History of Civil Engineering and Architecture

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the historical development of civil engineering and architecture, including building materials, vernacular construction methods, and iconic structural examples from ancient civilizations to the modern era.

Vernacular Architecture

Methods of construction that use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs.

Babylon

A famous city-state in present-day Iraq where all that remains is a mound of broken mud-brick dwellings.

Greek Building Materials

Consisted almost entirely of limestone and fine marble, which were used to construct many structures.

Machu Picchu

A city constructed from stone cut from the surrounding mountains.

Chinese Architecture

Traditional wooden architecture that changed little over thousands of years because wood was readily available.

Apache wickiup

A traditional dwelling built of brush, grass, or reed.

Igloo

An Inuit winter dwelling.

Rondavel (or banda)

A traditional Southern African structure.

Bearing Wall

A structural method used in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

Roman bridge in Syria

A bridge that crosses the Afrin River in northern Syria and is still in use today.

Cast Iron

A material used to create the first arch bridge in the world after the fall of Rome, though it was previously too expensive for large structures.

Empire State Building

A well-known structural steel framed building completed in $1931$.

Burj Khalifa

The tallest man-made structure ever built, supported by a reinforced concrete core using a special concrete mix.

Cedar Avenue Bridge

A reinforced concrete open spandrel arch bridge located in Minneapolis, MN, that carries Tenth Street over the Mississippi.