines and surfaces of machinery of the twentieth century
turn of the twentieth century. Before than the factory was a are inspiring and beautiful. Since the first decades of the
building of four heavy walls with three-foot windows about twentieth century a complete change has taken place in the
twelve feet apart, and the while covered with a slate or tin architectural design. The American architect Louis Sullivan was
roof. There was little, if any, attempt made to design buildings the first to conceive the idea that architecture and engineering
for proper functioning of the machinery. Natural lighting was were kindred forces. Thus function and material set a standard
poor on account of the roof lights. Artificial lighting was yellow, form and style. Hence a new style of architecture was born,
inadequate and badly placed. Truly a dismal picture of a dismal and the structural scheme expressed in steel and concrete
industrial age. became a reality. Frank Lloyd Wright, a disciple of Sullivan and
an outstanding young architect, followed up the ideas
Analysis developed by his master and subsequently consolidated the
A multitude of machines made jobs less physically demanding hard-won ground by designing clear-cut functional homes,
than they used to be. The prefabrication of the building factories and offices. Walter Gropius although trained to be an
components in factories is doubtlessly contributing to this architect, he found interests in all crafts connected to the
trend. The architects‟ hope that industrialization would builder’s art. He was particularly interested in pictures,
improve the quality of the building components however has furniture and machinery. Thus he returned to the mediaeval
sadly not been fulfilled entirely. In fact on the contrary, as a guild’s ideas of the aesthetic on the one hand and to the
result of mass production details had to be simplified to practical guilds on the other hand. Early in 1920 Gropius
respond to mechanical processes that would turn out to be gathered around him gifted men and women who were
crude and rough. The creative contribution by the skilled proficient in the crafts, such as 2 ceramics, fabrics and
craftsman to the shaping of building details is diminishing at a sculpture. Thus Gropius united all arts and crafts with the
very high pace; the creativity with all the invaluable experience builder’s art. This group was called the Bauhaus and become a
handed down by generations. moving force in the world of architecture. In 1926, the Bauhaus
(the building housing the group) was completed in conformity
The Crystal Palace, 1851 Sir Joseph Paxton’s masterpiece of with the new ideas, and the professors‟ and students‟
component design and project management serves as a dwellings are still considered classics of modern architecture.
perfect 2 International Journal of Engineering Research and
Technology. ISSN 0974-3154 Volume 10, Number 1 (2017) © All the new planning for the cities has to sub ordinate itself to
International Research Publication House the existing overall framework, and offer in its physical
http://www.irphouse.com 1 example in terms of long spans, manifestation a formal answer to the given spatial conditions.
iron construction and use of glass. Here the fact of the project However, the Urban Space has been forgotten in the twentieth
of nearly one million square feet of floor space on three floors century city planning. Our new cities consist of a
had been completed only in nine months has been one of the conglomeration of free standing and isolated buildings.
major driving points why and how the prefabricated method
of construction became an tool for architects for going about Buildings are thus among the most powerful means that a
the buildings. Thus, taking into today’s consideration of society has to constitute itself in space time and through this
modern age structures as Richard Roger’s Lloyd’s building or project itself into the future. The act of building is, as a
Norman foster’s Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Both then and consequence, inevitably a social act. As such it entails risk, risk
now, the key to professional survival was to make these that the forms will not be those that permit the society to
opportunities and possibilities culturally acceptable. The reproduce its essential forms. Architecture persists both,
success rate in this aspect is however a decision which may modern society and social agencies; because society changes
vary from person to person. On one hand it can be seen i as a
and must change its built world in order to perpetuate itself in idea was that the design of a building should be based on the
a slightly different way to its predecessor. These must always needs of its function, not on historical ideas or precedent. By
experiment with the future. The real risk is in persistence of the 1930s, “form follows function” had become a rallying cry
error through time, so that forms inconsistent with the of Modernist architects who believed that they were
perpetuation of good society becomes dominant. It is exactly approaching design 8 from a functionalist approach that
from such high risks that we, today entering into the twenty resulted in buildings perfectly suited for their intended use,
first century, seem recently to have made our escape. without unnecessary detail or extraneous decoration. In 1932,
the architect Philip Johnson and the architectural historian and
critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock co-curated an exhibition at New
The Development of Architecture in the Twentieth York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). They identified the
Century and Modernism new style, which they dubbed “International Modernism”,
with three main characteristics:
What is Modern Architecture?
 Emphasis on architectural volume over mass. Thin outer
The main storyline of architecture in the twentieth story is walls, often with windows placed flush with or very near the
that of the development of Modernism, and various reactions outer surface, could create the impression of a shell stretched
taut over the frame—very different from the massive
to it. Most of us use the term “modern” to refer to something
that is of its time, and perhaps even up-to-the-minute and appearance of a load-bearing wall pierced with openings.  The
fashionable. But from the 1920s or so in avant-garde circles, rejection of symmetry, which had particularly characterized
the term “Modern” came to refer to a particular approach by architecture in the classical tradition. Hitchcock and Johnson
a group of architects who sought to cast off historical argued that the Modernists replaced symmetry with a sense of
precedent and develop something entirely new and different regularity, created by a feeling for rhythm and balance. 
for their own time. The carnage of World War I having Finally, the Modernists largely rejected applied decoration,
convinced them that the ways of old Europe were a failure, with visual gratification instead being created through the use
Modernist architects saw historical styles—developed in of intrinsically beautiful materials, elegant proportions, and
response to earlier conditions—as anachronistic, irrelevant, the elements of structure itself.
and potentially decadent. They rejected ornament as frivolous
and outdated, seeking instead to create an entirely new Examples of Modernism Structures
aesthetic based on the needs and opportunities of new
materials and structural approaches such as reinforced
concrete and steel frames.

