The similarities and differences between the design, construction and environmental performance of a typical Mesopotamian ‘courtyard’ and a Roman ‘peristyle’ house
The idea of courtyard goes back to Neolithic Times. It was conceived for such needs as providing protection from natural forces : weather, wild life or human invasions. Later on, it was transformed in functional architecture that can be characterized by its design, structure and environment uses. Apart from its climatic functions, the cultural aspect has the same importance.
Vittirio Gregotti is describing the courtyard as an architectural act par excellence saying :”The enclosure not only establishes a specific relationship with a specific place but is the principle by
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The main purpose of the Roman Perystile was of a garden or a beautiful arranged place, where people were able to have walks or spend time outside the house on their own property. The columns were built with two aims, the first one was for supporting the roof, and the second one to create a beautiful architectural space, filled with specific roman details. Contrarily, for the Mesopotamians, this place were designed only for technical and functional purposes that were supposed to bring sun light and fresh air into the house, or to keep the temperature cool.
Mesopotamians had the tendency to build their courtyards hidden from the front door view. In order to protect their house from street dust, they were placing them behind the corner of the passage. First view from the entrance of an Roman house was the garden, that invited guests to spend time there.
Climate had a big impact on architecture, therefore as a response to the hot-humid temperatures, Mesopotamian courtyards were designed to control the circulation and cooling. Cool air was channeled by night, by noon rising hot air was used in order to create cooling convention currents, and by afternoon sun position permitted to created shadows, thus to create more cool currents. This helps to maintain a normal temperature in summer. The organization was appropriate to that specific climate as it contributed to creating of a pleasant microclimate by cooling and humidifying the internal
Their architectural innovations included arches, columns, ramps, and the pyramid-shaped ziggurat.” Prior to this point, structures
The Similarities and Differences Between the Design, Construction and Environmental Performance of a Typical Mesopotamian ‘Courtyard’ House and a Roman ‘Peristyle’ House.
In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.
Many architectural and urban forms and elements that we witness today are largely influenced by how buildings were design and laid in Rome. Not only in terms of its external design that brought upon important messages but the design of interiors and the significance of spatial arrangement of spaces exist within them has created the sense of physical experience in the buildings as well. Rome’s urban development and the rise of architectural movement began during the time of Augustus
Ancient Egypt, which lasted as a powerful empire from 3150 to 30 BC, left a huge legacy on the world of construction and architecture. Although their architecture revolved around veneration of the dead, it served as inspiration to many Greek buildings and as a key source for Hadrian’s Canopus design. Through his travels to Alexandria, Egypt, Hadrian was inspired for the overall design of the estate by attempting to recreate an Alexandrian garden with sacred landscapes, as seen through the Villa’s structures conforming to the terrain. Unfortunately, in the 16th century AD, these example of an Alexandrian garden, created through the use of statuary and fountains were removed from Hadrian’s villa and re-used in order to create a Renaissance garden based upon “Roman” ideals of gardening. The large lake in the center of the Canopus is representative of a branch of the Nile River that connects Alexandria to the Egyptian city of Canopus on the Nile Delta, for which this section of his villa was named after. The city of Canopus was long revered for its great nocturnal celebrations for which Hadrian wanted to recreate through
In this essay, I will compare and contrast two sacred spaces; Ise Jingu of Japan and the Great Stupa in India. First I will describe the sacred spaces and their artistic features, values and importance. Afterwards, will come the analysis comparing the two in architectural design and decisions, rather than the difference of religious belief or purpose.
This is proof of the Sumerian architectural abilities. The architecture in Mesopotamia are considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities, but there was some complexity in the architectural design during this Protoliterate period (c. 3400-c. 2900 BC). This is shown in the design of many religious buildings. Typical temples of the Protoliterate period--both the platform type and the type built at ground level--are, however, much more elaborate both in planning and ornament. The interior was decorated with cones sunk into the wall, covered in bronze. Most cities were simple in structure, but the ziggurat was one of the world's first complex architectural structures.
To transfer over to the Neolithic period, we see a new kind of housing come about which were sun-baked mud brick on stone. These shelters had
One of the more inspiring and brilliantly conceived and constructed dome structures in the world is the Pantheon of Rome. This example imposes a magnificent strength of ingenuity and dominance over their surrounding landscape, and the Pantheon deserves to be researched and admired for its architecturally innovative and bold design of its time. The building was accommodated with serious technical impediments that required a thorough and scrutinizing attention to detail in order to overcome. It is because of the prevailed obstacles by the various designers, architects and builders of this building that captures the consideration of those interested in the development of building technology and progress throughout the
Romans became more and more concerned with constructing interior space rather than filling it with structural supports. As a consequence, the inside of Roman buildings were as extraordinary as their exteriors.
Arts and Architecture filled the land of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Mainly using sun dried materials, they built cities. Buildings and structures were constructed near water sources for farming and other purposes. Both civilizations also created great pyramids to honor their fallen kings.
The architecture “norm” for aristocratic homes was in the Shinden-zurkuri style, “which was clearly based on the principle that the individual parts of the building should be merged as much as possible into the garden” (Yoshida, p.12). The main building, named the Shinden, represented the area reserved for the master himself, and always opened up to the south side of the garden. There were corridors, or tai-no-ya, connecting the Shinden to the rest of the buildings in the complex. There corridors created an enclosure which is where a lake would be placed and where the stroll garden was erected.
The ancient Romans created and borrowed fundamental types of concepts that made up buildings. The ideas that the Romans borrowed were basic ideas such as the column. A column is a vertical shaped pillar with the chief design concern of supporting a building. Most columns consist of three parts, the base, the shaft, and the capital. The shaft is usually cylindrical in shape. The Greeks had three basic types of columns, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. All three types have narrow fillets on them. These were small vertical slits that ran the length of the column. The Romans modified the column and added two types, Truscan and Composile. The columns became widely used in homes and temples in Greece and later in Rome ("Architecture").
Through the archeological discoveries, we can infer some details into the lives of the people who originated in the cities of Mesopotamia. The root word of Mesopotamia refers to ‘between rivers’, this infers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 1. Because the environment influenced people to settle, we can see a change in their political, social, and economic structure as they begin to form a complex society. This is the period where we see a complex engineering system as people started to develop canals and other technologies for a more efficient agricultural development. An early culture to settle in the lowlands of Mesopotamia were the Hassuna culture, their civilization were characterized by “small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms” (Feuerbach, 2015). Another culture to settle in this area were the Samarran culture; even
Ancient Egyptian architecture had a number of well known generic building types (pyramids, mortuary temples and so on). Select one building and discuss is background and architectural characteristics, relating it where necessary to other examples.