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ARCHITECTURE (Lat. architectura, from...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 371 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARCHITECTURE (See also:Lat. architectura, from the Gr. ap)(LTEKrwv, a See also:master-builder) , the See also:art of See also:building in such a way as to See also:accord with principles determined, not merely by the ends the edifice is intended to serve, but by high considerations of beauty and See also:harmony (see See also:FINE ARTS). It cannot be defined as the art of building simply, or even of building well. So far as See also:mere excellence of construction is concerned, see BUILDING and its allied articles. The end of building as such is convenience, use, irrespective of See also:appearance; and the employment of materials to this end is regulated by the See also:mechanical principles of the constructive art. The end of architecture as an art, on the other See also:hand, is so to arrange the See also:plan, masses and enrichments of a structure as to impart to it See also:interest, beauty, grandeur, unity, See also:power. Architecture thus necessitates the See also:possession by the builder of gifts of See also:imagination as well as of technical skill, and 370 in all See also:works of architecture properly so called these elements must exist, and be harmoniously combined. Like the other arts, architecture did not See also:spring into existence at an See also:early See also:period of See also:man's See also:history. The ideas of symmetry and proportion which are afterwards embodied in material structures could not be evolved until at least a moderate degree of See also:civilization had been attained, while the efforts of See also:primitive man in the construction of dwellings must have been at first determined solely by his See also:physical wants. Only after these had been provided for, and materials amassed on which his imagination might exercise itself, would he begin to plan and erect structures, possessing not only utility, but also grandeur and beauty. It may be well to enumerate briefly the elements which in See also:combination See also:form the architectural perfection of a building. These elements have been very variously determined by different authorities. See also:Vitruvius, the only See also:ancient writer on the art whose works have come down to us, See also:lays down three qualities as in-dispensable in a fine building: Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas, stabilty, utility, beauty.

From an architectural point of view the last is the See also:

principal, though not the See also:sole See also:element; and, accordingly, the theory of architecture is occupied for the most See also:part with aesthetic considerations, or the principles of beauty in designing. Of such principles or qualities the following appear to be the most important: See also:size, harmony, proportion, symmetry, See also:ornament and See also:colour. All other elements may be reduced under one or other of these heads. With regard to the first quality, it is clear that, as the feeling of power is a source of the keenest See also:pleasure, size, or vastness of proportion, will not only excite in the mind of man the feelings of See also:awe with which he regards the See also:sublime in nature, but will impress him with a deep sense of the See also:majesty of human power. It is, therefore, a See also:double source of pleasure. The feelings with which we regard the Pyramids of See also:Egypt, the See also:great See also:hall of columns at See also:Karnak, the See also:Pantheon, or the See also:Basilica of See also:Maxentius at See also:Rome, the Trilithon at See also:Baalbek, the See also:choir of See also:Beauvais See also:cathedral, or the Arc de 1'Etoile at See also:Paris, sufficiently attest the truth of this quality, size, which is even better appreciated when the buildings are contemplated simply as masses, without being disturbed by the See also:consideration of the details. Proportion itself depends essentially upon the employment of mathematical ratios in the dimensions of a building. It is a curious but significant fact that such proportions as those of an exact See also:cube, or of two cubes placed See also:side by side—dimensions increasing by one-See also:half (e.g., 20 ft. high, 30 wide and 45 See also:long)—or the ratios of the See also:base, perpendicular and hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle (e.g. 3, 4, 5, or their multiples)—please the See also:eye more than dimensions taken at See also:random. No defect is more glaring or more unpleasant than want of proportion. The See also:Gothic architects appear to have been guided in their designs by proportions based on the equilateral triangle. By harmony is meant the See also:general balancing of the several parts of the See also:design.

