History of architecture

The history of architecture traces the changes in

architecture through various traditions, regions,
overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The branches of
architecture are civil, sacred, naval, military,[1] and
landscape architecture.

Contents
Neolithic
Reconstruction of the Acropolis and the
Antiquity Areopagus in Athens, painted by Leo von
Ancient Mesopotamia Klenze in 1846
Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Greek
Pre-classical
Classical and Hellenist
Etruscan
Roman
Persian
Islamic
Africa
Southern Asia
Indian
Buddhist
Southeast Asia
Oc Eo Culture
Cambodian (Khmer)
Indonesian
Oceanic
Eastern Asia
Chinese
Korean
Japanese
Pre-Columbian
Mesoamerican
Inca
Ancient of North America
Europe to 1600
Medieval
Byzantine
 Romanesque
Gothic
Russian
Renaissance
European and colonial architecture
Baroque
Rococo
Return to Classicism: Neoclassicism
Revivalism and Orientalism
Beaux-Arts
Colonial architecture
Art Nouveau
Early Modern
Expressionist
Art Deco
International Style
Contemporary
Modern
Critical regionalism
Postmodern
Deconstructivist
The 21st century
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Neolithic
Neolithic architecture is the architecture of the Neolithic period. Although many dwellings belonging to
all prehistoric periods and also some clay models of dwellings have been uncovered enabling the creation
of faithful reconstructions, they seldom included elements that may relate them to art. Some exceptions
are provided by wall decorations and by finds that equally apply to Neolithic and Chalcolithic rites and
art.

In South and Southwest Asia, Neolithic cultures appear soon after 10,000 BC, initially in the Levant
(Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) and from there spread eastwards and westwards.
There are early Neolithic cultures in Southeast Anatolia, Syria and Iraq by 8000 BC, and food-producing
societies first appear in southeast Europe by 7000 BC, and Central Europe by c. 5500 BC (of which the
earliest cultural complexes include the Starčevo-Koros (Cris), Linearbandkeramic, and Vinča).[2][3][4][5]

Neolithic settlements and "cities" include:

Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, ca. 9,000 BC

 Jericho in the Levant, Neolithic from around 8,350 BC, arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic
Natufian culture
Nevali Cori in Turkey, ca. 8,000 BC
Çatalhöyük in Turkey, 7,500 BC
Mehrgarh in Pakistan, 7,000 BC
Knap of Howar and Skara Brae, the Orkney Islands, Scotland, from 3,500 BC
over 3,000 settlements of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, some with populations up to
15,000 residents, flourished in present-day Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5,400–
2,800 BC.
The Neolithic people in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia were great
builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. At Çatalhöyük, houses were plastered and
painted with elaborate scenes of humans and animals. The Mediterranean Neolithic cultures of Malta
worshiped in megalithic temples.

In Europe, long houses built from wattle and daub were constructed. Elaborate tombs for the dead were
also built. These tombs are particularly numerous in Ireland, where there are many thousands still in
existence. Neolithic people in the British Isles built long barrows and chamber tombs for their dead and
causewayed camps, henges flint mines and cursus monuments.
 Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, Pottery miniature of a Miniature of a regular
founded in 10th millennium Cucuteni-Trypillian house Cucuteni-Trypillian house,
BC and abandoned in 8th full of ceramic vessels
millennium BC

Excavated dwellings at
Skara Brae (Mainland,
Orkney, Scotland, UK)

Antiquity

Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamia is most noted for its construction of mud brick buildings and the construction of
ziggurats, occupying a prominent place in each city and consisting of an artificial mound, often rising in
huge steps, surmounted by a temple. The mound was no doubt to elevate the temple to a commanding
position in what was otherwise a flat river valley. The great city of Uruk had a number of religious
precincts, containing many temples larger and more ambitious than any buildings previously known.[6]

The word ziggurat is an anglicized form of the Akkadian word ziqqurratum, the name given to the solid
stepped towers of mud brick. It derives from the verb zaqaru, ("to be high"). The buildings are described
as being like mountains linking Earth and heaven. The Ziggurat of Ur, excavated by Leonard Woolley, is
64 by 46 meters at base and originally some 12 meters in height with three stories. It was built under Ur-
Nammu (circa 2100 B.C.) and rebuilt under Nabonidus (555–539 B.C.), when it was increased in height
to probably seven stories.[7]
Assyrian palaces had a large public court with a suite of apartments on the east side and a series of large
banqueting halls on the south side. This was to become the traditional plan of Assyrian palaces, built and
adorned for the glorification of the king.[8] Massive amounts of ivory furniture pieces were found in
some palaces.

The Ziggurat of Ur, Illustration of a hall in the Reconstruction of the Ishtar

approximately 21st century Assyrian Palace of Gate in the Pergamon
BC, Tell el-Muqayyar (Dhi Ashurnasrirpal II by Austen Museum (Berlin, Germany)
Qar Province, Iraq) Henry Layard (1854)

Assyrian reliefs from the

Palace of Sargon II in
Khorsabad, 721-705 BC,
Oriental Institute Museum
(Chicago, USA)

Ancient Egyptian
In Ancient Egypt and other early societies, people believed in the omnipotence of gods, with many
aspects of daily life carried out with respect to the idea of the divine or supernatural and the way it was
manifest in the mortal cycles of generations, years, seasons, days and nights. Harvests for example were
seen as the benevolence of fertility deities. Thus, the founding and ordering of the city and her most
important buildings (the palace and temple) were often executed by priests or even the ruler himself and
the construction was accompanied by rituals intended to enter human activity into continued divine
benediction.
Ancient architecture is characterized by this tension between the divine and mortal world. Cities would
mark a contained sacred space over the wilderness of nature outside, and the temple or palace continued
this order by acting as a house for the gods. The architect, be he priest or king, was not the sole important
figure, he was merely part of a continuing tradition.

A view of the pyramids at The well preserved Temple Abu Simbel, Great Temple
Giza. From left to right, the of Horus at Edfu is an of Ramesses II, founded in
three largest are: the example of Egyptian circa 1264 BC, from the
Pyramid of Menkaure, the architecture and Aswan Governorate
Pyramid of Khafre and the architectural sculpture (Egypt)
Great Pyramid of Khufu

Relief of Traianus on the Illustrations of various Illustrations with two tipes

side of the mamisi of the types of capitals, drawn by of columns from the hall of
Dendera Temple complex the egyptologist Karl the Ramses II Temple,
(Egypt) Richard Lepsius drawn in 1849
 Illustrations of paintings Ceiling painting from the
inside a tomb from the 5th palace of Amenhotep III,
Dynasty, drawn in 1849 circa 1390-1353, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
(New York City)

Ancient Greek

Pre-classical
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization
on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, flourishing from
circa 2700 to circa 1450 BC until a late period of decline, finally
ending around 1100 BC. Minoan buildings often had flat, tiled
roofs; plaster, wood or flagstone floors, and stood two to three
stories high. Lower walls were typically constructed of stone and
rubble, and the upper walls of mudbrick. Ceiling timbers held up
the roofs. The main colors used in Minoan frescos were black
Restored North Entrance with (carbonaceous shale), white (hydrate of lime), red (hematite),
charging bull fresco of the Palace of yellow (ochre), blue (silicate of cooper) and green (yellow and
Knossos (Crete), with some Minoan blue mixed together). The most iconic Minoan building is the
colourful columns Palace of Knossos, being connected to the mythological story of
The Bull of Minos, since it is in this palace where it was written
that the labyrinth existed.

A common characteristic of the Minoan architecture were flat roofs. The rooms of villas didn't have
windows to the streets, the light arriving from courtyards. In the 2nd millennium BC, the villas had one
or two floors, and the palaces even three. One of the most notable Minoan contributions to architecture is
their inverted column, wider at the top than the base (unlike most Greek columns, which are wider at the
bottom to give an impression of height). The columns were made of wood (not stone) and were generally
painted red. Mounted on a simple stone base, they were topped with a pillow-like, round capital.[9][10]

Aegean art reached its peak in circa 1650-1450 BC and was at first dominated by the Minoans. However,
at the height of its influence, the Minoan civilization fell and its position was quickly inherited by the
Mycenaeans, a race of warriors who flourished in Greece from 1600 to 1200 BC. Although Cretan
artisans may have been employed on the reworking of Mycenaean citadels, the two styles remained
distinct. Mycenaean buildings were carefully planned and
focused on the megaron (central unit), while the Minoans
favoured complex, labyrinthine forms.[11] Mycenaean columns,
like the Minoan examples, were slender and tapered sharply
downwords.[12]

The Lion Gate, built in circa 1250

BC, an iconic Mycenaean building

Queen's Megaron from the Minoan town house model,

Palace of Knossos, with the circa 1700–1675 BC,
Dolphin fresco. A common terracotta, height: 18 cm,
characteristic of Minoan from Archanes (Crete), in
palaces were frescos. Archaeological Museum of
Heraklion (Heraklion,
Greece) [13]

Illustration of the end of a A preserved part of a large

Mycenaean column, from mural composition from the
the Tomb of Agamemnon Palace of Thebes, circa
14th-13th BC

Classical and Hellenist

The architecture and urbanism of the Greeks and Romans was very different from that of the Egyptians
and Persians. Civic life gained importance for all members of the community. In the time of the ancients
religious matters were only handled by the ruling class; by the time of the Greeks, religious mystery had
skipped the confines of the temple-palace compounds and was the subject of the people or polis. Ancient
Greek architecture was fundamentally a representation of timber post and lintel, or "trabeated"
 construction in stone, and most surviving buildings are temples.
Rows of tall columns supported a lintel, which in turn supported
a pitched roof structure running the length of the building. The
triangular gable formed at either end of the pitched roof was often
heavily decorated and was a key feature of the style. Today we
think of Classical and Hellenist Greek architecture as being
characterized by the use of plain white marble, but originally it
The Temple of Concordia in would have been brightly painted in gaudy colors. For example,
Agrigento (Sicily, Italy) Doric order capitals were painted with geometric and leaf
patterns.[14]

Greek civic life was sustained by new, open spaces called the
agora, which were surrounded by public buildings, stores and
temples. The agora embodied the newfound respect for social
justice received through open debate rather than imperial
mandate. Though divine wisdom still presided over human
affairs, the living rituals of ancient civilizations had become
inscribed in space, in the paths that wound towards the acropolis
for example. Each place had its own nature, set within a world
Illustration of Doric (left three), Ionic
refracted through myth, thus temples were sited atop mountains (middle three) and Corinthian (right
all the better to touch the heavens. two) columns

