Understanding Architecture

Its Elements, History, and Meaning

Filed under Architecture, Notes

First edition of the introductory textbook to Western architecture which defines structure, function, history, and meaning. The second part, “The History and Meaning of Architecture”, is a chronological survey of Western architectural development from prehistoric times to the present. Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps, and plans. Written by Leland M. Roth, Professor of Architectural History emeritus at the University of Oregon.

List of Maps……xii
List of Illustrations……xiii
Preface……xxix

Introduction: Architecture, the Unavoidable Art……1

PART ONE: THE ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE……6

1 “Commoditie”: How Does the Building Function?……8

2 “Firmeness”: How Does the Building Stand Up?……18
The Post and Lintel……22
Frames……27
The Arch……27
Vaults……29
Trusses……33
Space Frames and Geodesic Domes……34
Shells……37
Suspension Structures……38
Membrane (Tent) and Inflated Structures……31
Technology and Risk……42
Structure as Cultural Expression……43

3 “Delight”: Space in Architecture……44

4 “Delight”: Seeing Architecture……56
Visual Perception……57
Proportion……62
Scale……65
Rhythm……67
Texture……70
Light and Color……75
Ugliness……78
Ornament……79

5 “Delight”: Architectural Acoustics, Shape, and Sound……90

6 The Architecture: From High Priest to Professional……104

7 Architecture, Memory, and Economics……120

8 Architecture, Memory, and Economics……134

PART TWO: THE HISTORY AND MEANING OF ARCHITECTURE……136

Chronological Table……138

Cover of the book. Bold white text overlays a rising red shape trailed by a vibrating sunny-orange afterimage, on a dark background like dawn lighting up the night. Lining the bottom of the cover are a series of photographs of the literary and artistic figures covered by Voronsky in his essays. To the left is poster art celebrating Soviet literature and ten years of Soviet power.

Written by Leland M. Roth

ISBN 0-06-4301583-4

542 pages

Published 1993 by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
New York, New York


Available from:

9 The Invention of Architecture: From Caves to Cities……140
Terra Amata (Nice, France)……141
Neanderthal Culture……143
Homos sapiens’ Houses……144
Neolithinc Dwellings……147
Stonehenge……149
Skara Brae……152
The First Cities……153
Çatalhöyük……153
Mesopotamian Cities……156
Inventing Architecture and the City……156

10 Egyptian Architecture……158
The Landscape of Egypt……159
The Culture of Egypt……161
Egyptian History……164
The Step Pyraamid of Zoser at Saqqara……165
The Pyramids at Giza……167
Egyptian Villages and Houses……171
The Tomb of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri……175
The Emple of Amon at Karnak……175
Late Egyptian Architecture……180
An Architecture of Permanence……180

11 Greek Architecture……140
The Geography of Greece……183
Minoan and Mycenaean Greece……185
The Greek Character……187
The Greek Polis……189
Greek City Planning……191
Domestic Architecture……193
Public Buildings……195
The Greek Temple……197
Hellenistic Architecture……209
An Architecture of Excellence……210

12 Roman Architecture ……212
Roman History……213
The Roman Character……215
Roman Religion and the Roman Temple……216
Roman Urban Planning……218
The Enclosure and Manipulation of Space……222
Domestic Architecture……228
Public Buildings……230
Roman “Baroque” Architecture……235
An Architecture of Universality……236








Rendered in this book as “Çatal Höyük”.

