Architecture: Domes Throughout History- Domes of the Past, Present and Future

via Yahoo Voices

Throughout history, domes have been used in architecture throughout the entire world. There is evidence of domes used in architecture dating back to c.1250 BC and earlier. Domes are continuing to be used as elements in architecture and are being constructed to this date. Throughout the past and present domes have been used for everything ranging from tombs to cathedrals. However there is one recurring theme in past dome structures, most of the past dome structures have been constructed for a religious purpose, whether it be burial or worship.

The people of ancient times never had the types of technology that we have now, in the modern world, nonetheless the ancient people were able to construct their own dome structures. One of the most famous ancient dome structures is the Treasury of Atreus, which was constructed in c.1250 BC. The Treasury of Atreus was constructed as a tomb for Agamemnon. Although this tomb was a dome, and nowadays we commonly think of structures above ground, the main cavity of the Treasury of Atreus was constructed underground. The Treasury of Atreus is different from the domes we commonly think of nowadays, not only because of the fact that the building was underground but also because of the fact that the general shape of the Treasury of Atreus has more of a pyramid-like essence to it. Taking a bit of a fast forward in time, one of the next famous domes constructed, the Pantheon is currently the oldest standing dome structure in Rome. The Pantheon, constructed in 125 AD, was constructed as a place for the worship of roman gods, which is another example of dome buildings being constructed for religious reasons.

The Middle Ages were a time of little or no learning or growth, however architecture still survived. During this period the Romanesque and Gothic styles of architecture were the two most prevalent. Romanesque architecture commonly used barrel vaults, small windows very high up, and was mainly designed for strength and protection. Although Romanesque buildings were designed for strength and protection, the dome shape was still a common occurrence, however not as common as domes used in the Gothic style of architecture.

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STYLES IN AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE

via A Digital Archive of American Architecture

 

Chronology of Styles in American Architecture

The Seventeenth Century:

17th Century Colonial
        Term applies to both New England and Virginia architecture.  Note
        regional differences, however.

The Eighteenth Century:

Georgian (1714-1776)
        English-inspired colonial architecture.  Marked by a greater concern for
        style and higher standards of comfort.  Fairly homogeneous in both New
        England and Southern colonies.

Neoclassicism (c.1780-1820)
        There are several variations:
        Federalist:  Especially common in New England; a traditionalist
        approach to classicism, heavily influenced by English models.  Charles
        Bulfinch, Samuel MacIntyre.
        Idealist:  An intellectual and moral approach to classicism, at first
        linked to Roman models.  Symbolic and associational values stressed.
        Best example:  Thomas Jefferson.
        Rationalist:  Emphasized structure and classical building techniques,
        such as stone vaulting and domes.  Benjamin Latrobe.

The Nineteenth Century:

...

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Milwaukee Baroque, by Atelier Teee

facade, Jefferson Market Library (1877), 425 Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village, New York, New York, an example of High Victorian Design, photo by lumierefl

Cambridge - Harvard Square: Harvard University - Memorial Hall, High Victorial Design, by wallyg

Jefferson Market Library (1877), 425 Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village, New York, New York, High Victorian Gothic Design, by lumierefl

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ARCHITECTURAL STYLES IN ANDALUCIA

Routes of Gothic

ARCHITECTURAL STYLES IN ANDALUCIA

via absolute axarquia

Origins: Spain has traditionally imported its styles of architecture - Moorish from North Africa, Romanesque and Gothic from France and Renaissance from Italy. Each style, however, was interpreted in a distinctively Spanish way, with sudden and strong contrasts between light and shaded areas, facades alternating between austerity and extravagant decoration and thick walls pierced by few windows to lessen the impact of heat and sunlight. Styles vary from region to region, reflecting the division of Spain before unifacation. The key design of a central patio surrounded by arcades has been a strong feature of civil buildings since Moorish times. Apart from Phoenician tombs (as at Almunecar) and megalithic dolmens (as at Antequera), the only significant pre-Muslim structures are Roman (notably at Italica near Seville with the largest of all ampitheatres, a bathhouse and a theatre). The Romans bequeathed to Andalucia the happy invention of the interior patio in houses and other buildings. An idea later taken up by the Muslims. The Visigoths left little lasting imprint and most of their churches have been built over.