Greek architecture was typically made of stone. Most surviving

buildings are temples, based on strict rules of proportion. These temples typically included a peristyle
(outer area with (typically Doric) columns), and three-sections in the middle, being 1. the pronaus
(entrance), 2. the main cella or naos chamber (where a statue of the god or goddess and an altar was
built), and 3. the opisthodomos behind the cella.[15] The most iconic element of Hellenistic architecture is
of course the column. The Doric order, sober and severe, was dominant in Peloponnese and Magna
Graecia (Sicily and South Italy), being named the masculine order of Hellenistic architecture.
Meanwhile, the Ionic order is graceful and more ornamented, being the feminine order. Because of
Ionic's proportions, it is used especially for monumental buildings. The third of the Greek orders was also
the last to be developed. The earliest documented examples of the use of the Corinthian order are
(internally) at the Temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae (429-390 BC) and (externally) at the Choragic
Monument of Lysicrates (335-334 BC). Corinthian was not, like the Doric and Ionic orders, a structural
system. It was purely decorative, its effect due almost wholly to its elaborate floral capital. This,
according to Vitruvius, was designed by the Athenian sculptor Callimachus, and may originally have
been worked in bronze. Apart from this capital, all the constituent parts were borrowed from the Ionic
order. Gradually, in Hellenistic times (after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC), Corinthian did
begin to develop, but it was left to the Romans to blend the elements together and make it perfect.[16]
Doric: The Parthenon on Page with illustration of the Engraving of a Doric
the Athenian Acropolis, Doric order, made by entablature, from 1536, by
built of marble and Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1697 Agostino Veneziano, in the
limestone between circa Metropolitan Museum of Art
460-406 BC, dedicated to (New York City)
the goddess Athena[17]

Ionic: The Temple of Page with illustration of the Engraving of an Ionic

Athena Nike on the Ionic order, made by entablature, from 1528, by
Athenian Acropolis, Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1697 Agostino Veneziano, in the
dedicated to the goddess Metropolitan Museum of Art
Athena, built between circa
437 BC and 432 BC[18]
 Corinthian: The Temple of Page with illustration of the Engraving of a Corinthian
Olympian Zeus in Athens, Corinthian order, made by entablature, from 1528, by
started in the 6th century Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1697 Agostino Veneziano, in the
BC and finished in the 2nd Metropolitan Museum of Art
century AD

Caryatids of the Illustration of the altar and Reconstructed color

Erechtheion from the statue of the Temple of scheme of the entablature
Athenian Acropolis, Asclepius (Epidaurus, on a Doric temple
exhibited in the Acropolis Greece), which shows the
Museum, (Athens) interior of an Ancient Greek
temple

Etruscan
Just as Mycenaean architecture seems to have influenced the classical Greeks, so the structures raised by
the Etruscans are important in the evolution of ancient Roman architecture. The Etruscans probably
originated in Asia Minor and settled in west-central Italy (Etruria), between the rivers Arno and Tiber.
From the late 7th century BC their power grew, and for a while Rome itself was ruled by Etruscan kings.
But with the establishment of a republic in 509 BC, Etruscan civilization began to decline and its various
city states were conquered. Nonetheless, the Etruscans did not cease their architectural activity, which
retained its distinct character until the 1st century BC. Few buildings survived, but those that do are
extremely fine, especially the tombs, which were located mainly in specific necropolis sites.[19]
 The Etruscans, as we know from the writings of Vitruvius, a
Roman architect and engineer of the 1st century BC, developed a
style of temple building which, though inspired by Greek and
Oriental examples, was quite distinctive in its own right. It
conformed to specific rules, referred to as tuscanicae
dispositiones by Vitruvius. Temples were usually of mud-brick
and timber, though stone was used later, and seem to have been
built to face south. They were placed at the centre of towns and
fronted on to squares, in which altars were placed.[20] Temples
were lavishly decorated with painted terracotta, which served
Sculpture from the Tempio di partly to protect the wooden elements of the structure. For
Belvedere, in National example, the sides of the roof bore ante-fixae (slabs used to close
Archaeological Museum of Orvieto the end of a row of tiles), and there were statues over the
(Italy)
pediment and within the pronaos.[21] Many of the temples were
divided into three cellas (sanctuaries), the central one being the
most important and sometimes the largest.[20]
 Model of a temple, The Tomb of the Leopards Silenus-head antefix, made
constructed between 1889 in Monterozzi necropolis in the 5th century BC, in
and 1890 on the basis of (Lazio, Italy), made Museo nazionale dell'Agro
the ruins found in Alatri, between circa 480 and 450 Falisco (Civita Castellana,
now in National Etruscan BC Lazio, Italy)
Museum of Villa Giulia
(Rome)

Detail of the Etruscan

temple reconstruction at
the Villa Giulia in Rome

Roman
The Romans conquered the Greek cities in Italy around three hundred years BCE and much of the
Western world after that. The Roman problem of rulership involved the unity of disparity – from Spanish
to Greek, Macedonian to Carthaginian – Roman rule had extended itself across the breadth of the known
world and the myriad pacified cultures forming this ecumene presented a new challenge for justice.
Roman architecture, especially Roman temple architecture, shared many basic characteristics with Greek
temple architecture, including the prominent portico, use of the Classical orders (mainly Corinthian and
Composite), and the stepped podium. However, it tended to be more ornate and elaborate overall.[22]

The Corinthian order was the most widely used order in Roman architecture. It differed from the Greek
Corinthian in its more ornate entablature and capital, but more particularly in the introduction of
modillions (horizontal consoles that supported a deeper cornice). Sometimes coffering was introduced
 between these to create a greater impression from the ground.[23]
Early Roman Corinthian capitals tended to be squatter than later
examples, with fleshier acanthus leaves and larger flowers on the
abacus.[24]

One way to look at the unity of Roman architecture is through a

new-found realization of theory derived from practice, and
embodied spatially. Civically, we find this happening in the
Illustration which compares the Roman forum (sibling of the Greek agora), where public
column orders, in Greek and Roman participation is increasingly removed from the concrete
versions, in History of Architecture, performance of rituals and represented in the decor of the
by Sir Banister Fletcher, from 1898
architecture. Thus, we finally see the beginnings of the
contemporary public square in the Forum Iulium, begun by Julius
Caesar, where the buildings present themselves through their
facades as representations within the space.

As the Romans chose representations of sanctity over actual

sacred spaces to participate in society, the communicative nature
of space was opened to human manipulation. None of which
would have been possible without the advances of Roman
engineering and construction or the newly found marble quarries,
which were the spoils of war; inventions like the arch and
concrete gave a whole new form to Roman architecture, fluidly
enclosing space in taut domes and colonnades, clothing the
Restoration of a cubiculum grounds for imperial rulership and civic order. This was also a
(bedroom) from the Villa of P. response to the changing social climate which demanded new
Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale
buildings of increasing complexity: the Colosseum, the
(Italy), circa 50-40 BC, fresco,
dimensions of the room: 265.4 x 334
residential block, bigger hospitals and academies. General civil
x 583.9 cm, in the Metropolitan construction such as roads and bridges began to be built.
Museum of Art (New York City)
The Romans widely employed, and further developed, the arch,

Two widely used motifs: the festoons (wreaths or hanging, each from two points) in the first photo; and
bucrania (bull skulls), in the second photo

vault and dome, all of which were little used before, particularly in Europe.[25] Their innovative use of
Roman concrete facilitated the building of the many public buildings of often unprecedented size
throughout the Roman empire. These include temples, thermae, bridges, aqueducts, harbours, triumphal
arches, amphitheatres, circuses palaces, mausolea and in the late empire also churches. Two widely used
motifs were the bucranium (ox skulls) and the festoon (a wreath or hanging from two points).
Roman domes permitted construction of vaulted ceilings and enabled huge covered public spaces such as
the public baths like Baths of Diocletian or the monumental Pantheon in the city of Rome.

Art historians such as Gottfried Richter in the 1920s identified the Roman architectural innovation as
being the triumphal arch and it is poignant to see how this symbol of power on earth was transformed and
utilized within the Christian basilicas when the Roman Empire of the West was on its last legs: The arch
was set before the altar to symbolize the triumph of Christ and the after life. It is in their impressive
aqueducts that we see the arch triumphant, especially in the many surviving examples, such as the Pont
du Gard, the Aqueduct of Segovia, and the remains of the Aqueducts of Rome itself. Their survival is
testimony to the durability of their materials and design.

The Roman Temple: the The Corinthian capital: The Composite capital:
Maison Carrée in Nîmes Detail from the Parthenon Detail from the Temple of
(France) (Rome) Trajan in Pergamon
(Turkey)

The Arch: The Colosseum, The Dome: Interior of the The Horreum: The Horrea
the most iconic Roman Pantheon from Rome Epagathiana et
building Epaphroditiana in Ostia
(Rome)
 The Roman bricks: Close- The Frescos: Cubiculum
up view of the wall of the (bedroom) from the Villa of
Roman shore fort at Burgh P. Fannius Synistor at
Castle (England) Boscoreale, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
(New York City)

Persian
The pre-Islamic styles draw on 3-4 thousand years of
architectural development from various civilizations of the
Iranian plateau. The Islamic architecture of Iran in turn, draws
ideas from its pre-Islamic predecessor, and has geometrical and
repetitive forms, as well as surfaces that are richly decorated with
glazed tiles, carved stucco, patterned brickwork, floral motifs,
and calligraphy. Iran is recognized by UNESCO as being one of The ruins of Persepolis in present-
the cradles of civilization.[26] day Iran, approximately 2500 years
old
Each of the periods of Elamites, Achaemenids, Parthians, and
Sassanids were creators of great architecture that over the ages
has spread wide and far to other cultures being adopted. Although Iran has suffered its share of
destruction, including Alexander The Great's decision to burn Persepolis, there are sufficient remains to
form a picture of its classical architecture.

The Achaemenids built on a grand scale. The artists and materials they used were brought in from
practically all territories of what was then the largest state in the world. Pasargadae set the standard: its
city was laid out in an extensive park with bridges, gardens, colonnaded palaces and open column
pavilions. Pasargadae along with Susa and Persepolis expressed the authority of The King of Kings, the
staircases of the latter recording in relief sculpture the vast extent of the imperial frontier.

