Ancient Greek architecture | EPFL Graph Search

Ancient Greek architecture came from the Greek-speaking people (Hellenic people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Anatolia and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC. Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, with the Parthenon regarded, now as in ancient times, as the prime example. Most remains are very incomplete ruins, but a number survive substantially intact, mostly outside modern Greece. The second important type of building that survives all over the Hellenic world is the open-air theatre, with the earliest dating from around 525–480 BC. Other architectural forms that are still in evidence are the processional gateway (propylon), the public square (agora) surrounded by storied colonnade (stoa), the town council building (bouleuter

Origini costruttive della colonna greca

Maria Chiara Barone

Despite the large number of writings on the Vitruvian theory relating to the mythical wood-worked origins of the Greek temple, there has been no recent writing on Ancient Greek buildings before De Architectura was published, in the period between the appearance of the first dwelling-houses and the definitive affirmation of the use of stone in the building of temples. Taking into consideration the fundamental constructive and symbolic element of the Greek temple, the column, this research analyses the evolution from the first rudimentary punctiform vertical structures used in Neolithic houses to the arrival of the complete transformation of the simple vertical support into a column, first realized in perishable materials and later in stone. The definitive statement of the architecture of whole temples entirely in stone constitutes the finishing post of this research. This study brings to light the principal firm data on which the reconstruction of the look of vertical punctiform structures rests, that is the column base. Such a construction element has been archaeologically documented from Neolithic buildings to those of the seventh century B.C. The column base will be interpreted with a wider meaning, including not only all the architectural supports on which a vertical support rests, but also the materials into which a support is driven. In this way, it has been possible to define as column supports all the natural dips in the land used to hold vertical supports, as well as stone foundations. Consequently, different sorts of columns bases, often in close relationship to the kinds of buildings adopted into them, have been singled out. Following the guiding thread of column-base development in different periods and geographical contexts, a line of development of the column base and its relative support takes us progressively towards the creation of the stone column.

EPFL2010

Stratégie versus composition

Adrien Besson

To avoid chaos and arbitrariness architects have traditionally looked for ways to structure buildings as wholes that can be factorised into parts. This approach to the nature of architecture is that of composition. After the Second World War, the world of architecture saw the development of new ways of conceiving of buildings. One of the most prominent of which appeals to strategies. This development, which first occurred in painting and sculpture, leads to a rejection of composition. In their rejection of composition, many post-war American artists abandoned the notion that there should be any equilibrium or relational properties between the parts that constitute a work of art. In architecture, rejecting composition goes by looking for strategies that are determined by the programmatic, urbanistic and cultural contexts to which a contemporary building has to adapt. Also, lack of land entails an urban density so that by necessity – by non-choice – buildings have to be shaped by contextual boundaries, which makes it impossible to conceive of these buildings according to the precepts of composition. Since the 1960s, buildings or architectural complexes have had to be able to evolve, to adapt to new usage. This requires architects to think of them in a new way, according to a logic of indeterminate – thus non-composed – planes. Further, architects abandon composition in that they start looking for arrangements that are already present in the surrounding visible world and integrate them to the projection of buildings by the strategy of transfer. The key hypothesis of this study is that composed planes came to be replaced by strategies such as non-choice and transfer that generate neutral arrangements – neutral because their parts cannot be factorised from the whole; because these parts are without intrinsic individuality. Understood as a body of actions mapping shapes to contextual parameters, these strategies also require us to rethink the notions of subjectivity and of the self-effacing of a project's author. For instance a transfer is generated by a certain automatism of the form, as opposed to a preconceived architectural intention. This study reviews and analyses these strategies, these new modes of architectural arrangements. It does so by examining recent buildings and projects and also by drawing parallels with the plastic arts. Its aim is to articulate these new complex forms so as to offer a conceptual grid of contemporary architecture.

EPFL2009

Towards Advanced Active Façades

Angela Clua Longas, Sophie Lufkin

In Switzerland, as in many European countries, new energy directives focus on decreasing the carbon footprint of buildings by promoting passive and active energy strategies and systems. Among the latter, Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), which function both as envelope materials and electricity producers, are rapidly improving their performance. However, their potential remains largely unrealized due to diverse barriers. Among them, the poor expressive qualities of many BIPV products are preventing architects from using these systems. In reaction, and with the goal of bridging the gap between technology and designers, a new façade concept has been developed integrating BIPV expressive issues. This is the goal of the Advanced Active Façades (AAF) concept, which results from analyzing the evolution of façade requirements and solutions over time. The AAF combines passive and active façade design strategies.

2017

Stratégie versus composition

Adrien Besson

EPFL2009