History of Architecture and its media till the Age of Printing Literature Review from History
Maniyarasan R, Ph.D., Department of Design Project 3 | Guide: Dr. Deepak John Mathew
Understanding Architecture through Image & Representations Defining frameworks to Document Architectural Projects
Prologue
Research Objectives & Approach of thesis
People learn to speak, read, and write inorder
> To understand the need of Documentation
to communicate. The primary type of commu-
Design in day-to-day process, in establishing a
nication is Drawing in any kind of design work,
comprehensive solution in the way its done.
our design ideas to others, we must learn how
> To access the reliability of tools of represen-
to draw. We must know to make images to
tation including Photographic Reproduction as
make our ideas clear. Furthermore, we need
dominant tool and address concerns in refer-
to be able to communicate it graphically to
ence to photographic theory, reality and real-
ourselves, the ideas, as we work on any de-
ism.
whether fashion or building. To communicate
sign our ideas are constantly changing and evolving. Our understanding and knowledge
>To improve the Representational methods
of Architectural works of masters and iconic
and techniques, in-tandem with the technology
structures around the world are through their
and inter disciplinary methods.
Photographs and other images. Architects use sketches, Photographs and other modes of
> To be part of teams throughout the construc-
representations. Images have been a decisive
tion period, in creating, setting up and evolving
factor in their relationship with the understand-
documentation frameworks.
ing of Architecture. The understanding of visuals go a long way into the newer processes
>Architectural Practice - To understand and
of design, besides saving us their records
record project, from Architect’s concept, De-
and memory. Most of our knowledge of great
velopment till Execution.
therefore imagine a situation in which embod-
>To create products at intermediate junctions,
ied architecture - not the everyday buildings
like Process Journal, keeping track of the pro-
architecture comes from pictures. One could
that we are used to, but buildings in the “great
jects.
works” category.
First part of research study explored the History of Photography in relation to effects it caused to Architecture, Architects and its movements, from Modernism to Post Modernism till now.
Second part of research explores the existence, recording & transmission of Architecture, phi-
losophy & theory, before Photography. History of Architecture and its media till the Age of Printing.
Sources of Knowledge, Materials and Methods
Sources of Knowledge, Materials and Methods. The collection of experience transformed into
As that knowledge passed across genera-
models or rules, and that continues to exist
tions after generations, the progress into bet-
only if these are recorded, accumulated and
ter things happened, merely with their visual
transmitted. Constant interaction between
retention and word-of-mouth ideas. Countless
architectural thought and means of communi-
monuments must have been raised even be-
cation has had its effects on the history of ar-
fore any empire was formed across the world.
chitecture. The collection of experience trans-
Every architecture was influenced by
formed into models or rules, and that continues to exist only if these are recorded, accumulated
external factors, and mostly in a subtle profound manner.
and transmitted.The evidences that are left with us, become pointers to our own History, may be not precisely, but with codes. Before recorded history, humans constructed The purpose of any record/document is to
earthen mounds, stone circles, megaliths, and
trace the sources of tradition and its develop-
structures that often puzzle modern-day ar-
ment in establishing as something, at times as
chaeologists. Prehistoric architecture includes
a movement in art or architecture. They started
monumental structures such as Stonehenge,
building long before the dawn of history. The
cliff dwellings in the Americas, and thatch and
manner of buildings which got built, were con-
mud structures lost to time.
ditioned by the materials that lay around them, by their special needs of safety or comfort, by
Other than their shelters, the need to Build
the racial origins and contacts. Trial-and-error
Early architecture had two main functions:
must have been the best used methodology, as they must have gained knowledge through
(1) to consolidate security and power;
their experience of failures and success levels.
(2) to please the Gods.