Romanesque (8th to 13th Centuries): Romanesque churches were mainly built in Catalonia and along the pilgrim route to Santiago. Their distinctive features include round arches, massive walls and few windows. By the time the Reconqista reached Andalucia in the 13th century, the first major architectural style of Christian Spain, Romanesque, was just on its way out. One of the few Romanesque buildings in Andalucia is the Iglesia de la Santa Cruz in Baeza, the first significant Andalucian town to fall to the Christians. The church's round arches and semicircular apse make it quite distinct from the later Gothic buildings.

Moorish Architecture (8th to 15th Centuries): The Moors reserved the most lavish decoration for the interior of buildings, where ornate designs based on geometry, calligraphy and plant motifs were created in tiles or stucco. They made extensive use of the horseshoe arch, a feature inherited from the Visigoths. The greatest surviving works of Moorish architecture in Spain are in Andaluca. 

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Spain / Andalusia / Granada / Albaicin, photo by troymguillory

Baroque altarpiece / Retablo barroco, photo by allisonfender

Santuario de Loyola, photo by allisonfender

baroque forms, by Andrea Kirkby

Santuario de Loyola, by allisonfender

Baroque altarpiece / Retablo barroco, by . SantiMB .

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Paris Buildings: A Brief History

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Reinoldikirche: the oldest church in Dortmund, Germany

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Paris Buildings: A Brief History

By Lisa Pasold

 

Paris, France, is an unusually coherent architectural creature. Paris' modern buildings have developed gradually out of earlier styles; palaces and mansions have survived by transforming into apartments and shops, and most streets harbor a range of buildings from various centuries. Our Paris guide traces a millennium of building in Paris, and what’s amazing is that so much remains visible and integrally important to the way that Paris works, from the earliest Medieval period through the most contemporary constructions.

Paris evolved out of a walled city, and some historians argue that this alone has given Paris a certain logic that London or Boston lacks. Paris has really never lost its walls: 900 years after the 12th-century wall of Philippe August, we now live in a city walled by its ring-road, the Péripherique highway. This succession of walls, gradually torn down and rebuilt through the centuries, has created a spiraling city, which grew gradually out from the Ile de la Cité. It’s not surprising that some of the oldest buildings are near the center of the spiral. 

The Medieval Period (1100-1526)

In 52 BC, the Romans defeated a tribe called the Parisii and established a city they named Lutetia, which probably means “swampy.” Today, that city is Paris—and it’s still swampy in the springtime! Traces of Roman architecture remain visible in Paris: if you look at a map, Rue Saint-Jacques cuts right through the middle of the city and was the main Roman road in and out. But when the Roman Empire crumbled, its architectural genius disappeared as well, and the Dark Ages were actually a step backwards architecturally. During the early Middle Ages, the people of Paris sometimes stole and relocated entire sections of Roman walls to use for their own buildings, because the Roman walls were so much sturdier. During this entire period, the “architect” per se didn’t yet exist, and important Paris buildings were designed and constructed by teams of masons.

...

The Renaissance (1515-1643)

In 1515, Francis I took over the French throne, to the immediate benefit of Parisian art and architecture. Francis was a great art lover and reader (unlike several previous monarchs, who were functionally illiterate), and he surrounded himself with the best creative minds of the time. He invited Leonardo da Vinci to Paris and hired Italian architects to renovate the Louvre. With Francis, the Renaissance arrived in Paris with a bang. He was the French equivalent and contemporary of England’s Henry VIII, without the multiple wives; the French capital surged with life and new buildings. Renaissance ideas insisted on a sense of human proportion in all the arts, including architecture. As a result, buildings of this time can be read as metaphors for the human shape: their solid base is the foot of the building, the elegant middle is the building’s body, and the peak of the roof, with gabled windows, is the hat. These carefully-proportioned ideas really initiated the concept of Classical architecture in Paris.

...

