Arch 250 Exam II

TAMU Arch 250; Exam II as of fall 2026

East Asia: Chinese Cities and Houses overview

• Yingzao-Fashi: official book of chinese building principles and standards

  • Foundation platform be made of stone or brick

  • Timber frame with columns and brackets

  • Wooden purlins (roof beams)

  • Decorative roof (terracotta roof tiles)

  • Importance based around direction (north → most important), elevation, and decoration

  • Philosophy: life after death, ancestor worship, animism, Daoism, Confucianism

  • Geomancy: art of divination by means of signs derived from earth (good vs evil, colorism, feng shui)

• Forbidden City: gated area within the imperial city of Bejing, housing administrative buildings

  • Hall of Supreme Harmony, Middle Harmony, Preserving Harmony

  • officially 9999 rooms (threes and nines are important numbers)

  • the place where the emperor resides; kinda separates him from the rest of the city like, “this is where the emperor is and y’all won’t know what goes on in there at all”

• Traditional Courtyard House Plan

• Bejing, China

• 15th Century

• Traditional Courtyard House Plan

• Bejing, China

• 15th Century

• Oriented to the South and developed on principles of confucious

• Jian: the basic module used for the design

• Axiality orientation directs importance:

  • things at far end of axis

  • elevation, size, height

  • more decorative

• Emphasis on family privacyConfucian

• Patriarchy: would house several generations, oldest grandparents lived in big suite while parents and children had separate ones

• Shared South-facing qualities and also same general design principles as forbidden city

• Courtyard: home oriented around it, where the family would gather, relax, and dine if the weather was nice

• House & Garden of the Master of Fishing Nets

• Suzhou, China

• 1140, restored in 18th century

• House & Garden of the Master of Fishing Nets

• Suzhou, China

• 1140, restored in 18th century

• Places of residence or retreat for scholar-bureaucratic or imperial aristocrats and their extended family from the pressures of bureaucratic life — the rich people

• Rooms: studies, galleries, libraries, pavilions to entertain guests

• Big emphasis on gardens and hierarchy; Confucian principles give way to Daoist mindset

• gardens and nature deliberately designed with distinctive rocks, trees, plants

• Retained emphasis on privacy

• gardens integrated into the architectural complex

• engineered place to foster free exploration of thoughts and feelings through a meditative state in nature

• Temple of Heaven

• Bejing, China

• Built 1420; restored in 1530 & 1757

• Temple of Heaven

• Bejing, China

• Built 1420; restored in 1530 & 1757

• Place for the emperor to carry out rituals for the prosperty of the empire

  • would give offerings during the winter solstice

  • burn incense

  • pray

  • offerings in jade and silk

  • prayers for wellbeing and prosperity in each spring

• Symbolism through decor

  • Dragon and Pheonix imagery (imortality symbols)

  • design based on number 9 (3×3) symbolic of heaven

  • retained North-South axis

  • three-tiered circular mound

• Main buildings:

  • Circular mound/Altar at the South — three tiered round platform with white marble balustrades and stairs

  • Imperial Vault of Heaven — elevated, humongous, elaborate symbolic imagery

  • Hall of Prayer for Prosperous New Year — where emperor’s springtime prayer would happen; enclosed square wall on the round raised terraces (circular: heaven, square: earth — the meeting of heaven and earth)

• Yoshimura House

• Around Osaka, Japan

• ca. 1620

Minka

Folk houses — sheltered animals and people with barns and stabling areas connected to living quarters

Tatami

rice-straw mats

Fusuma

sliding screens

Shoji

screens w/ paper panels

Tokonoma

alcove for displaying art

• Yoshimura House

• Around Osaka, Japan

• ca. 162

• Minka house made of:

  • Wood

  • High roofs to cast of rain or snow (made of thatch, bark, split bamboo, or wood shingles)

  • gable peak vents to let smoke from hearth escape

  • earth floor for hearth, living quarters on raised wood

  • use of tatami, paper sheet walls, sliding doors

• Modular design based on tatami mats

• Home owners were wealthy government officials who’d display art in picture recess (tokonoma) as show of class

• Similar to courtyard homes in Bejing for their size, south-orienting axis, presence of a courtuard, modular design, and importance of intentionality

• Zen Buddhist temple Rokun-ji / Kinjaku-ji: Temple of the Golden Pavilion

• Kyoto, Japan

• 1422

• Zen Buddhist temple Rokun-ji / Kinjaku-ji: Temple of the Golden Pavilion

• Kyoto, Japan

• 1422

• Originally an estate for a wealthy family; palace and temple complex built by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu for entertainment, administration, religious practices

