Timeline Project- 1450

1450 AD

A. Institutions

• 1. Diquis region of Southern Costa Rica use ceramic and granite as permanent markers for ritual ceremonies.
• 2. Hagia Sophia (previously part of Constantinople) was converted to a mosque, which it remained until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century.
• 3. Greek language and culture revival supports humanistic thought of the Renaissance.
• 4. As an act of filial piety Charles the VII pays to complete the tomb of Jean de Berry.
• 5. Leon Battista Alberti writes treatises that fully integrate the classical orders of architecture.
• 6. Pazzi family hires sculptors to decorate the Pazzi chapel that serves as a chapter house for the friars of the Church of Santa Croce and as a family chapel.
• 7. Frederick V the Habsburg king of Germany is crowned Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III.
• 8. Kirttivasa’s Ramayana written in India
• 9. Hotel de Ville is built as the town hall in Brussels, Belgium
• 10. University of Glasgow founded.

B. Governance

• 1. Italy exists as republics ruled by patrons.
• 2. Alfanso the V of Aragon and Sicily initiates urbanization and restoration efforts throughout his territories.
• 3. Ottoman Empire continues to expand through Middle East, the Anatolian Peninsula and Asia.
• 4. Orient (Japan, China and Korea) experience political turmoil.
• 5. Byzantine empire falls to the Ottomans under Mehmed II
• 6. War of Roses erupts in Great Britain (1455)
• 7. End of the Hundred Years War (1453)
• 8. Mexico: Montezuma I expands Aztec power
• 9. The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent sent to the English Government listing grievances about the weak and corrupt government.
• 10. Jack Cade leads the Southwark revolt in London, taking the tower and beheading the treasurer of state.

C. Commerce

• 1. 1450-Johannes Guttenberg invents the printing press
• 2. Ivan the Great III hires architect Aristotle Fiorivanti to travel from Italy to Moscow to design buildings that would fortify cities against invading Turkish Armies.
• 3. Portuguese acquire land in Africa providing them with a competitive source for slaves. Monopoly on slave trade begins.
• 4. Southeast Asia enters the Age of Commerce.
• 5. First Guttenberg-Bible printed c.1455
• 6. Portugal: Henry the Navigator opens school at Sagres
• 7. Italy: Production of clear glass perfected. Exported for use in glass artworks.
• 8. China: First exportation of Ming porcelain
• 9. Capitalism affects the guild system. Guild membership becomes open for purchase.
• 10. Arabian countries begin to import Ethiopian coffee.

D. Technology

• 1. Beauty is based on well-balanced proportions. Alberti’s De re aedifactoria (On Building) “Beauty is that reasoned harmony of all the parts within a body, so that nothing can be added, taken away or altered, but for the worse.”
• 2. Leonardo da Vinci born in 152
• 3. Aqueducts in Rome are renovated by Pope Nicholas V
• 4. The Clun Bridge is completed in Shropshire, UK to accommodate packhorses.
• 5. Development of the three-field system in Europe leads to increase in agriculture
• 6. Cannons are used in battles. Though they can only be fired a few times a day, they pack quite a punch. The final battle of the Hundred Years War is won by the French due to the devastating power of their cannons.
• 7. Spring driven clocks emerge in London.
• 8. The caravel, a type of sailing ship is invented and adapted by Mediterranean countries for sailing down the west coast of Africa.
• 9. The matchlock, predecessor to the musket is invented.
• 10. Master E.S of Germany produces the first engravings to be sold as art.

1450 BC

A. Institutions

• 1. Volcano at Santorini erupts, destroying the city.
• 2. Egyptians use the Valley of the Kings as a burial ground.
• 3. Thothmes III, a priest of the temple of Amon becomes the King of Egypt, ensuring the building of many future temples
• 4. The first of four Vedas written in India
• 5. According to some…1456 BC was the year that Moses led the Jews out of Egypt to wander in the desert for 40 years.
• 6. The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut is designed and built to honor the sun G-d in honor of the queen.

