Intro Arch Module 1: Greek Architecture

Acropolis

Giant hill standing in middle of Grecian city

Compression/Tension

Showing how compression and tension are seen across a beam span

The Pastas was an outdoor space that let light into the house and ventilation. The interior spaces (darker grey) were living areas. The Andron was a space for meeting with those outside of the family. Men and women were separated into their own spaces. Also note the shop.

The typical plan of a Greek House or "Oikos."

Entablature

#2 in this image - the area in between the columns and the triangular pediment

Ionic Column

8 1/3' tall with 1/2' diameter. Feminine column. Created problems with how to turn this column to align perfectly on a structure.

Acropolis Athens, Greece (Parthenon and Erectheion)

A painting depicting the approach to this place

Erectheion Plan

A plan of this structure as it exists today - although the fragment visible today is thought to be half of a larger intended design.

Caryatids

A porch of the Erechtheion holding these structures that are depicted at "work." Meant to show strength and servitude. All human shaped columns after this come from this structure.

The Golden Section

A proportioning system the Greeks used divisible into squares and yet more sections.

Agora

A public open space in Athens Greece used for assemblies and markets

The Parthenon

A structure on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

These stories came from mythology. They told the story of the queen marrying the king. Acknowledged all heroes (not just Athens). Centaurs beat the king and steal the queen (usually the opposite happens) - this was written after the conquest of the Persians. It was instruction to stay vigilant.

The story of the Parthenon can be read across its reliefs (carvings)

The Domus

The term for traditional Roman house

Pompeii

This city shows many Roman Domus houses that were well preserved due to volcano explosion.

Hippodamian Plan of Miletus

This gridded system and neighborhood plan. The division of the peninsula into gridded blocks and a central civic zone corresponds to the principles articulated by Hippodamus of Miletus. This form of planning would become common throughout the Mediterranean.

Colonnades

This trabeated system that makes up the peristyles on greek temples or stoas

Pediment

Triangular area about the columns at the front and back of the temple

The Parthenon

Watercolor elevation of this building showing its true original colors.

Tension

What are stone and break often poor at resisting?

This plan had 2 open courtyards, the Atrium, the Peristyle court. The Atrium was used to collect rainwater.

Describe The Domus Plan

Metope

Detailed Grecian drawing on the entablature of the Parthenon. This image is typical of the pictorial story-telling shown on classical temples. Such images were carved in stone and painted in vibrant colors. When the images are seen across a temple entablature, they depict a sequence of mythological events.

Span

Distance from one point of support to another

Greek Columns

Greek columns were always built in even numbers so that doorways were not blocked by a column to achieve perfectionism.

The Parthenon; showing the cella (in grey) and the peristyle or colonnades surrounding it.

Plan of this structure and its parts.

Perfectionism, perfect and magical geometries, informed by traditions developed over hundreds of years. Understood optical distortion and took pains to construct buildings that appeared to be without distortion to the observer.

What did Greeks value in their architecture?

Athena's victory over Poseidon

What does the erechtheion represent?

Athena

What goddess was the Parthenon dedicated to?

Doric columns. Ionic columns are typically reserved for feminine deities, but the "warrior goddess" deserved something more masculine. Athena is also the oldest, and doric columns are reserved for the oldest and most venerated.

What type of columns were used for the Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena?

At the top of a beam

Where is compression located on a beam?

At the bottom of the beam

Where is tension located on a beam?

Priests. Inside the cella usually was an image or statue of a god to whom the temple was dedicated. This space was not typically used for worship.

Who was allowed inside the cella of the Parthenon? And what was inside the cella?

It resists compression

Why was stone and brick masonry a good material used to create load-bearing structures?

Painted marble (earliest temples were wood)

Material temples were generally made of

Erectheion

An "un-greek" structure on the Acropolis making a clear counterpoint to the perfection of the Parthenon. It has no golden section rule.

Corinthian Column

Column associated with royalty (acanthus plant and leaves). Slender and tall. 8 1/3' tall.

The Acropolis in Athens demonstrating the relationship between the ideal viewing point in the gateway building and the arrangement of the temples on the plateau. Greeks wanted to see 2 sides of each building from one vantage point.

Geometry of ?

Visible on a Greek temple, slightly convex curvature of a temple base made to prevent the base from appearing concave to a casual observer. Such adjustments mean temples have very few "straight lines" in spite of their appearance.

Greek Optical corrections (Entasis)

Agora (marketplace outside) and stoas (long thin buildings lining the marketplace or agora with rows of columns in front and a series of small rooms behind the columns)

In Greece

The Sacred Way (Athens Greece)

In ancient Greece, was the road from Athens to Eleusis.

Parthenon

Largest and most famous temple in Acropolis Athens

Trabeated system

Structural systems consisting of vertical columns and horizontal beams

The Atrium is shown with the peristyle court beyond. The Roman house is much larger than the Greek house.

The Domus Plan

Stoa

The Long, thin buildings that surrounded an agora in a Greek City. They had rows of columns in front and a series of small rooms behind the columns.

The treasury (under Athena's care)

The back of the Parthenon

The Oikos Weekend House

The traditional "Greek House" well integrated into the order of gridded streets organized by neighborhoods and classes of people with civic spaces near the center

Doric Column

These are found on the Parthenon and are the oldest forms of columns. There is no base and a capital square top. Oldest and most venerable of the columnsl. 7 ft tall with particular diameter (1/2'). MASCULINE