• stroll garden made of ponds and water fixtures with rock formations to imitate famous landscapes in China and Japan

• Temple pagoda designed to hold Buddhist relics

  • swooping roofs congruent with chinese architecture

  • strong vertical axis

  • Three layers designed differently:

    • top to resemble a zen monastery

    • middle associated with medieval warriors

• Very very extravagant by Japanese standards; wrapped in gold leafs

Shogun

da ruler of japan in the relevant time period

Stroll Garden

japanese and chinese esque gardens made to be strolled around several ponds, water features, and rock formations

Pagoda

a tiered tower with multiple overhanging eaves and a strong vertical axis typically seen in east Asian architecture

• Himenji Castle

• near Osaka, Japan

• 1609

• Himenji Castle

• near Osaka, Japan

• 1609

• Castle built by feudal warlord, who’d compete with other warlords for power because the imperial family was weak at the time

  • originally for control of land route between Kyoto and western Honshu province

• Serve the same purpose as medieval castles (protection, symbols of military power and political authority)

  • Also made to defend against firearms

• Defensive features:

  • donjon for residence (made of wood and plaster for extra fire resistence but were high enough to barely get touched)

  • multiple lines of walls

  • towers

  • moat

  • elevated situating

  • arrow slits, cannon openings, murder holes

• Comparison to European castles:

  • Strategic location

  • Massive stone foundations

  • Fortification walls and moat

  • Walls have arrow slits, loopholes for shooting

  • heavily protected gateways

  • But upper part of structures made of wood with fire-resistant sand, pebbles, and plaster coating and internal maze passageways

• Katsura Imperial Villa and Tea Houses

• Kyoto, Japan

• ca. 1616-1660

• Katsura Imperial Villa and Tea Houses

• Kyoto, Japan

• ca. 1616-1660

• Built imperial family as a retreat for reflection, relaxation, creative works, and contemplation of nature

• Exemplifies Shoin style through elegant simplicity and rustic naturalness in its interior

  • Sliding screens for walls and doors, some painted by leading artists at the time

  • Tatami mats for floor coverage

  • Tokonama to display works of art

• Its Tea Houses:

  • isolated from other buildings

  • appraoched through winding path

  • made to look like a farmer’s cottage

  • entrance through low crawl door

  • emphasis on detatched perfection as per zen buddhist tradition

  • also a tokonama for art

Shoin style

Japanese architecture style based on elements from older mansions of nobility and that also embodies concepts from the Zen tradition

Tea Houses

Buidling with garden for the commencing of the tea ceremony, combining the spiritual and natural

Tea ceremony

“Transformed informal tea-taking into spiritual ritual symbolizing detached perfection in the Zen Buddhist tradition”

• Mosque and Külliye of Sultan Suleyman

• Instanbul, Turkey

• Architect: Sinan

• 1550-1557

Minaret

a tall, slender tower typically built on or near a mosque in Islamic architecture to call for prayer

Mihrab

Niche set into the quibla wall of mosque indicating direction of Mecca

Quibla wall

wall inside a mosque that faces mecca

Minbar

an elevated pulpit or staircase structure inside a mosque from which the imam (prayer leader) or khatib (preacher) delivers the Friday sermon (khutbah) and other public addresses

Dome on Pendentives

an architectural design that places a circular or elliptical dome over a square or rectangular room

külliye

The Turkish word for a mosque and its related buildings, typically including educational, charitable, medical, and commercial facilities

Caravanserai

a roadside inn for merchants and their caravans

mausoleum

an above-ground, freestanding building or stone structure that houses caskets or urns inside sealed burial chambers

Central plan mosque

a typology of mosques originating in constintanople resembling a square with prayer in the center

Muqarna

a three-dimensional form of architectural decoration in Islamic architecture consisting of tiered, niche-like prismatic elements that resemble honeycombs or stalactites

Polychrome voussoirs

multicolored bricks lol

• Mosque and Külliye of Sultan Suleyman

• Instanbul, Turkey

• Architect: Sinan

• 1550-1557

know the architect on this one kids*

• Patron was Suleyman the Magnificent

• Mosque constructed as centerpiece of larger complex of schools, shops, and community facilities

• Inspired by the Hagia Sophia but made to one-up it lol

• Mausoleum of Suleyman draws inspiration from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, for its holy properties

  • “the octagon is the transitional geometric form between the circle, representing heaven and the square representing earth.”

