Architecture Assignment-Synthesizing Essay

Synthesizing Essay

roughly five paragraphs: introduction, body, and conclusion
Synthesize at least 3 specific examples from the lectures and 1 specific example from the focal texts.

The first half of our course loosely followed the history of Western architecture through the study of “monuments”—religious, civic, and leisure spaces and buildings that challenged the status quo that architecture was simply a means of shelter. Our claim was that these “monuments” are evidence that architecture can represent something other than itself; that buildings can have philosophical, religious, and political significance. Using specific examples from the course (including architectural projects, representations, and/or texts), argue for or against this position. How is architecture different from mere “building” or “construction”? Consider the importance of history and theory relative to design practice.

You can choose from the following…

Lectures topics that were presented:

1. prehistory to near east: Sites of shelter, Dwelling, and Ritual.
2. Ancient Eygpt: Pyramids and Temples.
3. The Bronze Age Aegean: Maritime and Military.
4. Ancient Greece: Poleis and Propaganda.
5. Ancient Rome: Empire, Entertainment, and Excess.
6. Early Christianity and the Byzantine Empire.
7. The Rise of Islam
8. The Romanesque and Gothic.

Buildings that were presented in the lectures:

Çatalhöyük, Konya Plain, Southern Turkey, ca 7400-6000 BCE

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, ca 2900-1400 BCE

Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu, Ur, Mesopotamia (Iraq), ca 2100 BCE

Stepped Pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, ca 2650 BCE, Imhotep

Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid, Meidum, ca 2550 BCE

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Dei el Bahari, Egypt, ca 1480 BCE, Senmut

Temples at Abu Simbel, ca 1250 BCE

Complex of the Palace/Temple at Knossos, Crete, ca 1450 BCE

Lion Gate at Mycenae, 1600-1200 BCE

City of Delphi, Greece, major sites 7th century – 4th century BCE

Second Temple of Hera, Paestum, Southern Italy, ca 460-450 BCE

Parthenon, Athenian Acropolis, 447-432 BCE, Iktinos and Kallikrates

Erechtheion, Athenian Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 421-406 BCE

Tomb of Eurysaces, Porta Maggiore, Rome, ca 50-20 BCE

Maison Carée, Nîmes, France, ca 2 CE

Colosseum, Rome, ca 70-80 CE, Vespasian and Titus

Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy, ca 110-130 CE

Pantheon, Rome, ca 125 CE, Emperor Hadrian?

Baths of Caracalla, Rome, ca 212-217 CE, Caracalla

Old St. Peter’s, Vatican City, 326 CE

Santa Costanza, Rome, 338-350 CE

Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), 532-537, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus

Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, 785-1000, Christian Cathedral added 1523

Basilica of Saint Denis, Suburbs of Paris, 1137-1144, Abbot Suger

Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France, 1163-1345 CE