Structural Innovations The development of the steel frame,

which became a crucial aspect of Modern architecture, had its
roots in the iron frames that began to make their appearance
in the tall office buildings of Chicago in the 1880s. Until that
time, almost all buildings of any size—including all masonry
buildings—had depended on their walls to hold them up; the
material of the walls both kept the weather out and formed
the structure of the buildings. The taller the building was, the
thicker the walls had to be at the base to support the vast
Emphasis on architectural volume over mass. Thin outer walls,
weight above them (unless architectural devices such as
often with windows placed flush with or very near the outer
domes and vaults were employed in combination with
surface, could create the impression of a shell stretched taut
buttresses, as in ecclesiastical or large public buildings). There
over the frame—very different from the massive appearance
is a limit to how tall such a building can practically be before
of a load-bearing wall pierced with openings.The rejection of
the lower floors begin to disappear in the thickness of the
symmetry, which had particularly characterized architecture in
walls; the tallest load-bearing masonry office building ever
the classical tradition. Hitchcock and Johnson argued that the
built was Chicago’s Monadnock building in 1893, at seventeen
Modernists replaced symmetry with a sense of regularity,
storeys high and with walls six feet thick at the base. But with
created by a feeling for rhythm and balance. Finally, the
the development of the steel frame, the walls were no longer
Modernists largely rejected applied decoration, with visual
required to bear any weight; instead, the building was held up
gratification instead being created through the use of
by the interior frame, while the walls kept the weather out.
intrinsically beautiful materials, elegant proportions, and the
Initially, such buildings were clad in brick, stone or terracotta.
elements of structure itself.
They continued to appear nearly as massive as their masonry
predecessors, partly as a visual reassurance to the public that
this radical new type of structure would not collapse. But as
time went on, windows became larger and cladding thinner.
The non-load-bearing walls came to be known as curtain walls
because they hung on their frames. Steel frames also allowed
for considerable flexibility of plan, with steel beams and girders
allowing for the creation of wide interior spaces. Increasingly,
architects began to think about the implications for a new
aesthetic.

