Hello, I am Geoff Barnes and I am here with Kirralee Bishop to debate the factors contributing the design of Teotihuacano architecture. Was Teotihuacan designed for Aesthetics or Ritual?
The monumental architecture in the heart of Teotihuacan creates a unique sense of place. The scale of the pyramids, the far reaching stretch of the avenue of the dead, the symmetry of the walls, the rhythmic placement of the temples and highly decorated dwellings, filling the visitor’s peripheral vision, immersing them in the space, giving confirmation to one’s place in the world (Pallasmaa 2005, 11-13); a city of power and order.
Creating a central spine, The Avenue of the Dead is 40 metres wide and 5 kilometres long. Beginning at the pyramid of the feathered …show more content…
The architecture of Teotihuacan regulated the social order (Shah and Kesan 2007, 352), and carried an understanding of meaning through expression of form.
Well considered planning and organisation with respect to overall urban aesthetic and layout is evident in Teotihuacan. It has been largely acknowledged by scholars that planned cities adopt a systematic orthogonal layout, with a comprehensive masterplan. This is in contrast the unplanned “organic” city, which lacks any order or grid arrangement (Smith 2007, …show more content…
This social ordering of space is seen in the layout of Teotihuacan: Lower class Residential apartment compounds are in the background, less beautiful in appearance, so as not to interrupt the aesthetic rhythm of significant and symbolic structures within the mid view and foreground (Vitruvius, as quoted in Morgan 1914). This aspect indicates an architectural bias (Shah and Kesan 2007, 355), where buildings of importance, and homes of higher class residents are adorned with more decoration than lower class residential dwellings. Many upper-class residences, highly decorated with sculptures and paintings, were situated along the main avenue, with the the burial sites of these middle/upper class residents within temples situated along the same street (Headrick 1999,
The monumental architecture in the heart of Teotihuacan creates a unique sense of place. The scale of the pyramids, the far reaching stretch of the avenue of the dead, the symmetry of the walls, the rhythmic placement of the temples and highly decorated dwellings, filling the visitor’s peripheral vision, immersing them in the space, giving confirmation to one’s place in the world (Pallasmaa 2005, 11-13); a city of power and order.
Creating a central spine, The Avenue of the Dead is 40 metres wide and 5 kilometres long. Beginning at the pyramid of the feathered …show more content…
The architecture of Teotihuacan regulated the social order (Shah and Kesan 2007, 352), and carried an understanding of meaning through expression of form.
Well considered planning and organisation with respect to overall urban aesthetic and layout is evident in Teotihuacan. It has been largely acknowledged by scholars that planned cities adopt a systematic orthogonal layout, with a comprehensive masterplan. This is in contrast the unplanned “organic” city, which lacks any order or grid arrangement (Smith 2007, …show more content…
This social ordering of space is seen in the layout of Teotihuacan: Lower class Residential apartment compounds are in the background, less beautiful in appearance, so as not to interrupt the aesthetic rhythm of significant and symbolic structures within the mid view and foreground (Vitruvius, as quoted in Morgan 1914). This aspect indicates an architectural bias (Shah and Kesan 2007, 355), where buildings of importance, and homes of higher class residents are adorned with more decoration than lower class residential dwellings. Many upper-class residences, highly decorated with sculptures and paintings, were situated along the main avenue, with the the burial sites of these middle/upper class residents within temples situated along the same street (Headrick 1999,