B. Governance

• 1. Greeks conquer the Minoans.
• 2. The Mycenaeans destroy the great palace at Knossos.
• 3. Battle of Meggido between Canaan and Thothmes is the first battle recorded accurately and broadly accepted
• 4. Korea- fall of the Gojoseon
• 5. Assyria is in tumult. Nur-ili dies, his son Ashur-shaduni takes power and is overthrown less than a month later.
• 6. Queen Hatshepsut, fifth pharaoh of Egypt dies

C. Commerce

• 1. Glass pottery used and traded in Egypt
• 2. Hittite migrants now went farther and farther to the west, occupying lands of West Asia Minor
• 3. First Bantu migration south and eastward in Africa

D. Technology

• 1. World’s first dam constructed by the Hittites in Turkey.
• 2. Crete Achaeans discover and begin using the syllabic linear B script
• 3. Some see this as the beginning of the Bronze Age.
• 4. China produces bronzes for use in ritual ceremony

Citations for the Timeline Project:
Roth, Leland M. (2007) Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning
(Second Edition). HarperCollins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/9633774/World-events-History-Timeline500-000-BC2000-AD-
http://www.historyworld.net/
http://historyhaven.com/APWH/unit2/DEVELOPMENTS%20IN%20EUROPE.htm
http://www.nbufront.org/html/MastersMuseums/JHClarke/HistoricalPersonalities/hp4.html

Week One

Opus Project- Week One Submission- January 28, 2009
Artifact
An artifact is any item in the environment of a human. Artifacts can be any element of life than can be captured and described. Artifacts are concrete, but should possess elements that are beyond the physical. Artifacts often serve as symbols for societies that may not be obvious from description of their physical appearance.

Story-
A story is the historical portrait painted by the combining of artifacts that make up everyday life. In a story, it is important to consider more than the artifacts. One must be sure to investigate the symbols and meanings that make up the artifact.

Translation
Translation occurs when stories are investigated by people of different backgrounds and interpreted to fit their lives. Translation is useful when societies with different needs from one another are investigating stories. If a designer is to create a building that has “commodity, firmness and delight,” they must consider their needs and look past literal story with a critical eye for elements that can be used to fulfill the definition of “good” architecture.

Multiple Views
Multiple Views of a building show the complete building and are useful when looking at architecture in detail. In class, we discussed the Nautilus shell. We discussed how the shell has: furnishing, material, color and light, time (fourth dimension), sections (3rd dimension) and a meeting of the inside and outside (architecture and design).

Cycle
Cycle, in architecture, refers to the integration of the above four terms to create a self-sustaining process. This concept resonated with me. The earth is the sum of its parts; it is not able to survive without all of the parts working in harmony. As we go through time, we learn to adapt so that the earth’s cycle can stay harmonious. Often we are stuck trying to fix a mess we created, but that is what the concept of cycle is about. We learn from out mistakes and work to correct them for the future.


My Investigative Pictures-
Outside of class I struggled to wrap my brain around the section of reading that discussed the classical orders of columns. Though the book gave a hand drawn example of what each of the five classical orders looks like I still had problems creating the image of each column in my own mind.

http://media.wiley.com/assets/19/02/0-7645-5396-6_0801.jpg
• Roth- pg 30- Three parts of any distinct entablature
• Architrave-Arch beam-the blower section
• Triglyph-stylized beam-ends and Metopes- sculpted infill panels. Alternate in middle section


http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/Architec/MiddleAgesArchitectural/ClassicalArchitecture/ArchitectureGreekTemple/doric.jpg
Roth- pg 30- Doric Column- largest order, 4- 61/2 times the diameter of the column. Shaft rises from the stylobate. Has no base.
• Doric entablature
• Flute- scallops on the shaft of column
• Capital-top of column
o Echinus- outward swelling necking
o Abacus-square slab


http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/ij/images/ionic_order.jpg
Roth- pg 31- Ionic
• 24 flute shaft
• Entablature 1/5 the height of column
• Architrave of t-3 horizontal surfaces with a middle frieze
• Capital
o Volutes
• Frieze-continuous band of narrative sculpture



http://classicalstudies.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/cor.gif
Roth-Pg31-Corinthian
• Column 10 times the height of its diameter.
• 24 flutes
• Capital is the tallest of the orders with 2-3 concentric bands of outward curling leaves.
• Entablature similar to the Ionic order


• http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/Queenperth.jpg

• Roth- pg 32- Composite
• Places the volutes of the Ionic capital atop the curled leaves of the Corinthian.