With the emergence of the Parthians and Sassanids there was an appearance of new forms. Parthian
innovations fully flowered during the Sassanid period with massive barrel-vaulted chambers, solid
masonry domes, and tall columns. This influence was to remain for years to come. The roundness of the
city of Baghdad in the Abbasid era for example, points to its Persian precedents such as Firouzabad in
Fars.[27] The two designers who were hired by al-Mansur to plan the city's design were Naubakht, a
former Persian Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be
astrologically auspicious, and Mashallah, a former Jew from Khorasan. The ruins of Persepolis,
Ctesiphon, Jiroft,[28] Sialk, Pasargadae, Firouzabad, Arg-é Bam, and thousands of other ruins may give
us merely a distant glimpse of what contribution Persians made to the art of building.

A well-preserved Persian Relief from Persepolis Frieze of archers, circa 510

column showing the details (Iran) that represents BC, from the Palace of
of the capital of the people who carry bowls Darius at Susa, now in the
columns in Persepolis and amphoraes Louvre
(Iran)

Tomb of Artaxerxes III at

Persepolis

Islamic
Due to the extent of the Islamic conquests, Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of
architectural styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day. Both the religious and secular designs
have influenced the design and construction of buildings and structures within and outside the sphere of
Islamic culture. Islamic architecture is typically based on the idea of relating to the secular or the
religious.[29] Some distinctive structures in Islamic architecture are mosques, tombs, palaces, baths, and
forts, although Islamic architects have of course also applied their distinctive design precepts to domestic
architecture.

The wide and long history of Islam has given rise to many local architectural styles, including Abbasid,
Persian, Moorish, Timurid, Ottoman, Fatimid, Mamluk, Mughal, Indo-Islamic, Sino-Islamic and Afro-
Islamic architecture. Notable Islamic architectural types include the early Abbasid buildings, T-type
mosques, and the central-dome mosques of Anatolia. Islam does not encourage the worship of idols;
therefore the architecture tends to be decorated with Arabic calligraphy from the Quran rather than
illustrations of scenes from it.

Sudano-Sahelian: The Moorish architecture: The Persian architecture: The

Great Mosque of Djenné Great Mosque of Jameh Mosque in Isfahan
in present-day Mali, Kairouan in Tunisia (Iran)
illustrating the mud
construction of western
Africa

Mughal architecture: The Ottoman architecture: The

Badshahi Mosque in Blue Mosque in Istanbul
Lahore (Pakistan) (Turkey)

Africa
Ethiopian architecture (including modern-day Eritrea) expanded from the Aksumite style and
incorporated new traditions with the expansion of the Ethiopian state. Styles incorporated more wood and
rounder structures in domestic architecture in the center of the country and the south, and these stylistic
influences were manifested in the construction of churches and monasteries. Throughout the medieval
period, Aksumite architecture and influences and its monolithic tradition persisted, with its influence
strongest in the early medieval (Late Aksumite) and Zagwe periods (when the rock-cut monolithic
churches of Lalibela were carved). Throughout the medieval period, and especially from the 10th to 12th
centuries, churches were hewn out of rock throughout Ethiopia, especially during the northernmost
region of Tigray, which was the heart of the Aksumite Empire. However, rock-hewn churches have been
found as far south as Adadi Maryam
(15th century), about 100 km south
of Addis Abeba. The most famous
example of Ethiopian rock-hewn
architecture are the eleven
monolithic churches of Lalibela,
carved out of the red volcanic tuff
found around the town. Though later Large, monolithic churches such The Great Mosque of Djenné, an
medieval hagiographies attribute all as the Church of Saint George icon for the Sudano-Sahelian
eleven structures to the eponymous (Lalibela), were hewn out of the architecture, completed in 1907,
ground in Ethiopia adobe, in Djenné (Mali)
King Lalibela (the town was called
Roha and Adefa before his reign),
new evidence indicates that they
may have been built separately over a period of a few centuries, with only a few of the more recent
churches having been built under his reign. Archaeologist and Ethiopisant David Phillipson postulates,
for instance, that Bete Gebriel-Rufa'el was actually built in the very early medieval period, some time
between 600 and 800 A.D., originally as a fortress but was later turned into a church.[30]

During the early modern period, the absorption of new diverse influences such as Baroque, Arab, Turkish
and Gujarati Indian style began with the arrival of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries in the 16th and 17th
centuries. Portuguese soldiers had initially come in the mid-16th century as allies to aid Ethiopia in its
fight against Adal, and later Jesuits came hoping to convert the country. Some Turkish influence may
have entered the country during the late 16th century during its war with the Ottoman Empire (see
Habesh), which resulted in an increased building of fortresses and castles. Ethiopia, naturally easily
defensible because of its numerous ambas or flat-topped mountains and rugged terrain, yielded little
tactical use from the structures in contrast to their advantages in the flat terrain of Europe and other areas,
and so had until this point little developed the tradition. Castles were built especially beginning with the
reign of Sarsa Dengel around the Lake Tana region, and subsequent Emperors maintained the tradition,
eventually resulting in the creation of the Fasil Ghebbi (royal enclosure of castles) in the newly founded
capital (1635), Gondar. Emperor Susenyos (r.1606-1632) converted to Catholicism in 1622 and
attempted to make it the state religion, declaring it as such from 1624 until his abdication; during this
time, he employed Arab, Gujarati (brought by the Jesuits), and Jesuit masons and their styles, as well as
local masons, some of whom were Beta Israel. With the reign of his son Fasilides, most of these
foreigners were expelled, although some of their architectural styles were absorbed into the prevailing
Ethiopian architectural style. This style of the Gondarine dynasty would persist throughout the 17th and
18th centuries especially and also influenced modern 19th-century and later styles.

Great Zimbabwe is the largest medieval city in sub-Saharan Africa. By the late nineteenth century, most
buildings reflected the fashionable European eclecticism and pastisched Mediterranean, or even Northern
European, styles.

In the Western Sahel region, Islamic influence was a major contributing factor to architectural
development from the later ages of the Kingdom of Ghana. At Kumbi Saleh, locals lived in domed-
shaped dwellings in the king's section of the city, surrounded by a great enclosure. Traders lived in stone
houses in a section which possessed 12 beautiful mosques, as described by al-bakri, with one centered on
Friday prayer.[31] The king is said to have owned several mansions, one of which was sixty-six feet long,
forty-two feet wide, contained seven rooms, was two stories high, and had a staircase; with the walls and
chambers filled with sculpture and painting.[32]
Sahelian architecture initially grew from the two cities of Djenné
and Timbuktu. The Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu, constructed
from mud on timber, was similar in style to the Great Mosque of
Djenné. The rise of kingdoms in the West African coastal region
produced architecture which drew on indigenous traditions,
utilizing wood. The famed Benin City, destroyed by the Punitive
Expedition, was a large complex of homes in coursed clay, with
hipped roofs of shingles or palm leaves. The Palace had a
The conical tower inside the Great
sequence of ceremonial rooms, and was decorated with brass
Enclosure in Great Zimbabwe, a
plaques. medieval city built by a prosperous
culture.
A common type of houses in Sub-Saharian Africa were the
beehive houses, made from a circle of stones topped with a
domed roof. The ancient Bantu used this type of house, which was made with mud, poles, and cow dung.

A traditional tata-somba King's palace in Nyanza Illustration from 1854 of

house in Benin (Rwanda) Lunda street and houses

A Dogon village in Mali,

with walls made in the
wattle and daub method

Southern Asia

Indian
Indian architecture encompasses a wide variety of geographically
and historically spread structures, and was transformed by the
history of the Indian subcontinent. The result is an evolving range
of architectural production that, although it is difficult to identify
a single representative style, nonetheless retains a certain amount
of continuity across history. The diversity of Indian culture is
represented in its architecture. It is a blend of ancient and varied
native traditions, with building types, forms and technologies
from West and Central Asia, as well as Europe. Architectural
The Chennakesava Temple from
styles range from Hindu temple architecture to Islamic Belur (Karnataka, India)
architecture to western classical architecture to modern and post-
modern architecture.

India's Urban Civilization is traceable originally to Mohenjodaro and Harappa, now in Pakistan. From
then on, Indian architecture and civil engineering continued to develop, manifesting in temples, palaces
and forts across the Indian subcontinent and neighbouring regions. Architecture and civil engineering
was known as sthapatya-kala, literally "the art of constructing".

Indian rock-cut architecture provides the earliest complete

survivals of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu temples. The temples of
Aihole and Pattadakal are well-known early examples of Hindu
temple architecture, when the temple was taking on its final form.
This was more or less set out in the Sulbasutras, appendices to
the Vedas giving rules for constructing altars, with detailed
geometrical and ritual requirements. "They contained quite an
amount of geometrical knowledge, but the mathematics was
The Hall of Private Audience at
Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh being developed, not for its own sake, but purely for practical
(India), an early example of the religious purposes."[33] Nonetheless, there is great variety in the
architecture of the Mughal Empire details and decoration of regional and period styles, for example
in Hoysala architecture, Vijayanagara architecture and Western
Chalukya architecture.

During the Mauryan Empire and Kushan Empire, Indian architecture and civil engineering reached
regions like Baluchistan and Afghanistan. Statues of Buddha were cut out, covering entire mountain
cliffs, like in Buddhas of Bamyan, Afghanistan. Over a period of time, the ancient Indian art of
construction blended with Greek styles and spread to Central Asia.

The rule of the Delhi Sultanate, Deccan Sultanates and Mughal Empire led to the development of Indo-
Islamic architecture, a style that combined Islamic influences with traditional Indian styles.

During the British Raj, a new style of architecture known as the Indo-Saracenic revival style developed,
which incorporated varying degrees of Indian elements into the British style. The Churches and convents
of Goa which is cast in the Indian Baroque Architectural style under the orientation of the most eminent
architects of the time. It is a prime example of the blending of traditional Indian styles with western
European architectural styles.
 The Vishvanatha Temple The Meenakshi Temple Detail of the Meenakshi
dedicated to Shiva in from Madurai (Tamil Nadu, Temple
Khajuraho (Madhya India)
Pradesh, India)

The Golden Temple in

Amritsar (Punjab, India)

Buddhist
Buddhist religious architecture developed in the Indian subcontinent. Three types of structures are
associated with the religious architecture of early Buddhism: monasteries (vihāras), places to venerate
relics (stupas), and shrines or prayer halls (chaityas, also called chaitya grihas), which later came to be
called temples in some places. The initial function of a stupa was the veneration and safe-guarding of the
relics of Gautama Buddha. The earliest surviving example of a stupa is in Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh).

