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Chapter Fifteen: Architecture
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
• Environment
• Load-Bearing Construction
• Post-and-Lintel
• Arches and Vaults and Domes
• Cast-Iron Construction
• Frame Construction
• Steel-and-Reinforced-Concrete Construction
Works in Progress
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater
The Critical Process
Thinking about Architecture: Moshe Safdie’s Habitat and Taos Pueblo
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
This Chapter Will:
• discuss the significance of topography to architectural forms
• identify and illustrate the history of architectural methods and technologies
KEY TERMS
topography dome platform wood frame / balloon
technology voussoir column I-beam
ziggurats barrel vault entablature reinforced concrete
kiva keystone springing cast-iron
sipapu groined vault order cantilever
shell system pointed arch stylobate steel
skeleton-and-skin flying buttress shaft International Style
tensile strength entasis capital suburb
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MyArtsLab RESOURCES
Closer Look: The Classical Orders
Primary Source Document: Louis Sullivan (1856–1924) - Artists on Art
LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS
1. Environment and Technology
Introduce this chapter by asking students to identify the different types of architecture
(religious, memorial, residential, commercial, etc.) used by humankind throughout
history. Describe the oldest surviving memorial architecture with the Egyptian Pyramids
Compare and contrast the Greek Parthenon, the Roman Pantheon, and the Gothic
Cathedral. Discuss the differences in appearance, function, and location, and how these
characteristics reflect their respective societies.
2. Early Building Technology
Remind students that early building technology was predicated on the availability of
materials. Sun-dried brick, timber, straw, and other perishable materials were used to
create shelters and other ancient architecture, yet only the structures made with more
durable materials, such as stone, have survived the centuries. The most basic and durable
architecture emphasized symmetry, order, logic, and rationality, values intrinsic to all
areas of art and life in Classical Greece. Have students find on campus, or in their
community, the architectural components of the post-and-lintel method of construction,
including the Greek orders.
Pont du Gard (fig. 462), an aqueduct and bridge built using arches, is the architectural
achievement of Roman engineering. To overcome the limitations of the Greek post-and-
lintel method of construction, the Romans perfected the arch method of construction and
invented a new architectural material—concrete. The arch could span a broad space and
expand in both directions to form a barrel vault, or in 360 degrees to form a dome (see
3. Building in the Middle Ages
Survey art and architecture in Western Europe from the 12th to the 15th centuries to
focus on church building, where sculpture and painting were integrated with architecture
to create a multimedia environment for communal and personal devotion. Discuss the
building techniques of the period, using examples from the chapter. Emphasize the scale
of cathedrals such as Amiens (fig. 470) and Notre Dame (fig. 472). In order to achieve
through them. The element of light not only served a practical purpose but a symbolic
one, since light symbolized God. The stained glass at Chartres Cathedral (see The Rose
Window, fig. 189) was made by assembling small bits of colored glass within a lead
frame. Chartres is unique because most of its stained glass survived both World Wars.
4. Modern Architecture
With the invention of the elevator in the late 19th century, buildings could be extended
vertically. With the invention of new materials such as cast iron, steel, and steel
487-489), Le Corbusier’s “machines for living” (see figs. 485 & 486), and Ludwig Miës
van der Rohe’s “less is more” approach (see figs. 490 & 491). Point out the architectural
contributions made by each architect.
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Stress to students that as the International Style and Miës van der Rohe’s dictum “less is
more” came to represent impersonality and conformity, architects such as Le Corbusier
and Eero Saarinen attempted to humanize architecture with such expressive works as
5. Green Architecture
Since man started creating permanent structures, architecture has conformed to the
environment and technology of the time and place it was created. For a time, during the
mid-20th century, it can be said that architecture deviated from this as new technologies
allowed for architects to consider their buildings as art forms that existed for its own
sake. They followed the dictum “form over function”. With the beginning of
Postmodernism in architecture (the first discipline to use the term), there was a return to,
at least, the idea that architecture should serve, first and foremost the people that use it.
Now, with dwindling natural resources, architects are again returning to the idea that
architecture should strive to fit within its natural setting and use technologies appropriate
6. Community Life
Environmental design has tremendous impact on our daily lives. Encourage students to
contemplate how they encounter environmental designs on a regular basis, whether it is
in the campus community or the community itself. Point out how the challenge of
incorporating the natural world into an urban context has been resolved by urban
designers and architects. Focus attention on Frederick Law Olmsted’s achievements in
for recreation and to make sure that there were scenic areas available to all residents. To
accomplish this, he preserved the floodplain and the riverbanks as well as two open areas
of upland. Olmsted paid particular attention to the inner roads of the community, making
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them as scenic as possible. He designed streets that followed the curve of the land and
eased the grade of the slopes. Finally, he avoided all uses of right angle intersections,
creating more public space. He also decided that the area between public streets and
houses was private land with a public function: it was the transitional area between public
and private.
7. The Rebuilding of the World Trade Center Site
The site at Ground Zero in New York City, where terrorists brought down the World
Trade Center, is a massive complex. Unlike the building of a commercial skyscraper in
CRITICAL THINKING: More Opportunities to Think about Art
1. Works in Progress: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater
The Works in Progress section of this chapter discusses Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Fallingwater (figs. 487-489), an excellent example of modern architecture and Lloyd’s
2. Works in Progress: Mierle Ukeles’s Fresh Kills Landfill Project
Mierle Laderman Ukeles became the New York City sanitation department’s unpaid
511). The collaborative project was designed to remediate, reshape, transform, and
recapture the landfill as healed public space after it closed in 2001. Since 1948, Staten
Islanders had watched in outrage as the Fresh Kills Landfill, the so-called “temporary
solution” to New York City’s waste disposal problem, grew to a monstrosity as high as
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3. Thinking about Architecture: Consider how we can clearly see in architecture that
“the more things change, the more they stay the same”. Much has changed in the some
11,000 years that mankind has made permanent structures—technology, aesthetics,
population densities, architectural needs—but architecture still serves a basic human need
for shelter. Also, many of the forms that are now used in architecture have been for a
very long time. Look at the examples of the Taos Pueblo and Moshe Safdie’s Habitat, in
Montreal. Despite much distance and more time between the construction of these two
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
1. Enhance Your Environment
In essay form, have students propose how they could enhance their living environment.
2. A Meeting of the Minds
Have students create a dialogue between two major figures associated with architecture
such as Miës van der Rohe and Charles Moore, or Mierle Ukeles and Leonardo da Vinci.
3. Modern vs. Postmodern
Assign students to visit the closest city and compile a list of buildings located in its center
(or downtown). Students will then categorize each building as modern or postmodern
4. Campus Architect
Have students write a case study about one problem facing their campus community.
Then have them create a design that would alleviate the problem. For example, students
HANDS-ON PROJECTS
1. The Wright House
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Ask students to imagine that money is no object. Have them design a floor plan for their
2. Fresh Kills Commission
Have students propose their own resolution for the redesign of the Fresh Kills Landfill
with attention to the social production of public art and community spirit.
Other Suggested Websites:
The Egyptian Pyramids and their construction is illustrated and explained at
exceptionally deep site, offering computer graphics, and construction information.
Miës van der Rohe’s greatest buildings online can be viewed at
Suggested Videos and DVDs:
A World of Art: Works in Progress, Mierele Ukeles (30 minutes)
This Old Pyramid, 1992 (60 minutes)
Roman City, 2000
Modern Marvels: Gothic Cathedrals, 1998
Skyscraper: The Vertical Masterpiece
