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Greek Architecture Research Paper

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Greek architecture focused on other forms of civic architecture such as theaters, council halls, public porticoes, and city planning. Greek architecture is distinguished by its structures and decorations. Their typical forms was not tombs nor did they have much interest in elaborate houses and palaces. In the case of the temples, the building appears to have been embedded as a sculptural entity within the landscape, most often the temples were placed on high grounds in order for its proportions and light effects to be viewed from all angles. In addition, their architecture reflected its makers in its human scale and in its program. Man became the measure of all things, including the divine, and this ideal unleashing enormous creative …show more content…

It was designed by architects Ictinus and Callicrates along with the collaboration with Greek sculptors, Phidias. The temple's centerpieces were the birth of Athena and her struggle with Poseidon. The Parthenon is a peripteral octastyle Doric temple with ionic architectural features. The design of the Parthenon resulted in almost paradoxical architectural effects, due to the building's unique proportions. The colonnade is dense and corporal, yet its columns soar in slenderness. The structure is unusually narrow, giving it an appearance of visual lightness. The temple has a slight parabolic upward curvature intended to shed rainwater and reinforce the building against …show more content…

On the porch there are six draped female figures, referred as caryatids, stand on a high parapet, lightly bearing an Ionic entablature. The caryatids served as supporting columns, the porch was built to conceal the beam needed to support the southwest corner. At the Erechtheum they assume the sublime Classical sculptural style. This south porch counter balances the much larger and far open and airy north porch. The entire temple sits on a slope, having one side higher than the other. The maidens are lifted above the main grade of the temple while the north porch sits at a lower point of the sloping hill. The North and West side of the temple sit about a whole level lower than then south and east sides of the temple. The detailing of the building is extremely refined and is carried to the maximum at the north porch, focusing on the columns that support the temple. However, the capitals are considered the most ornate and and exquisite ever

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