Greece
Greek architecture and art: searching for perfection in proportion of forms and parts while creating the ideal image
Focus on Greece: 4 periods
Geometric or Orientalizing Period: (c. 100-650 B.C.E.) Little survives from this early period. Mud-brick temples and tombs ae chief architectural forms. Vases are the dominant surviving at form.
Archaic (c. 660-475 B.C.E.). Monumental stone architecture and sculpture originate in the 7th century B.C.E. The architectural form and vocabulary that characterize Greek buildings evolve
throughout this period. The Doric and lonic orders originate, and builders search for perfection in the proportion and distribution of parts.
Classical (c. 475-323 B.C.E.). The search for perfection culminates in the great Doric temples of the Classical period, particularly the Temple of Aphaia in Aegina and the Parthenon
in Athens. Ionic temples are jewels of perfection also. The Corinthian order originates and is used only for interiors. The architectural vocabulary is fully developed, and no new innovations, only variations, are introduced. During the 4th century B.C.E, builders begin to deviate from classical forms and proportions.
Hellenistic (323-30 B.C.E.). Greek society becomes more sophisticated, and new building types appear in response. Architecture becomes more subjective, deviating even more from the
Classical period architectural language. New variations of capitals appear, and proportions vary even more. Ornament become more important.
The Greek Temple
Golden Section-Golden Mean-Golden Ratio:
The Golden Ratio: Myth or Math?
Characteristics of Greek Architecture
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Greek Orders of Architecture:
Doric, Ionic and Corinthian
Doric Order: the earliest and simplest
of the three orders of Classical Greek architecture
Entasis
In classical architecture,
the slight convexity or
swelling of the shaft of
The column.
DORIC Capital
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IONIC Capital
IONIC: the second of the three orders of Classical
Greek architecture is characterized by the use of
volutes. A volute is a spiral scroll, especially of a
Capital.
CORINTHIAN Capital
Corinthian: the third and most elaborate of the Classical Greek (and Roman)
Orders of architecture, characterized by carvings of acanthus leaves on the
capital.
Acanthus leaves.
Pediment
a triangular space that forms the gable of a low-pitched roof and that is usually filled with relief sculptures in classical architecture
Entablature
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Cornice: The cornice is a decorative architecture element. Which can be seen on the top of a wall near a roof or ceiling. Cornice concept was derived from Greek architecture, where it was the top part of the entablature, the horizontal part above the column and below the roof.
Frieze: Greco-Roman Classical architecture, the middle of the three main divisions of an entablature (section resting on the capital). The frieze is above the architrave and below the cornice
Metope – a square space between triglyphs in a
Doric frieze.
Triglyphs – a tablet in a Doric frieze with three
vertical grooves. They alternate with metopes.
4 Incredibly Well Preserved Ancient Greek Buildings
Anthemion: an ornamental design of alternating motifs resembling clusters of narrow leaves or honeysuckle petals.
Notice the Guilloche pattern carried over from the Egyptians and stylized .
Entablature with Egg & Dart Motif
Egg-and-dart is a repetitive design that today is most often found on molding (e.g., crown molding) or trim. The pattern is characterized by a repetition of oval shapes, like an egg split lengthwise, with various non-curved patterns, like “darts,” repeated between the egg pattern
Greek Key (Fret) motif: interlaced lines forming an unending pattern
Rinceau pattern- an ornamental motif consisting essentially of a sinuous and branching scroll elaborated with leaves and other natural forms (as derived from the acanthus)
Vitruvian Scroll/Running Dog/Wave Scroll: A common motif in classical ornament: a series of scrolls connected by a wave-like band
Dentils: (in classical architecture) one of a number of small, rectangular blocks resembling teeth and used as a decoration under the soffit of a cornice.
Tholos of Delphi: The sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, and the Tholos.
The tholos is a circular building which was created between 380 and 360 BC at the center of the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. It is constructed with 20 Doric columns on its exterior diameter which measures 14.76m.
The building stands 13.5 meters tall at the center of the Athena Pronaia sanctuary, and its interior columns were of the Corinthian order.
Caryatid: a stone carving of a draped female figure, used as a pillar/column to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building.
Ionic column from the Erechtheion. Notice the
Fluting on the column.
Fluting: a groove or set of grooves forming a surface
decoration.
Greek Furnishings
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Greek Seating
Klismos chair: An ancient form of chair that remains popular today. The Ancient Greeks first developed the chair as evidenced by pottery and stone from that period. It is characterized by tapering, out-curved legs, known as saber legs, and a curved back.
Kline with table
Greek Furniture
Greek Pottery
Greek Pottery
Principle Greek Moldings
