Essay on the Doric Order of Architecture

For early civilizations from Egypt, the Middle and Near East, and Crete, an architectural statement was their system of tombs, temples, or palaces, which varied over time due to changes in architectural styles. From the exterior, they appear strongly built, however, on the inside they had a layout of many open spaces that ranged in size. A larger number of concealed closed room-like spaces appeared claustrophobic. Moreover, in Egypt, the cult of the dead believed the more rooms you had in your burial chamber the wealthier you are, which shows that beliefs influenced Egyptian architecture. For most of these civilizations, these spaces were layered out in a regular pattern. To this day tombs, palaces, and temples still exist. However, the most repeated and used feature in the history of styles are the columns, as they originated from the classical Geek and Roman architecture.

Baumgart (1969, page 22) stated that no one truly knows when Greek architecture was invented. However, the most common assumption was that it was around the ninth century. The Greek orders are the most popular feature of Greek architecture that has been used in all kinds of architectural styles. For example, Greek architecture and Roman architecture are the styles that have been an inspiration for many future architectural styles, the Greeks focused on using columns as part of construction and Romans used them as decoration. Over the years the meaning of the columns started to change and their proportion, which originated from the human body, changed as buildings became not only habitable spaces but forms of art. This has enabled people to put aside the rules of proportion of the original Greek order and as time passes and architecture evolves, expression of art through building is seen more and more as not only architects but artists design buildings too, therefore the rules need to be bent to allow for creativity.

There are three main Greek orders the Doric (male), Ionic (female) and Corinthian (Androgynous) mainly used for building temples in Ancient Greek as usually the whole temple is surrounded by columns. They are still being used till this day, as you look around Greek architecture surrounds us.

the Greek temple starting from the space on the top there is a Pediment which is a triangular shape that is not officially part of the Greek order, sometimes filled with sculpture. Moving down there is the Entablature, which is the art of the Greek order, it’s split into the top part and the plain bottom part. The top is called the Frieze and is decorated in a specific way according to the Doric order using triglyphs and Metopes. Triglyphs meaning three is the recurring pattern of three vertical lines located in the Frieze and between the lines are the Metopes which just like Pediment are usually filled with sculptures. The Doric order started in the 7th century in the mainland of Greece. This column has no base going straight to the floor and its undecorated capital is located at the top of the column and consists of a slab that’s right underneath the Entablature, more over underneath the slab we have a simple flare. This order is the simplest one of all three. It has been referred to as the masculine column because it's broad, quite short, and heavy looking. The column itself is also called a shaft which in the Doric order has vertical lines that have been dented, also called flutes. The ionic orders are more feminine as they look much more delicate, tall, and thinner compared to the Doric order. The most distinguished feature of the ionic order is the capital as you can see the scrolled shapes known as volutes. It also has different types of fluting and a base which is the same for the Corinthian order. The Corinthian order is much more heavily decorated at the capital than the last two Greek orders, with what looks like a wreath of leaves. They are taller than the Doric order however no one is a hundred percent sure of their origin. There is a story that talks about a girl who died at a very young age, with all of her possessions secured in a basket that was put on top of where she was buried underneath the basket a leafy plant started to grow, and with the basket having a tile on top of it resembles the Corinthian capital however no one knows if that story is a hundred percent true or just a myth.

Arches, Vaults, and Domes are also very common throughout the historical architectural styles. Arches are curved structures that are either free-standing or supporting some type of weight. Their form is pure compression without any tensions. The arches went through different forms such as the circular or also called the true arch which was common in Ancient Roman. The pointed arch was very so Gothic architecture the Parabolic arch was wider and mainly used for bridges. There are many types of arches because they were always used within styles but changed as new construction methods were discovered. Arches also led to vaults as they consist of arche though they provide a space with a ceiling or a roof. You can also have singular to multiple vaults some of which joined together becoming one bigger vault that has a mini vault within. Moreover, Domes that are quite popular in churches are rounded vaults that form the roof of a building or just a structure, usually with a base that is curricular.

