Gothic Design

The gothic design period was a bridge between the Romanesque period and the Renaissance Period. During this period, religious expression was the heart of the design and churches were the center of city life. The Gothic world is centered in Paris.

Cathedrals were really the most important elements of this period. They were constructed to make the structures appear weightless. They had really tall walls with a lot of use of stain-glass windows, and rib vaults.
 (example of the rib vaults)  

These Cathedrals/Churches were modified from the original church plans. These cathedrals had longer isles, and an emphasis on the choir. They also had these shared chapel areas where travelers could come to worship.






Some of the most important cathedrals were....

1. St. Denis Cathedral (this cathedral was an attempt to recreate "Heaven".)
 

2. Notre Dame at Chartes

..... and Notre Dame at Paris

 

3. Wells Cathedral (in England)



 
 
 

 






























Some current applications of this design period are shown below...

 

   













I reviewed John's blog for the Gothic Period. From his blog, I learned about the gargoyles, which were an important feature from this design period. The gargoyles were more than just highly ornamented decoration, they were actually serving an important purpose. These gargoyles are actually a way for water to drain from the building.

I also reviewed Natalie's blog and from her blog I learned more about the black and white columns in the cathedral in Italy. The columns had polychrome decoration, meaning that the columns were alternating black and white stripes. The importance of the black and white colors are they are the symbolic colors of Siena, because they were the color of the horses that the founder of the city owned. 
 

Islamic Design

The first thing to know about Islamic Design is that it is based of the Islamic religion. The Islamic religion is the foundation for the design during this period.

The main purpose for the mosques were to be a place of worship and praying. Some of the features that these mosques had were perimeter walls, and covered halls of columns (hypostyle), and have a big courtyard.

The Great Mosque of Kairouan is located in North Africa and is the most ancient mosque.
This mosque really shows the horseshoe arch which was a big motif of this period.
 

Mosque of Sultan Ahmed (aka the "Blue Mosque") is located in Turkey and has one main dome and eight secondary domes. In this mosque there are over 20,000 handmade tiles, and the walls were painted to look like carpeting.
 

The Taj Mahal is obviously well known and is a stunning building with breath-taking architecture.
It was built by the emperor as a place of burial for his late wife. The whole building is made of brick with a marble veneer. The main dome is massive and stands over 10 stories tall.



Some current applications of Islamic design include the horseshow arch and the beautifully ornamented patterns.
  

I reviewed Melanie's blog and from her blog I learned about muqarnas. Muqarnas are Islamic honeycomb-like ornamentation and can be found in Alhambra (a large palace and fortress) in Spain.

I also reviewed Rachael's blog, and from her blog I learned more about the Taj Mahal. I learned that the Taj Mahal displayed intricate details indoors and outdoors. It also shows "the use of outdoors was also a great part of the overall design".

Romanesque Period

During the Romanesque Period,  Charles the Great (aka Emperor Charlemagne) was the crowded emperor. He encouraged the use of architecture and established hundreds and hundreds of schools and monasteries.

The churches during this time period shared similar characteristics. Some of these characteristics were that the churches had the Early Christian Basilica layout, had multiple different isles that accommodated to the much larger crowd. Also, it is during this time that a choir was added to the service to add additional ways for a bigger population of people to worship. The churches were made from stone, with rounded doorways, baluster windows, and wall painted with rich colors.

Some examples of some of the churches from this design period are;

The Fontenay Abbey...

     

The Pisa Baptistery...
       

And, The Cluny Abbey..
     


Some current applications of the Romanesque design period include these similar characteristics, like stone ornamentation, rounded doorways, and richly colored walls.

(This is a staircase inside a courthouse...)


(This is an Romanesque inspired kitchen...)



I reviewed Megan S's blog for the Romanesque period and from her blog I learned that the reason that it was so unique and great that emperor Charlemagne encouraged architecture and schools and churches was because prior to this time, there was little architecture built because it was "millennium of the apocalypse".  

I also reviewed Megan D's blog and from her blog I learned that this time period was a really strong period and the churches that were constructed were separated into three categories; Urban pilgrimage sites, rural monasteries, and small parish churches.

Pompeii

Pompeii was a city near ancient Rome that was completely buried and destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The remains of architecture and human culture were well-preserved beneath the ashes. 

 

Because the city of Pompeii was well-preserved, when it was discovered we were able to study and learn about the architecture of the existing homes that these people lived in before this horrible tragedy occurred.



The video below is a very vague and short video talking about "The Lost City of Pompeii" and I wanted to share it because the camera shows the actual city today after being uncovered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeB5N_bH7E8

I reviewed Lindsey's blog for Pompeii and it was really interesting to see the pictures that she used because they were picture she took when she visited Pompeii. From her blog, I learned that along with the architecture of the city and civilians in the city, that there were frescos that remained intact.

I also looked at Hannah's blog and I learned the particular layout of the Roman-styled homes that were completely buried under the ashes. And how these homes remained intact and preserved.

Below are current applications of design inspired by Pompeii...

Byzantine Period

The Byzantine Empire was the longest political entity in European history (324-1453).  This period was influenced by the Greeks and was associated with eastern culture.

One of the things that was most important about this design period was the use of pendentive construction.  Pendentive construction is a domed structure with a square base, instead of a circular one. The best example of this is the Hagia Sophia (church of holy wisdom).  This church was absolutely beautifully built and had a lot details with elaborate materials and ornamentations.

The pictures below are pictures of the Hagia Sophia, showing this pendentive construction...

 

The Byzantine architecture characteristics included a lot of arches and domes, which were built using the pendentive construction. The materials they used were brick and stone, but was predominantly bricks. The Byzantine architecture also used a lot of mosaic tile for flooring/ceilings/walls and art work. The mosaic tiling usually had a gold background and gave a luxurious appearance to the buildings and architecture.

In the picture you can see the use of these characteristics in the Byzantine architectures...


The Byzantine period was really important because it was very influential to other design periods. The Romanesque, Islamic, and Gothic design periods were all based off of the Byzantine Era.





In the pictures below, you will see current examples of the Byzantine design period...

(The West Virginia Capitol Building, which I used because it has a domed top but it has a square building under it which relates to this pendentive construction that was used during the Byzantine period, and also because the dome is gold and it looks luxurious and important which was also used in this design period.)






(This picture is a picture of a modern bathroom that used one wall of mosaic tile to create a focal point and adds an unique feature to the room. I used this picture because the Byzantine period had walls of artwork made from mosaic tile similar to this. )



One of the blogs that I reviewed for the Byzantine period was Katrina's. From her blog, I learned that the Early Christian Basilica church concepts changed into a more centralized space for worshiping. The other blog that I reviewed for this period was Kristina's. From her blog, I learned that they used alabaster (a texture made from gypsum) and that it was an important design texture of the eastern cultures and was used because it was so easy to work with.