13 Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture……238
The Transformation of the Roman Empire……239
Early Christian Architecture……241
~Constantine’s Churches~……242
~Post-Constantinian Developments~……251
Byzantine Architecture……253
~Justinian’s Churches~……253
~Later Byzantine Churches~……260
An Architecture of Heaven……262

14 Early Mediaeval Architecture……264
The Carolingian Renaissance……266
Mediaeval Domestic Architecutre and Castles……267
Mediaeval Monasteries……271
~Saint-Martin-du-Canigou~……273
~The Saint Gall Monastery Plan~……274
~The Monastery at Cluny~……274
Romanesque Churches……276
~Saint Michael’s Hildesheim~……278
~Pilgrimage Churches~……278
~Sainte-Foy, Conques~……280
~Saint-Sernin, Toulouse~……282
~Saint-Philibert, Tournous~……282
~Romanesque in Italy~……285
~Durham Cathedral~……286
An Architecture of Refuge……288

15 Gothic Architecture ……290
Political and Social Changes—The Re-emergence of the City……291
Religious Changes—Scholasticism……293
The Gothic Cathedral……293
~The Abbey Church at Saint-Denis~……294
~Notre-Dame of Amiens~……296
~Saint-Pierre, Beauvais~……303
~Salisbury Cathedral~……305
~The Sainte-Chapelle, Paris~……306
Wooden-Roofed Churches……306
Late Gothic Churches……307
Domestic and Public Architecture……311
An Architecture of Aspiration……314

16 Renaissance and Mannerist Architecture……316
Italy in the Fifteenth Century……318
The Renaissance Patron……318
Humanism……319
Vitruvius and Ideal Form……321
Brunelleschi and Rationally Ordered Space……324
Ideal Form and the Centrally Planned Church……325
Alberti’s Latin Cross Churches……325
Bramante and the New Saint Peter’s, Rome……331
Residential Architecture—Merchant Prince Palaces……338
~The Palazzo de’ Medici~……338
~The Palazzo Rucellai~……340
~The Palazzo Farnese~……341
~The Villas of Palladio~……341
Mannerism—The Renaissance in Transition……343
The Palazzo del Te……347
Late Renaissance Gardens……349
The Renaissance Exported……352
An Architecture of Humanist Ideals……354

17 Baroque and Rococo Architecture……356
An Architecture for the Senses……358
Roma Baroque Churches……358
An Architecture of Emotional Impact……361
The Central Plan Modified……365
~Bernini’s Churches~……365
~Borromini’s Churches~……368
~Guarini’s Churches~……372
Baroque Scale……373
The Spread of the Baroque Outside Italy……376
~French Baroque—Versailles~……376
~English Baroque~……379
The Baroque Staircase……385
Rococo Architecture—The End of the Baroque……389
~The Amalienburg~……391
~Verzehnheiligen~……391
An Architecture of Artifice……394

18 Architecture in the Age of Enlightenment, 1720–1800……396
Reinventing a Rational Architecture……399
Sainte-Geneviève, Paris……402
“Speaking Architecture”……404
Designing the City……407
The English Garden……409
Eclecticism—The Architecture of Choice……413
Revolution and Architecture……416
An Architecture of Rationality……418

19 Architecture in the Nineteenth Century……420
Neoclassicism……422
The Gothic Revival……426
~The Houses of Parliament, London~……426
~Saint Giles, Cheadle~……430
Creative Eclecticism……431
~Second Empire Baroque~……431
~High Victorian Gothic~……435
The Architecture of the New Industrialism……436
~The Impact of Industry~……436
~Reactions to the Machine~……439
~Industry and Urbaan Growth~……441
Rational Eclecticism—The École des Beaux-Arts……442
An Architecture of Pragmatic Utility and Symbolic Expression……452

20 Early-Twentieth-Century Architecture: The Perfection of Utility……458
Architecture: “The will of the age conceived in spatial terms”……464
~Peter Behrens (1868–1940)~……464
~Walter Gropius (1883–1969)~……467
~Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969)~……469
~Le Corbusier (1887–1966)~……473
An Architecture of Perfection Function: Success or Failure?……479

21 Late-Twentieth-Century Architecture: A Question of Meaning ……484
German Expressionism (1918–1930)……485
Neoexpressionism (1955–1970)……487
“Both/And” Architecture……501
Late Modernism……503
Post-Modernism……505
An Architecture of Substance……514

Glossary……519
Index……531

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The first edition contains a mistyping of the sections and subsections of Chapter 13, which I’ve corrected on this webpage.