The richer the society, the more important
years, an ever increasing mass of evidence,
these functions became. Our knowledge of
recovered by excavation. Even last year, a
history that comes from books, are traced from
separate group of temple monuments were
surviving monuments. Apart from bridges,
excavated at Mahabalipuram, India, belonged
aqueducts, triumphal arches, and un-roofed
to Pallava Kingdom.
theatres and amphitheatres, few Greek or Ro-
Fragments with the dimensions of the foun-
man buildings stand today even superficially
dations, may enable a trained investigator to
intact. In history, there were tributaries swell-
reconstruct with certainty, the main features of
ing the main stream which can be followed
a temple of which nothing had remained above
backwards step by step till it almost eludes our
the soil. The upper parts of archaic ‘Temple of
search, though still far from its source. It could
Ceres’ at Paestum, for instance, are just suf-
be reasonable to start from the Greeks and the
ficiently preserved to prove that. It is for these
Romans. Only a very few, mostly roofed with
very early buildings that our debt to excavation
more durable materials than timber, preserve
in greatest. The evidence we have got is cer-
the main lines of their interior form: notably
tainly imperfect. With that is all that we have,
Pantheon at Rome. We must be fortunate that
it throws invaluable light on their Architectural
these buildings have been saved. As a rule,
development. For our knowledge of Architec-
they must have been continued to be used in
ture before 1000 b.c. we depend almost en-
mediaeval times, often as churches. Far more
tirely upon these evidences that are dug of the
numerous are the buildings of which parts only
last half century. In comparison with this solid
still stand, chiefly groups of columns: as we
material, the evidence of ancient writers and of
see in those hollywood movies, and images.
ancient inscriptions, though exceedingly use-
To the visible remains has been added in mod-
ful, couldn’t be considered equals. Of techni-
ern times, especially during the last hundred
cal writers on architecture, Vitruvius has sur-
vived. The effect on Renaissance architects of the study of Vitruvius and his great value must be recognised. How should all the history and evidence be encoded and how were they decoded? How do we expect it to be decoded? The idea of encoding and decoding has been infused within our culture, more times unconsciously than a conscious way of work. How do we establish these documents become sources of knowledge with their materials and methods. All the documents and evidences state what they meant to Architecture. Without history, probably Architecture wouldn’t have existed in first place. Some looked at history as a mere record. Some took greater advantage of history and its records, that have come a long way from being documented. The ‘need to document’ is long gone. The need to streamline them and keep them ethically upright could will always be called for.
Timeline of Architecture with Image. Points where it mattered.
Timeline of architecture with History As mentioned in the previous chapter, hu-
Sumerian civilization was developing its own
mans constructed earthen mounds, stone
unique building - a type of stepped pyramid
circles, megaliths, and structures that are more
called a ziggurat. But in contrast to the pyra-
of a sporadic constructions. They wouldn’t
mids of the Egyptian Pharaohs, ziggurats were
fall under any ‘great architecture’ models or
not built as tombs but as man-made mountains
theories. The History of architecture as such
to bring the Sumerian rulers and people closer
started when ‘Egyptians, Greeks & Romans’
to their Gods who supposedly dwelt high up
started building. Especially, when they started
in mountains to the east. Ziggurats were con-
building those Truimphal Arches, Churches,
structed from clay-fired bricks, often finished
Palaces, etc., with more durable materials,
with coloured glazes.
that has stayed long enough till the Historians documented them in some way or the other.
Early Irish Architecture - Towards the end of
Most reliable evidence have been the building
the Stone Age, ceremonial megaliths (struc-
in itself. Others are the ones, that are docu-
tures built from large stones) like the Knowth
mented as images, sketches, paintings, po-
megalithic tomb (c.3300 BCE) and Newgrange
ems, books, etc.,
passage tomb, began to appear in Northern Europe (This form of Megalithic art is exempli-
Egyptian Architecture - Design was monumen-
fied by the Stonehenge stone circle).
ployed posts and lintels, rather than arches,
Greek Architecture - About 600 BCE, inspired
tal but not architecturally complex and em-
although Egyptian expertise in stone had a
by the theory and practice of earlier Egyp-
strong influence on later Greek architecture.
