Architectures 4 by Richard CopansExamines the Royal Saltworks of Arc and Senans, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Jean Prouve's House, the St. Foy Abbey, and the Sendai Mediatheque. Provides an inside look at the work of celebrated architects and some of their most brilliant creations. Examines the saltworks of Arc-and-Senans built by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in the late 18th century and the influence of this monumental factory on other architects. Looks at the Maison de Verre or the house of glass, designed by Pierre Chareau and completed in 1932, as an example of playful avant-garde architecture that was built around the top floor of an existing Paris building that the tenant refused to vacate. Discusses how the deconstructivist Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry and opened to the public in 1997, was incorporated into its environment in a dying industrial city. Describes how the self-educated engineer and architect Jean Prouvé, known for his metal furniture, built a house for his own family in 1954 after the failure of his attempts to sell prefabricated, steel and aluminum houses to the French public. Examines the transparent cube of a multimedia library built in 2001 in northern Japan by architect Toyo Ito and its use of open and barrier-free space. Looks at the construction of the historic Abbey Church of Saint Foy as a prototype of a "pilgrim church" in the new style of the 11th century, now known as Romanesque.
Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain by Jerrilynn D. DoddsIn analyzing the early medieval architecture of Christian and Islamic Spain, Jerrilynn Dodds explores the principles of artistic response to social and cultural tension, offering an account of that unique artistic experience that set Spain apart from the rest of Europe and established a visual identity born of the confrontation of cultures that perceived one another as alien. Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain covers the Spanish medieval experience from the Visigothic oligarchy to the year 1000, addressing a variety of cases of cultural interchange. It examines the embattled reactive stance of Hispano-Romans to their Visigothic rulers and the Asturian search for a new language of forms to support a political position dissociated from the struggles of a peninsula caught in the grip of a foreign and infidel rule. Dodds then examines the symbolic meaning of the Mozarabic churches of the tenth century and their reflection of the Mozarabs' threatened cultural identity. The final chapter focuses on two cases of artistic interchange between Islamic and Christian builders with a view toward understanding the dynamics of such interchange between conflicting cultures. Dodds concludes with a short account of the beginning of Romanesque architecture in Spain and an analysis of some of the ways in which artistic expression can reveal the subconscious of a culture.
Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture, 800-1200 by Kenneth J. ConantProfessor Conant's detailed studies of Santiago de Compostela and of the abbey church at Cluny fit him for this account of building in the period of the round arch which preceeded Gothic. In this volume he shows how, at the instigation of the monasteries during the little renaissance of Charlemagne, Roman methods of construction were revived and fused with local traditions to produce a distinctive Carolingian manner; and how such monuments as the Palatine Chapel at Aachen already contained hints of the nobler and more mature Romanesque style which was to become international. professor Conant extends his survey to cover the regions of medieval France, Spain, Portugal, the Holy Land, Italy, Germany, Northern Europe, and Britain.
Call Number: NA365 .C6 1993
ISBN: 0300052987
Publication Date: 1992-12-04
Early Medieval Architecture by Roger StalleyThe early middle ages were an exciting period in the history of European architecture, culminating in the development of the Romanesque style. Major architectural innovations were made during this time including the medieval castle, the church spire, and the monastic cloister. By avoiding thetraditional emphasis on chronological development, Roger Stalley provides a radically new approach to the subject, exploring issues and themes rather than sequences and dates. In addition to analysing the language of the Romanesque, the book examines the engineering achievements of the builders, andclearly how the great monuments of the age were designed and constructed. Ranging from Gotland to Apulia, the richness and variety of European architecture is explored in terms of the social and religious aspirations of the time. Symbolic meanings associated with architecture are also thoroughlyinvestigated. Written with style and humour, the lively text includes many quotations from ancient sources, providing a fascinating insight into the way that medieval buildings were created, and in the process enlivening study of this period.
Call Number: NA350 .S78 1999
ISBN: 0192100483
Publication Date: 2099-11-30
The Gothic Cathedral by Christopher WilsonHundreds of these great churches were built throughout Europe in a rich variety of styles between c. 1130 and c. 1530, all of them representing an investment of money and effort so immense that it is difficult to find a modern parallel. Christopher Wilson focuses here on the interaction between design and the requirements of patrons, following the creative processes of architects by reconstructing the problems and opportunities that they faced. He discusses chronology, structural techniques, and stylistic developments and then goes further, seeing the story as a sequence of choices from which new challenges and solutions arose. 221 illustrations.
