Early Christian

Early Christianity began with the death of Jesus, and Christianity was frowned upon and Christians were prosecuted. Constantine legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan and this completely altered this time period. New facilities were needed for a large population of people to gather for worship. The architecture from this time period was centrally planned, had clerestory windows, and the main goal was to glorify God.

 

St. Peter's Cathedral is the chief monument of Christianity and stood 700 feet tall.
(pictured below)

The next two pictures are current applications of the Early Christian time period... 

I looked at Hannah's blog and it was beautifully done. Her blog is filled with pictures and organization and knowledge. You can really tell that she put in the extra effort in her blog, everything is well thought-out and thoroughly explained.

I looked at a few different blogs but not everyone has posted about Early Christianity yet. So I will reflect on other's blogs in later chapters.

Classical Civilization: Rome

Learning about Rome was really interesting for me because I have always been interested in Rome. I find the architecture from Rome to be the some of the most beautiful buildings and I really enjoyed learning about two buildings especially.

First, the Coliseum which was built for gladiator fights, and cultural events. The most amazing thing about the Coliseum is that it was made from stone and concrete and it seats 50,000 people. That is so amazing that with their limited resources and materials that they were able to construct a building this large and detailed, and it has lasted for so many years. Its amazing, to me, that its possible for man to construct this building.

Second, the Pantheon which is a rounded temple with domed ceiling. The Pantheon is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome of the world. Again, it is absolutely amazing to me that people from this time period were able to construct this dome with concrete and it is still standing today and they didn't have the technology that we have available today.

The next two pictures are current applications of this time period...

I looked at Emily P's blog and I loved how she discussed the slanted roofs, compluvium (opening in the roof). She gave a modern application of this system which I think is really clever. Especially with the growth of "green design" in today's design world; I think a system like this would be beneficial to reintroduce into design with slight modifications (like, no opening in the main roof of the home).

I also looked at Flor's blog and I really like that she included the main colors that Roman's used for their walls. Red, Black, and White all dramatic and contrasting colors that beautifully decorate the interiors of these homes.

Classical Civilization: Greece

Greek civilization was the beginning of western ideas and culture, there was a lot of competition between communities, and trading becomes more and more popular.

The most important building in Greek history is the Parthenon. The Parthenon was an ancient temple that was dedicated to the Greek goddess, Athena. The one thing that I learned about the Parthenon were the different types of columns on the Parthenon and other Ancient Greek buildings.

The three classical orders of architecture that we learned about were Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

Doric is the oldest of the three. It is the simplest style with no base or crown molding. Has a "masculine form". Ionic is the second style and more decorative/detailed than Doric. This style has more of a feminine form and has a base to the column. Corinthian is the most complex of the
three and are very decorative. These columns have bases, leafs, and talented designs.

The domestic homes weren't as impressive as the public buildings. These homes were centered around a courtyard, and had rooms branching off of it. The homes were made from mud bricks and had decorative touches like brightly painted walls, and mosaic tiled floors, and coffered ceilings.

The Grecians used a lot of decorative ornamentation throughout the interiors of the buildings and homes. The flooring/walls/ceilings had motifs that were detailed and added to the beauty of all the architecture from this period.

 

 

The next to pictures are current applications used today....

 



I looked at Dana's blog for this chapter and I was thoroughly impressed with the organization of her blog. It looks amazing! I love how she compared the Parthenon to the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C.

I also looked at Emily N's blog and I liked her blog a lot . And I really loved the examples she gave for current applications, especially because she used an ancient motif (the Greek key) it was unique and original and I like it because we forget about the motifs and focus on more of the architectural features (like columns).

Ancient Civilization

We start to see the beginning of larger towns and cities appear in Egypt, where shelters/homes were secured and civilizations weren't mobile and following a food source around. The hot climate, minimal rainfall, and intense sunlight in Egypt really benefitted us when looking for clues about the lives that they lived.
When thinking about the history of interior design, I never thought to learn about ancient civilizations like Egypt. I was very wrong though, because as I am learning more an more about ancient Egypt. Interior design actually began with different influences from this time period.

Egypt had limited materials to use when building and creating homes, monuments, temples, and pyramids. The materials they had were mud, bricks, stones, and timber (which they had imported from Lebanon). The amazing thing is what the Egyptians were able to create with these supplies.

The ornamentation in the buildings are what makes these legendary and inspirational interiors. The walls and the floors were made from mud plaster or bricks, but the Egyptians added color, pattern, and fresco (paintings on the wet plaster) to make the interiors intricate and unique. The paintings on the walls and floors weren't the 


These two pictures are examples of the intricate designs of the interiors of Egyptian palace...

This picture is an example of the paintings on the interior walls...

 

The next two photos are current applications of ancient civilization design...

I looked at Ali's blog for Ancient Egypt Civilizations. I really really love how she laid out her blog, and I think she did a great job of summarizing what was learned in class. One thing on her blog that really caught my attention is when she mentioned that all the  art, "designs", and interiors from this time period are highly ornamented and incredibly detailed and that is something that isn't common in design today.

II also looked at Ariana's blog and I loved the layout of her blog as well, and in her blog she pointed out that the Egyptians incorporated natural elements into their designs which is a really well made point. It is more than the materials, its the actual design, the motifs, the curvature of the furniture, and even the painting and murals on the walls, ceiling, and floor.