tian stone masons and builders, the Greeks set about replacing the wooden structures of
Sumerian Architecture - Meanwhile, in Mesopotamia and Persia (c.3200-323 BCE), the
their public buildings with stone structures - a process known as ‘petrification’. Limestone
and marble was employed for columns and walls, while terracotta was used for roof tiles and ornaments. Decoration was done in metal, like bronze. Like painters and sculptors, Greek architects enjoyed none of the enhanced status accorded to their successors. They were not seen as artists but as tradesmen. Thus no names of architects are known before about the 5th century BCE. The most common types of public buildings were temples, municipal structures, theatres and sports stadiums. Architecture methods of Ancient Greece -
a light porous stone known as tuff. Marble, be-
building techniques. It wasn’t until the Roman
for sculptural decoration, except in the grand-
Greek architecture used simple post-and-lintel era that the arch was developed in order to span greater distances. As a result, Greek architects were forced to employ a great many more stone columns to support short horizontal beams overhead. Moreover, they could not construct buildings with large interior spaces, without having rows of internal support columns. The standard construction format, used in public buildings like the Hephaesteum at Athens, employed large blocks of limestone or
ing scarcer and more valuable was reserved est buildings, such as the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Greek Building Design - The typical rectangu-
lar building design was often surrounded by a columns on all four sides (eg. the Parthenon) or more rarely at the front and rear only (eg the Temple of Athena Nike). Roofs were laid with timber beams covered by terracotta tiles, and were not domed. Pediments (the flat-
tened triangular shape at each gable end of
early Greek architecture: the Doric, Ionic and
the building) were usually filled with sculptural
Corinthian.
decoration or friezes, as was the row of lintels along the top of each side wall, between the roof and the tops of the columns. In the late
Roman Architecture - Unlike the more crea-
tive and intellectual Greeks, the Romans were
4th and 5th centuries BCE, Greek architects
essentially practical people with a flair for
began to depart from the strictly rectangular
engineering, construction and military matters.
plan of traditional temples in favour of a cir-
In their architecture, as in their art, they bor-
cular structure (the tholos), embellished with
rowed heavily from both the Etruscans (eg. in
black marble to highlight certain architectural
their use of hydraulics for swamp-clearing and
elements and provide rich colour contrasts.
in the construction of arches), and also the
These buildings were famously adorned with
Greeks, whom they regarded as their superiors
a huge range of Greek sculpture - pedimental
in all visual arts. However, without Roman art -
works, friezes, reliefs and various types of freestanding statue - of a figurative nature, depicting mythological heroes and events in Greek history and culture. Orders - The theory of Greek architecture -
arguably the most influential form of classical Greek art - was based on a system of ‘Classical Orders’ - rules for building design based on proportions of and between the individual parts. This resulted in an aesthetically pleasing consistency of appearance regardless of size or materials used. There were three orders in
with its genius for copying and adapting Greek
the dominant theme of architecture and the
styles - most of the artistic achievements of
visual arts for the next 1,200 years.
Greek antiquity would have been lost. Architectural Priorties of Ancient Rome - Ro-
Byzantine architects - including numerous Italians who had moved to the new capital from
man architecture served the needs of the
Italy - continued the free-flowing tradition of
Roman state, which was keen to impress,
Roman architecture, constructing a number
entertain and cater for a growing population in
of magnificent churches and religious build-
relatively confined urban areas. Drainage was
ings, during the era of early Christian art. As it
a common problem, as was security. This, to-
was, the Byzantine style of iconography devel-
gether with Rome’s growing desire to increase
oped in a highly stylised manner and aimed
its power and majesty throughout Italy and
to present complex theology in a very simple
beyond, required public buildings to be impos-
way, making it possible to educate and inspire
ing, large-scale and highly functional.
even the illiterate. For example, colour was very important: gold represented the radiance
Architectural advances - Arches & Concrete
of Heaven; red, the divine life; blue was the
- Roman architecture was assisted by major
colour of human life; white was the uncreated
advances in both design and new materials.