When Buddhism came to China, Buddhist architecture came along with it. There were many monasteries
built, equalling about 45,000. These monasteries were filled with examples of Buddhist architecture, and
because of this, they hold a very prominent place in Chinese architecture. One of the earliest surviving
examples is the brick pagoda at the Songyue Monastery in Dengfeng County.
 The 26th Cave, one of the The Longxing Temple in The Great Stupa at
Ajanta Caves, from the Hebei (Zhengding, Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh,
5th century AD China), completed in 1052 India)
AD

The five-storied pagoda of Wat Phra Kaew in

Kōfuku-ji in Nara (Nara Bangkok (Thailand),
prefecture, Japan), completed in the 18th
completed in 669 century

Southeast Asia

Oc Eo Culture
Possibly the earliest examples of South East Asian architecture are Hindu temples excavated from Cay
Thi mound of the Óc Eo culture from the Mekong Delta, Southern Vietnam carbon-dated between the
2nd century BC to 7th century AD and constructed using granite stone and burnt bricks. The temple
contains a cylindrical pillar in the shape of Swastika, which was previously mistaken for a tomb and a
square stepped pond.[34]

Cambodian (Khmer)
The main evidence of Khmer architecture and ultimately for Khmer civilization, however, remains the
religious buildings, considerable in number and extremely varied in size. They were destined for
immortal gods and as they were built of durable materials of brick, laterite and sandstone, many have
 survived to the present day. They were usually surrounded by
enclosures to protect them from evil powers but confusion has
often arisen as to which is a temple enclosure and which is that of
the town of which the temple was a part. [35]

Angkor Wat temple is a great example of Khmer architectural

masterpiece, was built by king Suryavarman II in the 12th
century. Despite the fact that it is over 800 years old, it has still
The Angkor Wat temple, the highest maintained its top rank to be the world's largest religious
achievement of Khmer architecture
structure.

The Bakong is the earliest Pre Rup at Angkor,

surviving Temple Mountain completed between 961 or
at Angkor, completed in early 962, dedicated to
881 AD Shiva

Cruciform gallery separates Khmer pediment, from 976,

the courtyards at Angkor made of pink sandstone,
Wat dimensions: 196 x 269 cm,
in Musée Guimet (Paris)

Indonesian
The architecture of Indonesia reflects both the cultural diversity of the region and its rich historical
inheritance. The geographic position of Indonesia means a transition between the culture of Asian Hindu-
Buddhism architecture and animistic architecture of Oceania. Indonesian wide range of vernacular styles
is the legacy of an Austronesian architectural tradition
characterized by wooden pile dwellings, high pitched roofs and
extended roof ridges. The temples of Java, on the other hand,
share an Indian Hindu-Buddhist ancestry, typical of Southeast
Asia; though indigenous influences have led to the creation of a
distinctly Indonesian style of monumental architecture.

Gradual spread of Islam through the region from the 12th century
onwards creates an Islamic architecture which betray a mixture of The Pagaruyung Palace, showing
local and exotic elements. Arrival of the European merchant, Austronesian styled roof replicated
throughout the Indonesian
especially the Dutch, shows incorporation of many Indonesian
archipelago
features into the architecture of the native Netherlands to produce
an eclectic synthesis of Eastern and Western forms apparent in
the early 18th-century Indies Style and modern New Indies Style. The years that followed independence
saw the adoption of Modernist agenda on the part of Indonesian architects apparent in the architecture of
the 1970s and 1980s.

The Buddhist Borobudur The Prambanan temple A traditional Batak Toba

temple, an elaborate stupa complex dedicated to house in North Sumatra
arranged in a grand Trimurti Hindu gods
mandala

A traditional house in Nias

(North Sumatra)

Oceanic
Most Oceanic buildings consist of huts, made of wood and other
vegetal materials. Art and architecture have often been closely
connected—for example, storehouses and meetinghouses are
often decorated with elaborate carvings—and so they are
presented together in this discussion. The architecture of the
Pacific Islands was varied and sometimes large in scale.
Buildings reflected the structure and preoccupations of the
societies that constructed them, with considerable symbolic
detail. Technically, most buildings in Oceania were no more than Ruins of Nan Madol on the Pohnpei
island
simple assemblages of poles held together with cane lashings;
only in the Caroline Islands were complex methods of joining
and pegging known.

An important Oceanic archaeological site is Nan Madol from the Federated States of Micronesia. Nan
Madol was the ceremonial and political seat of the Saudeleur Dynasty, which united Pohnpei's estimated
25,000 people until about 1628.[36] Set apart between the main island of Pohnpei and Temwen Island, it
was a scene of human activity as early as the first or second century AD. By the 8th or 9th century, islet
construction had started, with construction of the distinctive megalithic architecture beginning 1180–
1200 AD.[37]
 Photo of a native house Men's club house, 1907, Detail of a ceremonial
from New Caledonia, circa from Palau, now in supply house, from Papua
1906 Ethnological Museum of New Guinea, now in
Berlin Ethnological Museum of
Berlin

Traditional house in
Micronesia

Eastern Asia

Chinese
Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many
centuries. Especially Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Ryukyu. The structural principles of Chinese
architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details. Since
the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Korea,
Vietnam, and Japan.

From the Neolithic era Longshan Culture and Bronze Age era Erlitou culture, the earliest rammed earth
fortifications exist, with evidence of timber architecture. The subterranean ruins of the palace at Yinxu
dates back to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC–1046 BC). In historic China, architectural emphasis was
laid upon the horizontal axis, in particular the construction of a heavy platform and a large roof that floats
over this base, with the vertical walls not as well emphasized. This contrasts Western architecture, which
tends to grow in height and depth. Chinese architecture stresses the visual impact of the width of the
 buildings. The deviation from this standard is the tower
architecture of the Chinese tradition, which began as a native
tradition and was eventually influenced by the Buddhist building
for housing religious sutras — the stupa — which came from
Nepal. Ancient Chinese tomb model representations of multiple
story residential towers and watchtowers date to the Han Dynasty
(202 BC–220 AD). However, the earliest extant Buddhist
Chinese pagoda is the Songyue Pagoda, a 40 m (131 ft) tall
circular-based brick tower built in Henan province in the year
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in
southern Xi'an (Shaanxi province,
523 AD. From the 6th century onwards, stone-based structures
China), built in 652 during the Tang become more common, while the earliest are from stone and
dynasty brick arches found in Han Dynasty tombs. The Zhaozhou Bridge
built from 595 to 605 AD is China's oldest extant stone bridge, as
well as the world's oldest fully stone open-spandrel segmental
arch bridge.

The vocational trade of

architect, craftsman, and
engineer was not as
highly respected in
premodern Chinese
The Great Wall of China, near society as the scholar-
Jinshanling bureaucrats who were
drafted into the
government by the civil
Inside the Forbidden City, an
service examination system. Much of the knowledge about early example of Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture was passed on from one tradesman to his from the 15th century
son or associative apprentice. However, there were several early
treatises on architecture in China, with encyclopedic information
on architecture dating back to the Han Dynasty. The height of the classical Chinese architectural tradition
in writing and illustration can be found in the Yingzao Fashi, a building manual written by 1100 and
published by Li Jie (1065–1110) in 1103. In it there are numerous and meticulous illustrations and
diagrams showing the assembly of halls and building components, as well as classifying structure types
and building components.

There were certain architectural features that were reserved solely for buildings built for the Emperor of
China. One example is the use of yellow roof tiles; yellow having been the Imperial color, yellow roof
tiles still adorn most of the buildings within the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven, however, uses
blue roof tiles to symbolize the sky. The roofs are almost invariably supported by brackets, a feature
shared only with the largest of religious buildings. The wooden columns of the buildings, as well as the
surface of the walls, tend to be red in colour.

Many current Chinese architectural designs follow post-modern and western styles.
 Detail of a colorful column Traditional Chinese garden Hall of Prayer for Good
from a gate in Hangzhou (China) Harvests, the main building
of the Temple of Heaven
(Beijing)

The Longxing Temple in

Hebei (Zhengding, China),
completed in 1052 AD

Korean
The basic construction form is more or less
similar to Eastern Asian building system.
From a technical point of view, buildings are
structured vertically and horizontally. A
construction usually rises from a stone
subfoundation to a curved roof covered with
tiles, held by a console structure and
supported on posts; walls are made of earth
(adobe) or are sometimes totally composed Donggwoldo, a landscape of the once extensive grounds of
of movable wooden doors. Architecture is the Changdeokgung Palace, and the Changgyeonggung
built according to the k'an unit, the distance Palace
between two posts (about 3.7 meters), and is
designed so that there is always a transitional
space between the "inside" and the "outside."
The console, or bracket structure, is a specific architectonic element that has been designed in various
ways through time. If the simple bracket system was already in use under the Goguryeo kingdom (37
BCE–668 CE)—in palaces in Pyongyang, for instance—a curved version, with brackets placed only on
the column heads of the building, was elaborated during the early Koryo dynasty (918–1392). The Amita
Hall of the Pusok temple in Antong is a good example. Later on (from the mid-Koryo period to the early
Choson dynasty), a multiple-bracket system, or an inter-columnar-bracket set system, was developed
under the influence of Mongol's Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). In this system, the consoles were also placed
on the transverse horizontal beams. Seoul's Namtaemun Gate Namdaemun, Korea's foremost national
treasure, is perhaps the most symbolic example of this type of structure.

In the mid-Choson period, the winglike bracket form appeared (one example is the Yongnyongjon Hall of
Jongmyo, Seoul), which is interpreted by many scholars as an example of heavy Confucian influence in
Joseon Korea, which emphasized simplicity and modesty in such shrine buildings. Only in buildings of
importance like palaces or sometimes temples (Tongdosa, for instance) were the multicluster brackets
still used. Confucianism also led to more sober and simple solutions.

The Bulguksa temple in The Dabo Pagoda in Throne Hall of the

Gyeongju (South Korea) Bulguksa, built in circa 751 Gyeongbokgung Palace in
AD Seoul (South Korea)

The Changdeokgung
Palace, built in 1405

Japanese
Japanese architecture has as long a history as any other aspect of
Japanese culture. It also shows a number of important differences
and aspects which are uniquely Japanese.

