history lecture 2

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT -I

LECTURE-2

Man's early attempts to colonize and personalize space….

1st Semester B .Arch, August - December 2013

PART ONE

RECAPITULATION OF LECTURE 1


RECAPITULATION- HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT -I

METHODOLOGY OF STUDY / ANALYSIS

WHO + WHERE+WHEN -- This refer to the people who built the building / site / town

being studied. This aspect refers also to the socio-cultural conditions -- which age, how

the people lived, their beliefs, how far was technology developed, etc.

WHY -- The reason for building or the function for which the structure / town was built

WHAT -- The physical form of the structure / town

HOW -- The method (technology) used -- which material, which construction method,

which structural system


WHAT IS HISTORY?The study of past eventsThese include not just written documents, but also through objects such as buildings, artifacts and paintings.

WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE ?

The art or practice of designing and constructing buildingsThe style in which a building is designed and constructed, especially with regard to a specific period, place, Or Culture:

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENT ?The setting or condition in which a particular activity is carried on.


HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

Traces the changes in Design of various building types & functions , Structure, Construction methods and other architectural elements

Through

Various Traditions, Regions, Stylistic trends…from The Primitive Phases till the present day.

Traces the changes in Design of various building types & functions

Traces the changes in Structures


HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

Traces the changes in Design of various building types & functions , Structure, Construction methods and other architectural elements

Through

Various Traditions, Regions, Stylistic trends…from The Primitive Phases till the present day.

Traces the changes in Construction Methods

Traces the changes in other architectural elements


HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

Group of

BUILDINGS Includes a

Therefore we must understand that history of architecture doesn’t end with the single building or element but includes the surroundings as well…

RECAPITULATION- BEGINNING OF HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Humans are living creatures.…

What do we need to survive?They sheltered in caves

PROTECTION

WATER

They learnt to make containers that can store water

FOOD

They learnt to farm the land

They learnt to shape stones into tools or weapons

They learnt to take care of animals

In Neolithic people became SEDENTARY

RECAPITULATION- BEGINNING OF HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

• World population grew

• People began to grow more

food than they would need –

allowed people to do things

other than farming

• Trade increased

• Establishment of Towns/Cities

• Cities become centers of trade,

politics and culture

• Men became superior

• Formalized religion

Ceremonies, rituals, and

worship

Built large temples

Changes in society..

• Based on occupations,

wealth, and influence

– rulers, priests, and

nobles

– merchants and

artisans

– farmers and unskilled

workers – majority

– slaves

Social classes .. Organized Government

• Projects need

planning-decision

making

• created laws

• established

systems of justice

• supervised food

production and

building projects

• gathered taxes

• organized defense

NEED TO STUDY HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

To locate our self , that we are not individual, we are connected to the entire world.

Experience from the past , largely influence today's decision.

We get to know that each era since the beginning of time formed its own unique style ..

Every action is sequel to another , so without studying past we cant move further..

Thus we need to study about our past and to know how

change has happens through time

Unit-I

• Definition and scope of Architecture. Interdependence of various components of the built environment. Need for a holistic approach.

• Man’s early/prehistoric attempts to colonise and personalize space. Examples of early shelters, Stonehenge, tumuli, etc. as expression of man’s physical and spiritual needs

• Determinants of Built Form - geo-physical, societal, political and technological, etc. Global examples of vernacular architecture.

• Introduction to the River Valley Civilizations. Comparative study of different manifestations with reference to location, materials and techniques, socio-cultural influences and other contextual factors

Unit-II

• Egyptian Civilization: Concept of the Royal Necropolis, locational context and architectural characteristics of public buildings, e.g. mastabas, pyramids and temples(rock-cut & structural) -one example of each type to be chosen. Worker’s settlement- city of Kahun.

• Mesopotamian Civilization; the urban context and architecture of public buildings (ziggurats and palaces). Examples of the city and Ziggurat of Ur, city and palace and of Khorsabad.