  • an earthly paradise

• Buildings in the complex:

  • Madrasa: professional schools

  • Hadith school: study of the sayings of the prophet and records of his actions that serve as basis for legal matters

  • Caravanserai

  • Mausoleum of Suleyman

  • Bath

  • Tomb of Sinan

  • mosque was the center of community

• Quwwat al-Islam mosque, Iron pillar & Qutb minar

• Delhi, India

• 12th-13th centuries

Spolia

recycled architectural elements, sculptures, or stones taken from an older structure and repurposed in a new building or monument

Hypostyle mosque

the earliest and most traditional style of Islamic mosque architecture, defined by a large, rectangular, open-air or covered prayer hall supported by a dense forest of numerouus columns or pillars

• Quwwat al-Islam mosque, Iron pillar & Qutb minar

• Delhi, India

• 12th-13th centuries

“Might of Islam”

• by Qutb al-Din, former slave and military commander of Muhammad of Ghur — later, the first Muslim sultan of Delhi

  • For Islam but built by Hindu craftsmen

• Main buildings:

  • Screen wall

  • Quwwat al-Islam Mosque

  • Iron Pillar

  • Qutb Minar

• Built by Hindu craftsmen with spolia fromm 27 Hindu temples destroyed by Qutbuddin — sending the message that they’re uprooting the Hindu roots of Delhi to pave the way for Islam

• Archtiectural “screen wall” made with ogival churches, who were used to making corbelled arches and never knew how to make a true arch, so the ogival arch is a little silly and not a true ogival arch

• Qutb Minar

  • Qutb = axis, or staff

  • A really tall and fat minaret

  • balconies supported by muqarnas arches and brackets, made of stone and decorated with calligraphy

• Taj Mahal

• Agra, India

• 1631-1647

Paradise garden

Gardens meant to create paradise, or heaven on earth

Iwan

Roofed or vaulted chamber open on one side, often facing the courtyard of a mosque

Chatri

elevated, dome-shaped pavilions

Jali Screen

a perforated stone, wood, or metal screen featuring intricate geometric, calligraphic, or floral lattice patterns

• Taj Mahal

• Agra, India

• 1631-1647

• Built by fifth Mughal ruler Shah Jahan for his favorite wife who died during childbirth; a tomb and also her final reseting place among a paradise on earth

• Spatial and architectural elements:

  • White marble = purity, luminosity

  • emphasis on symmetry and axiality

  • four water canals

  • evergreen trees and plants as symbol of rebirth and immortality (and tulips — cycle of life)

  • reflection pool

  • iwan with ample floral imagery; paradise

  • use of semi-precious stone in calligraphy and floral imagery

• Four-part garden: expresses idea of paradise through creation of nested hiearchy between axes and cross-axes — allude to the garden of paradise

• The Alhambra Palace

• Granada, Spain

• Nasrid: 13th-15th Centuries; Spanish rev: 16th century

• The Alhambra Palace

• Granada, Spain

• Nasrid: 13th-15th Centuries; Spanish rev: 16th century

• Built by the rulers of the Nasrid Dynasty, decendants of the Moors (Arab/Berber Muslims), who conquered Spain in the 8th century

  • palace contained rooms for adminstrative and residential functions + mosques and baths

• Court/Patio of Myrtle Trees and Comares Tower:

  • Hall of ambassadors

  • exterior court emphasizing symmetry

  • water provides mirror-like reflection

• Court of Lions: courtyard of central fountain supported on the backs of lions, and four channels of water dividing the space

  • walled garden divided into FOUR PARTS BY WATER CHANNELS WOAHH (like the Taj Mahal for its shared symbolism to the garden of paradise, as described in the Qur’an)

  • Lions were NOT from there they were from an 11th century Jewish palace lol — reference to Temple of Solooman in Jerusalem

• After it was conquered by Charles V, a lot of the original palace was destroyed and his new palace built on top of it with Italian Renaissance style — Spanish king uprooting the old Dynasty

• Royal Mosque

• Isfahan, Persia (Iran)

• 1611-1630

Four-iwan Mosque

a mosque with Iwans on all four sides

Muqarna/Muqarnas vault

a three-dimensional decorative and architectural vaulting system used in Islamic architecture

Calligraphy

decorative writings on the facades of islamic architecture, usually text from the Qur’an

Ceramic Tiles

tiles that are ceramic and decorative

• Royal Mosque

• Isfahan, Persia (Iran)