Two new forms of architecture were developed in medieval Japan

in response to the militaristic climate of the times: the castle, a
defensive structure built to house a feudal lord and his soldiers in
times of trouble; and the shoin, a reception hall and private study
area designed to reflect the relationships of lord and vassal within
a feudal society. View of the Himeji Castle from the
Hyōgo Prefecture (Kansai region)
Because of the need to rebuild Japan after World War II, major
Japanese cities contain numerous examples of modern
architecture. Japan played some role in modern skyscraper design, because of its long familiarity with the
cantilever principle to support the weight of heavy tiled temple roofs. New city planning ideas based on
the principle of layering or cocooning around an inner space (oku), a Japanese spatial concept that was
adapted to urban needs, were adapted during reconstruction.
 Hōryū-ji (literally Temple of Kinkaku-ji (literally "Temple Interior of the Kumamoto
the Flourishing Law), a of the Golden Pavilion"), a Castle in Kumamoto
Buddhist temple in Ikaruga Zen Buddhist temple in (Kumamoto Prefecture),
(Nara Prefecture), built in Kyoto, originally built in built in 1467, demolished in
the 7th century 1397 1877 and rebuilt in 1960

The garden of the Ninna-ji

temple in Kyoto (Kyoto
Prefecture), an example of
a Japanese garden

Pre-Columbian

Mesoamerican
Mesoamerican architecture is the set of architectural traditions produced by pre-Columbian cultures and
civilizations of Mesoamerica, (such as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec) traditions which are best known in
the form of public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures. The distinctive features
of Mesoamerican architecture encompass a number of different regional and historical styles, which
however are significantly interrelated. These styles developed throughout the different phases of
Mesoamerican history as a result of the intensive cultural exchange between the different cultures of the
Mesoamerican culture area through thousands of years. Mesoamerican architecture is mostly noted for its
pyramids which are the largest such structures outside of Ancient Egypt. The Mezcala culture (700–200
BC) is known for its temple shaped sculptures, usually with an anthropomorphic person in the middle.
 Mezcala temple model with The Mayan temple El Overview of the central
a figure in centre, 1st–8th Castillo, also known as the plaza of the Mayan city of
century, made of stone, in Temple of Kukulcan, built Palenque (Chiapas,
the Metropolitan Museum between 9th and 12th Mexico), a fine example of
of Art (New York City) centuries in Yucatán Classic period
(Mexico) Mesoamerican architecture

Teotihuacan style
architecture displaying
decorative ornamentation
made of obsidian and shell
inlaid into a painted cantera
surface set upon a tezontle
interior

Inca
Incan architecture consists of the major construction achievements developed by the Incas. The Incas
developed an extensive road system spanning most of the western length of the continent. Inca rope
bridges could be considered the world's first suspension bridges. Because the Incas used no wheels (It
would have been impractical for the terrain) or horses, they built their roads and bridges for foot and
pack-llama traffic. Much of present-day architecture at the former Inca capital Cuzco shows both Incan
and Spanish influences. The famous lost city Machu Picchu is the best surviving example of Incan
architecture. Another significant site is Ollantaytambo. The Inca were sophisticated stone cutters whose
masonry used no mortar.
 View of Machu Picchu in The Main Temple of Machu The Twelve-angled stone,
Peru, built in circa 1450 AD Picchu part of a stone wall of an
Inca palace, and a national
heritage object

Ashlar polygonal masonry

at Sacsayhuamán

Ancient of North America

Inside what is the present-day United States, the Mississippians[38] and the Pueblo[39] created substantial
public architecture. The Mississippian culture was among the mound-building peoples, noted for
construction of large earthen platform mounds.

Impermanent buildings, which were often architecturally unique from region to region, continue to
influence American architecture today. In his summary, "The World of Textiles", North Carolina State's
Tushar Ghosh provides one example: the Denver International Airport's roof is a fabric structure that was
influenced by and/or resembles the tipis of local cultures. In writing about Evergreen State College (http
s://archive.is/20071014131553/http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/NAS/), Lloyd Vaughn lists an
example of very different native architecture that also influenced contemporary building: the Native
American Studies program is housed in a modern-day longhouse derived from pre-Columbian Pacific
Northwest architecture.
 Cliff Palace of Mesa Verde, Taos Pueblo, an ancient The Navajo National
in Colorado (USA) created pueblo belonging to a Taos- Monument, in northern
by the Ancestral Puebloans speaking (Tiwa) Native Arizona (USA)
American tribe of Puebloan
people, in Taos Pueblo,
(New Mexico, USA)

A book illustration of an
Inuit village,
Oopungnewing, near
Frobisher Bay on Baffin
Island (Canada) in the mid-
19th century

Europe to 1600

Medieval
Surviving examples of medieval secular architecture mainly served for defense. Castles and fortified
walls provide the most notable remaining non-religious examples of medieval architecture. Windows
gained a cross-shape for more than decorative purposes: they provided a perfect fit for a crossbowman to
safely shoot at invaders from inside. Crenellation walls (battlements) provided shelters for archers on the
roofs to hide behind when not shooting.

Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire gradually emerged as a
distinct artistic and cultural entity from the Roman
Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor
Constantine the Great moved the capital of the
Roman Empire east from Rome to Byzantium (later
renamed Constantinople and now called Istanbul).
The empire endured for more than a millennium,
dramatically influencing Medieval and Renaissance-
era architecture in Europe and, following the capture
of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453,
leading directly to the architecture of the Ottoman One of the mosaics from the St Mark's Basilica
Empire. (Venice)

Early Byzantine architecture was built as a

continuation of Roman architecture. Stylistic drift, technological advancement, and political and
territorial changes meant that a distinct style gradually emerged, which imbued certain influences from
the Near East and used the Greek cross plan in church architecture. Buildings increased in geometric
complexity, brick and plaster were used in addition to stone in the decoration of important public
structures, classical orders were used more freely, mosaics replaced carved decoration, complex domes
rested upon massive piers, and windows filtered light through thin sheets of alabaster to softly illuminate
interiors. This Byzantine style, with increasingly exotic domes and ever-richer mosaics, traveled west to
Ravenna and Venice and as far north as Moscow. Most of the churches and basilicas have high-riding
domes. As result, they created vast open spaces at the centres of churches, heightening the sense of grace
and light. The round arch is a fundamental of Byzantine style. Magnificent golden mosaics with their
graphic simplicity and immense power brought light and warmth into the heart of churches. Byzantine
capitals break away from the Classical conventions of ancient Greece and Rome. Sinuous lines and
naturalistic forms are precursors to the Gothic style.

According to descriptions, interiors were plated with marble or stone. Some of the columns were also
made of marble. Other widely used materials were bricks and stone, not just marble like in Classical
antiquity.[40] Mural paintings or mosaics made of shiny little stones were also elements of interior
architecture. Precious wood furniture like beds, chairs, stools, tables, bookshelves and silver or golden
cups with beautiful reliefs, decorated Byzantine interiors.[41]
 Hagia Sophia in Apse of the Santa Maria The Little Metropolis in
Constantinopol, present- Maggiore church in Rome, Athens, built on unknown
day Istanbul (Turkey), built decorated in the 5th dates, between the 9th
between 532 and 537 century with this glamorous century to the 13th century
mosaic

Mosaics on a ceiling and

some walls of the Basilica
of San Vitale in Ravenna
(Italy), circa 547 AD

Romanesque
Western European architecture in the Early Middle Ages may be divided into Early Christian and Pre-
Romanesque, including Merovingian, Carolingian, Ottonian, and Asturian. While these terms are
problematic, they nonetheless serve adequately as entries into the era. Considerations that enter into
histories of each period include Trachtenberg's "historicising" and "modernising" elements, Italian versus
northern, Spanish, and Byzantine elements, and especially the religious and political maneuverings
between kings, popes, and various ecclesiastic officials.

Romanesque, prevalent in medieval Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, was the first pan-
European style since Roman Imperial architecture and examples are found in every part of the continent.
The term was not contemporary with the art it describes, but rather, is an invention of modern scholarship
based on its similarity to Roman architecture in forms and materials. Romanesque is characterized by a
use of round or slightly pointed arches, barrel vaults, and cruciform piers supporting vaults.
 Interior of the Durham Stone bas-relief of Jesus, Maria Laach Abbey,
Cathedral in Durham from the Vézelay Abbey situated on the
(England), built between (Burgundy, France) southwestern shore of the
1093 and 1133, additions Laacher See (Lake Laach),
until 1490 near Andernach
(Germany), built in the
11th-12th centuries

Part of a stained glass

window from Cathédrale
Notre-Dame de Strasbourg
in Strasbourg (France)

Gothic
The various elements of Gothic architecture emerged in a number of 11th- and 12th-century building
projects, particularly in the Île de France area, but were first combined to form what we would now
recognise as a distinctively Gothic style at the 12th-century abbey church of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis,
near Paris. Verticality is emphasized in Gothic architecture, which features almost skeletal stone
structures with great expanses of glass, pared-down wall surfaces supported by external flying buttresses,
pointed arches using the ogive shape, ribbed vaults, clustered columns, pinnacles and sharply pointed
spires and spirelets. Windows contain beautiful stained glass, showing stories from the Bible and from
lives of saints. Such advances in design allowed cathedrals to rise taller than ever, and it became
something of an inter-regional contest to build a church as high as possible.
Part of the Royal Portal, Stained glass windows of North transept windows,
circa 1145-1155, of the the Sainte-Chapelle in circa 1230-1235, in the
Chartres Cathedral Paris, completed in 1248, Chartres Cathedral
(Chartres, France) mostly constructed
between 1194 and 1220

The Church of Our Blessed The Brussels Town Hall, Corbel on the Brussels
Lady of the Sablon, built in built between 1402 and Town Hall, which consists
the Sablon/Zavel district in 1420 in the famous Grand of a man with three chairs
the historic centre of Place
Brussels (Belgium), built
between the 13th-15th
centuries
 Statues in the central Flamboyant Gothic cross-
tympanum of the Chartres windows of the Hôtel de
Cathedral, about 80 km (50 Sens (Paris)
miles) southwest of Paris

