Architecture Week for Schools:

Chepren Pyramid, Giza, Eygpt

Architect: Possibly Imhotep

Pyramids were built as monuments to house the tombs of the pharaohs. This is one of the famous three from the fourth Dynasty, built 5,000 years ago. In this society a citizen’s eternal life was dependent on the continued existence of their king. This belief made the pharaoh's tomb a concern of the entire kingdom. The superstructure of the pyramid was made of small limestone blocks and desert clay. Inside, the burial chamber and storage spaces were carved out of the earth and rock beneath the structure. Furniture and riches were buried with the king so he would have the familiar comforts of his lifetime buried near him. Attendants and wives who died after the king were also buried close to him.

The Parthenon, Athens, Greece

Built: 447-432 BC
Architects: Ictinus & Callicrates

A temple to the goddess Athena. Greek temples varied in size but were built to a similar format. They enclosed a rectangular space with a colonnaded porch at one end. The marble was sculpted and would have been painted with a common colour scheme. The stonework reflects post and beam techniques used in earlier timber buildings, still seen on buildings today. The geometry of the structure was refined to correct the optical illusions of perspective distortion (the columns bulge outwards in the centre to appear straight, and lean inwards to stop looking like they are falling outwards). The scale was related to that of the human body. The Greeks were the originators of the term ‘architect’.

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Built: AD 70-82
Commissioned by the Emperor Vespasian

A Roman amphitheatre with a gladiatorial arena. Built to satisfy the public’s enjoyment of violent entertainment and demonstrate the power of the Empire. The Romans developed Greek columns into walls with semi-circular arches. Using concrete, stone and brick, they could develop massive structures. It would have supported an awning to protect the 50,000 spectators against the sun.

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Built: 1174-1271

Built alongside the Cathedral during the Romanesque period. This style is recognisable by its round arches and columns and continues Roman methods of construction, use of materials and style. Exteriors and interiors are clearly related to each other. The tower (campanile) leans out 4.2 metres from the base and has suffered subsidence since construction.

Bodiam Castle, England

Built: 1385

This castle was built as a defence and a comfortable home for Sir Edward Dalyngrygge. With an almost square construction, Bodiam Castle is symmetrical and surrounded by a wide moat. At each corner of the curtain wall stands a four-storey, cylindrical tower, with rectangular towers located mid-way along each wall. Originally approached by an intriguing series of bridges and paths this creative design was developed for strategic purposes, leaving attackers exposed and vulnerable to retaliation from inside the castle.

Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China

Built: 1420

The form of this temple is an attempt to create a space that harmonises with divine and natural forces to create a realm for the emperor where he can mediate between Humankind and God. The cycle of these forces is reflected in the circular form of the structure. Its location was carefully considered in relation to the environmental features such as mountains and rivers, using the Chinese practice of Feng-Shui. Its decoration uses Chinese symbolism of the dragon, Yin and Yang and the phoenix.

Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy

Built: 1420-34
Architect of dome: Filippo Brunelleschi

It was fashionable during the Renaissance period for wealthy families to build great palaces and churches. This Gothic Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, uses Gothic stone vaulting and the principles of Roman engineering to support one of the first great domes. The success of surmounting the technical problems during construction advanced the prestige of the city and reflects the spirit of scientific and aesthetic enquiry at the time. The construction of slender columns allowed Gothic cathedrals to rise high above a cityscape to represent a synthesis of God, Humanity and Nature.

The Globe Theatre, London, England

Originally built: 1590’s Reconstruction: 1990’s

The original Elizabethan Globe theatre opened in 1599. It burned down in 1613 and was immediately rebuilt. It was then closed by the Puritans in 1642 and was finally reconstructed and reopened in 1994. The new building was made using traditional materials and building techniques. The circular theatre is open-air and three storeys high. It is thatched with Norfolk reed and the walls are made using frame timber with lime plaster. 

Chiswick House, London, England

Built: 1725
Architects: Lord Burlington and William Kent

The design of this house imitates another, Palladio’s Villa Rotunda, and it was built to contain the owner’s paintings and books. A Palladian style house is geometric, repetitive and symmetrical in style. It is constructed on a rusticated base and uses temple front porticoes, different angles of roof and domes to break up the overall ‘look’ of the building.