• 1611-1630

• Isfahan — a bustling city with a bazaar and allat built by safavid rulers

• Newer part (Maidan Emam) built by Shah Abbas I

  • built around a central open space covering 20 acres and surrounded by buildings to serve the local community

    • ex. shops, park with central pool of water

• Four-iwan mosque plan with central courtyard

  • axis of the mosque is different from the rest of the complex so the prayer hall is oriented to mecca

  • central couryard with iwans on either side

  • two madrasas in corners of mosque complex

• Made of noticeable polychrome teal tile with floral arabseques and several forms of calligraphy on the drum dome

• Decorated inside and out with glazed tiles

• Dome on squinches

• Chihil Suntun Palace

• Isfahan, Persia

• 1647-1707

• Chihil Suntun Palace

• Isfahan, Persia

• 1647-1707

• Ceremonial pavailion of Safavid rulers by Abbas II

• The lions are NOT FROM THERE AT ALL; spolia :3

• interior decorated with Venetian glass by the Doge of Venice bc yk he had connections

• Incan Society

• Cusco, Peru

• 15th century

• Shaped like puma — power

  • Upper temple of the Sun is at the head — importance of the Sun god

• Important districts:

  • Main plaza used for ritual and ceremony

  • Temple of the sun

  • Dewelling of royal families

  • Worker suburbs

• Important building: Temples of Sun — Saqsaywaman & Qorikancha

• Building style:

  • Houses made of stone walls and opened onto courtyard

  • Masterfull stonework seen throughought the city: stones are not of uniform shape but fit together perfectly — Megalithic, Cyclopean masonry

• Following spanish conquest, the Convent fo Santa Domingo was built on the ruins of Qorikancha

Vernacular Architecture in Africa

• nomadic peoples within western sahara of Morocco use tents as vernacular architecture

  • Portable and woven from the hair of their sheeps and goats, would be carried on the backs of said sheeps and goats, which they would move to follow food

• Kasbah: housing for the people of Morocco who settled

  • Fortified homes for multiple families made of fired brick and mudbrick — adobe

  • meant to protect and defend the people living inside from the stinky stinky colonizers

• Great Encolsure

• Great Zimbabwe, Africa

• 15th Century

• Great Encolsure

• Great Zimbabwe, Africa

• 15th Century

• “Judicial center,” “house of stone,” “ruler’s court”. Later became the name of the country itself

• created by Bantu speaking Shone people who migrated from the Sahara

• an important stop on the gold trade route to southern africa — rich

• for representing power and prestige of rulers and maybe royal residence or religious/administrative center

• curving walls made of cut granite blocks going super high. No mortor, not for defense, but for prestige

• big ahh granary — control of agricultural resources meant u had power

• Church of St. George

• Lalibela, Ethiopia

• 13 Century

• Church of St. George

• Lalibela, Ethiopia

• 12th-13th Century

• built by King Lalibela to represent “New Jerusalem” as a new site of pilgrimage

• churches represent tombs of Christ and Adam; crib of the Nativity to connect it to the holy site

• buildings carved from straight rock through a subtractive process

• Inside, the stone has been carved in shape of vautls and arches resting on square pillars and buttresses

  • also richly decorated with paint and sacred images inspired by Coptic christian art of Egypt

• Plan: greek cross — suggested replica of portable wooden altar

Renaissance Architecture in Italy

• Renaissance: revival of arts and high culture under classical influence

  • rules of classical architecture was considered hip

• Brought about the practice of Architecture being a profession and not a church-established role

• Vitruvius

  • Roman engineer and architect who wrote The Ten Books on Architecture

  • to be the go-to source in understanding legit Classical design

• Leonardy Da Vinci’s vitruvian man drawing also helped inspo through the display of the natural proportions found in men or something

• Florence cathedral: Dome left unfinished for a while bc no one knew how to make a dome that big with the current centering practices

  • da goat Brunelleschi had to win a comp and then he finished it

• San Lorenzo Old Sacristy

• San Lorezno, Florence, Italy

• Architect: Brunelleschi

• 1421-1428

• Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo “Medici Chapel”

• San Lorezno, Florence, Italy

• Architect: Brunelleschi; completed by Michelangelo

• 1421-1428

• Sacristy = Church vestry room where vestments and sacred vessels are kept

• Burial chape for Giovanni di Bicci de Medici and his wife

• Classical forms:

  • walls divided horizontally into two zones; three vertically

  • plan: square with hemispherical dome supported by pendentives (circle: heaven, square: earth) — fitting for chapel

