Architecture of the Near East

Near East Architecture: Mesopotamian

Made up of mud brick -
Has tomb inside -
Protection from heat -
Mesopotamian Domestic Dwelling
Construction System Arctuated
Materials Reeds, rushes
Timber is imported
Copper, tin, lead, gold, silver imported
Only material readily available was clay and soil
Bricks made of mud and copped straw, sundried or kiln-dried
Columns Due to lack of stone, no columns were used
Roof and ceiling Usually flat
Some domes
Wall Burnt brick for facing or for load bearing walls
White wash was common (colored only ziggurats)
Orientation Oriented with four corners towards cardinal points
Arranged around large and small courts
Architecture
Near East Architecture: Assyrian
Materials Stone and timber are available
Columns Due to scarcity of stone, no columns were used
Openings Entrance gateway with monster motifs
Ornamentation Colossal winged bulls guarding chief portals
Polychrome glazed bricks in blue, white, yellow, green bricks
Decorative continuous stone used in interiors
murals
Architecture
Temples Built with or without ziggurat
Ziggurat usually of seven stages
Palaces Palaces of Nebudchadnezzar
Palace of Sargon
Building Types
Near-East Architecture: Persian
Materials Stone and timber are available
Due to scarcity, stone was used mostly for fire temples and palace platforms, door and
window surround and ornate sculptures
Columns Persians introduced the use of columns
Columns were slender and graceful
Rooms could be large when necessary, with square instead of rectangular proportions
Roof and
ceiling
Flat timber roofs rather than vaults
Architecture
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Wall Double mud-brick walls for stability
Orientation Corners toward cardinal points
Dwellings Entrance at end rather than on the long sides
Columned halls
Portico - colonnaded space forming an entrance or vestibule with a roof supported on one
side by columns
Palaces Palace platform at persepolis
Building Types
Architecture of Ancient Egypt
Egyptian Architecture
General 3200 BC to 1 AD
One of the most ancient
Unified under a centralized omnipotent authority of the pharaoh (king)
Pharaohs Gods dwelling on earth
Society Architects, engineers, theoligians, masons, sculptors, painters, laborers, peasants,
prisoners
Weaving, glass-making, pottery, metal, jewelry and furniture
Astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and music
Agriculture, writing and construction
Literature and history written on papyrus and stone tablets
Religion Cult of many gods representing nature: sun, moon, stars, animals
Gods needed a presence and dwelling on earth to be effective
Afterlife: mortuary
Background
Construction system Columnal and trabeated (seen in pyramids, tombs and temples)
Materials
Abundant in variety and quantity
For monuments and religious buildings
Soft stone: limestone, sandstone, alabaster
Hard stone: granite, quartite, basatt
Imported metals and timber mud bricks; for houses, palaces,
indigenous date palm logs, leaves, reeds, rushes

Stone
Columns
Square pillar 1.
Polygonal column 2.
Palm-type column 3.
Bud and bell column 4.
Foliated capital column 5.
Hathor-headed column 6.
Osiris pollars 7.
Types
Lotus, papyrus, palm 1.
Bundle of stems-shaft 2.
Capitals
Roof and ceiling Flat roofs sufficed for cover and exclude heat
Architecture
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Wall Batter wall - diminishing in width towards the top
For stability
Thickness: 9 to 24m at temples
Unbroken massive walls, uninterrupted space for hieroglyphics
Openings No windows
Skylights, roof slits, clerestories
Hieroglyphics: pictorial representation of religion, history and daily life
Quadruple spiral -
Continuous coil spiral -
Lotus and papyrus -
Rope and paterae ornament -
Grape ornament -
Rope and feather ornament -
Some Ornaments
Solar disc and vulture with spread wings
Scarab, symbol of resurrection
Papyrus, lotus and palm symbolizing fertility
Grapes symbolize eternity
Ornaments painted on walls
Mastabas First type of Egyptian tomb
From small and inconspicuous to huge and imposing
Rectangular flat-topped funerary mound, with battered side, lowering a
burial chamber below ground
One for ritual -
Second false door for spirits -
Two doors:
Funerary chapel 1.
Serdab - offering room with stelae(stone with name of deceased
inscribed)
2.
- contains statue of deceased and offering table
Parts:
Pyramid Complexes
Offering chapel (north or east side)
Mortuary chapel
Raised and enclosed causeway leading to west
Valley building for embalment and internment sites
Buildings:
Pyramids Massive funerary structure of stone or brick
Square plan and four sloping triangular sides meeting at the apex
Types:
1. Step 2. Bent 3. True
Building Types
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Examples:
World's first large-scale monument in stone -
Changed no less than five times -
Invented by Imhotep (first architect) -
Was the form of royal tomb for 3rd dynasty -
Step pyramid of Zoser, Saqqara
Bent Pyramid at Seneferu
Finest true pyramids -
Built 4th dynasty -
Equilateral sides face cardinal points -
Pyramids at Gizeh
Pyramids of Cleops (Khufu)
Pyramids of Chephren (Khafra or Khafre)
Pyramids of Mykerines (Menkaura)
Rock-cut or rock-
hewn tombs
Built along hillside
For nobility, not royalty
Pylons Monumental gateway to the temple consisting of slanting walls flanking the
entrance portal
Temples Where early kings can penetrate
Worship/in honor of pharaohs -
Developed from the offering chapels of mastabas -
Mortuary temples 1.
Worship/ in honor of pharaohs -
Entrance pylon a.
Large outer court open to the sky (hypaethral court) b.
Hypostyle hall c.
Sanctuary surrounded by passage d.
Chapels/ chambers used in connection with the temple
service
e.
Parts: -
Cult temples 2.
Types:
Example:
Example of rock-cut temple -
By Rameses II -
Entrance forecourt leads to imposing pylon 36m wide and 32m high -
Four rock-cut colossal statues of Rameses sitting over 20m high -
Great temple of Abu-simbel
Obelisks Upright stone square in plan, with an electrum-capped pyramidion on top
Usually come in pairs fronting temple entrances
Height of nine or ten times the diameter at the base
Four sides feature hieroglyphics
Dwellings Made of crude brick
One or two storey high
Flat or vaulted ceilings
Roof deck with parapet andloggia(gallery behind open arcade or
colonnade)
Columns, beams and doors, window made of timber
Central hall or living room with high ceiling and clerestory
Reception suite on north side 1.
Service quarters 2.
Private quarters 3.
Three parts:
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Peasant's houses Farmers, tomb builders and soldiers
Lived in cramped villages in the vicinity of the tomb area or the fields
Infront: walled-in courtyard where animals like goats and cattle were kept
Sundried brick or clay daubed reed shelter
one room, one door, no windows
family slept in one room together with the cattle
Worker's village
For workers who built different tombs for the nobles in Achet-Aten -
Whole village was surrounded by a wall -
Amama Worker's Village 1.
Nobleman's Villa 2.
Egyptian Domestic Houses (Pre-historic)
Fortresses Mostly found on west bound of Nile or on islands
Close communications with other fortresses
Example:
Headquarters and largest fortress -
Main wall: 4.8m thick and 11m high -
Projecting rectangular towers for reinforcement -
Fortress of Buhen
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