Medieval Architecture in Western Europe by Robert G. CalkinsFor the first time, instructors of Medieval Architecture have a selective survey that obviates the need to piece together teaching material from several sources. Medieval Architecture in Western Europe: From A.D. 300 to 1500 presents a selection of major monuments of Medieval Europeanarchitecture in a single volume. Beginning with a study of structural antecedents found in late Roman architecture, the author examines Early Christian borrowings and transformations and selected representative types of Byzantine buildings. The following chapters cover the development of themonastic complex, traditional forms of Northern timber construction, and the contributions of the Carolingian and Ottonian empires. Spanish structures from the seventh century through the tenth century set the stage for the development of the Romanesque style, examined in its various regionalmanifestations. After identifying the structural sources of Gothic architecture, the author presents the evolving regional Gothic styles, Late Gothic elaborations and innovations, and representative types of secular architecture. The text concludes with an informative chapter on medieval buildingpractices and the tradition of the Master Mason.Medieval Architecture in Western Europe: From A.D. 300 to 1500 is thoroughly illustrated with plans, sections, diagrams, and photographs, and also includes an IBM-compatible CD-ROM, featuring over 800 supplementary views and details of the buildings discussed, all in color. Filling the gap betweengeneral surveys of architectural history and specialized works on specific periods and regions, this book is ideal for introductory courses in Medieval Architecture, but will also satisfy any reader with an interest in the Middle Ages.
Call Number: NA5453 .C35 1998
ISBN: 0195112415
Publication Date: 1998-03-19
Medieval Practices of Space by Barbara Hanawalt; Michal KobialkaThe contributors to this volume cross disciplinary and theoretical boundaries to read the words, metaphors, images, signs, poetic illusions, and identities with which medieval men and women used space and place to add meaning to the world.
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9780816691401
Publication Date: 2000
The Romanesque: towns, cathedrals, and monasteries by Xavier Barral i AltetOriginated by art theorists in the Nineteenth Century, the term ""Romanesque"" refers to a school of religious architecture and design from the early medieval period. As with all terms that attempt to summarise an epoch, ""Romanesque"" artificially constructs the notion of one unified style, but as this book makes clear, the Romanesque tendency consisted of many different, eclectic characteristics. The investigation back through time leads us across the ancient pilgrim routes of the Pyrenees, and then into a vast range of devotional structures -churches, tombs, monuments, cathedrals and basilicas. Each one carries its own regional imprint and spiritual iconography. Containing rigorously detailed and comprehensive insights into all aspects of Romanesque symbolism and ritual, this book includes analysis of liturgical equipment, and explores the significance of many features of the buildings. A fascinating, mystical quest that forms the second volume in this acclaimed series on Medieval architecture.
The Abbey Church of Lessay (Manche) and Romanesque Architecture in North-East EnglandThe date of the Romanesque fabric of the abbey church of Lessay (Manche, France) has been much debated by architectural historians. Was the eastern arm of the church completed by the time of the burial of Eudes de Capel in the choir on 3 August 1098? Or do features such as the high
rib vault and scalloped capitals preclude a date in the late eleventh century? This paper argues that the choir was completed by 1098, and that the master mason of Lessay was acquainted with architectural developments in north-east England in the 1080s and early 1090s, especially those at
York Minster, St Mary’s Abbey, York, and allied churches.
Archaeological Excavations of the Medieval Royal Kincardine Landscape, Aberdeenshire, ScotlandKINCARDINE PARK is among the earliest and largest medieval parks in Scotland. It was royally owned and is believed to have served as a hunting park throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. Nearby are the ruins
of Kincardine Castle, considered to be associated with the park, and one of the first Scottish stone-built castles. This paper presents the results of excavations conducted in the park landscape, and at the stone-built Scottish castle. New insights are provided on how medieval Scottish parks were constructed and used, and the cultural
significance of these monuments is explored.
