West Asiatic Architecture

Sketching for the prehistoric architecture was WAY easier than sketching for the west Asiatic architecture. Why? Well, it’s obvious. During the prehistoric architecture, it was all basic. Rocks on rocks, lean to shelters, huts – everything was made out of pure purpose for shelter and with no intention of making those shelters ‘beautiful’. What started out as drawing slabs of rocks piled up on top of each other for prehistoric architecture became drawing structures for the west Asiatic architecture that was more complicated, detailed, en Grande and some even, to me, was over the top. Literally. LARGELY, over the top.

I think by that time, the people had become civilised. This was reflected in the way their structures were built and the difference between the prehistoric architecture and the west Asiatic architecture became vast. Before, everything was assembled using natural ‘raw’ materials and even though during the Babylonian-Persian era, they used most natural materials as well, since they were plentiful, during the Assyrian era, they started to appreciate materials which looked beautiful and appealing to the eye such as the Persian tiles and the coloured limestone, which they incorporated into their designs. This, to me, was one of the movements of ‘evolution’ of the architecture back then. Instead of using materials that were dreary and common, they used materials that looked more appealing for their structures such as Susa and Persepolis. They also acknowledged the resources that were plentiful to them such as crude( in which they made sun dried bricks, which were also covered in alabaster by the Assyrians), bitumen (used as ‘cement’), stone, colored limestone, rood timbers and Persian tiles.

Another difference we can see from the prehistoric-west Asiatic architecture is the sizes of the structures. From the Babylonian period, we already start seeing the sizes of the towers, structures and they intend to build like the ziggurats, palaces and empires. What we know, is that they built their extravagant structures as a form of contribution to their kings and Gods.

Architecture to them did not only mean basic shelter needs anymore, but also became a form of display of their knowledge and skills in craft and arts.

R.I.Pretend

Philosophy: What you see is what you get.

Concept: Skin and bone

Design Concept: No opaque walls, glass to allow transparency.

Working concept: Honest, Open, Transparent, Direct.

Philosophy : Dare to differ.

Concept: Animated building.

Design concept: Use of lines and curves to create flow of movement. Lively and fun. Unsymmetrical.

Working concept: Lively, expresses movement/mood, uncontemporary.

Philosophy: Architecture is also about considering the surrounding environment.

Concept: to blend into the environment with use of elements that relate to an area.

Design concept: Roofs are made to look like shells from a distance.

Working concept: adaptive. relative.

Updated Personal & Class Logos.

Class Logo.

Personal Logo.

those three architects

ZAHA HADID.

My favourites from her works are the bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck, Austria, the contemporary arts center in cincinnati, ohio

& the MAXXI National Museum of Arts located in Flaminio, Italy.

"In modern times, people used to live in cookie-cut

ter houses, drive the same cars and wear similar clothes. But people these days want to have their own personality and uniqueness. The same goes for buildings and houses" -Zaha Hadid

To me, her work portrays the 21st century architecture to the fullest extent. I like the way she interprets modernization in her designs and how she defeats the prototype of men and architecture. Her designs are always something new and different.

I also admire the fact that she

branches her designs into fashion as well. In 2009, she collaborated with Lacoste to create a high end, high fashion pair of boots. Her logo "Zaha Hadid for Lacoste" is displayed on

the sole of the shoe.

To be perfectly honest, being new to architecture, there are only a few architects that i know of. At this stage, I am only able

to recognize architectural structures and not of the architects behind them.

My favourite structure of all

time would have to be the Eiffel tower. Designed by Engineer, Gustave Eiffel. Despite the Eiffel's very criticized beginning, it turned

out to be one of the most visited towers visited today.According to Gustave, the whole design of the Eiffel tower depended mainly on its primary concern, wind resistance.

The metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes while the entire structure, including non-metal components, is approximately 10,000 tonnes."

Danish Architect, Jorn Utzon is the architect of another one of the world's most well known structures, the Sydney Opera house located in Australia. Hosting performances every night, it is also one of the world's busiest. When Jorn Utzon created this, he wanted a very expressionist design. The shape of the roof represents shells.The shells are covered in a material so that from a distance, it looks white. I think he made the roof look like shells because with the music and performances coming from the operahouse, it catches the concept of beautiful sounds coming from empty seashells.

-

Reaction paper1 - prehistoric architecture

From what i understood from the presentations made this week and from what i can remember, prehistoric architecture were basically attempts made by the "early humans" in building structures to defend/protect themselves from natural factors. These natural factors include the weather, predators and even from their human enemies.

The desire to protect themselves from these natural factors resulted in basic constructions such as:

-HUTS

These we're made by hunters as temporary shelters during the Paleolithic period. Wooden posts helped erect these huts while stones pinned down the base of the walls to the ground. These huts always had an oval la

yout.

-BEEHIVE HUTS

these huts we're made during the bronze age. This structure was also used as shelters. The stones were piled in a downward manner, so rainwater

could not seep through and reach the interior.

-TENTS

these tents, also known as "teepees" were made of long wooden sticks/timber which acted as a frame which held a material (animal skin) which acted as the exterior. Rocks pinned down the animal skin to the ground

.

-LEAN TO

These was an arrangement of lumber which was supported on one side by wooden posts which inclined one side of the roof.

Early architecture was not only influenced by the natural factors, but was also influenced by religion. During the neolithic age, also known as the New Stone age, the neolithic people built temples and burial grounds for the purpose of religion.

The structures that were built during

that time were:

-TOMBS

There we're different types of tombs that we're created. Ther

e was the stand alone menhirs, these was just a single slab of st

one implanted to the ground, also known as monoliths. Single slabs of rock were called monoliths, whereas trilliotons (trilliths) were three slabs of stone. Where two of the stones would be upright and one slab of stone would be piled on top lying horizontally. Dolmen were three slabs of stone implanted into the ground while one large rock would sit on top of the three.

There we're also circular arrangements of menhirs which

we're also known as cromlechs.

-TUMULI

These were burial grounds, protected by a mound of soil or stone.

other structures included igloos, hogans and trullos.

It is unsure of how the neolithic people mounted the rocks during the creation of the menhirs, but it is suggested that they used a wooden wheel to help support the weight of the rocks.

I think that prehistoric architecture is important for all of us aspiring architects because we need to understand where the origin of architecture was and how it came about. We need to know the basics of what forms of shelter we can provide for people and we can aslo use these basic structures and "evolve" them into a modern creation. Back then, everything was built not because people wanted to indulge in the luxury of their homes but because of the basic means of survival. Unlike today, where the trend is that, almost all new structures are built to provide enjoyment and comfort to the people.

--