essence of God, used for example in the icon
Design was enhanced through architectural
painting of the Resurrection of Christ.
developments in the construction of arches
After the Early period of Byzantine architecture
and roof domes. Arches improved the efficien-
(c.300-600), which was largely a continuation
cy and capability of bridges and aqueducts
of Roman architecture, there came a Middle
(fewer support columns were needed to sup-
Period (c.600-1100), notable only for the popu-
port the structure), while domed roofs not only
larity of the cross-in-square type architectural
permitted the building of larger open areas
church design.
under cover, but also lent the exterior an impressive appearance of grandeur and majesty,
Buildings increased in geometric complexity,
as in several important secular and Christian
while brick and plaster were employed in addi-
basilicas, like the Pantheon. Christianity (previ-
tion to stone for decorative purposes, like the
ously a minority sect) was declared the sole of-
external zig-zag patterns. The previous ‘Clas-
ficial religion throughout the empire. These twin
sical Orders’ or styles were interpreted more
developments impacted on architecture in two
freely, and windows filtered light through thin
ways: first, relocation to Constantinople helped
sheets of alabaster to create softer illumination.
to preserve and prolong Roman culture, which might otherwise have been destroyed by the
Although they relied on several design features
barbarian invaders of Italy; second, the emer-
from Greek and Roman Antiquity, Roman-
gence of Christianity provided what became
esque architects had neither the imagination
of the Greeks, nor the engineering ability of
finer, more vertical, more detailed, brighter,
the Romans. For example, Roman building
more exciting and more inspirational form of
techniques in brick and stone were largely lost
Romanesque.
in most parts of Europe. In general, the style employed thick walls, round arches, piers, col-
The principal feature of the Gothic style is the
umns, groin vaults, narrow slit-windows, large
pointed arch, believed by many experts to
towers and decorative arcading. The basic
originate in Assyrian, and later, Islamic ar-
load of the building was carried not its arches
chitecture. This feature, which channeled the
or columns but by its massive walls. And its
weight of the ceiling onto weight-bearing piers
roofs, vaults and buttresses were relatively
or columns at a much steeper angle than was
primitive in comparison with later styles. Inte-
previously possible with the Romanesque
riors were heavy with stone, had dim lighting
‘rounded’ arches, permitted architects to raise
and - compared with later Gothic styles - sim-
vaults much higher and thus create the im-
ple unadorned lines.
pression of ‘reaching towards heaven’. It also led to the adoption of numerous other features.
Gothic art style is characterized by the use of
Instead of massively thick walls, small windows
pointed arches, thinner walls, ribbed vaults,
and dim interiors, the new Gothic buildings
flying buttresses, huge stained glass windows
had thin walls, often supported by flying but-
and elaborate tracery. Think of it as a sort of
tresses, and huge stained glass windows. Slowy, but steadily, the ‘Standardisation’ of architecture and its features, demanded the tools of representation to get more reliable. Before the start of the age of printing, there were a lot of trial-and-error, and not so reliable records. Nevertheless, they are vital in understanding not just the evolution of History of architecture, but the kinds of tools used as well. The need to create features, and draw it to a scale. Recreating something from the intangible leftovers of those travellers and historians, was slowly moving out. Creation and reproduction of the ‘Orders’ by the Romans to scale, is a perfect example. It established not just the scale, but created a distinguished indentity to them and their place as well.
Architecture in the age of Printing
“this will kill that... book will kill the Church”. - Victor Hugo But it didn’t
Architecture in the Age of Printing In the description of Hagia Sophia, Historians
in images. The graphic documentation of mon-
mention two modes of Architectural percep-
uments is only one stage, albeit an essential
tion. Those who saw and those who heard
one. Imitation was considered a creative art.
about it. The failure of the mediation didn’t deter him to describe in his words infinitely.