Unit-III

• Indus Valley Civilization: Form of the Harappan City, location and role of public buildings.• Architecture of the typical Harappan dwelling, Granary and Bath.• The Vedic Village, Building typology and construction


PART -2

Man's early attempts to colonize and personalize space….

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ‘COLONIZE’ ?

According to man’s need -- how he moulds and how he starts to inhabit space"to inhabit”

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ‘PERSONALIZE’ ?

Personal needs , Someone's individual requirementsModify spaces as per personal requirements

How Man starts inhabitation and modifies space as per his needs…

Examples : Caves of Lascaux, France

Lascaux Caves is the world's most

famous prehistoric cave located in

France.

Discovered in 1940 , there is a series

of spaces which displays vast amounts

of imagery paintings by Paleolithic

(Stone Age) humans.

Dated around 10,000 BC, the beautiful

paintings on cave walls represent the

earliest surviving examples of the

artistic expression of early people.

MAN'S EARLY ATTEMPTS TO COLONIZE AND PERSONALIZE SPACE….

Using the natural rock contours, these 'primitive' people of the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) painted accurate representations of the animals that were such an important part of their lives.


Cows, bulls, horses, bison, and deer are among the animals seen on the walls of these caves.

'HALL OF BULLS,' Cave Painting from Lascaux, France



Through sympathetic magic, perhaps these early humans believed that by drawing these images, they would increase hunting luck.Another theory is that it was believed that man had to paint these images to 'replace' the animals that he would hunt and kill.

the belief that the ritual shooting of the painted animals would increase hunting luck.


Examples : Bhimbetka Caves , M.P., India

Bhimbetka owes its name to the characters of the longest epic in the world, the Mahabharata. It is believed that when the five brothers, called Pandavas, were banished from their kingdom, they came here and stayed in these caves. These caves were discovered and revealed in 1957 ,are 15,000 year old.


Since these caves actually formed dwellings for primitive people belonging to various ages, the paintings here demonstrate their lifestyle and everyday activities.

These are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge figures of animals, such as bison's and boar beside stick like human figures.

In addition to animals, there are human figures and hunting scenes giving a clear picture of the weapons used in those timesFantastic animal seeming to chasing a manWhite dancers in a row


Other examples :

Chauvet caves France (12,000 years old )

Altamira caves Spain 10,000 years old

World heritage sites

Prehistoric people believed that all natural objects, including living creatures, had a soul or spirit, which existed separately and independently of its physical being.

BELIEF IN SUPER NATURAL POWERS….

It was this force, controlled the activities of the natural world.

The natural events such as wind, storms, the transition from day to night, could be attributed to the actions of the spirits. Prehistoric communities firstly revered and then later worshipped these spirits, because the natural phenomena which these spirits produced were often so impressive and completely beyond normal human capacities. Prehistoric people began to worship these spirits as these natural phenomena's affected their day-to-day life.


Religion did not begin simply as a result of prehistoric people observing the awe-inspiring might of the natural world.


When primitive people dreamt about people or animals that had already died they may have formed the idea that these dead people had spirits, otherwise these dead people or animals would not have come to them in dreams.

This belief in the spirits of the departed led to an awareness of the presence of spirits in all aspects of the natural world.

After observing the power of the natural forces, an additional element was required : that is

Awareness by prehistoric people of the existence of "animae" which came about as a result of witnessing events such as death and dreams.


Worship spirits - So they need to give a physical expression to all beliefs

Expressions of beliefs - Translate into architectural form

RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES….

MENHIRS: Stones set vertically into the ground (one third below the surface and two thirds above) ranging in height from a few centimeters to several meters

Menhirs , are an even stranger constructs since they are designed not only to bury the dead, but also to help us remember where they were buried long after they are gone.


DOLMENS : Also known as stone tables, these typically consist of two vertical stones set in the ground supporting a horizontal stone balanced across them.

These were burial places. Some have been found buried under ground and full of human remains (up to 70 people in one dolmen), others are standing in the landscape and are empty.


TUMULUS : Is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves.


Religious structures to respect the dead

Stonehenge is a monumental circular setting of large standing stones surrounded by a circular earthwork, built in prehistoric times beginning about 3100 BC .

