Architecture

the art of design in building. It is the term given to that quality of thought, of arrangement, and of design in a building which distinguishes it from ordinary construction. Architecture is both a science and an art: a science in that it has to deal with materials of various kinds, and to utilise them in the best way, taking into consideration their durability, hardne , tenacity, endurance, and other qualities, all of which are defined by the natural laws of science. Further, it requires a knowledge of mathematics, of mechanics, and of the laws relating to heating and ventilation, etc. Architecture is also an art in that it calls for the exercise of imagination, of judgment, and of taste in the design and construction of buildings of various kinds, which must. not only be conveniently arranged for several purposes, bat should show a sense of order, regularity, symmetry or balance, of fitne , good proportion, study of ma and outline, a sense of stability and durability beyond the mere scientific requirements, a character or style suggesting the destination of the building, and in short all those characteristics which constitute a sense of beauty of form, whether the building be of the simplest kind or of a monumental character. Architecture is regarded as a creative art in opposition to painting and sculpture, which are imitative arts. This is only partially true, for whilst its elements are more purely original than those of the other arts, in its second phase it is toa certain extent imitative of its original types. Thus the first ordinary requirements of mankind having been met by constructions of the simplest. kind, such as mud huts built with crude or unburnt bricks, or wigwams constructed with branches of trees consolidated and protected by mud coverings, the features of these created forins—created because they do not exist in nature—bhave been afterwards copied as an element of decoration in a more lasting and a more durable material. Thus the early temples and tombs of Egypt suggest by their form and in their decoration the crude brick huts of the earliest erections. The temples of the Grecks “and the.tombs of the. Lyrians betray throughout the wooden prototypes of an earlier civilisation. In both these cases it is not difficult to trace the origin of their forms and ) Architecture. decoration; the task, however, becomes more complicated when, in addition to the simpler forms first created as above stated, we have to deal with the influence of other pre-existing styles, an influence exerted by constant migrations of races, bringing with them in some cases a new and a foreign method of building, and in others a recollection, more or le vague perhaps, of forms unknown in their new settlements. The styles of architecture therefore, as they are now known, have been formed by a gradual growth of clements, sometimes based on simple created forms, sometimes copies more or le varied of preceding styles. There are some styles, such as the Egyptian and the A yrian, which are purely original, uninfluenced by one another or by any preceding styles. There are others, like the Persian, the Greek, and the Roman, which have been developed according to requirements, race, anc religion, and which contain in their earlier and more primitive forms the decorative and sometimes the constructive elements of the Egyptian and the A yrian; the Greek again borrowing from the Persian, and the Roman from the Greek. This system of copying, or of attempting to copy, has been the chief characteristic of the first or archaic period of every style, and it exists more or le down to the present day, with this important and wide distinction, however, that since the reviva? of letters and the publication of illustrations of ancient buildings a new element has crept in, and the traditional style of a country has been pa ed over in favour of one of exotic growth, which, for the moment, at all events, has enlisted the symwithies of the learned, and has become a fashion, to e set aside again and again in favour of some still more modern discovery. Thus, in the fifteenth century in Italy there took place a revival in favour of the ancient architecture of the Roman Empire, with such modifications and developments as became requisite to meet the new demands of civilisation. A century later the influence of those who were known as the Italian masters (for hereafter the style was known by the name of the man, and not of the country or period) spread to other European countries, and in Englund is found in the works of Inigo Jones, of Sir Christopher Wren and of his followers, and still later by Sir Robert Chambers. Again, in the 19th century there were three distinct modern revivals: (A) the Greek, owing its origin first to the works of the Dilettanti Society and to their publications of the temples of the Greeks, and secondly to the revelation to the artistic world caused by the bringing over of the Elgin marbles; (B) the Gothic revival, owing its origin partially to a religious movement in England, and partially to an archxological and historical interest in favour of ancient English architecture; and (Cc) a semi-Cla ic revival known popularly as “Queen Anne,” in which there was a return to the decorative elements of Cla ic art, based, however, on a free interpretation of their usage,.and.no longer bound by the principles of Italian architecture. ‘The influences of race and of religion, which to a certain extent may be taken together, have always 197 ARCHITECTURE.