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Versailles garden front,  Le Vau, Louis, 1612-1670, photo: Penn State Libraries Pictures Collection

A typically Parisien scene, by caribb

Church of Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Paris, France, by fmpgoh

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City Beautiful movement - Definition

via Word IQ

The City Beautiful movement was a Progressive reform movement in North American architecture and urban planning that flourished in the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of using beautification and monumental grandeur in cities to counteract the perceived moral decay of poverty-stricken urban environments. The movement, which was originally most closely associated with Chicago and Washington, D.C., did not seek beauty for its own sake, but rather as a social control device for creating moral and civic virtue among urban populations. Advocates of the movement believed that such beautification could thus provide a harmonious social order that would improve the lives of the inner-city poor. 

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Civic Center: Surrogate’s Court in New York City, an example of City Beautiful architecture, by wallyg

Civic Center: Surrogate’s Court in New York City, an example of City Beautiful architecture, by wallyg

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Reinoldikirche: the oldest church in Dortmund, Germany

Reinoldikirche is considered to be the oldest church in Dortmund, Germany. The city of Dortmund is located in the industrial region of Ruhr in the province of North Rhein-Westfalen. The church was damaged during the bombardments of the World War II. It was built in 1250-1270 with an architectural style of late Romanesque church. Then later in 15th century, the tower of the church has was completed. It has a height of 112 meters. Reinoldikirche is now standing in the central point of the city near the Reinoldikirche tram station and is a hub for the shopping, entertaining and site seeing of the city. 

Reinoldikirche, Dortmund, Germany, photo by das kine

The tower of Reinoldikirche, Dortmund, Germany, photo by das kine

Inside the church, photo by das kine

The main entrance of the Reinoldikirche, photo by kirberich

Reinoldikirche at night, photo by wan fauzan

Reinoldikirche as a vista, photo by pittigliani2005

Inside the church, photo by Santa Cruiser

Reinoldikirche, photo by rwhgould

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Routes of Gothic

Generalitat de Catalunya
Government of Catalonia
Ministry of Innovation,
Universities and Enterprise

Gothic was the predominant style in Europe, during the 13-15th C. It succeeded Romanesque art and preceded the golden age of the Renaissance. It is thought to have originated in the Île-de-France and was know as opus francigenum till Vasari gave it the name which has endured. It evolved from the first Cistercian monasteries and the basilica of Saint-Denis (1144), to the great fully Gothic Cathedrals (Chartres, Reims, Cologne, Lyon, etc.) and to the typically English perpendicular, flamboyant style. One of its characteristics is the structural development of the pointed arch. Another is the ribbed vault, which made it possible to build increasingly complex and lofty buildings. Gothic architecture is much richer than Romanesque in plastic and expressive resources. Its interest lies, not only in its architectural innovations —buttresses and flying buttresses, fascicled pillars, pinnacles, gables, spires, rose windows, etc.— but also in its new conception of space. Gothic art emerged at a time when royal power was being consolidated and feudal bonds were loosening. This led to the appearance of a specifically urban social class, the bourgeoisie, and to the development of governmental and administrative institutions such as parliaments, city councils, guilds and other professional bodies. As a result, cities grew and trade flourished, both factors being decisive in the evolution of Gothic art. It was an age of new forms of religious devotion, introduced by the mendicant orders, of scholastic philosophy and of great encyclopaedic compendiums; of the founding of universities and the development of urban culture which was to give rise to humanism; of the works of Dante and Ramon Llull; of the cultural world of the court and chivalry; of the poetry of troubadours and of Ars Nova in music.
Thus it was the cities which provided the environment conducive to the development of Gothic art and, while cathedrals are the archetype of the style, it produced equally representative royal palaces, castles and mansions, as well as buildings to house institutions (hospitals, trade exchanges), bridges, city walls and even city planning. Initially the plastic arts were closely linked to architecture (sculptures to decorate the great façades, wall paintings, etc.). Soon, however, the quest began for individualizaed expression and refinement, as is apparent in painted and sculpted altarpieces, tombs, religious statues, choir stalls, gold and silverware, etc., many of which may still be admired in the great museums.

