Final Essays

Question 1

Basilica

Answer 1

• basilica at pompeii, 70 CE: no apse or exedra, rectangular, very straightforward design. used as a prototype for buildings use for admin. purposes
• constantines basilica, Rome, 306 CE (later, old. st. peter’s): inspiration from Trajan’s forum design, it would be where all the Roman’s are, constantine’s didn’t have big exedra’s but did have the apse, it set a standard for christian churches. constantine’s was very plain, with timber trussed roof, arcades, and spoila.
• forum of trajan, Rome, 110 CE: had varying entires, and used it to hold audiences

Question 2

building entries

Answer 2

• st. peter’s, 326 CE, Rome: filtering system (you enter into an atrium area where the unbaptized hang out, and if they’re baptized they get to go in even further)…sequential entry
• basilica Ulpia, Rome, 110 CE: you enter and you’re in, there’s nothing else to it
• does it have a bent axis? which direction is the entry on?

Question 3

funerary complexes/monuments

Answer 3

• Emperor Shi Huangdi’s funery complex near Chang’an, 210 BCE: had thousands of terra-cotta soldiers, pyramid for his tomb, which was the first an largest in China
• newgrange, ireland, 3000 BCE: marked, monoliths, revetments, under a mound, cosmic

Question 4

influence of greek architecture

Answer 4

• starts with etruscans (6th century, Etruria): they had columns in the front of their temples, have cella’s
• colosseum, Rome, 70 CE: orders of columns, but used differently than the Greeks
• Augustus’ building projects, such as the Altar of Peace (Rome, 9 BCE): borrowing from the prize of the parthenon

Question 5

religious ideals expressed in architecture

Answer 5

• dome of the rock, jerusalem, 690 CE: ancient biblical site, central structure, based on a natural object that was a sacred site. ideas of heaven are expressed, dome is a symbol of heaven
• pantheon, rome, 125 CE: ideal of hadrian that all gods could be celebrated in one building, one central structure
• Great Shrine, Ise, 792 CE: wood is unfinished, materials are humble and straightforward, expresses simplicity and nature, which are ideals of the religion
• Great Pyramids of Giza, 2500 BCE: built to be closer to heaven, huge, central structure

Question 6

water resources and management

Answer 6

• Pont du Gard, Gaul, 100 CE: use of concrete and arches to create water management systems…gets water to the Romans
• Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley, 2500 BCE: baths were a large part, drains…sophisticated water management system
• Water in Pompeii: wells throughout the city, carefully managed system of water management, drains, hypocaust systems

Question 7

Architecture as Propaganda

Answer 7

• Temple at Karnak, 1400 BCE: pylon walls show what the pharaoh had done, as did the obelisks. multiple pharaohs added on
• Work of an individual to promote an agenda or religion
• Arch of Constantine, Rome, 315 CE: arches were used to show how great an emperor is and who he’s conquered and what he’s done…Constantine literally took off the faces of his predecessors and put on his own face
• Augustus: used his building projects to show how great he was and promote an era of fertility and peace, as with the Altar of Peace, Rome, 9 BCE…took a city of brick and turned it to a city of marble