Early Christian & Byzantine Architecture

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Early Christian Architecture

• Early Christians use Domus Eklesia and Domus Aula for worship meetings.
• Emperor Constantine allowed Christians to use dignified Roman Basilicas after they became citizens of the Roman Empire.
• Basilicas became model plans for new churches as declared by the Emperor.
• The Emperor set up a new capital in Byzantium (Turkey) for strategic reasons, desiring to expand into Asia.
• The Byzantine style focused on domes, using Roman techniques and the pendentive technique.
• Square plans could be covered with circular domes.
• Byzantines continued practicing Greek traditions in culture and belief.
• The Empire became too widespread and difficult to manage, leading to splitting and reconciling of East and West churches and state affairs.
• In 476, the Empire split into East and West.
• The Western Roman Empire ended in 476 becoming a smaller feudal system.
• The Eastern half continued as Byzantine, affected by the spread of Islam.
• The architecture formed after Rome's story was "Romanesque".
• The Roman Empire was divided into a tetrarchy, then dissolved into Eastern and Western halves.
• Eastern Byzantium was strategic, while the Western remained in Rome.

Byzantine Architecture (Eastern) - 330-1453 CE

• The Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire maintained Roman culture and building traditions after the fall of Rome in 476 CE.
• Imperial patronage encouraged Christianity and new structures.
• Orthodox Byzantine churches had domes, central plans, and iconographic mosaics.

Iconoclastic Age (Early Period from 330 AD)

• A common theme was the attempt to ban icon veneration.
• The Iconoclastic Controversy lasted a century, from 730 under Leo III until Orthodox belief was proclaimed in 843.
• Prosperity was reduced, but churches were still built.
• Emperors were not necessarily opposed to building and art.

Middle Byzantine

• Churches of this age conform to a cross-in-square type.
• Consisting of three aisles, each ending in an apsidal chapel to the east, with a transverse nave, or exonarthex, at the west.
• There was a dome over the central aisle, supported by four columns, with four vaults radiating from it

Romanesque Architecture (Western)

• Romanesque architecture from the departure of Romans to the end of the 12th century AD was based on Roman art.
• The Roman Empire in the West ended in 475 AD.
• Charlemagne was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 799 AD, marking a new era.
• The Romanesque style evolved in Western Europe, in countries under Roman rule.
• The Roman basilica served as the model for Early Christian churches, subject to development.
• The addition of transepts and the prolongation of the sanctuary/chancel made the church a well-defined cross.
• Walls: roughly built, relieved by buttresses formed as pilasters connected by horizontal mouldings, or a series of semicircular arches on corbels
• Romanesque arches were semi-circular, often raised or "stilted".
• Openings: Arcades consist of massive circular columns/piers supporting semicircular arches.
• jambs/sides were formed in a series of receding molded planes.
• Semicircular arches were constructed in receding concentric rings
• Round or wheel windows were placed over the west door.
• Roof: central nave had a simple wooden roof, replaced with vaulting over the aisles in the 11th century for fireproofing.
• An octagonal dome crowned the crossing of nave and transepts, carried on "squinch" arches.

Gothic Architecture

• Gothic architecture is highlighted by pointed arches as opposed to Roman Arches.
  • Also by ribbed vaulting, flying buttresses, and intricately wrought stained-glass windows that portray stories from the Bible and everyday life.
• In 1144, The Romanesque abbey church of St. Denis, a burial shrine for French saints and kings, was torn down and replaced with Gothic architecture.
• The pointed arch first emerged in the early middle ages, and some types such as the lancet arch are more effective than the Roman arch.
• Flying buttresses began to appear in the 1170s to counteract the force from the vault roof inside that was pushing the upper storey outward by acting with equal and opposite force on the upper storey wall.
• Ribbed vaulting distributes the weight of the vault onto columns and piers all the way to the ground.
• Romanesque buildings used stone barrel vaults or groin vaults while Gothic architecture introduced the rib vaulting.
• Stained glass was used to distinguish a cathedral from a monastery
• Ornamented keystones are called bosses.
• The Gothic Style or “Style Ogivale,” occurred from 1150 to 1500 AD, and is divided into Primaire, Secondaire, and Tertiaire.

Gothique à Lancettes

• Primaire (twelfth century) or “Gothique à Lancettes,” featured pointed arches and geometric traceried windows.
• Transom - originally is a horizontal bar of wood or stone.
• Mullions - vertical part or member separating and often supporting the windows, doors, or panels.

Geometric

• This was developed in the primary (Gothic) period
• Intersecting - intersecting arches
• Reticulated - specialized patterns that are repeated.
• Spires - were steeply pointed pyramidal or conical termination to a tower.
• Pinnacle - smaller; ornamental; something decorative

Renaissance Architecture

• The Gothic influence spread in Europe, but Italy observed Roman, Early Christian, and Romanesque classical traditions.
• Renaissance broke from the evolution of European architecture through the Gothic style.
• Renaissance influence spread from Italy, to other parts of Europe, including Baroque style.
• The Renaissance may have been expected to first appear in Rome where there was a amount of ancient ruins.