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Burgos Cathedral, Burgos, Spain,image by Beyond Forgetting

Gothic Church, Vienna,photo by GothPhil

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Architecture and Infrastructure

by V. B. Price

In Albuquerque, the built environment includes more than the normal urban conglomerate of commercial, public, and residential buildings, paved roadways, parks, bridges, signs and billboards, and underground or above-ground utilities. It also embodies an urban history of nearly 700 years.

Architectural Paradox

The long evolution of Albuquerque's built environment has resulted in the curious architectural paradox of New Mexican structures such as La Luz - the conceptually modern, pueblo-esque townhouse development on the west mesa - and the nondescript commercial jungle of signs and "decorated sheds" that line Menaul Boulevard (and Central, Lomas, Eubank, Candelaria, Juan Tabo, Montgomery, San Pedro, Wyoming, Louisiana, San Mateo, and Tramway).

Such a paradox is peculiar to Albuquerque. To my knowledge, no other major metropolitan area in the United States has an urban tradition rooted in its ancient past, and only Santa Fe, among smaller cities, copes with a similar paradox. Some archeologists contend that the middle Rio Grande Valley, where Albuquerque now sits, once contained perhaps as many as 45 multistory Pueblo Indian villages made of adobe, stone, and wood, with an estimated total population of some 15,000 people.

That ancient tradition and the newer Spanish tradition that replaced it are reflected in regional architecture here that runs the gamut from lath-and-plaster "adobe" tract homes to the Albuquerque Sunport and the Spanish Pueblo style Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Both have coexisted with nonregional design since some time before the coming of the railroad in 1880.

Accelerated Growth

As Edna Heatherington Bergman writes in her lucid UNM master's thesis, The Fate of Architectural Theory in Albuquerque . . . 1920--1960, Albuquerque has always been "at the crossroads of the ancient and the up-to-date." But since the end of World War II, the influence of ancient architecture and urban design on the city's built environment has been of decreasing importance as the past is crowded out by accelerating growth.

By 1995, Albuquerque had a total area of 163 square miles. Between 1885, when the town was incorporated, and 1940, Albuquerque grew to only a tenth of its size today. In 1891, the city's built environment covered 1,996 acres; by 1995 it occupied more than 103,357 acres. City statistics show that the built environment of residential, commercial, and public structures grew between 1963 and 1995 by 63,204 single-family homes, 50,109 multifamily residences, and 5,640 commercial buildings. In 1950 Albuquerque had only 425 miles of paved streets, and 1,700 miles in 1979. In 1988, when the city first systematically kept records of lane miles, there were 3,186 miles. (one directional mile equals two lane miles). By 1995, 3,538 lane miles were paved. In 1985 there were 2,300 miles of water lines; in 1995 there were 2,550 miles of water lines.

Pueblo Deco is a new term coined by architecture historian Marcus Whiffen of Arizona State University. It refers to the American regional development of the 1920s European Art Deco style, which resulted in such buildings as the KiMo Theater in Albuquerque with its profusion of Indian motifs. Pueblo Deco is the melding of the ancient and the up-to-date.

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kimo theaterimage by Nuevo Anden

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An Architectural Treasure: Miami’s Art Deco District

by Alexandra Davin

Last week, the 2010 American Institute of Architects, or AIA, National Convention was hosted in Miami, FL. Thousands migrated to the eclectic city for the nation’s largest annual gathering of design professionals. These visitors not only experienced the Southern Florida heat, but were also engulfed in a world of decorative arts—Miami boasts one of the world’s best kept Art Deco regions. Could there be a more perfect meeting place for thousands of architecture-lovers?

Personally, Miami’s Art Deco District elicits embarrassment in my mind, though my feelings are in no way due to the region itself. This humiliation stems from an experience of total tourism. A few years ago, my family took a cruise departing from the Port of Miami and it happened that we had four hours of down time before we could board the ship. My interior designer and “lover of all things architecture” mother created her perfect plan to fill the layover—a walking tour of the Art Deco region. 

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Miami Art Deco District, image by bollilaurent

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