—1I. 1 SAXON. 2 NORMAN. 98. EARLY ENGLISH. 4. DECORATED. 5, PERPENDICULAR. 6. ELIZABETH AN. 7, DORIC. 8 IONIC. 9 TUSCAN. 10. CORINTHIAN. 11. COMPOSITE. ww 198 199 been In principal nature, With styles, extent have accord the however, paramount of of for method this growth, If the construction primitive traditionally was tree mud Owing, hills, of river posal prior how stone walls more temples halls wide by of increase adoption interfere square was construction and either capitals, Egyptian, to A yrian another lands and disposition, and therefore the dispute been of is to Architecture. ( 181 leading factors in the type of building created. the Egyptian and Greek styles, for instance, the buildings have been those of a religious whether in the forms of temples or tombs. the A yrian, the Persian, and the Roman palaces, or buildings akin to them, by the and number of those, the remains of which been traced, would seem to have been more in with the requirements of the people. In creation and development of the earlier styles, there is another element which has been in deciding the nature of their forms and their construction, and this element is the nature the material obtainable in the country itself. The great problem of all ages has been to seek the simplest, most economical, and most durable of covering over space. On the solution of problem may be said to depend the origin, and development of all architectural styles. we may judge by the representations carved on earliest rock tombs of Egypt, the method of adopted by the Egyptians in their state (and in humble dwellings it is still carried on down to the present day) to roof over their houses or huts with palm trunks, covering them with a layer of earth or to keep out the intense heat of a tropical sun. however, to the proximity of two ranges of the Arabian and Libyan ranges, to the banks the Nile, and the facility of transport which that afforded, the Egyptian builder had at his disgood stone of various qualities; and already to from 3,000 to 4,000 years B.c. he had learnt to quarry, work, and transport large ma es of which took the place, firstly of the crude brick hitherto employed, and secondly afforded a lasting and more durable covering to their than palm-tree trunks could give. If the or chambers he desired to cover over were too to allow of single slabs of stone covering them, adopting rows of piers or columns carrying beams stone he could obtain additional support and the space covered over toany extent. The of a circular or polygonal column would le with the space occupied than the pier, and in this way columnar architecture first created. The technical term given to this is trabeated, from trabes, a beam, the styles in which are columns carrying beams, of stone or wood, on their upper mouldings or are known as the trabeated styles. The the Persian, and the Greek styles belong this cla . When, however, we come to the style, we find ourselves in presence of combination created in the flat alluvial of Me so pot am i a; on the banks of the Tigris of the Euphrates there was no stone at its or even timber of sufficient size strength. The A yrian builder was obliged to cover over his hall and gateways by use of the arch or vault. It is still a matter of as to whether the large halls could have covered in this way; as, however, no traces columns or piers have been found, or, what more important, of the foundations nece ary carry such features, there is absolutely no ) alternative [ARCH] A yrian vicinity present vaulted five (Nimroud) were CONSTRUCTION great of were knew way. uated, the and types, borrowed reproduced form, great of thermw the amphitheatres. ated or basilica Const an tine, of ployed the Byzantium to which being covering columns have was tru ed however, ing of his the Church masterpiece style developed. onwards and but shoe developed in known as of century, East, and ing which Spain, Architecture, NOREEN but the vault. The principle of the arch was known long before the erection of the palaces; vaults in stone are found in the of the Pyramids, and there cxistsdown to the day, behind the Rame eum at Thebes, the granaries of Rameses I1., built some four to centuries before the carliest A yrian palace yet excavated. The drains of this palace properly constructed with vou oirs [ARCH, ],and in the palace at Khors a bad gateways have been found, spanned by arches regular construction, showing that their builders not only acquainted with the principles, but how to build them in a thoroughly scientific To this system of conetsuction the term arc from arcus, a bow, is given, and the A yrian, Etruscan, the principal buildings of the Roman the Saracenic styles, only to quote the earlier all are arcuated styles. The Roman architect the trabeated style from the Greeks, and it in his own way, as a construction a) in the temples; as a decorative form, in the amphitheatres. He adopted the arcuated style the Etruscans and developed it in the great or baths, and (for the constructive part) vaulting of the pa ages and openings of the In the earlier basilicas the trabestyle was always employed, the central halls. nave being covered with timber roofs. In the commenced by Maxentius and finished by the arcuated style is adopted, the type: building produced being that which was emf or the great central hall, the tepidarium o1 Roman thermee or baths. Ca ell's Encyclopedia of General Information Vol. 1