The Great Structures in Architecture : From Antiquity to Baroque (Advances in Architecture)

267 Pages·2006·36.54 MB·English

by  F. P. Escrig

The Great Structures
in Architecture
Antiquity to Baroque
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The field of architecture has experienced considerable advances in the last few years, many of them connected
with new methods and processes, the development of faster and better computer systems and a new interest
in our architectural heritage. It is to bring such advances to the attention of the international community that
this book series has been established. The object of the series is to publish state-of-the-art information on
architectural topics with particular reference to advances in new fields, such as virtual architecture, intelligent
systems, novel structural forms, material technology and applications, restoration techniques, movable and
lightweight structures, high rise buildings, architectural acoustics, leisure structures, intelligent buildings and
other original developments. The Advances in Architecture series consists of a few volumes per year, each
under the editorship - by invitation only - of an outstanding architect or researcher. This commitment is backed
by an illustrious Editorial Board. Volumes in the Series cover areas of current interest or active research and
include contributions by leaders in the field.
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F. Escrig C. A. Brebbia P. R. Vazquez
Escuela de Arquitectura Wessex Institute of Technology Fuentes 170
Universidad de Sevilla Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst Pedregal de San Angel
Spain Southampton 01900 Mexico D.E.
UK Mexico
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C. Alessandri W. P. De Wilde M. Majowiecki
University of Ferrara Free University of Brussel University of Bologna
Italy Belgium Italy
F. Butera C. Gantes S. Sánchez-Beitia
DI Tec, Politecnico di Milano National Technical University of Athens University of the Basque
Italy Greece Country, Spain
J. Chilton K. Ghavami J. J. Sendra
University of Nottingham Pontifica Univ Catolica Universidad de Sevilla
UK Brazil Spain
G. Croci K. Ishii M. Zador
Istituto di Tecnica delle Costruzioni Yokohama Technical University of Budapest
Italy Japan Hungary
A. de Naeyer W. Jäger R. Zarnic
University of Ghent Technical University of Dresden University of Ljubljana
Belgium Germany Slovenia
The Great Structures
in Architecture
Antiquity to Baroque
F. Escrig
Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
The Great Structures
in Architecture
Antiquity to Baroque
Series: Advances in Architecture, Vol. 22
F. Escrig
Published by
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A Catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN: 1-84564-039-X
ISSN: 1368-1435
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004116314
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................vii
Chapter 1: STONES RESTING ON EMPTY SPACE............................................................................1
Chapter 2: THE INVENTION OF THE DOME.....................................................................................21
Chapter 3: THE HANGING DOME......................................................................................................45
Chapter 4: THE RIBBED DOME.........................................................................................................65
Chapter 5: A PLANIFIED REVENGE. UNDER THE SHADOW OF BRUNELLESCHI.......................96
Chapter 6: THE CENTURY OF THE GREAT ARCHITECTS...........................................................120
Chapter 7: THE OMNIPRESENT SINAN..........................................................................................150
Chapter 8: EVEN FURTHER............................................................................................................168
Chapter 9: THE PERFECT SYMBIOSES FORM-FUNCTION IN THE HIGH BAROQUE
ARCHITECTURE............................................................................................................180
Chapter 10: SCENOGRAPHICAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE 18TH CENTURY.................................209
Chapter 11: THE VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE AND THE
BAROQUE......................................................................................................................243
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INTRODUCTION
I have always found amazing the fact that someone in We could also think that architecture is something
the past spent his time piling stones up to mark or to so recent that it appeared when the legendary corpus
delimit an area. But I get even more astonished when of tradition was already finished, so that everything to
I come to think that somebody dared to live within that be added to tradition would show an unmistakably
pile of stones and, in addition, felt safer inside it than human character.
outside. That leads me to the conclusion that in those
days people had to have a great faith in their own skill In case that is right, this book tries to start from the
to take shelter in the shade of a wall of rough stones early origins without fearing to ignore undocumented
and that they fully relied on the physical laws to dare precedents, but the historical sequence reveals itself
to live under a slab canopy. as tricky. In any case, what is left is the proof of the
existence of these works, which have evolved in a
You could think that to build a dolmen, people only progressive and sequential order as mentioned.
needed enough energy to move the huge stones it
was made of, its stability being guaranteed by the The story that I tell, which starts in antiquity and
inertia of those colossal masses. But when someone finishes in the Baroque in this first volume, and reaches
first succeeded in making a ceiling of pebbles, to the present time in the volume to follow, intends to
supported by a material as weak as mud, that reflect on the great adventure of architecture. Every
represented a step forward as great as the control of matter is open to opinions and everything is
