History of Exterior Construction 03 Ancient West Asian Architecture

West Asian Architecture, c.3500 ~ c.4th B.C. Oldest civilization

Mainly comprises the Two Rivers Valley, the Persian Plateau (Iran), and the Syria region

East meets West, but would be conquered many times

Created a structural system using earth (into bricks) as the basic raw material ( arches, non-stacked) and decorative methods (wall inlays) influenced later Islamic architecture.

One of the oldest civilizations in the world. Establishment of the earliest slave city-state (Uruk city-state on the east bank of the Euphrates, 50,000 people, documented).

The main buildings include palaces, mountain platforms (mountain cults), and temples.

Sumer - cuneiform, writing tool - reed stick

Hammurabi Unification of the two river basin, the establishment of a monarchical centralized state, the center of domination of the lower part of the two river basin. The capital city of Babylon.

The main architectural activities included palaces, temples, mountain platforms, and the construction of Babylonian cities.

The Code of Hammurabi - the earliest building code, the measurement of the site of a house, etc., but also involved in the handling of construction accidents

Military dictatorship of the empire, the military was exceptionally powerful and dominant, and the impact was felt for generations to come.

The ruling center was the upper reaches of the two rivers.

The main architectural activities included palaces, temples and mountain platforms.

The Carthaginians conquered Assyria in the 7th century BC and rebuilt the Kingdom of Babylon (Neo-Babylon): Neo-Babylonian city building and the Hanging Garden.

Nomadic people, who did not have their own architectural system, because of the habits of nomadic people who lived without a fixed place

The expansion of the empire led to the exchange of different cultures (East-West exchange began here), and the architecture was characterized by a combination of characteristics: it drew on the characteristics of Egyptian, Greek, and Assyrian architecture.

Typical building types: Palaces

Mild and humid climate, production of clay - the main building material - clay bricks. waterproofing (do clay bricks need to be waterproofed nowadays?). - - Finishing techniques - influenced Byzantine and Islamic architecture

Lack of wood, stone

Arid, little rain, abundant stone - stone masonry

Polytheism. Temples have both religious and secular significance.

The most important type of architecture - palaces, no architectural remains in Sumer and ancient Babylon

Rectangular plan, simple rules, mostly with palaces, mountain platforms, etc. to form a whole.

For Jehovah

Syria region, King Solomon - Ancient Judaea

Styles influenced by Egyptian (axes, courtyards, temple gates) and Assyrian (high platforms and decorative details - towers).

Wailing wall building NW corner of the wall base - building in Jerusalem

Zoroastrianism, only altars, no indoor space

Mountain worship - mountains are tall and majestic + celestial worship

Ancient West Asia's most The most characteristic type of architecture in ancient West Asia.

Also known as the Observatory, it was a high platform for the worship of mountains, celestial bodies, and the observation of the stars in ancient Western Asia.

Composition - pedestal + steps/ramps + temple

Location - Iraq

Material - solid rammed earth, brick decoration outside

Urgula, the most characteristic type of building in ancient Western Asia.

Ur Observatory

The most developed building type in ancient West Asia.

Large scale, standing on a high platform (18-20m, waterproof, miasma).

Characteristics: do not use the axis to control, organized by the courtyard to link the various parts, no obvious through the unified axis - the general axis is the end of the focus, but Assyria a different way of thinking, to the tower and the size of the courtyard size to emphasize the focus. The palace also has a mountain platform

large scale, open layout, facing nature, no courtyard, no axis. Monolithic regularity, high spaciousness. Inherit the Assyrian tradition, standing on a high platform . In fact, it does not use waterproof, directly copy the high platform. There are columns, and there are several reception spaces to receive various tribute to small countries.

Example: the ruins of the palace of Persepolis

Persia - Cave Tomb

The tomb of Darius, learned from the Egyptian excavation of the cave for the tomb, the entrance columns have the characteristics of Greek columns

Two Rivers Basin:

solar bricks and burnt bricks, burnt bricks waterproofing is better at the beginning less so affixed to the lower part of the building.

To protect the brick building, the lower part was waterproofed

Mainly found in the Persian region, hard texture, columns with a length to slenderness ratio of 1:12.

Stone can be made into Persian stone columns and lithographs

Persian structural system - beams and columns

Two Rivers Valley, thick walls ( reeds mixed with earth) with small openings.

In Persia, wide spacing, high columns, high openings.

Coming of age in the Two Rivers Valley. Used for building entrances, gutters and roofs.

Basic rules of layout (in the system of right-angled coordinates), without strict axes, with primary and secondary.

Enclosed space, courtyard as the main means of organizing the parts.

The monolith is square and rigorously symmetrical.

Representative: Assyrian palace group

Palace layout open, focus on the combination of the environment, group organization without axis but there are orthogonal relationship line, monolithic regular.

Representative: Persian palace

(Tower of Heaven, stacked one on top of the other - mentioned in the Bible)

Main feature of the exterior of the architecture of the Two Rivers Valley.

In front of important buildings - towers + arched doorways

Ancient Babylonian city of that time 22.5 square kilometers

Ishtar Gate

Slender, slenderness ratio of 1/12 (diameter/height), widely spaced, traces of faux-wood, beautifully shaped, with distinctive column capitals (column capitals as a proportion of columns) Large, in fact, the structure is not reasonable, the column head is the place of load-bearing capacity, should not do too much processing).

The largest city in that era, the city was also built on a high platform, the city planning regular

Egyptian shaped door