The Aesthetics of Function Louis Sullivan, an architect who was

highly influential in the development of the Chicago School,
and who had a profound effect on Modernist architects,
coined the phrase “form ever follows function” in 1896. His
Mies van der Rohe, Crown Hall, IIT, Chicago, 1950‐56  A free façade. The thin curtain wall, with no requirement
for bearing a load, could have openings where convenience
and beauty demanded them.
Mies often used rich, polished materials, which, with elegance
of proportion, provide visual interest and beauty without
ornament. Here, the capabilities of steel frame construction  Ribbon, or strip windows, which provided extensive light
are evident in the fully glazed exterior walls and the large open and ventilation and emphasized the non‐ load‐bearing
space on the main floor. quality of the wall.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson, Seagram

Building, New York, 1958 An icon of International Modernism,
the Seagram Building expresses its structure on the outside
Le Corbusier, Nôtre dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1955
and has no other ornament. Ironically, fire regulations
required the steel framing to be clad in masonry, and Mies
expressed his hidden structure by attaching non‐load‐bearing This building could hardly differ more from Crown Hall, though
bronze I‐beams to the exterior of the cladding. Emphasizing it was built at nearly the same time. In place of Mies’s strict
that the structural frame—not the visible walls— is holding up geometry and smooth, polished surfaces, Le Corbusier used
the building, the entrance level is a glass box smaller than the rough concrete, poured in place in expressionist curves and
footprint of the building. Other features common to many following the contour of the hill on which the building
International style buildings are the cantilevered canopy over stands. The thick walls, pierced by windows of different
the entrance and the setting of the building in a large plaza. shapes and sizes, create a mysterious and emotive interior very
appropriate for a pilgrimage church.

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, 1929

Le Corbusier, Punjabi Legislative Assembly, Chandigarh, India,
Le Corbusier identified five points that he believed were the 1957 Nearly Contemporaneous with the Seagram Building and
key features of Modern architecture; all are present in this Crown Hall, Le Corbusier’s work at Chandigargh, with its
weekend house near Paris: weathered concrete surfaces, is very different in approach
although he employed the grid form on the sides of this
building. Responding to the location, he set the windows deep
 The use of pilotis, or support columns, to elevate the main
into the walls, creating “brises‐soleils,” or sun‐ breaks, to shade
building above the ground and allow the space under it to be
the interior from the hot Indian sun. The dramatic inverted
used.
parasol shape is derived from traditional regional building
forms.
 A flat roof, on which a terrace would reclaim for outdoor
use the same space on which the building sat.
A Catalogue of Modern Styles Like most new doctrines,
Modernism began among the avant-garde and gradually
 A free plan. The use of a steel frame and the elimination of became mainstream. As the Miesian glass box was widely
load‐bearing walls allowed the interior to be arranged adopted, some critics began to complain that cities the world
without regard to structural needs. over were coming to resemble each other and consequently
losing their identities. “God is in the details,” Mies had
famously said, and Modernism’s elegant forms, deceptively
simple and easy to copy, could quickly result in dull, banal
buildings in the hands of less able architects. Among the
followers of a Corbusian approach, who were more inclined to
react to local conditions, climates and needs, Modernism was
becoming more varied in its appearance and regional
differences are more evident. People came to realize that it
was no accident that different styles had developed in various
climates and situations; for comfort and efficiency, the grey
and rainy conditions of one city demand a different kind of
building than the hot and arid climate of another. In particular,
architects working in extreme climates responded to
Modernist theory with a range of regional solutions. By the A fine Manitoba example of Brutalism is the Manitoba Theatre
1950s, many architects were beginning to move away from the Centre.
spare outlines of high modernism to develop a wider range of
forms. The following pages provide a brief guide to some of the Corporate Modernism By the late 1950s there was a demand
more common developments from the International for corporate buildings that included eye-catching features
Modernism that Johnson and Hitchcock had named in 1932. and forms that were less cerebral and more individual than
These include: those of International Modernism. Architects of early
corporate modernist buildings sought to develop forms that
would be unique and identifiable with a particular image.
 Popular Modernism These buildings tend to be sleek and polished, often with a lot
of reflective glass. Although many follow the basic forms of
 Brutalism International Modernism, they are not restricted to oblong
shapes and right angles, and often feature large glass atria,
sometimes several storeys high. The firm perhaps best known
 Corporate Modernism for corporate modern buildings is Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill (SOM), architects of the Sears Tower (now known as
 New Formalism the Willis Tower). Extended into the speculative market,
corporate modern buildings continued to dominate the urban
skyline until the end of the twentieth century, with nods to
 Post Modernism various prevalent styles.

