history: greek architecture codes (part 1)

Greek Architecture Codes

Histarc 11st Term, SY 2016-17

Prof. Ronald John Dalmacio, RLA

Premise/ˈpreməs/ an assertion or proposition which

forms the basis for a work or theory.

Fasten your seatbelt.This is gonna be a long one (52 slides long!)

Greeks are obsessed with defining the world.

Basic “truths”.

Numbers?

Patterns

Compass

Straight edge

Today when you start learning mathematics – even when you’re two years old or three years old you always start with numbers…

But for Euclid and people in his time, it was the opposite…

They thought about Geometry as being the basis of everything. And they thought about shapes, points, lines, triangles, being the fundamental objects.

And they thought of numbers only as something that arise from the Geometry.- Zsuzsanna Dancso, Geometer (Mathematician)

PhilosophyMathematicsArchitecture

PhysicsAstronomy

Do the Greeks really know “philosophy”?

Do the Greeks really know all this “math”?

Euclid

Eucledian Space

Pythagoras

Archimedes

Archimedes Principle“Eureka”

Archimedes Screw

Zeno of Elea

Zeno’s Paradox: Achilles and the Tortoise

Zeno’s Paradox“How can an infinite process end?”

MathematicsPhysicsPhilosophy

Greek’s “numbers” still used today?

Greek’s “numbers” still used today?

Zeta Sigma

How did the Greeks define the world using Architecture?

Ball pen analogyClassical Modern Deconstruction

Ballpen of Zeus!

I was made by Zeus’ lightning bolt!

(Science from superstition)

Ball pen analogyClassical Modern Deconstruction

I’m made of Polymers!

Science can justify why I exist!

You cannot question the accuracy of Science, can you?

(Rationalism)

Ball pen analogyClassical Modern Deconstruction

Why do we use ball pen to write in the first place?

Why do we call it ball pen?

If I change the function of the ball pen, will a new ‘life’ form?

(Zaha Hadid proposes a similar question to the “calligraphy of a plan”)

Ball pen analogyClassical Modern Deconstruction

HISTARC 2HISTARC 1

“Exact science is not an exact

science”.-Nikola Tesla

Classical architecture defines the world (thru architecture) using symbols.

5-min break

Logocentrism

Logocentrismis a term coined by the German philosopher Ludwig Klages in the 1920s.

It refers to the tradition of Western science and philosophy that regards words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality.

Logocentrismis a term coined by the German philosopher Ludwig Klages in the 1920s.

It refers to the tradition of Western science and philosophy that regards words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality.

LANGUAGE

communication using a system of arbitrary vocal sounds, written symbols, signs, or gestures in conventional ways with conventional meanings

LANGUAGE

Erechtheion Temple

Built: 421-406 BCArchitect: Mnesicles [?]

Venerated to: Erichthonius of Athens

Erechtheion Temple

Built: 421-406 BCArchitect: Mnesicles [?]

Venerated to: Erichthonius of Athens

The Porch of the Caryatids

The Porch of the Caryatids- “six draped female figures (caryatids) as supporting columns”

- The female figures of the Erechtheion represented the punishment of the women of Karyæ, a town near Sparta in Laconia, who were condemned to slavery after betraying Athens by siding with Persia in the Greco-Persian Wars

Team Disney Building

Architect:Michael Graves(Post-modern)- More on Histarc2

Proportional Spatial Relationships in Greece and

Italy

SOURCE: https://londonsquares.net/design-issues/

Scans of people’s brains show a strong emotional response to visuals based on proper aesthetic

principles. 

SOURCE: “The Right Way to Use Trim in Old Houses” – Old House Journal Feb/Mar 2013, written by Brent Hull

L

L+xL =1.618

L+xL =1.618

x/4Scans of people’s brains show a strong emotional

response to visuals based on proper aesthetic principles. 

SOURCE: “The Right Way to Use Trim in Old Houses” – Old House Journal Feb/Mar 2013, written by Brent Hullx/4

“guidelines”

“hidden lines”

Golden Mean(golden ratio)

Golden ratioIn mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities.

Golden ratio >>>>> Golden rectangle

Golden rectangle

Three golden rectangles in an icosahedron

ORDERS

Doric orderSince at least Vitruvius it has been customary for writers to associate the Doric with masculine virtues.

- The Greek Doric column was fluted or smooth-surfaced;

- and had no base, dropping straight into the stylobate or platform on which the temple or other building stood.

PARTHENON

Fluted Smooth-surface

Fluting in architecture is the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.

No base

RatioThe height-to-thickness ratio is about 8:1.The shaft of a Doric Column is almost always fluted.

Basic Parts

Basic Parts

ANTEFIXAE

Ionic OrderSince Vitruvius a female character has been ascribed to the Ionic, in contrast to the masculine Doric.

- The Ionic column is always more slender than the Doric, therefore always has a base;

- Ionic columns are most often fluted.

The Ionic order originated in the mid-6th century BC in Ionia.

Basic Parts

Volute – the spiral forming the major element of the Ionic Capital.

Basic Parts

Volute – the spiral forming the major element of the Ionic Capital.

EYEThe decorativeCentral disc of An ionic voluteSometimesEnriched withA flower or Other motif.

OPEN YOUR CODES (photocopy)