Contextual questions to keep in mind for architecture:
What is the function?
In which era or period was it built?
Who was the patron?
What type of plan?
What is the structure or engineering system?
What is the aesthetic? (ornamentation, style, vocabulary)
How is the building sited? (reason for orientation, cardinal pts, direction, relationship to other structures, etc.)
How did one enter the building?
Describe special features of the interior space.
How does one move through the building?
Complete the chart to use as a study guide for architecture in all content areas:
Content Area | Building |
Era/ Period/ |
Location |
Dates |
Function |
Patron |
Orientation |
Plan |
Structure type and |
Entry & Movement through building |
Special features/ |
1 | 8. |
Neolithic Europe |
Salsbury Plain, |
c. 2500–1600 B.C.E. |
Solar calendar/ |
- - -x - - |
Towards the East |
central |
Post & lintel trilithons |
|
Summer solstice |
2 | 12. |
Sumerian | Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq) |
c. 3500–3000 B.C.E. |
temple on top of solid structural base |
|
|
|
solid mound of mud brick. |
bent axis |
|
2 | 17. |
Old Kingdom |
Giza, Egypt |
c. 2550–2490 B.C.E. |
tomb |
Menkaure, Khafre, Khufu |
pyramids aligned with the cardinal points |
|
Cut limestone |
|
|
2 | 20. |
New |
Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt |
Temple: c. 1550 B.C.E. |
Temple |
18th and 19th Dynasties |
|
|
Hypostyle Hall. |
|
|
2 | 21. |
New Kingdom |
Near Luxor, Egypt. | 18th Dynasty. c.1473–1458 B.C.E. | Mortuary temple and Rock-cut tomb | Hatshepsut | Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite. | ||||
2 | 26. Athenian agora. Plan. |
Archaic through Hellenistic Greek. | 600 B.C.E.–150 C.E. | ||||||||
2 | 30. |
Persian. | Persepolis, Iran | c. 520–465 B.C.E. | Audience Hall | Darius and Xerxes | Hypostyle Hall Limestone. |
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2 | 35. |
Iktinos and |
Athens, Greece. |
c. 447–410 B.C.E. Classical Greece |
Temples |
|
|
|
Marble.
|
|
|
2 | 38. Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon. |
Hellenistic Greek. | Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). | c. 175 B.C.E. | altar | Marble (architecture and sculpture). | |||||
2 | 44. Colosseum |
Imperial Roman |
Rome, Italy |
70–80 C.E. |
Flavian Amphitheater |
Flavius |
Amphitheater |
|
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||
2 | 45.
|
Apollodorus of Damascus |
Rome, Italy. |
Forum and markets: 106–112 C.E.; column completed 113 C.E. |
Forum, markets, |
|
|
|
Brick and concrete (architecture); marble (column). |
|
|
2 | 46. |
Imperial Roman |
Rome, Italy. |
118–125 C.E. |
temple to all gods |
|
|
|
Concrete with stone facing. |
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3 | 48. |
Late Antique Europe |
Rome, Italy |
c. 200–400 C.E. |
tomb |
|
|
|
Catacomb Excavated tufa and fresco. |
|
|
3 | 49. |
Late Antique Europe |
Rome, Italy |
c. 422–432 C.E. |
Christian Church |
|
|
basilica |
Brick and stone, wooden roof. |
|
|
3 | 51. |
Early Byzantine Europe |
Ravenna, Italy. |
c. 526–547 C.E. |
Christian Church |
Justinian |
|
central plan |
Brick, marble, and stone veneer; mosaic. |
bent axis |
|
3 | 52.
|
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus |
Constantinople (Istanbul) |
532–537 C.E. |
Christian Church |
Justinian |
|
central plan combined with basilica |
Brick and ceramic elements with stone and mosaic veneer. |
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Don't stop here! Use Word or Google docs and add more rows. The complete chart, up to the 20th century, will be due in April.