Architecture - CLEP Humanities

The Italian architect Andrea Palladio was well known for his own buildings in his native Venice, but gained greater fame for the work of architectural theory he composed in 1570, The Four Books of Architecture. Drawing on Greek and Roman influences, Palladio called for symmetry, domes, columns, and grand spaces. Each of these elements would become hallmarks of neoclassical architecture during the eighteenth century.

Mannerism was mainly in the sixteenth century, and was not as strong in movement or emotion. Impressionism was a nineteenth century movement focusing on small brush strokes and an emphasis on openness and light in the overall composition. Gothic art is a Medieval art style, which came before the Renaissance. Pre-modern is not an art style. Baroque style is typically used to describe Versailles and Caravaggio.

Gehry, a modernist architect well known for flowing lines and unusual shapes, has built concert halls, museums, and government buildings around the world. Among his most notable works is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, constructed out of titanium and glass, in shapes that are meant to evoke the countryside of Bilbao's Basque region.

Fallingwater is generally considered Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, as the residence was constructed above and incorporated a waterfall. The residence, built in 1939, blended the interior and exterior of the building into Wright's perfect distillation of his "organic" philosophy of architecture. The property remained a residence for many years, but became a protected site in the mid-1960s.

Philip Johnson was a modernist architect who sought clean lines, used steel and glass construction, and valued function in his design. Inspired by the Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe, Johnson designed his own house in Connecticut as made almost entirely of glass. The rectangular abode is now a tourist site, along with Johnson's entire property, including other buildings and his massive art collection.

John Augustus Roebling, a German immigrant, was the leading designer of bridges throughout the mid-nineteenth century in America. His masterpiece, however, was the Brooklyn Bridge, which was the first steel-wire suspension bridge ever built. Unfortunately, Roebling died in 1870, just as it was beginning construction, and his son Washington Roebling had to take over construction.

La Sagrada Familia was planned as a massive church in Barcelona that would rival its Cathedral in size. After breaking ground in 1882, the church is still not totally finished. Importantly, its architect Antoni Gaudí was killed in a 1926 tram accident, and the work had to continue on under architects with different design aesthetics than its singular original designer.

All Mayan cities and temple structures revolved around the pyramid. Typically featuring steps to the top of the pyramid and terraces, the Mayas used the pyramid for temples, palaces, and most other important buildings. The use of the pyramid was highly influential for later Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Aztecs.

Hindu temple architecture follows guidelines which call for a circular inner sanctum with the rest of the structure emanating from the center room. As with most ancient Hindu artistic traditions, the basic structures and rules for Hindu temple architecture are found in the group of works known as the Shilpa Shastras.

In the enlightenment era of the eighteenth century, many artists and architects looked to classical Greece and Rome as models, spawning the architectural style known as "Neo-Classicism." Featuring white stone, columns, and extensive use of marble, this style is most famous as being used in many of America's government buildings.

Beginning in the twelfth century in Europe, Gothic architecture dominated the building of churches across the continent, with its massive facades, extreme buliding heights, and ornate stone work. This style was used both in new churches like Rouen Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral, and also in the rebuilding and renovation of structures, as with both Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame Cathedral. This was not the only church style, however, as the Greek churches developed their own massive church architectural style, exemplified by the Hagia Sofia in Constantinople (present day Istanbul).

The "Bauhaus," German for House of Construction, was a school of arts and architecture in the Weimar Period between the two World Wars. The school was so influential that it gave its name to an entire movement, focusing on modern design, efficiency, and a cohesive approach to art between architecture, design, and crafts.

"Beaux-Arts" takes its name from the national art school in France, but describes a separate movement among architects in the United States from roughly 1880 to 1920. The movement was defined by a sweeping neoclassicism that used Baroque motifs, featured a hierarchy of spaces (making grand entryways more important than living areas), added ornate elements like statues and vaultings, and usually employed flat roofs on buildings. The Beaux-Arts style was surpassed by Modernist architecture that valued clean lines and functionality over design details.

Art Deco was a thoroughly early-twentieth-century phenomenon in arts and architecture, as it blended machine-age construction with traditional craftwork aesthetics. The designs featured a great deal of metal with rich colors, bold geometric shapes, and distinct ornamentation. One of the most famous Art Deco buildings is the Chrysler Building in New York.

The Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan was the tallest building in the world for eleven months, spanning from its completion in May of 1930 to the completion of the Empire State Building. Apart from sheer size, the Chrysler building was also notable as a shining example of Art Deco design. The building's brick artifice, metal crown, and use of modern technological design all were exactly in line with Art Deco's chief features.

The Seagram Building is one of the most significant modern buildings, and, as a skyscraper in Manhattan, one of the most visible. The building was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as one of his first American commissions and was influential thanks to its modern, functional aesthetic. Van der Rohe desired to show the building's construction, but due to building codes had to create much of the "visible" construction.

One of the most important features of any mosque, a Muslim place of worship, is the space to broadcast the regular call to prayer. In the Middle Ages particularly, this was achieved through building a thin, tall tower at one corner of the mosque. This high tower was called a "minaret" and was often the tallest building in a medieval Islamic society.

Gothic architecture, particularly in the building of churches and cathedrals, featured a number of ornate features. One of the most peculiar was the use of gargoyles, small stone figures of grotesque characters that were placed on the sides of buildings. These figures would often be placed between sculptures of saints and kings, and were viewed as protective features. Some gargoyles also functioned as drainage pipes (through holes in their mouths).

An arch is able to remain in its appropriate position because of the way that pressure is placed throughout the entire arch. Pressure can only be appropriately distributed because of the placement of the keystone. The keystone is the central stone in an arch, which is shaped in order to push the weight down through every piece of stone.