Popular Modernism
The beginnings of Modernism came with a good deal of
writing, theorizing and debate about the meaning of
Modernist forms and the role architecture could and should
play in society. But bit by bit, its forms also entered popular
culture and small-scale commercial architecture. For such
businesses as coffee shops, diners, motels, bowling alleys and
a host of other building types—mostly small commercial or
recreational buildings—up-to-date or particularly noticeable
architecture can act as an advertisement. In the late 1920s and
the 1930s, Art Deco had played this role, and as Modernism
entered the mainstream, its forms began to spill over into
these commercial building types as well. The 1950s and 60s,
particularly, saw the development of a popular type
sometimes called “space age” modernism, or named “googie”
after a coffee shop of that name in Los Angeles. These buildings
used dramatic architecture as a billboard to advertize In Manitoba, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill were responsible
themselves, and often featured such elements as folded plate for the Richardson Building in Winnipeg.
or concrete shell barrel vault roofs, amoebic curves and jutting New Formalism In contrast to the rough massiveness of
cantilevers, bright colours and striking graphics. Large neon Brutalism, some Late Modernists a decade later began adding
signs were often an added identifying feature, and the signs historical references to their work, in a highly-polished style
themselves could be almost architectural in scale. that has been dubbed New Formalist. These buildings, like
International Modernist buildings, are usually light in feeling
Brutalism The British architects Peter and Alison Smithson with many windows, but they include classical or sometimes
coined the term “New Brutalism” in 1954, taking it from Le gothic motifs such as the arcade (rounded or pointed) and
Corbusier’s term “béton brut,” or raw concrete, which referred cornice. New Formalism appears particularly in small office
to the look of cast-in-place concrete with the marks of the buildings, banks and civic buildings. It shares International
wooden forms visible on its surface. The style was intended as Modernism’s restrained elegance, but with a wider variety of
a critique of the refined surfaces, thin skin and increasing forms. New Formalist buildings are often clad in white marble
uniformity of high Modernism. It was used mostly for public or—more modestly—in white-painted stucco or concrete.
buildings, and remained relatively popular until the mid-1970s.
Typical Brutalist buildings feature blocky shapes, often with
brises-soleils and deepset windows. The reinforced concrete
walls are load bearing (rarely, one sees other facing materials
such as brick or stone), and the overall massive impression of
these buildings is very different from that of the Miesian
curtain-wall construction that was by then nearly ubiquitous.
 Contermporary Architecture

Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st

century. No single style is dominant; contemporary architects
are working in a dozen different styles,
from postmodernism and high-tech architecture to highly
conceptual and expressive styles, resembling sculpture on an
enormous scale. The different styles and approaches have in
common the use of very advanced technology and modern
building materials, such as Tube structure which allows
construction of the buildings that are taller, lighter and
stronger than those in the 20th century, and the use of new
techniques of computer-aided design, which allow buildings to
be designed and modeled on computers in three dimensions,
and constructed with more precision and speed.
Post Modernism Post Modernism appeared on the
architectural landscape in the mid-1960s as a rejection of High Contemporary buildings are designed to be noticed and to
Modernism’s functional, increasingly bland forms and lack of astonish. Some feature concrete structures wrapped in glass
sympathy to site or history. Pioneering post-modernist Robert or aluminum screens, very asymmetric facades, and
Venturi insisted, in protest against the Miesian aesthetic, that cantilevered sections which hang over the street. Skyscrapers
“less is a bore.” Although Post Modernism shared bright twist, or break into crystal-like facets. Facades are designed to
colours and unusual shapes with Space Age Modernism, it was shimmer or change color at different times of day.
heavily theorized from the beginning, and was not limited to
Whereas the major monuments of modern architecture in the
commercial buildings. For the first time in decades, cutting
20th century were mostly concentrated in the United States
edge architects were rejecting the proscription on decoration
and western Europe, contemporary architecture is global;
and history, and were using ornamental details for their own
important new buildings have been built in China, Russia, Latin
sake, without reference to structure. Originally, Post Modern
America, and particularly in Arab states of the Persian Gulf;
buildings often made ironic “in jokes” about architectural
the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was the tallest building in the world in
history, exaggerating proportions or using elements out of
2016, and the Shanghai Tower in China was the second-tallest.
context. They combined aspects of historical architecture with
modernist structure and splashes of colour, and they often Most of the landmarks of contemporary architecture are the
made reference to neighbouring buildings or to the history of works of a small group of architects who work on an
the site. As time went on, Post Modernism developed a series international scale. Many were designed by architects already
of identifiable features that could be deployed to create famous in the late 20th century, including Mario Botta, Frank
buildings that lacked the creative sense that had driven the Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster, Ieoh Ming Pei and Renzo
earlier designs, much as the Miesian office block had been Piano, while others are the work of a new generation born
reduced to a banal and characterless vocabulary in the hands during or after World War II, including Zaha Hadid, Santiago
of lesser architects. Square window openings, pastel colours Calatrava, Daniel Libeskind, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de
and curved banks of glass all fill the bill. Employed by creative Meuron, Rem Koolhaas, and Shigeru Ban.
architects, however, the Post-modernist approach could result
in witty and attractive buildings that responded well to their
surroundings.

Some of the most striking and innovative works of

contemporary architecture are art museums, which are often
examples of sculptural architecture, and are the signature
works of major architects. The Quadracci Pavilion of
the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was
designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Its structure
includes a movable, wing-like brise soleil that opens up for a
wingspan of 217 feet (66 m) during the day, folding over the
tall, arched structure at night or during bad weather.
Though far more conservative than the example above, the
CanWest building in Winnipeg is Post Modern in style.
The Polish-born American architect Daniel Libeskind (born
1946) is one of the most prolific of contemporary museum
architects, He was an academic before he began designing
buildings, and was one of the early proponents of the
architectural theory of Deconstructivism. The exterior of
his Imperial War Museum North in Manchester,
England (2002), has an exterior which resembles, depending
upon the light and time of day, huge and broken pieces of earth
or armor plates, and is said to symbolize the destruction of
war. In 2006 Libeskind finished the Hamilton Building of
the Denver Art Museum in Denver Colorado, composed of
twenty sloping planes, none of them parallel or perpendicular,
covered with 230,000 square feet of titanium panels. Inside,
the walls of the galleries are all different, sloping and
asymmetric. Libeskind completed another striking museum,
the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(2007), also known as "The Crystal", a building whose form,
resembles a shattered crystal. Libeskind's museums have been
both admired and attacked by critics. While admiring many
features of the Denver Art Museum, The New York
Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote that "In a
building of canted walls and asymmetrical rooms—tortured
geometries generated purely by formal considerations — it is
virtually impossible to enjoy the art.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, by the

Norwegian firm of Snøhetta (2002), attempts to recreate, in
modern form, the famous Alexandria Library of antiquity. The
building, by the edge of the Mediterranean, has shelf space for
eight million books, and a main reading room covering 20,000
square metres (220,000 sq. ft.) on eleven cascading levels. Plus
galleries for expositions and a planetarium. The main reading
room is covered by a 32-meter-high glass-panelled roof, tilted
out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m
in diameter. The walls are of grey Aswan granite, carved
with characters from 120 different human scripts.