It is proportion applied to the mutual relations of the details. Thus, supported parts should have an adequate ratio to their supports, and the same should be the See also:

case with solids and voids. Due See also:attention to proportion and harmony gives the appearance of stability and repose which is indispensable to a really fine building. Symmetry is uniformity in plan, and, when not carried to excess, is undoubtedly effective. But a building too rigorously symmetrical is See also:apt to appear See also:cold and tasteless. Such symmetry of general plan, with diversity of detail, as is presented to us in leaves, animals, and other natural See also:objects, is probably the just See also:medium between the excesses of two opposing See also:schools. Next to general beauty or grandeur of form in a building comes architectural ornament. Ornament, of course, may be used to excess, and as a general See also:rule it should be confined to the decoration of constructive parts of the fabric; but, on the other hand, a See also:total See also:absence or a paucity of ornament betokens an unpleasing poverty. Ornaments may be divided into two classes—mouldings and the sculptured See also:representation of natural or fanciful objects. See also:Mouldings, no doubt, originated, first, in simply taking off the edge of anything that might be in the way,as the edge of a square See also:post, and then sinking the See also:chamfer in hollows of various forms; and thence were See also:developed the systems of mouldings we now find in all styles and periods. Each of these has its own See also:system; and so well are their characteristics understood, that from an examination of them a skilful architect will not only tell the period in which any building has been erected, but will even give an estimate of its probable size, as professors of See also:physiology will construct an See also:animal from the examination of a single See also:bone. Mouldings require to be carefully studied, for nothing offends an educated eye like a confusion of mouldings, such as See also:Roman forms in See also:Greek See also:work, or Early See also:English in that of the Tudor period.

The same remark applies to sculptured ornaments. They should be neither too numerous nor too few, and above all, they should be consistent. The carved ox skulls, for instance, which are appropriate in a See also:

temple of See also:Vesta or of See also:Fortune would be very incongruous on a See also:Christian See also:church. Colour must be regarded as a subsidiary element in architecture, and although it seems almost indispensable and has always been extensively employed in interiors, it is doubtful how far See also:external colouring is desirable. Some contend that only See also:local. colouring, i.e. the colour of the materials, should be admitted; but there seems no See also:reason why any colour should not be used, provided it be employed with discretion and kept subordinate to the form or outline. Origin of the Art.—The origin of the art of architecture is to be found in the endeavours of man to provide for his physical wants; in the earliest days the See also:cave, the hut and the See also:tent may have given shelter to those who devoted themselves to See also:hunting and fishing, to See also:agriculture and to a See also:pastoral and nomadic See also:life, and in many cases still afford the only shelter from the See also:weather. There can be no doubt, however, that See also:climate and the materials at hand affect the forms of the primitive buildings; thus, in the two earliest settlements of mankind, in See also:Chaldaea and Egypt, where See also:wood was scarce, the See also:heat in the See also:day-See also:time intense, and the only material which could be obtained was the alluvial See also:clay, brought down by the See also:rivers in both those countries, they shaped this into bricks, which, dried in the See also:sun, enabled them to build See also:rude huts, giving them the required shelter. These may have been circular or rectangular on plan, with the bricks laid in See also:horizontal courses, one projecting over the other, till the walls met at the See also:top. The next advance in Egypt was made by the employment of the trunks of the See also:palm See also:tree as a See also:lintel over the See also:doorway, to support the See also:wall above, and to See also:cover over the hut and carry the See also:flat roof of See also:earth which is found down to the See also:present day in all hot countries. See also:Evidence of this system of construction is found in some of the earliest See also:rock-cut tombs at Giza, where the actual dwelling of the deceased was reproduced in the See also:tomb, and from these reproductions we gather that the corners, or See also:quoins of the hut were protected by stems of the douva plant, See also:bound together in rolls by the leaves, which, in the form of See also:torus rolls, were also carried across the top of the wall. Down to the present day the huts of the fellahs are built in the same way, and, surmounted as they are by See also:pigeon-cots, See also:bear so strong a resemblance to the pylons and the walls of the temples as at all events to suggest, if not to prove, that in their origin these See also:stone erections were copies of unburnt See also:brick structures. From long exposure in the sun, these bricks acquire a hardness and compactness not much inferior to some of the softer qualities of stone, but they are unable to sustain much pressure; consequently it is necessary to make the walls thicker at the bottom than at the top, and it is this which results in the See also:batter or raking sides of all the unburnt brick walls.