Russian
The architectural history of Russia is conditioned by Orthodox
Eastern Europe: unlike the West, yet similarly, if tenuously,
linked with the traditions of classical antiquity (through
Byzantium). It has experienced from time to time westernising
movements that culminated in the comprehensive reforms of
Peter the Great (around 1700). From prehistoric times the
material of vernacular Russian architecture was wood. Byzantine
churches and the architecture of Kievan Rus were characterized
by broader, flatter domes without a special framework erected
above the drum. In contrast to this ancient form, each drum of a
Russian church is surmounted by a special structure of metal or
timber, which is lined with sheet iron or tiles. Some
characteristics taken from the Slavic pagan temples are the
Saint Basil's Cathedral from the Red
exterior galleries and the plurality of towers.
Square, built between 1555 and
1561
The Saint Basil's Cathedral is one of Russia's most distinctive
sights. Built by Tsar Ivan IV (also known as Ivan the Terrible) to
commemorate his defeat of the Mongols at the battle Kazan in 1552, it stands just outside the Kremlin in
the Red Square, in the heart of Moscow. Its extraordinary onion-shaped domes, painted in bright colours,
create a memorable skyline, making St. Basil's Cathedral a symbol both of Moscow and Russia as a
whole.[42] Each of the domes has its own dazzling form of decoration, ranging from prisms and spirals to
chevrons and stripes, all emphasised with brilliant colours. Their colours are unusual, most of the
Russian domes being either plain or gilded. Originally, the dome at St. Basil's Cathedral had a gold
finish, with some blue and green ceramic decoration. The bright, painted colours were added at various
times from the 17th to the 19th century.[43]
Interior of the Palace of The Spasskaya Tower, one Interior of Saint Basil's
Facets, part of the Moscow of the towers of the Cathedral, full of icons
Kremlin, built between Moscow Kremlin, which painted in the Byzantine
1487 and 1492 overlooks the Red Square, style
built in 1491

St. John the Baptist

Church, built between 1671
and 1687, on the bank of
Kotorosl river in the
Tolchkovo Sloboda (district)

Renaissance

Panorama of St. Peter's Square, in Rome with St. Peter's Basilica

The Renaissance often refers to the Italian Renaissance that began in the 14th century, but recent research
has revealed the existence of similar movements around Europe before the 15th century; consequently,
the term "Early Modern" has gained popularity in describing this cultural movement. This period of
cultural rebirth is often credited with the restoration of scholarship in the Classical antiquities and the
absorption of new scientific and philosophical knowledge that fed the arts.

The development from Medieval architecture concerned the way

geometry mediated between the intangibility of light and the
tangibility of the material as a way of relating divine creation to
mortal existence. This relationship was changed in some measure
by the invention of perspective, which brought a sense of infinity
into the realm of human comprehension through the new
representations of the horizon, evidenced in the expanses of space
opened up in Renaissance art, and helped shape new humanist
thought.
Houses of this type were built
between about 1600 and 1665,
Perspective represented a new understanding of space as a
examples of Dutch Renaissance
universal, a priori fact, understood and controllable through architecture
human reason. Renaissance buildings therefore show a different
sense of conceptual clarity, where spaces were designed to be
understood in their entirety from a specific fixed viewpoint. The power of perspective to universally
represent reality was not limited to describing experiences, but also allowed it to anticipate experience
itself by projecting the image back into reality.

The Renaissance spread to France in the late 15th century, when Charles VIII returned in 1496 with
several Italian artists from his conquest of Naples. Renaissance chateaux were built in the Loire Valley,
the earliest example being the Château d'Amboise, and the style became dominant under Francis I (1515–
47). (See Châteaux of the Loire Valley). The Château de Chambord is a combination of Gothic structure
and Italianate ornament, a style which progressed under architects such as Sebastiano Serlio, who was
engaged after 1540 in work at the Château de Fontainebleau.

Architects such as Philibert Delorme, Androuet du Cerceau, Giacomo Vignola, and Pierre Lescot, were
inspired by the new ideas. The southwest interior facade of the Cour Carrée of the Louvre in Paris was
designed by Lescot and covered with exterior carvings by Jean Goujon. Architecture continued to thrive
in the reigns of Henry II and Henry III.

In England, the first great exponent of Renaissance architecture was Inigo Jones (1573–1652), who had
studied architecture in Italy where the influence of Andrea Palladio was very strong. Jones returned to
England full of enthusiasm for the new movement and immediately began to design such buildings as the
Queen's House at Greenwich in 1616 and the Banqueting House at Whitehall three years later. These
works with their clean lines and symmetry, were revolutionary in a country still enamoured with mullion
windows, crenellations and turrets.
The Florence Cathedral, The Hôtel du Vieux-Raisin Double window of the Hôtel
built between 1296 and in Toulouse (France), an du Vieux-Raisin, decorated
1436 in Florence (Italy) example of a 16th century with a mascaron above it,
hôtel particulier an Ionic column in the
middle, and caryatids at its
edges

Medallion and a Corinthian Various ornaments widely Cross-window from Hôtel

pilaster's capital, on Hôtel used in Renaissance d'Assézat, with a round and
du Vieux-Raisin applied arts, including putti broken pediment above it
and festoons, on a wall of
the Hôtel du Vieux-Raisin
 The Château de The fireplace from the
Chenonceau, built between Salon of Francis I of
1514 and 1522 in France France, in Château de
Chenonceau

European and colonial architecture

With the rise of various European colonial empires from the 16th century onward through the early 20th
century, the new stylistic trends of Europe were exported to or adopted by locations around the world,
often evolving into new regional variations.

Baroque
The Baroque and its late variant the Rococo were the first truly
global styles in the arts. Dominating more than two centuries of
art and architecture in Europe, Latin America and beyond from
circa 1580 to circa 1800, they were the first to focus so intensely
on their impact on the viewer, and they owed much of their
popularity and global scope to this visual allure. Born in the
painting studios of Bologna and Rome in the 1580s and 1590s,
and in Roman sculptural and architectural ateliers in the second
The Karlskirche in Vienna (Austria), and third decades of the 17th century, the Baroque spread swiftly
built between 1716 and 1737 throughout Italy, Spain and Portugal, Flanders, France, the
Netherlands, England, Scandinavia, and Russia, as well as to
central and eastern European centres from Munich (Germany) to
Vilnius (Lithuania).[44]

Baroque architecture originated in 17th century Rome, where it developed as an expression on the newly
triumphant Catholic Church. The Counter-Reformation stated that architecture, painting and sculpture
would play an important role in transforming Rome into a truly Catholic city. The streets radiating from
St. Peters Cathedral were soon dotted with reminders of the victorious faith. Breaking with the somewhat
static intellectual formulas of the Renaissance, Baroque architecture was first and foremost an art of
persuasion.[45] The periods of Mannerism and the Baroque that followed it signalled an increasing
anxiety over meaning and representation. Important developments in science and philosophy had
separated mathematical representations of reality from the rest of culture, fundamentally changing the
way humans related to their world through architecture. It would reach its most extreme and embellished
development under the decorative tastes of Rococo.

The cartouche, a widely used ornament in Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical architecture, in the 1st picture
on a Baroque Revival house from Bucharest (Romania); and in the 2nd on a building from Paris

Baroque architects took the basic elements of Renaissance architecture, including domes and colonnades,
and made them higher, grander, more decorated, and more dramatic. The interior effects were often
achieved with the use of quadratura, or trompe-l'oeil painting combined with sculpture: the eye is drawn
upward, giving the illusion that one is looking into the heavens. Clusters of sculpted angels and painted
figures crowd the ceiling. Light was also used for dramatic effect; it streamed down from cupolas and
was reflected from an abundance of gilding. Solomonic columns were often used, to give an illusion of
upwards motion and other decorative elements occupied every available space. In Baroque palaces, grand
stairways became a central element.[46] A characteristically Baroque form of ornamentation, the
cartouche is an oval panel with crested or scrolled borders, used on palace, house and church façades as a
framing device for a monogram (of the owner, the architect or the person to whom it is dedicated),
cresting or coat of arms, but also as a purely decorative infill motif. It usually features inside a broken
pediment, over an entrance or in the axis from the one to the other.[47][48]
Dome of the Church of the Interior of the church of the The Church of Saint
Gesù (Rome), made in Melk Abbey, the abbey Nicholas in Prague (Czech
1674 by Giovanni Battista being built between 1702 Republic), built between
Gaulli and 1736 1704 and 1755

Library hall of the Entrance of the Palace The Smolny Cathedral from
Clementinum in Prague Square façade of the Saint Petersburg (Russia),
(the Czech Republic), built Winter Palace (Sankt by Bartolomeo Rastrelli,
1722 Petersburg, Russia), the built between 1748 and
official residence of the 1764
Russian Emperors from
1732 to 1917
 The Trevi Fountain, one of The Jordan Staircase of the
the most iconic monuments Winter Palace, built in the
of Rome, designed by 19th century
Italian architect Nicola Salvi
and completed by
Giuseppe Pannini and
several others

Rococo
The Rococo style was essentially a decorative movement that
developed in the early 18th century in the town houses and hôtels
particuliers of the Parisian nobility. Although the style originated
in the rich decoration at the Palace of Versailles, it was also a
reaction to the formality of the royal palace. Juste-Aurèle
Meissonnier, Gilles-Marie Oppenordt, Nicolas Pineau and
Germain Boffrand were among the designers who succeeded in
reflecting the more intimate scale and comfortable arrangement
of rooms by decorating them with light, frivolous and colourful Boiserie from the Hôtel de
schemes in which panels and door-frames dissolved and walls Varengeville, circa 1736–1752,
merged with the ceiling. The repertoire of motifs, including carved, painted, and gilded oak,
Rocaille arabesques and chinoiseries, was infinitely varied. height: 5.58 m, width: 7.07 m, length:
12.36 m, in the Metropolitan Museum
Characteristic of the style were Rocaille motifs derived from the
of Art (New York City)
shells, icicles and rockwork or grotto decoration. Rocaille
arabesques
were
mostly
abstract
forms, laid
out
Two ornaments with angels, in the Cabinet de la Pendule, part of the Palace of Versailles (France)

symmetrically over and around architectural frames. A favourite motif was the scallop shell, whose top
scrolls echoed the basic S and C framework scrolls of the arabesques and whose sinuous ridges echoed
the general curvilinearity of the room decoration. While few Rococo exteriors were built in France, a
number of Rococo churches are found in southern Germany.[49] Other widely-user motifs in decorative
arts and interior architecture include: asymmetrical shells, acanthus and other leaves, birds, bouquets of
flowers, fruits, angels and Far Eastern elements.[50]