RESPECT THE SUPER NATURAL POWERS - STONEHENGE ….

STONEHENGE

HENGEThe word henge refers to a particular type of earthwork of the Neolithic period, roughly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20m in diameter which is enclosed and surrounded by a boundary earthwork that usually comprises a ditch with an external bank.

RESPECT THE SUPER NATURAL POWERS - ‘STONEHENGE’ ….

There are several such example, henge being the most complex, best known, best preserved.

The three aligned henges of the Thornborough Henges complex, yorkshire

RESPECT THE SUPER NATURAL POWERS - ‘STONEHENGE’ ….

Avebury stone henge - is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles


STONEHENGE, SALISBURY

Located about 13 km (8 miles) north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng.

Stonehenge has been subjected to many theories about its origin:

A place of worship of some kind.


Religious and ritual ceremonies ..

The northeast axis aligned with the sunrise at the summer solstice, leading other scholars to speculate that the builders were sun worshipers.


One of its functions was the determination of the summer solstice date using the summer solstice sunrise. At the 21st of June the rising sun in the North East shines its light in between the Heel Stone onto the Alter Stone at the center of the Trilithons or horseshoe of Stonehenge.

It is an established fact that Stonehenge was an astronomical observatory.


Archaeologists have found numerous cremation burials dating to this time and the centuries that followed.Ritualized funerary procession for treating the dead,


STAGE I: EARTHWORK

The first stage, The earthwork monument, had no stones involved.

The native Neolithic people, excavated a roughly circular ditch about 98 m (320 feet) in diameter; the ditch was about 6 m (20 feet) wide and 1.4 to 2 m (4.5 to 7 feet) deep, and the excavated rubble was used to build the high bank within the circular ditch.

Archaeological excavations since 1950 suggest three main periods of building--Stonehenge I, II, and III, the last divided into phases.

STONEHENGE … EVOLUTION OF DESIGN

Circular ditch

Bank around ditch

STAGE I: EARTHWORK


They also erected two

parallel entry stones on the

northeast of the circle (one

of which, the Slaughter

Stone, still survives).



N

S

EW

Slaughter stone

STAGE I: EARTHWORK



Inside the bank, fifty-six

varying Aubrey holes were

dug . Dark deposits suggest

the holes once held timber

posts, which were either

deliberately burnt or taken

away


STAGE II:

During Stonehenge II, about 2100 BC, the complex was radically remodeled. About 80 bluestone pillars, weighing up to 4 tons each, were erected in the center of the site.


Bluestonepillars

The entrance way of this earliest setting of bluestones was aligned approximately upon the sunrise at the summer solstice, the alignment being continued by a newly built and widened approach, called the Avenue, together with a pair of Heel stones.

The initial phase of Stonehenge III, starting about 2000 BC, saw the erection of the linteled circle of Sarsen stones

STAGE III:

Linteled circleOf Sarsen stones

Horseshoe five great trilithons

and horseshoe shape five great trilithons , each of which Consisted of a pair of large stone uprights supporting a stone lintel. In the focus of the trilithon horseshoe is a large flat stone known as the Altar Stone

Altar Stone


The remaining unshaped 60-odd bluestones were set as a circle of pillars within the sarsen circle (but outside the sarsen horseshoe).


Bluestones6 in no.

Two small stones, the Station Stones, and two low mounds, the North and South Barrows, are located near the inner edge of the bank from the first stage. It is believed that there used to be two more Station Stones within the North and South Barrows (Souden).


STONEHENGE … EVOLUTION OF DESIGN( construction method )


This Awe-inspiring creation getting lost in the mists of time. Was Stonehenge a temple for sun worship, a healing centre, a burial site or perhaps a huge calendar.. How did our ancestors manage to carry the mighty stones , using only the most primitive of tools, build this amazing structure.. Surrounded by mystery, Stonehenge never fails to impress.

history lecture 2

Entertainment & Humor

recapitulation history

scope of architecture

recapitulation beginning

recapitulation of lecture

single building

various traditions

building site town

construction methods