Spanish Renaissance

The Spanish design period was happening at a time where there were Christian Spain and Moorish influences on architecture and interior design.


The Alhambra was the last palace completed before the final explosion of the Moors in 1607.
The Alhambra, like most Spanish architecture, had a simple and plain exterior. But the interior was elaborate with different features like gardens, reflective pools, the Court of Lions and the Court of Pools.

This design period also was known for their castles! These castles were built and lived in by the noble Christian families. The style of these castles depended on the region of Spain 

The largest cathedral of the 15th century was also based in this time period. It was the Cathedral of Seville.

Here are current applications of Spanish Renaissance Design....












I reviewed Sammy's Blog. From her blog I learned that the Spanish renaissance was the "revival of the Greek's and Roman's designs", and also, that the castles were the important barrier between the rich and the poor.

I also reviewed Melanie's Blog. From her blog, I learned about the two phases of this design period. She did a really good job of discussing and reviewing the Plateresco and Desornamentado phases.

The Americas

There was little knowledge/contact with the Americas and its inhabitants. Asia had the first contact with the Americas via the Bering Strait (A land bridge connecting Alaska and Asia). "Pre-Columbian" civilizations were just any/ all indigenous groups that were already living in the Americas before the European explorers came to the Americas.

There were a lot of really important architectural buildings from this time period. One of them was the Teotihuacan in Mexico. Teotihuacan was the "most imposing ancient building in North America". It was a ritual center/ agricultural center/ trade and marketplace. It was one of the largest cities in the world. Teotihuacan consisted of two pyramids; Pyramid of the Sun (the largest pyramid in the Americas) and the Pyramid of the Moon.  Both these pyramids had a specific building elements; the talud, which was the sloped base and physically and visually supported the raised panels, and the tablero, which were the raised panels.

Also, they had these apartment-like complexes, which were also known as "palaces". These buildings reflected the "horizontality of the landscape" and were focused around a central courtyard. 

Below are  some current applications of this design period...

For the Americas period I reviewed Rose's blog. From her blog, I learned that there was a huge gap between the social classes. The elite would live in lavish homes that were highly ornamented, but the commoners would live in tiny houses made of sticks and mud.

I also reviewed Sam's blog. I think she did a really good job of quickly summarizing all of the different civilizations that we learned about in this design period. I learned that majority of these civilizations had the temple in the center of the community which I think so the importance of religion in these cultures.