Architecture is the art of taking pieces of shapes, concepts, ideas and creating an environment and atmosphere suitable for interaction. However, until I was in this class I hadn’t wondered where architecture first originated. Its foundation was based on the ancient identification of circles, groves, and stacks. Without the basic principles of circles, groves, and stacks architecture would not be as it is today, because it evolved from the three principles.
Circles are inviting and stimulating for social gatherings, groves are vertical tree like replicas that we see in columns, and stacks stand out carving imprints in structures like stairs or windows. These ancient concepts were not random, but instead they were manipulations of what they saw from nature. The circle is a representation of the sun and moon, while groves were a vertical replica of trees or people, and stacks were the mountains that stretched across their horizon. Evidence of circles was uncovered at Stonehenge, but as time progressed so did humans brain capabilities.
Combining groves and stacks was the gateway to temples and palaces. As general knowledge, we associate temples with a vast focal point held up by stacks. The difference is that now they began to imagine and design. There are a handful of different types of columns, but the most basic is the Tuscan. The Tuscan being the original column would be considered the prototype where as a Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian would be an archetype and a combination of two or more of the different columns would be considered a hybrid.
Order became relative when they began to get crafty with their buildings. The Greeks began to create buildings, like the Megaron, which had certain spaces created with a purpose/order in mind. The establishment of rooms was created with the spaces of porch, court, and hearth. Sound familiar? The porch was for greetings before you enter the space, the court was for social gatherings, like a living room, and the hearth was a room with a purpose, like a bathroom. Acropolis/Athens is a great example of how buildings began to have purposes. Acropolis/Athens is not just one building, but also a vast amount of them creating architecture through landscape. Circles, groves, stacks, prototypes, archetypes, hybrids, porches, courts, and hearths are all present in Acropolis/Athens and all of the structural principles originated from circles groves and stacks.
As Acropolis/Athens brought about the concept of circles in it’s city flamboyance shifted from Acropolis/Athens to Rome. Rome began to build vast buildings, structurally similar, but they took the time out to decorate the enormous spaces, which hadn’t really been important before. Rome wanted a change and for everyone to know about their great city and it’s advancements. They gave names to everything; for example, road/streets, bath, market, amphitheatre, and coliseum are among the few that thrived in this city. They gave meaning to the city as a whole. It’s amazing how nature created such an evolution in architecture and as long as we associate with the foundation of circles, groves, and stacks they will continue to be immortal.
