American architecture

Gothic cathedrals lasted from the twelfth century to the sixteenth century. They were first developed to bring happiness into people’s lives and especially the churches. The word Gothic first came from the Goths, who were “barbarians”, who held power in various places in Europe. The Goths lasted from the fifth to the eighth century, during the collapse of Rome and the start of the Holy Roman Empire. The Goths weren’t known for their architectural skills. Gothic cathedrals grew out of the…

also a tiny park to the building’s left. However, while the surrounding buildings are of similar masonry to the church, they are not in a gothic style. There is also a building to the right of the church that is coated in glass windows, a modern architecture feature that starkly contrasts the church’s traditional…

concept in the design of Gothic cathedrals and churches in the Middle Ages? How did the resulting design goals generate new structural technologies to support a Gothic cathedral, and how were they expressed in the building’s interior? Gothic architecture was born out of the increasing faith to the divine in the present life but also in preparing for the afterlife. A feeling that all human action was governed by a higher plan permeated the faith of the Gothic period. The middle ages was a dark…

The Baptistery of Battistero di San Giovanni is situated before Firenze's (Florence's) Cathedral or Duomo, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The building has a Romanesque octagonal structure with three sets of double bronze doors. Pisano was awarded with the first set of doors in 1330 and they were finnished in 1336. Initially the Pisano doors were situated on the east side of the baptistery but in 1452, the doors were moved to their present area on the south side. In 1401 the cloth guild…

allows for fantasy to cloud reality. Ghosts, haunted houses, darkness, and fiction are inherently Gothic. Books such as The House Next Door, by Anne Siddons, play with Gothic ideals especially in its depiction of architecture. In this novel, there are many references to the architecture and that although the structure in question is beautiful, it is also dark, fantastical, and ultimately…

The Dome of the Rock is a Byzantine design inspired building, completed in 691 CE that has stood for over 1300 years. The monument is the first piece of Islamic architecture funded by a Muslim ruler that was created as a work of art. It is an Islamic shrine located on a sacred stone called the Temple Mount, a large outcrop of bedrock in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been venerated as a holy site for over a thousand years and considered one of the most important religious sites in the world…

Intro: The history or Islamic ornamental design is a very rich and complex one. Islamic art, specifically ornamental art found on Islamic architecture, is symbolic of not only the aesthetic trends of Islamic culture but is reflective of the Quran and its poetic descriptions and symbolic stories. When specifically looking at buildings like the Alhambra, one can see that the Nasrid artists embellished the building in three specific ways: the carving of stylized foliage; the use of tiles to form…

1. Trace the stylistic development of the Romanesque church. As Romanesque art began to expand, the churches began to expand as well. Churches expanded throughout western Europe. The churches were beginning to be designed larger than the previous churches because they needed to accommodate the increase of monks and priests. These churches had dormitories designed in them for the monks to live in. Romanesque churches were designed with arched windows, barrel vaults and groin vaults, which were…

The Dome of the Rock is a 7th century building located in the walled Old City of Jerusalem in the center of the Temple Mount. It is the first domed shrine to be built and is a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. It is the oldest Islamic building to have survived intact in its original form. The building is not only sacred but is also recognised for its beauty. It is gorgeously decorated both inside and outside (Grabar, 2006). The realm of Islam had spread widely with the Islamic conquest of…

expression of structure, use of living materials, the sound it embodies and even the response of nearby beings in its community are just a few of the many personifying factors which helped me understand why I admire the building so much as a piece of architecture and perhaps as a being. From looking at each characteristic…