  • classical elements: pilasters, corinthian capitals, aedicula, entablature in pietra serena with light plaster

• Santa Maria Novella

• Florence, Italy

• Renaissance facade by Alberti

• 1456-1470

• Santa Maria Novella

• Florence, Italy

• Renaissance facade by Alberti

• 1456-1470

• Had to build new facade for church with tall nave and short aisles while also keeping the existing lower part of facade

• drew inspo from Romanesque church of San Miniato al Mnte, Florence: dividing the facade and using polychrome marble

• Classical principles:

  • square module for facade

  • tall upper story like classical temple framing rose window

  • scrolls unite upper and lower parts of facade

  • portal framed by round arch in center

  • point arches above tombs at ground level united w/ polychrome decoration

• Name of Patron (Giovanni Rucellai) inscripted below pediment w/ coat of arms at the sides

• Laurentian Library

• San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy

• Began 1524 by Michelangelo

• Laurentian Library

• San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy

• Began 1524 by Michelangelo

• built above existing buildings and entered through vestibule leading up thru ground floor

• also for the Medici — the one that became a pope

• Mannerist inventions:

  • not clear what parts of wall are decorative or structural: recessed columns are supported somewhat on consoles

  • elements are compressed into small space awkwardly

  • combination of scales and a weirdly oversized staircase in a small space

michelangelo was a freakin weirdo*

• Palazzo Chiericati

• Vicenza

• Architect: Palladio

• 1550-1552

• Palazzo Chiericati

• Vicenza

• Architect: Palladio

• 1550-1552

• Built as residence for the Chiericati family

• Classical elements:

  • orders

  • tripartite design

  • projected central section

    • piano nobile on second floor

    • loggias on each side & ground floor

  • Triangular & round pediments above windows w/ ionic columns and pedestals

  • doric entablature with triglyphs and metopes

• Tripartite: seperating into three: one projected while those on either side receded; seperation of spaces

• Château à Chambord

• Chambord, France

• Architect: Domenico da Cortona

• 1519-1547, 17th century

• Château à Chambord

• Chambord, France

• Architect: Domenico da Cortona

• 1519-1547, 17th century

• Comissioned by King Francois I but completed by Louis 14th in 17th century

• Combination of medieval and renaissance

  • Medieval: outer wall connected by four corner towers and a central keep with four towers + a moat (but they don’t really do anything defensive and are just for nastoligc purposes

  • Renaissance: pilasters, horizontal string course, cornice and balustrade, modular design with the greek cross square plan (also that dope double spiral staircase based on Da Vinci’s thingy magig)

• The Palace Royale (Place des Vosges)

• Paris, France

• 1605-1612

• The Palace Royale (Place des Vosges)

• Paris, France

• 1605-1612

• Comissioned by the French king as a way to promote the economy and bring in income from the Royal treasury

• Design elements:

  • large central square accessed by city streets

  • townhouses on all four sides (businesses on first floors)

  • Functions: royal ceremonies, promenade for citizens of Paris, residential district with shops

• Win-win solution: businessmen could have a place to do business, the community would flourish and the royal treasury would get some money back

also mansard roofs came from here because the french didn’t wanna pay property taxes*

Why was there lack of influence from Italian Renaissance in England?

Henry 6th kept divorcing his wifes and didn’t want approval from the (italian) pope and so they had the big English church reformation, where Henry the 6th established the English church and vandilized anything catholic because he now had beef with the pope and anything italian

• Hardwick Hall

• Derbyshire, England

• Architect: Robert Smythson

• 1590-1597

• Hardwick Hall

• Derbyshire, England

• Architect: Robert Smythson

• 1590-1597

• Comissioned by Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury aka “Bess of Hardwick”

  • she literally has her initials in the gable strapwork on the roof “ES”

• her residence with places for family and entertainment of guests (like da queen)

• Classical elements:

  • symmetrical plan

  • horizontal frieze

  • strong course

  • columns

  • balustrades

• Queen’s House

• Greenwich, England

• Architect: Indigo Jones

• began 1616

• Queen’s House

• Greenwich, England

• Architect: Indigo Jones

• began 1616

• For Queen Anne, wife of James I — their residence and a means to introduce renaissance architecture to England

• Classical elements: Characteristics of Palladio

  • Symmetry

  • proportion

  • tripartite facade

  • balustrade

  • cornice

  • frieze (no decor)

  • ionic columns

  • rustifcication — heavier masonry at bottom

  • Great Gall is also a perfect cube: interest in proportions