Rococo features exuberant decoration, with an abundance of curves, counter-curves, undulations and
elements modeled on nature. The exteriors of Rococo buildings are often simple, while the interiors are
entirely dominated by their ornament. The style was highly theatrical, designed to impress and awe at
first sight. Floor plans of churches were often complex, featuring interlocking ovals; In palaces, grand
stairways became centrepieces, and offered different points of view of the decoration.[51]

The style often integrated painting, molded stucco and wood carving, and quadratura, or illusionist
ceiling paintings, which were designed to give the impression that those entering the room were looking
up at the sky, where putti and other figures were gazing down at them. Materials used included stucco,
either painted or left white; combinations of different colored woods; lacquered wood in the Japanese
style, and ornament of gilded bronze. The intent was to create an impression of surprise, awe and wonder
on first view.[52] Rococo was also influenced by chinoiserie and was sometimes in association with
Chinese figures and pagodas.[53]

Interior of the Room from the Hôtel de The ceiling of the oval
Dreifaltigkeitskirche Soubise (Paris) salon of the princess, in
(Hohenlohekreis, Germany) Hôtel de Soubise

Bedroom of the king in the Interior in Utrecht (the Trompe-l'œil ceiling by

Rohan Palace from Netherlands) Giovanni Battista Piazzetta,
Strasbourg (France) in Santi Giovanni e Paolo
(Venice, Italy)
 The relief of Diana at the Design of a Rococo interior,
Amalienburg, in Munich drawn in 1910
(Germany)

Return to Classicism: Neoclassicism

Comparison between a 1st-century AD Roman wall painting of an ornate door, in the Villa Boscoreale (Italy),
and a massive 19th century Neoclassical door of the Palais de Justice (Bruxelles, Belgium)

In the late 17th and 18th centuries, the works and theories of Andrea Palladio (from 16th-century Venice)
would again be interpreted and adopted in England, spread by the English translation of his I quattro libri
dell'architettura, and pattern books such as Vitruvius Brittanicus by Colen Campbell. This Palladian
architecture and continued classical imagery would in turn go on to influence Thomas Jefferson and other
early architects of the United States in their search for a new national architecture.

By the mid-18th century, there tended to be more restrained decoration and usage of authentic classical
forms than in the Baroque, informed by increased visitation to classical ruins as part of the Grand Tour,
coupled with the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The shift to Neoclassical architecture is conventionally dated to the 1750s. It first gained influence in
England and France; in England, Sir William Hamilton's excavations at Pompeii and other sites, the
influence of the Grand Tour and the work of William Chambers and Robert Adam, was pivotal in this
regard. In France, the movement was propelled by a generation of French art students trained in Rome,
and was influenced by the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann.
The style was also adopted by progressive circles in other countries such as Sweden and Russia. Federal-
style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in North America between c. 1780 and
1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The
term is also used in association with furniture design in the United States of the same time period. The
style broadly corresponds to the middle-class classicism of Biedermeier style in the German-speaking
lands, Regency style in Britain and to the French Empire style. In Central and Eastern Europe, the style is
usually referred to as Classicism (German: Klassizismus, Russian: Классицизм), while the newer
Revival styles of the 19th century until today are called neoclassical.

Extraordinary detail of a Stairway of the Grand The Blue Salon of the

ceiling from the Galerie Theater of Bordeaux, by Château de Compiègne
d'Apollon (part of the Victor Louis, built in 1780 from Compiègne (France),
Louvre), completed an example of an Empire
between 1766 and 1781 interior

Saint Isaac's Cathedral in The Academy of Athens, The Cantacuzino fountain

Saint Petersburg (Russia), designed as part of an from Bucharest (Romania),
completed 1858, an architectural "trilogy" in finished in 1870
example of Greek Revival 1859 by the Danish
architecture architect Theophil Hansen,
along with the University
and the National Library
 Interior of the Stieglitz The Assan house from Entrance of a small and
Museum of Applied Arts in Bucharest, by Ion D. very beautiful Neoclassical
Sankt Petersburg (Russia), Berindey and built in the city-house from Bucharest
built between 1885 and French Neoclassic between (Romania)
1896 1906 and 1914

Revivalism and Orientalism

The 19th century was dominated by a wide variety of stylistic revivals, variations, and interpretations.
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous
architectural era. Modern-day Revival styles can be summarized within New Classical architecture, and
sometimes under the umbrella term traditional architecture.

In art and architecture history, the term Orientalism refers to the works of the Western artists who
specialized in Oriental subjects, produced from their travels in Western Asia, during the 19th century. In
that time, artists and scholars were described as Orientalists, especially in France.
Egyptian Revival - Interior Indo-Saracenic - The Romanesque Revival
of the Temple maçonnique Madras High Court from architecture - The Natural
des Amis philanthropes in Chennai (Tamil Nadu, History Museum of London,
Bruxelles (Belgium) India), established 1862 established in 1881

Byzantine Revival - The Renaissance Revival - The Russian Revival - The

Alexander Nevsky Helsingør station in Igumnov House from
Cathedral from Sofia Helsingør (Danemark), Moscow, built between
(Bulgaria), built between opened on 24 October 1883 and 1893
1882 and 1912 1891
 Gothic Revival - The Neo-Baroque - The Belfast Moorish Revival - The
Hungarian Parliament City Hall from Belfast (the Jubilee Synagogue in
Building in Budapest, built UK) Prague (Czech Republic),
between 1885 and 1904 built in 1906

Mayan Revival - Detail of

the Mayan Theater from
Los Angeles (USA),
opened in 1927

Beaux-Arts
Beaux-Arts architecture[54] denotes the academic classical architectural style that was taught at the École
des Beaux Arts in Paris. The Beaux-Arts style is above all the cumulative product of two and a half
centuries of instruction under the authority, first of the Académie royale d'architecture, then, following
the Revolution, of the Architecture section of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. The organization under the
Ancien Régime of the competition for the Grand Prix de Rome in architecture, offering a chance to study
in Rome, imprinted its codes and aesthetic on the course of instruction, which culminated during the
Second Empire (1850–1870) and the Third Republic that followed. The style of instruction that produced
Beaux-Arts architecture continued without a major renovation until 1968.[55] Characteristics of Beaux-
Arts architecture included:

Monumental and heavy looking

Flat or hipped roof[56]
Rusticated and raised first story[57]
 Hierarchy of spaces, from "noble spaces" – grand entrances and staircases – to utilitarian
ones
Arched windows[57]
Arched and pedimented doors[57]
Classical details:[57] references to a synthesis of historicist styles and a tendency to
eclecticism; fluently in a number of "manners"
Symmetry[57]
Statuary,[57] sculpture (bas-relief panels, figural sculptures, sculptural groups), murals,
mosaics, and other artwork, all coordinated in theme to assert the identity of the building
Classical architectural details:[57] balustrades, pilasters, garlands, cartouches, acroteria,
with a prominent display of richly detailed clasps (agrafes), brackets, supporting consoles
and decorative columns
Subtle polychromy

An entrance of the The Palais Garnier is a The Grand staircase of

National Museum of cornerpiece of Beaux-Arts the Palais Garnier, a large
Romanian History, with architecture characterized ceremonial staircase of
statues on the pediment by Émile Zola as "the white marble with a
above the door, in opulent bastard of all balustrade of red and
Bucharest (Romania). styles" green marble

The Grand Palais in Paris, The Main Entrance of the

opened in 1900, built for Petit Palais, built for the
the 1900 Exposition 1900 Exposition
Universelle ("universal Universelle
exhibition")
Colonial architecture
During the Age of Discovery, architectural style from a colonizing country has been incorporated into the
buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that
synthesized the architecture of their countries of origin with the design characteristics of their new lands,
creating hybrid designs.[58] Countries born out of colonialism hold these houses in a national status.

The Hope Lodge in The Bronck House in The Byers-Muma House

Whitemarsh Township Greene County (USA) from East Donegal
(Pennsylvania, USA) Township (Pennsylvania,
USA)

The Morgan House from Bahay na bato of the

Kalimpong (India) Philippines

Art Nouveau
Around 1900 a number of architects around the world began developing new architectural solutions to
integrate traditional precedents with new social demands and technological possibilities, being inspired
by natural forms and structures, particularly the curved lines of plants and flowers. The work of Victor
Horta and Henry van de Velde in Brussels, Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, Otto Wagner in Vienna and
Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow, among many others, can be seen as a common struggle between
old and new.

Art Nouveau architecture was a reaction against the eclectic styles that dominated European architecture
in the second half of the 19th century. It was expressed through decoration: either ornamental (based on
flowers and plants, e.g. thistles,[59] irises,[60] cyclamens, orchids, water lilies, etc.) or sculptural (see the
respective section below). While faces of people (or mascarons)
are referred to ornament, the use of people in different forms of
sculpture (statues and reliefs: see the respective section below)
were also typical for Art Nouveau. Before Vienna Secession,
Jugendstil and National romantic style façades were
asymmetrical, and often decorated with polychrome ceramic tiles.
The decoration usually suggested movement; there was no
distinction between the structure and the ornament.[61] The
Thistles and curve-lined mascarons
whiplash motif, adapted from vegetal forms, was widely used.
in decoration of Les Chardons
building by Charles Klein in Paris,
built in 1903

Interior of the Hôtel Tassel Entrance of the Castel

built between 1892 and Béranger in Paris, by
1893 by Victor Horta, in Hector Guimard
Bruxelles (Belgium)

The Dacia Hotel built in The Casa Batlló by Antoni Highly decorated door in
1902, in Satu Mare Gaudí in Barcelona Paris, at the entrance of the
(Romania) (Spain), an iconic Art Lavirotte Building
Nouveau masterpiece
 Dining Room of the Hôtel Detail of a 1910 building, Mosaic representing
Guimard, about 1910 with a female mascaron, in summer, on a house from
Timișoara (Romania) Antwerp (Belgium)

Early Modern
Early Modern architecture began with a number of building styles with similar characteristics, primarily
the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament, that first arose around 1900. By the 1940s
these styles had largely consolidated and been identified as the International Style.