A new availability of trustworthy, portable, and
He believes the only alternative is to go see
inexpensive printed images of architecture
it. Middle ages’ builders were great travellers.
greatly facilitated the imitative task of Renais-
Travel was mandatory for training in build-
sance architects. We can ask ourselves what
ing trade. Without any prints, its their mobility
architecture would have been if the print tech-
explains transmission of ideas, image or tech-
nology had not become available, just at the
nical skills. Artistic ideas migrated. True illus-
exact moment when that technology became
trated model books existed, designed to be
indispensable to the diffusion of the new ar-
diffused and reproduced.
chitectural theory of humanism. This feedback phenomenon is inherent to any complex
The mechanical reproduction of images was to
socio-technological shift. Reciprocally, we
have important and long-lasting consequences
can ask ourselves what the practice of archi-
for the transmission of scientific knowledge,
tectural imitation could have been in an age
and even more for technical subjects and for
when images could neither be reproduced nor
the visual arts. Architecture was no exception.
transmitted with any precision. In initial phase
Imitation was at the very heart of Rennaisannce
Renaissance artists and architects made use
Architectural theory. Creative art was inherently
of woodcuts for reproducing images of antique
standardised. Renaissance architectural design is based on the imitation, with varying degrees of creative license, of a certain number of ancient models. In order to imitate the visible form of an architectural model, one must have seen it. And in order to see a building, from antiquity until the diffusion of the woodcut, there was but one way: one had to see that building in person. Buildings could not travel, so people had to. For many architects, the Pantheon and the Colosseum were not places in Rome. They were places in Books. Images started substituting for direct experience. Systematic visual documentation of great works could be done, with gaining trust
objects that were not originally designed to
ument. Imitation - one for ignorant, other for the
be reproduced. This incongruity of format was
initiated. He disseminated standardised and
quickly corrected; starting in the early six-
commodified the architectural orders. A new
teenth century, architectural treatises began to
architecture was taking shape and was dif-
diffuse a new, media-savvy architectural theory
fused everywhere. It also allows to distinguish.
that was consciously developed in response to
The skillful may cut, paste or modify according
the new means of communication. The Renais-
to his needs, without violating Vitruvian norms.
sance theory of the five architectural orders (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite) is the keystone of this process. Serlio, Architect of mediocore talent, could now compose, without having to specialise, without even ever having seen an ancient mon-
Conclusion Creation has always been the object of numerous attempts to reduce the many to one. The recent theories seem no more decisive than earlier ones. When John Ruskin denounced in Renaissance architecture the inhumanity of a style that made “plagiarists of its architects, slaves of its workmen,” he was pointing out one of the roots of modernity. Even if built by manual labor, a standardized architecture also standardized the movements and actions of the artisan worker and prefigured the assembly line. All Photographs made in the Film camera time are to be good pictures. Likewise, all good work is free-hand work: in the nineteenth century, the reaction against a machines and its environment. Thus we tend sometimes to forget that Renaissance architecture was created without any machines—except one, which was at least in part responsible for the spread of those that came after. The Renaissance standardization of architectural images was
primarily concerned with the perception and conception of a visual language. In the nineteenth century, machines standardized material production. Many believed a standardized architecture was, in the first place, ugly, for it was remote from the natural habits of man; but worse yet, it contradicted the will of God. The notion of concinnitas—“the absolute and fundamental rule in Nature”—implies among other things that architectural components independent at one level of the design process should respond, or correspond, to each other at a higher and more abstract level of composition. The architect pursues this correspondence through a careful selection of numbers and proportional relationships and arrangements which is more complex, the elements in direct visual relationships must have coordinating numbers, structures, and appearances.
> Brawne M, (2003). ‘Looking at pictures’. In: e.g. Tolkien, J.R.R. (ed), Architectural Thought: the design process and the expectant eye. 1st ed. Great Britain: Architectural Press. pp.155-158. > Edwards B, (2008). ‘Chapter 10 Drawing and photography with Susan Fahy’. In: e.g. Tolkien, J.R.R. (ed), Understanding Architecture Through
References
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