Data, Documentation and Display in Eighteenth Century Investigations of Exeter CathedralThis article examines a development in the eighteenth century's understanding of
medieval architecture, when the emergence of empirical observation can be witnessed taking shape as a new investigative methodology. The accurate recording and interpretation of visual evidence characterized one of the most important innovations in antiquarian method, bidding by these means to offer a secure stock of material data as a counter-weight to hearsay and traditional written accounts. While we may take for granted that an historic building is marked by the traces of its transformations, and that rigorous examination is required to make the stones give up their secrets, the emergence of that idea is
itself the product of a particular time. Specifically, learning to look at medieval
buildings, seeing them as repositories of historical data from which inferences can
be drawn, is part of a development in antiquarian scholarship from the middle
years of the eighteenth century onwards.
The Early Romanesque ‘Great West’ Towers of St Peter, Stambourne, Essex and St Nicholas, Leeds, Kent: ‘Clerical’ Towers for a Lay Lord?A small group of early Romanesque west towers in southern and eastern England are of unusually large size and are here termed ‘great west’ towers. The majority were commissioned by senior clergy, but there
is evidence that those at Stambourne (Essex) and Leeds (Kent) were the work of Haimo II Dapifer, Sheriff of Kent. Haimo’s adoption of what is usually seen as a clerical form of monument is reflected by his position and associations in royal charters. The towers of St Peter, Stambourne and St Nicholas, Leeds have similarities with St Leonard’s Tower, West Malling (Kent) and the west gate of Lincoln castle respectively. Both illustrate the fluidity of forms that high-status buildings of the late 11th and early 12th centuries could take.
In print at the Library on the periodical shelves: See Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, v68, no. 3, (September 2009): 309.
Late-Antique and Early Medieval Hispanic Churches and the Archaeology of Architecture: Revisions and Reinterpretation of Constructions, Chronologies and ContextsLATE-ANTIQUE AND EARLY MEDIEVAL Hispanic architecture has witnessed a
considerable change in the last 15 years because of the introduction of the archaeological analysis of standing buildings and a new historical model that is open to the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula leading to changes in the architecture. As this paper demonstrates, stratigraphic recording and analysis of some of the most relevant buildings solves some questions
and introduces others, but it mainly helps to introduce archaeological arguments within a debate previously dominated by stylistic criteria.
In print at the Library on the periodical shelves: See Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, v77 n1 (20180301): 10-28.
Romanesque Roofs: The Nave of Jumièges Abbey and the Common-Tiebeam Tradition in Northern EuropeMASONRY EVIDENCE in the roofless abbey church of Jumièges, Normandy, demonstrates that the original Romanesque roof (c 1067) was of common-tiebeam form, with trusses set at about 1 m intervals,
each with a tiebeam carrying rafters. Significant carpentry details can also be determined, including the presence of a cogged wall plate. In the context of this analysis, we examine the form, distribution and date of over 250 common-tiebeam roofs in Northern Europe, identifying four principal types differentiated by their internal bracing, with dates mainly from the early 11th to the later 13th centuries. A chronological sequence is proposed, starting with trusses braced with canted struts devolving regionally into those with vertical struts, those with lattice-braced trusses and those with tiebeams and rafters only. The use
of decorated ceilings associated with common-tiebeam roofs is examined, indicating the likelihood that the nave of Jumièges Abbey was ceiled.
Structural Trends in English Medieval Buildings: New Insights from DendrochronologySince the first annual lists of tree-ring dated buildings were published in Vernacular Architecture in 1980, dendrochronologists have assigned either a precise felling date or reasonably narrow dating parameters to more than 3000 building construction phases. In 1997, and again in 2001, Sarah Pearson traced the chronological distribution of rural aristocratic, gentry, vernacular and urban buildings tree-ring dated to 1200–1600. In 2001 it was particularly encouraging to learn that, although the numbers of tree-ring dated buildings in these categories had nearly doubled, the chronological patterns had remained unchanged. She forecast that ‘the results in all categories will become more statistically valid as the number of buildings sampled increases [. . .]’. Following a further marked increase in the number of tree-ring dating reports available for analysis, this paper tests the proposition that ‘[. . .] the information should soon become robust enough to be subdivided and sustain serious argument’. Arguably, the collective efforts
of historic building analysts and dendrochronologists can now be put to wider use, going beyond the attribution of
construction date ranges to individual buildings and building categories and contributing to wider historical debates
through enhancing our understanding of the dissemination of building types.