fire. Nevertheless, that must have happened so long objectionable. That is settled. But from the viewpoint
ago that no mythology tells about a God owning the of someone who practices architecture, this text will
power to keep stones floating in the air. The Bible possibly serve to better understand the monuments,
considers the existence of domes so obvious that not to get closer to them and find out whether they should
only does it not mention it, but when an arch or a be conserved or modified, and to be humbler when
temple is to be made, wooden architraves are used, thinking that our tools are all-powerful. If we realised
choosing the noble building way instead of the that our advantage is based in the fact that we have
popular brick based architecture. Neither do the new materials invented by chemists and that in using
Babylonian legends mention anything referring to sun-cooked bricks our results would not be different
architecture. And the Egyptians either, since they to those of Babylonian craftsmen, we would be more
deified the human architect that constructed Zoser’s modest. Instead of committing outrages favoured by
pyramids. Greek mythology makes reference to all the resistance of concrete and steel, we could study
the forces of nature and to all the human passions the importance of the forms and its optimisation.
and liking, but not to architecture. The Nordic ancient
cultures, more primitive, can deify the axe because it
is an instrument for wood building, which they never
do with architecture itself. And we could go on with
the Oriental mythologies with similar results.
Why does something so important stay outside the
consideration of men? In my previous book Towers
and Domes I advanced some hypotheses, but I must
insist on the instrumental character of the domestic
architecture and on the symbolic character of the great
architecture as a means to achieve other objectives.
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Stones Resting on Empty Space
Chapter 1. STONES RESTING ON EMPTY SPACE
Huge limestone rocky formations that end on the In any case, the abounding lime is good to make every
Mediterranean coasts penetrate the continent, shaping material impermeable and lend it cohesion. The typical
steep and stony landscapes. Among them sandy, Mediterranean house was at first no more than a
usually dry waterbeds, wind their way down and lead modest cabin made of flat walls with small holes
the water of rivers that have their source far inland. blocked up with boards as windows and a flat reed or
board roof. The prismatic modules could be attached
Some of the oldest civilisations bloomed in those rocky to each other to make better use of walls. In this way
deserts and have survived keeping themselves on the a city was born, growing along more or less straight
thin layer of earth resulting from the action of weather streets with walls like fish backbones. The doors
over the stones. This was a world of shepherds in which opened into streets along which ran traffic, waste and
the kindness of the weather allowed them to be partially people, who found in them a public and open place as
sedentary, a world of fishermen and navigators whose an extension of the small cubicles they lived in.
knowledge of the Earth was confined to the rocky
shores and the silky beaches, a world of soldiers that The cattle shared the streets with trade, policy and
snatched out of their neighbours what their fields culture. This primitive Mediterranean house did not have
lacked, a world of explorers in pursuit of paradises an interior courtyard. That is a later invention whose
that inspired their epic poets. origin can be found in the country houses related to
farming and cattle farming. This form of construction
The Palaeolithic civilisation was based on very limited is very similar to those developed by other civilisations
resources and a slowly made culture zealously passed since it was almost spontaneous.
on from one generation to the next.
At the same time there was a more complex and
In other countries other great civilisations were growing permanent architecture, that made of stones. This
around true orchards watered by mighty rivers or on constructive system is based on the ease of limestone
vast plains. But the Mediterranean people had to blocks to fragment in angular and flat pieces, easy to
struggle for every inch of ground to sow their seeds, pile up and very steady once piled. Walls can be made
clearing the surface of stones, terracing the steep of stones as well as primitive tiles.
slopes, or carrying back to the terraces the little earth
that had slipped to the bottom of the ravines, and But although the walls admit a certain sloping, the
utilising every source of water available to water the problem to close convex enclosures must be solved
grapevines, the olive, the almond and the fig trees. It by means of wooden beams. The great structural
was in this poor but well used space where one of the discovery was the horizontal covering by means of
greater structural revolutions took place. the stone advance. The result has been called false
vault, or false dome, as it could have been called falsely
There were few woods and the little wood of use for lintelled. All of them are negative terms that in a certain
the construction, such as that of pine trees, was as way reveal that language apostatises regrets of a great
valuable as a treasure, though the climate made it cultural contribution. The English people refer to
prone to fire and rotting. “corbelled” in a positive way, although they rarely used
this type of construction, which should be called
Reeds are good as planking and are more resistant, “advanced course domes”.
and the adobe and the earth building provided stability
and protection. Some types of impermeable clay are We are not talking about megalithic monuments, made
good as layers on the reed covers and, on occasions, of great granite or sandstone blocks such as the Cave
an incomplete firing provides rudimentary tiles not of Menga, the Temple at Stonehenge or the Minorca’s
much better than mud walls. Taulas. We are talking about structures mostly made
1