Architecture for a New Nation: Classicism - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Architecture for a New Nation: ClassicismSlide2

Why does it seem that every entrance to a building on the Mary Washington campus has a classical portico and at the campus center there is a bell tower taller than anything else with arches, moldings, and pilasters?

Why did colonial churches adapt this style? (We'll leave for another class why many churches would later abandon this style.)Slide3

Why did Thomas Jefferson emphasize classical building references for his University?

So perhaps the short answer for why the buildings of the University of Mary Washington has classical forms is because the University of Virginia has classical forms. This is referential architecture.Slide4

Why were Roman and Greek forms compelling to northern Europeans who controlled access to power and authority?

Which of the following played a role in achieving the new status for Roman architecture?

Surviving Roman (and Greek) buildings were monumental. Buildings were more durable (emphasized stone over wood) Renaissance builders saw physical connection to advanced thinking.

Italian trade was expansive, exporting both rare and exotic goods, and ideas.

Architectural discovery followed path of cultural transfer in art, medicine, critical thinking.

How did this surge in interest in ancient world serve political systems?

The history of the past was controllable.

Using ancient models represented a move to orthodoxy from a diversity of value systems.

* Remember. The discourse on the value of the mechanical arts of the ancient world occurs in Europe, not in the immigrant communities in North and South America.Slide5

THE ANCIENT PAST OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Between the 17th and the 19th century there existed a fondness for building in the Classical orders---those styles whose relationships and details were taken from Greece and Rome.

These architectural forms were known through surviving buildings, surviving copies of a treatise by a Roman architect, and the writings of Renaissance writers such as Andrea Palladio, a 16th century architect who had published a four volume work on classical architecture.

When do classical forms begin to be used in America?Slide6

What were the forms?

The architecture of Greece and Rome supported their roofs through the combination of two elements, beams and columns.

A beam that spans the space between two walls, columns, or piers is called an architrave. Above the beam is usually a small bit of wall--called the frieze, which in Greek and Roman times was often decorated and

caping

the wall is either a low wall, called a parapet, a projecting cap--called a

cornice

, or if the rafters overhang the wall the space is called --the

eaves

. This portion of the building between the topmost element of a column and the roof is called the

entablature

.

The posts that support the roof can be a square pier or a round

column

.

Columns have three distinct parts, the

base

,

shaft

, and the

capital

.

Columns themselves may in turn rest on

pedestals

, or a

plinth

. Slide7

How the parts fit togetherSlide8

The Classical styles of Greece and Rome then are varieties of columns and entablature--These styles are called “the Classical orders.”

Renaissance architects recognized that the parts of the classical orders were proportional to one another so that a given order could be designed consistently at any size. All the proportions of each classical order were determined from the diameter of the column shaft. Each classical order had its own proportional measurements

The images included in this page are from William Ware's,

The American Vignola

first printed in 1902Slide9

The five classical orders

Greek DoricGreek Ionic

CorinthianTuscan (simplified Roman Doric)Roman DoricRoman IonicComposite (a 16th

century modification of Corinthian)

Temple of the Winds (a cost effective substitute)Slide10

Greek Doric principally copied from the Grecian, Italian and Sicilian temples

The Doric order have features in the frieze and in the bed mold called

triglyphs and Mutules which are derived from the ends of beams and rafters in wooden construction with large beams. Below the triglyphs and a fillet, called the Regula are six triangular or circular wedges called guttae.

Guttae

appear to be the remnants of wooden pins.

2. The Greek Doric column has no base, but stands on three large steps. Doric columns are fluted and have twenty channels without vertical filets between. The shaft does not have an astragal, but a

sinkage

in its place with necking above. Slide11

Greek Doric

no baseSlide12

Greek Ionic principally copied from the Grecian temples of Asia Minor

The Ionic style is most recognizable for the scrolls that form the middle element in the capital of the column.

2. The Greek Ionic columns are more slender than Doric, being between 7-10 diameters in height. The base is an Attic base but the upper torus is often larger than the lower torus and there is no plinth. The shaft is fluted with filets between the channels. 3. The cushion between the abacus and the echinus is very wide in comparison to the Roman scroll and its lower outline curves down, but do not cover the egg and darts motif. Slide13

Greek Ionic

Cushion droops

Attic base

plinthSlide14

Roman Doric

Roman Doric is easiest to separate from Greek by its base, consisting of a plinth and torus. If the entablature have triglyphs, metopes, and guttae, but the columns have a base, then it is Roman Doric.

Two versions of Roman Doric occur, mutulary and denticulated. They are distinguished by either having dentils in the fascia above the triglyphs or mutules, each centered and exactly equal to the width of the triglyphs below.Slide15

Roman DoricSlide16

Tuscan a Roman order of simplified Doric

Characterized by extreme simplicity.

Columns are not fluted, capitals are unadorned. Look for simple forms with the astragal forming the only molding on the shaft. Slide17

Roman Ionic.

The most prominent feature are the scrolls in the capital.

Greek scrolls have a droop in their center while Roman scrolls are straight with egg and darts. The sides of the capital show the scrolls as balusters or bolsters. Slide18

Corinthian

An elaborated form with brackets [modillions] in the cornice

Tall bell shaped capital, a series of small brackets called modillions that support the cornice in addition to the dentils and a general richness of detail which is enhanced by the use of the acanthus leaf in both capitals and modillions.

3 ranks of

acanthus leaves

Small voluteSlide19

Composite Order

A Renaissance combination of the large volutes of Ionic order and the reduction from 3 ranks to 2 of the acanthus leaves and bell shape of the Corinthian column.

2 ranks of achanthus leaves

Large volutes

Blocks in place of modillionsSlide20

What did the Romans invent?

Superimposition

The archSlide21

Coliseum, also known as the

Flavian

Amphitheatre, Rome AD 80Slide22

Tower of the Winds

James Stuart and Nicholas

Revett

measured ancient ruins in Athens, Greece from 1751 to 1754. They published their findings in The Antiquities of Athens in 1762.Slide23

Tower of the Winds

Asher Benjamin first published theTower of the Winds capital in his third edition, published in April 1816. [Plate 22, No. 5].

VA Governor’s Mansion, 1813