Roman architecture was much larger in terms of scale than Greek architecture, including more supportive walls, domes, arches, and vaults. Moreover, the Greek order was still used however the purpose wasn’t the same as it was in Greek architecture where it was part of the construction whereas in Roman architecture it was merely used for decoration because of the new materials and constructing methods that were being used during that time allowing for bigger buildings to exists that had bigger open spaces inside them. Also developed were the engineering structures creating bridges and aqueducts. Roman architecture was a step up from the older civilization as it had things that didn’t exist before, new inventions but that is due to the discovery of new materials and methods. Just like the Greek orders Romans took the Doric, ionic and Corinthian orders but also developed two new columns that were inspired by the Greek order, creating the Roman orders. However, it wasn’t until the Renaissance that were named and official orders referred to as Tuscan and Composite which were even more plain than the Doric order. The Tuscan order is a simplified version of the Doric order. The differences are in that it has a base, but no fluting which is where you see one of the things being simplified. It’s similar in proportions however it looks much tougher than the Doric and the rest of the orders. The Composite order is a mixture of Corinthian and Ionic with the capital having both similar volutes to the ionic and leafy decoration like the Corinthian. It was never regarded as separate like the rest of the orders mainly because it was seen as a later Roman variation of the Corinthian order, but when the renaissance began, it was finally recognised as a separate order that fell into the category of Roman orders. Aside from the Roman orders the Roans also created the Superposed order which is an order that consists of columns that are spread out on the exterior of a building that has multiple floors. With Doric being at the bottom as it’s heaviest middle would be the ionic and lastly at the top it would be either the Corinthian or the composite order. This kind of order was also seen in the Renaissance.

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Throughout the Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, the use of arches and vaults was kept just like in Roman architecture. One thing didn’t change and that was the use of the columns however their capitals were constantly changing. Byzantine architecture was also seen as the later Eastern Roman architecture and Byzantium was also referred to as the New Rome, later changed to Constantinople and currently called Istanbul. That specific style also really influenced medieval architecture across Europe and the Near East, later influencing the Renaissance and Ottonian architecture. Byzantine architecture was common in Rome and areas surrounding Rome and when Christianity was accepted as a primary religion in Rome just like the dead cults in Egypt influenced the architectural design the religion Christianity influenced a whole style as architects had to respond to the new religion changing the churches into two types the basilica and other church plans. The early churches were simple in design very functional and cost-efficient.

A big change was seen in Carolingian and Ottonian Architecture or other words early Romanesque architecture as their wall exteriors were plain. Just like previous styles the arches were heavily used however vaults were not so much. Moreover, columns were once again used but this time to support the building without the human proportions that were initially used for columns in the Greek order changing them even further from the classical order. Another refreshing change was that instead of domes, towers became more popular in early Christian and Byzantine architecture.

Just like in Roman architecture, Romanesque architecture was very well known for the various types of vaults that were used as well as the strong walls. Columns are once again used without its classical proportion only this time called half columns as they have completely lost the proportion they originally had.

In opposition to Greek architecture, symmetry in Early and High Gothic architecture wasn’t of great deal but there were still some Greek proportions that remained. This type of architecture was indeed very similar to Roman because it introduced new architectural elements. Unnoticed goes the increased height of the buildings. The later Gothic architecture was much improved in terms of proportions as they were clearer and more precise but moved even further away from the classical styles. It is also very rich in decorations.

The Renaissance brought back more features from classical styles, keeping the classical proportions, but just like the Roman architecture they weren’t part of the construction as much as they were important construction-wise in Greek architecture. Nevertheless, they were much smaller compared to the columns used in Roman architecture. A collection of architects in the Renaissance period came up with the Giant order which was used to extend the height of a minimum of 2 or more floors using columns.

Baroque architecture construction was carried from the Renaissance; however, it was also the early start of Neoclassical architecture which was fully brought back around the 1800-1900 centuries. This is one of the most popular types of architecture. Fairly used in Britain, in places such as London a closer example to me is the New Walk Museum in Leicester, which shows great examples of Greek symmetry and proportions. Moreover, the Neoclassical architectural style evolved in Italy and France with the base of the three Vitruvian principles of quality, beauty, and usefulness, which goes back to the Greco-Roman classic architectural style, with the help of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio was a very influential in his time. Neoclassical architecture is everywhere around us and is still being used but probably being referred to New classical architecture rather than Neoclassical.

Bibliography:

1. Baumgart, F.B (c1970). A History of Architectural Styles.
2. Kostof, S; Tobias, R; Castillo, G (1995). A history of architecture: settings and rituals.
3. Lawrence, W; Tomlinson, R. A. (1996) Greek architecture
4. Jones, M. W. (C2000) Principles of Roman architecture