The exact characteristics and origins of modern architecture are still open to interpretation and debate.
An important trigger appears to have been the maxim credited to Louis Sullivan: "form follows
function". Functionalism in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on
the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of
confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern architecture.

Expressionist
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that
developed in Northern Europe during the first decades of the 20th
century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing
arts.

The style was characterised by an early-modernist adoption of

novel materials, formal innovation, and very unusual massing,
sometimes inspired by natural biomorphic forms, sometimes by
the new technical possibilities offered by the mass production of Goetheanum by Rudolf Steiner in
brick, steel and especially glass. Many expressionist architects 1923
fought in World War I and their experiences, combined with the
political turmoil and social upheaval that followed the German
Revolution of 1919, resulted in a utopian outlook and a romantic socialist agenda.[62] Economic
conditions severely limited the number of built commissions between 1914 and the mid-1920s,[63]
resulting in many of the most important Expressionist works remaining as projects on paper, such as
Bruno Taut's Alpine Architecture and Hermann Finsterlin's Casa Nova. Zukunftsarchitektur -
Formenspiel und Feinbau. Ephemeral exhibition buildings were numerous and highly significant during
this period. Scenography for theatre and films provided another outlet for the Expressionist
imagination,[64] and provided supplemental incomes for designers attempting to challenge conventions in
a harsh economic climate.

Art Deco
The Art Deco style in architecture emerged in Paris just before World War I
with the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by Auguste Perret (1911–1913) and the
Majorelle Building by Henri Sauvage (1913). Its revolutionary use of
reinforced concrete, geometric forms, straight lines, and decorative sculpture
applied to the outside of the building in plaques of marble, ceramics and
stucco, and later in stainless steel, were a departure from Art Nouveau. The
style reached its peak in the 1920s and 1930s, and took its name from the
International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris in
1925.

Art Deco became especially popular in the United States in the late 1920s,
where the style was used for skyscrapers including the Chrysler Building
(1930) and Empire State Building (1931), and for lavish motion picture
palaces including Radio City Music Hall (1932) in New York City and the The Art Deco Chrysler
Building in New York
Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. In the 1930s a stripped-down
City (1930)
variation called Streamline Moderne emerged, which was inspired by the
curving aerodynamic forms of ocean liners, airplanes and trains. Art Deco
was used for office buildings, government buildings, train stations and movie theaters around the world
in the 1930s, but declined rapidly at the end of the decade due to the Great Depression and intense
criticism of the style by modernist architects such as Le Corbusier, who denounced what he felt was its
excessive ornament. By 1939, the style was largely out of fashion and was replaced by the more austere
International Style.[65]

International Style
The International style was a major architectural trend of the
1920s and 1930s. The term usually refers to the buildings and
architects of the formative decades of modernism, before World
War II. The term had its origin from the name of a book by
Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson which identified,
categorised and expanded upon characteristics common to
modernism across the world. As a result, the focus was more on
the stylistic aspects of modernism. The basic design principles of
the International Style thus constitute part of modernism. The Glass Palace, a celebration of
transparency, in Heerlen, The
The ideas of Modernism were developed especially in what was Netherlands (1935)
taught at the German Bauhaus School in Weimar (from 1919),
Dessau (between 1926–32) and finally Berlin between 1932–33,
under the leadership first of its founder Walter Gropius, then Hannes Meyer, and finally Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe. Modernist theory in architecture resided in the attempt to bypass the question of what style
a building should be built in, a concern that had overshadowed 19th-century architecture, and the wish to
reduce form to its most minimal expression of structure and function. In the United States, Philip
Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock treated this new phenomenon in 1931 as if it represented a new
style – the International Style, thereby misrepresenting its primary mission as merely a matter of
eliminating traditional ornament. The core effort to pursue Modern architecture as an abstract, scientific
programme was more faithfully carried forward in Europe, but issues of style always overshadowed its
stricter and more puritan goals, not least in the work of Le Corbusier.

Contemporary

Modern
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification
of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of
the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement,
with its exact definition and scope varying widely.[66] Modern Manggha Museum of Japanese Art
architecture has continued into the 21st century as a and Technology in Cracow, Poland,
contemporary style, especially for corporate office buildings. In a by Arata Isozaki and Krzysztof
broader sense, modern architecture began at the turn of the 20th Ingarden (1994)
century with efforts to reconcile the principles underlying
architectural design with rapid technological advancement and
the modernization of society. It would take the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and
architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification.[66]

Critical regionalism
Critical regionalism is an approach to architecture that strives to
counter the placelessness and lack of meaning in Modern
architecture by using contextual forces to give a sense of place
and meaning. The term critical regionalism was first used by
Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre and later more famously by
Kenneth Frampton.

Frampton put forth his views in "Towards a Critical Regionalism:

The Sydney Opera House, designed
Six points of an architecture of resistance." He evokes Paul to evoke the sails of yachts in
Ricœur's question of "how to become modern and to return to Sydney harbour
sources; how to revive an old, dormant civilization and take part
in universal civilization". According to Frampton, critical
regionalism should adopt modern architecture critically for its universal progressive qualities but at the
same time should value responses particular to the context. Emphasis should be on topography, climate,
light, tectonic form rather than scenography and the tactile sense rather than the visual. Frampton draws
from phenomenology to supplement his arguments.

Postmodern
Postmodern architecture is an international style whose first examples are generally cited as being from
the 1950s, and which continues to influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is
generally thought to be heralded by the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in
response to the formalism of the International Style of modernism. As with many cultural movements,
 some of postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in
architecture. The functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the
modernist movement are replaced by unapologetically diverse aesthetics:
styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing
familiar styles and space abound.

Classic examples of modern architecture are the Lever House and the
Seagram Building in commercial space, and the architecture of Frank Lloyd
Wright or the Bauhaus movement in private or communal spaces.
Transitional examples of postmodern architecture are the Portland Building
in Portland and the Sony Building (New York City) (originally AT&T
Building) in New York City, which borrows elements and references from
the past and reintroduces color and symbolism to architecture. A prime
example of inspiration for postmodern architecture lies along the Las Vegas
1000 de La Gauchetière, Strip, which was studied by Robert Venturi in his 1972 book Learning from
with ornamented and
Las Vegas celebrating the strip's ordinary and common architecture. Venturi
strongly defined top,
middle and bottom.
opined that "Less is a bore", inverting Mies Van Der Rohe's dictum that
Contrast with the "Less is more".
modernist Seagram
Building and Torre Following the postmodern movement, a renaissance of pre-modernist urban
Picasso. and architectural ideals established itself, with New Urbanism and New
Classical architecture being prominent movements.

Deconstructivist
Deconstructivism in architecture is a development of postmodern
architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by
ideas of fragmentation, non-linear processes of design, an interest
in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, and
apparent non-Euclidean geometry,[67] (i.e., non-rectilinear
shapes) which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements
of architecture, such as structure and envelope. The finished
visual appearance of buildings that exhibit the many The Imperial War Museum North in
Manchester comprises three
deconstructivist "styles" is characterised by a stimulating
apparently intersecting curved
unpredictability and a controlled chaos. volumes.

Important events in the history of the Deconstructivist movement

include the 1982 Parc de la Villette architectural design competition (especially the entry from the French
philosopher Jacques Derrida and the American architect Peter Eisenman[68] and Bernard Tschumi's
winning entry), the Museum of Modern Art's 1988 Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition in New York,
organized by Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley, and the 1989 opening of the Wexner Center for the Arts
in Columbus, designed by Peter Eisenman. The New York exhibition featured works by Frank Gehry,
Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelblau, and Bernard
Tschumi. Since the exhibition, many of the architects who were associated with Deconstructivism have
distanced themselves from the term. Nonetheless, the term has stuck and has now, in fact, come to
embrace a general trend within contemporary architecture.

The 21st century

On January 21, 2013 architects began preparations for
constructing the world's first 3D-printed building. An industrial-
scale 3D printer used high strength artificial marble.[69]
Companies around the world have 3D-printed numerous
buildings, many only taking a few hours to be completed. 3D-
printed buildings have been shown to be practical, cost effective,
and environmentally friendly. The technology is being expanded
to other frameworks.
The Schermerhorn Symphony
Sustainable architecture is an important topic in contemporary Center in Nashville (USA), opened in
architecture, including the trends of New Urbanism, New 2006
Classical architecture and Eco-cities.

See also
Outline of architecture
Timeline of architecture
Timeline of architectural styles
History of architectural engineering

Notes
1. Architecture. Def. 1. Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford
University Press 2009
2. "The Old Copper Complex: North America's First Miners & Metal Artisans" (http://coppercult
ure.homestead.com/). Retrieved 10 August 2015.
3. Song, Jeeun. "The History of Metallurgy and Mining in the Andean Region" (http://www.zu
m.de/whkmla/sp/1011/pope/sje2.html). World History at Korean Minjok Leadership
Academy. Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
4. Choi, Charles Q. "Pre-Incan Metallurgy Discovered" (http://www.livescience.com/1442-pre-i
ncan-metallurgy-discovered.html). Live Science. Live Science. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
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Braun, Hugh, An Introduction to English Mediaeval Architecture, London: Faber and Faber,
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Francis Ching, Mark Jarzombek, Vikram Prakash, A Global History of Architecture, Wiley,
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Duncan, Alastair (1988). Art déco (https://archive.org/details/artdeco00dunc). Thames &
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Modernism

Banham, Reyner, (1 Dec 1980) Theory and Design in the First Machine Age Architectural
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s://archive.org/details/dictionaryofarch00curl_0) (Paperback) (Second ed.). Oxford
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Curtis, William J. R. (1987), Modern Architecture Since 1900, Phaidon Press
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Pevsner, Nikolaus, (28 Mar 1991) Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to
Walter Gropius, Penguin Books Ltd.

Further reading
 Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan,
Architectural Press, 20th edition, 1996. ISBN 0-7506-2267-9

External links
History of architecture (https://curlie.org/Arts/Architecture/History) at Curlie
The Society of Architectural Historians web site (http://www.sah.org/)
The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain web site (http://www.sahgb.org.uk/)
The Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand web site (http://www.sah
anz.net/)
European Architectural History Network web site (http://www.eahn.org/)
Western Architecture Timeline (https://web.archive.org/web/20110310024053/http://www.es
sentialhumanities.net/s_art_arch_time.php)
Extensive collection of source documents in the history, theory and criticism of 20th-century
architecture (http://monoskop.org/Architecture)

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