Big Ben, London

Built: 1836-68
Architects: Sir Charles Barry & A.W.N Pugin

Big Ben is the clock tower for The Houses of Parliament in London. It was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the first Commissioner of Works. Parliament was designed to reflect an authentic national style as well as Elizabethan and Gothic character. A government building, it has to serve a complex range of functions and its design be in keeping with the adjacent buildings of Westminster Cathedral. The architect Pugin believed that ornament should enrich the essential construction of a building.

Chrysler Building, New York

Built: 1928-30
Architect: William Van Alen

The top of this building is made of stainless steel and the design of the details are derived from the ornamental parts of cars. As the price of land in New York rose so did the buildings in order to house more people, living and working spaces. The steel skeletal structure and organisation of space is expressed through the design, visible on the outside of the building. The development of skyscrapers changed city skylines. They demonstrate the developments that have occurred in the use of technology and materials.

Villa Savoye, Poissy, France

Built: 1928-31
Architect: Le Corbusier

This villa uses a square plan. The simple style maximises the effects of natural light and the use of geometric shapes emphasise volume. An influence drawn from Renaissance palazzos, the slender columns elevate the living area above the ground and provide a view. Le Corbusier was a favourite architect of the rich French bourgeoisie. His ideas for civic buildings, multi-storey housing and urban planning influenced the future of modern architecture.

Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Built: 1946-59
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright

This building is an art museum and is famous its curving profile and for housing a conical spiralling ramp. The shape of this building makes an interesting expression. Inside the sloping ramp and walls inside the building give the perception of and generate an experience of continuous movement. The interior and exterior of this building therefore have a direct relationship.

British Telecom Tower, London

Built: 1961-65
Architect: Eric Bedford

Originally called the Post Office Tower, it was built as an operational unit to carry 21st century telephone, television and data traffic. A memorial to 1960's optimism, this was the country’s tallest building until eclipsed by the NatWest Tower in 1981and was famous for its revolving restaurant at the top of the tower. It remains an innovative design built mainly of pre-stressed concrete and glass and has not been copied since. Lean, practical and futuristic, it epitomised the technical and architectural skills of the time.

The Lloyd’s Building, London

Built: 1979-84
Architect: Richard Rogers

Photographer: Richard Bryant/www.arcaid.co.uk

This building challenged the traditional concept of the office block. Described as hi-tech it looks like machinery with hard shiny surfaces and industrial elements like gantries, walkways and moving parts. The structures and services, a combination of cranes, ladders, pipes and tubes, are displayed on the outside of the building rather than hidden in the inside.

Hongkong and Shangahai Banking Corporation Headquarters, Hong Kong

Built: 1981-85
Architect: Foster Associates

General view of faÁade, Photograher: Ian Lambot

This office building represents a technological achievement. It was constructed in a short time period and on a restricted site out of vertical slices to allow the bank to continue work uninterrupted and allow for flexible planning of the space. The design integrates modern materials (steel, concrete, foil, aluminium, and glass), and structural engineering. Using the Chinese tradition of Feng-Shui, escalators are positioned on a diagonal to create a dramatic entrance hall and dynamic geometry. Drawing on the plan of Greek temples, a giant central atrium makes use of natural sunlight and serves to develop a sense of community amongst the workers.

One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London

Built: 1991
Architect: Cesar Pelli & Associates

Photographer: David Churchill/www.arcaid.co.uk

The tower at Canary Wharf is the tallest building in Britain and for a short time was the tallest in Europe. Clad in stainless steel it is 50 stories high and dominates the London skyline by being visible up to 20 miles away. It is used as an office building. The tower has 3,960 windows and 4,388 steps. Lifts travel from the lobby to the 50th floor in just 40 seconds. The building is designed to sway 13 and three quarter inches in the strongest winds that might occur once every 100 years. The aircraft warning light at the very top of the tower flashes 40 times a minute, 57,600 times a day.