The same raking sides are found in all their mastabas, or tombs, sometimes built in unburnt brick and sometimes in stone, in the latter case being See also:

simple reproductions of the former. In some of the early mastabas, built in brick, either to vary the monotony of the See also:mass and decorate the walls, or to ensure greater care in their construction, See also:vertical brick pilasters are provided, forming sunk panels. These form the principal decoration, as reproduced in stone, of an endless number of tombs, some of which are in the See also:British Museum. At the top of each See also:panel they carve a portion of See also:trunk necessary to support the walls of brick, and over the doorway a similar feature. In Chaldaea the same decorative features are found in the See also:stage towers which constituted their temples, and broad projecting buttresses, indented panels and other features, originally constructive, form the decorations of the See also:Assyrian palaces. There also, built in the same material, unburnt brick, the walls have a similar batter, though they were faced with burnt bricks. In later times in See also:Greece and See also:Asia See also:Minor, where wood was plentiful, the stone architecture suggests its See also:timber origin, and though unburnt brick was still employed for the mass of the walls, the remains in See also:Crete and the representations in See also:painting, &c., show that it was encased in timber framing, so that the raking walls were no longer a necessary element in their structure. The clearest proofs of See also:original timber construction are shown in the rock-cut tombs of See also:Lycia, where the ground See also:sill, vertical posts, See also:cross beams, purlins and roof joists are all See also:direct imitations of structures originally erected in wood. The numerous See also:relics of structures See also:left by primeval man have generally little or no architectural value; and the only interesting problem regarding them—the determination of their date and purpose and of the degree of civilization which they manifest—falls within the See also:province of See also:archaeology (see ARCHAEOLOGY; See also:BARROW; See also:LAKE-DWELLINGS; STONE MONUMENTS). Technical terms in architecture will be found separately explained under their own headings in this work, and in this See also:article a general acquaintance with them is assumed. A number of architectural subjects are also considered in detail in See also:separate articles; see, for instance, See also:CAPITAL; See also:COLUMN; DESIGN; See also:ORDER; and such headings as See also:ABBEY; See also:AQUEDUCT; See also:ARCH; BASILICA; See also:BATHS; See also:BRIDGES; See also:CATACOMB; See also:CRYPT; See also:DOME; See also:MOSQUE; See also:PALACE; See also:PYRAMID; TEMPLE; See also:THEATRE; &C., &C. Also such general articles on See also:national art as See also:CHINA: Art; EGYPT: Art and Archaeology; GREEK ART; ROMAN ART; &c., and the sections on architecture and buildings under the headings of countries and towns.

In the See also:

remainder of this article the general history of the See also:evolution of the art of architecture will be considered in various sections, associated with the nations and periods from which the leading historic styles are chronologically derived, in so far as the dominant influences on the art, and not the purely local characteristics of countries outside the See also:main current of its history, are concerned; but the opportunity is taken to treat with some See also:attempt at comprehensiveness the leading features of the architectural history of those countries and peoples which are intimately connected with the development of See also:modern architecture. These consecutive sections are as follows: See also:Egyptian Assyrian See also:Persian Greek See also:Parthian See also:Sassanian See also:Etruscan Roman See also:Byzantine Early Christian Early Christian Work in Central See also:Syria Coptic Church in Egypt Romanesque and Gothic in See also:Italy See also:France See also:Spain See also:England See also:Germany See also:Belgium and See also:Holland See also:Renaissance : Introduction Italy France Spain England Germany Belgium and Holland See also:Mahommedan Finally, a See also:section on what can only be collectively termed Modern architecture deals with the main lines of the later developments down to the present day in the architectural history of different countries. (R. P.

End of Article: ARCHITECTURE (Lat. architectura, from the Gr. ap)(LTEKrwv, a master-builder)

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