Early Renaissance in Italy (1420-1490)

• The rediscovery of architectural styles from antiquity transforms Italian Architecture
  • Filippo Brunelleschi
  • Leon Battista Alberti

High and Late Renaissance in Italy (1490-1530)

• Classical styles redeveloped and modernized; Mannerist architecture develops:
  • Giuliano da Sangallo
  • Donato Bramante
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti
  • Baldassare Peruzzi
  • Raphael
  • Michele Sanmicheli
  • Giulio Romano
  • Andrea Palladio
  • Vincenzo Scamozzi
  • Juan Bautista Toledo
  • Juan de Herrera

Renaissance in Western Europe (1520-1620)

• Italian Renaissance styles were adopted in varying degrees throughout the UK, France, and Northern Europe
• Countries appropriated the styles to their own building traditions.
  • Pierre Lescot
  • Cornelis Floris de Vriendt
  • Robert Smithson
  • Lieven de Key

Renaissance in Central and Eastern Europe

• Italian architects brought to Germany, Austria, Poland, and Bohemia by wealthy patrons to modernize central and eastern European residences.

Renaissance on the Iberian Peninsula (1519-1598)

• Gothic styles remained strong in Spain and Portugal, were greatly influenced by the Moorish tradition.
• During the late Renaissance, the Desornamentado style developed:
  • Pedro Machuca

Mansard Roof

• A hipped roof having two slopes on every side, the lower slope being considerably steeper than the upper.

Italian Renaissance

• The following were features of Italian Renaissance:
  • Oeil de Boeuf - A circular window with an embellished frame.
  • Console - A bracket (usually in pairs) to support the decorative entablature above a window or door.
  • Modillion - An ornate bracket used in a series to support a cornice.

English Renaissance -

• The following were features of English Renaissance:
  • Dormer Window - A window structure extending from a steep root like a mansard roof.

Baroque Architecture

• Comes from “barocco" in Portuguese
• It is the art movement that developed after the high renaissance.

Renaissance Art

• Focused on realistic depiction of people (light, shadows, depth, color).

Mannerism

• Art style that was less balanced and harmonized
• Time when the high renaissance transitioned to the baroque style- bridge between the high renaissance and baroque period.
• Adopted ornate aesthetics and its extravagance.
• Sculpture and architecture became large in scale, scope and grandeur

Baroque Architecture

• The Baroque architectural style spread from Italy throughout Europe, in the 16-18th centuries.
• Baroque in France and the UK (1550-1770): French King Louis XIV adopted Flamboyant Baroque styles and popularized Mansard roofs.
• Italian Baroque: Oval floor plans and curving surfaces.

Rococo

• Rococo Architecture and interior decoration is flamboyantly decorative (1715-1790:)

  • Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt
  • Filippo Juvarra
  • Johann Fischer
  • Francesco Rastrelli

• The facades of Baroque are designed with curving walls.

Spanish Baroque

• The entrance is more carved or textured
• Leaving no flat or smooth surface
• Has twisted columns
• Has Churriguersque which is based on a family named Churriguera in Spain who were Architects.

French Baroque

• Baroque focused on the center part as the entrance with pediment features.

Neoclassical Architecture

Neoclassical Architecture (1750-1800s) is the revival of Classical architecture during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

• Elements of classical architecture were reused, not just used for decoration.
• Orders were used in a structural rather than a decorative sense.
• There was interest in archaeology and excavations at Pompeii.
• The Neoclassical style is characterized by grandeur of scale, simplicity of geometric forms, Greek or Roman detail, use of columns, and a preference for blank walls.

Industrial Architecture

• Beginning of modern architecture
• A reference point has emerged because of the industrial revolution
• Metal/iron played extra role with the dome of brunelleschi
• In 1790’s they already had bridges with the use of cast iron technology
• Paxton’s building is first of pre-fabricated architecture in factories

Important People

• Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was an early exponent of French Neoclassical architecture.
• Architect Tomas Mapua was sent to New York to study Neoclassical Architecture.
• Joseph Paxton set the most glamorous stage in cast iron architecture.

Features And Differences

• Cast iron has compressive and no tensile strength
• Wrought iron has been heated and worked with tools.
• Less is more (Mies Van der Rohe).
• Form follows function - Louis Sullivan
• Buildings had a strict rational use of new materials.
• The asymmetrical compositions don't have to be symmetric on the center, and it has minimal ornamentation.

Modern Themes

• Most architecture today gets inspiration from technology. The streamlined has sweeping curves
• Bauhaus movement is under pure architecture.

#BRU ARCHITECTURE (Brutalism)

Has expressive forms and has an emphasis on materials, texture, and construction. Texture is everything

#HIGHTECH

Influence by engineering and new technology and accentuates structure. It began in the late 1960s