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DICTIONARY, LETTER C

Technique of Corbelling in Architecture

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“The corbel arch and corbel vault use the technique [of corbelling] to make openings in walls and to form ceilings”. A corbelled (false) roof or vault and a corbelled arch are prototypes of their structural counterparts in the history of architecture.

Corbelling dome and a false arch based on a lintel inside Atreus Tholos Tomb, Mycenae. Photo by Sharon Mollerus (2009). CC BY 2.0. Photo source: “Skarbiec Atreusza” (2020). Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia.

The corbelled vault usually occurs in a form of an elevated roof constructed using horizontal and successive layers of stone slabs or bricks that gradually overlap each other, inwards. As a result of such a process, a false vault or dome is created. The top of the corbelled roof is closed with a single capstone which spans the remaining space or void between the overhung stone slabs. “[In the] technique of corbelling, […] rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or parapet” (“Corbel” 2021).

In turn, corbelled arches, like structural (true) arches, are also made of stone but do not use “a wedge-shaped voussoirs converging towards” (“Corbel arch” 2021). They are cut in one beam or stone slab, or several horizontal layers of stone. Accordingly, “a corbel arch is an arch-like construction method that uses the architectural technique of corbelling to span a space or void in a structure. […] Although an improvement in load-bearing efficiency over the post and lintel design, [corbelled] arches are not entirely self-supporting structures, and the [corbelled] arch is sometimes termed a false arch for this reason” (Ibid.)

Featured image: A corbelled (false) arch in the Royal Palace of Ugarit, Bronze Age Syria. Photo by Disdero (2005). CC BY 3.0. Photo and caption source: “Corbel arch” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Corbel” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3uXNJhV>. [Accessed 7th June, 2021].

“Corbel arch” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/2SjnC83>. [Accessed 7th June, 2021].

“Skarbiec Atreusza” (2020). Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3wYMOiE>. [Accessed 7th June, 2021].

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, pp. 241,380. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Darvill T. (2009). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. Available at <https://bit.ly/2TazfOs>. [Accessed 7th June, 2021].

DICTIONARY, LETTER G

Guttae in the Architecture of Classical Greece

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Latin: gutta (singular); guttae (plural) – ‘drops’.

Found uniquely the Doric order entablature in Greek classical architecture (900 BC. – 1st century AD.), guttae are the conical projecting ornaments. They are situated under each triglyph of a frieze, which a set of guttae always goes with. In turn, a row of six guttae, located at the top of the architrave blocks, formed an element called a regula, located just below the narrow projection of the taenia (fillet). 

Guttae, see also Image: Droppar, fig 2, Nordisk familjebok.png. Photo in Nordisk familjebok (1907), vol.6, p. 876. Public domain. Photo and caption source: “Gutty” (2021). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia.

“In It is thought that the guttae were a skeuomorphic representation of the pegs used in the construction of the wooden structures that preceded the familiar Greek architecture in stone. However, they have some functionality, as water drips over the edges, away from the edge of the building” (“Gutta” 2021).

Featured image: So-called “Temple of Poseidon”, Paestum, Italy. Photo © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro (2015). CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo and caption source: “Gutta” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Gutta” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3rOVd6Z>. [Accessed 2nd August, 2021].

“Gutty” (2021). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3ijLBhr>. [Accessed 2nd August, 2021].

Lucie-Smith, E. (2003) The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms. London: Thames & Hudson World of Art, p. 109.

DICTIONARY, LETTER F

Frontispiece and its Forms in Architecture

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From Italian: frontone.

The term frontispiece or fronton describes a commonly triangular gable surmounting the facade of an ancient temple in classical architecture (Greece, Rome, Renaissance, Classicism), or in one that uses classical forms. As such it can also be referred to as a pediment. Yet a frontispiece can also take the shape of the middle avant-corps (projection) of a building’s facade. Its inner field, both smooth or carved, is called a tympanum. In antiquity, the tympanum was usually filled with sculptural decorations.

Segmental pediment of the Library of Celsus (Ephesus, Turkey). Photo by rob Stoeltje from loenen, netherlands – DSC00815 (2011). CC BY 2.0. Colours intensified. Photo source: “Pediment” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

The triangular (pointed) frontispiece (or pediment) was developed in Greek architecture as the upper part of the ancient temple facade and constituted an important element of its portico. It was limited by the side edges of the gable roof and entablature; additionally, it was framed by a profiled cornice. The triangular frontispiece was commonly used in the architecture of ancient Rome; the Romans used a combination of a building’s façade with a frontispiece together with a flat roof in larger buildings. Later, a frontispiece appeared in Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism, as the top of the facades of secular and mainly sacred architecture.

Door with a broken and open pediment, with a cartouche in it. Passage Landrieu (n°7) – Paris VII. Photo by Mbzt (2013). CC BY-SA 3.0. Colours intensified. Photo source: “Pediment” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

In baroque architecture, next to the triangular frontispiece, there are also a curved (semi-oval) segmental type and a frontispiece broken in the upper part. Whereas the segmental variant takes the form of an arc of a circle, the broken type is usually interrupted by a sculptural composition or a cartouche in its center, with the side parts of its profiled cornice remaining. “Another variant of the broken type is the swan’s neck pediment […] with two ‘S’-shaped profiles, resembling a swan’s neck” (“Pediment” 2021). A following feature of the Baroque style is the bending of the pediment, mainly in the part of the entablature by making its individual parts protrude in steps in front of the elevation. In turn, the so-called open frontispiece (pediment) is broken along the base and mainly adopted in Mannerist architecture.

Small frontispieces (pediments) based on columns, pilasters or corbels, crowning entrances and window openings, recesses and niches, are characteristic of modern architecture. Pediments with entablature based on columns are also found in altars and tombstones. Although “a frontispiece is the combination of elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building” (“Frontispiece (architecture)” 2021), defining the facade of the building with the term frontispiece or pediment is incorrect.

The Madeleine Church in Paris. The sculpture from the pediment (1830-1837) by Pierre-Jean David depict St Geneviève. The original uploader was Shahee at English Wikipedia. – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons (2006). CC BY-SA 2.5. Colours intensified. Photo source: “Pediment” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Featured image: Illustrations with the sculptures of the two pediments of the Parthenon. James Stuart & Nicholas Revett. The Antiquities of Athens measured and delineated by James Stuart F.R.S. and F.S.A. and Nicholas Revett, Painters and Αrchitects, London, John Nichols, 1794. Public domain. Colours intensified. Photo source: “Pediment” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Frontispiece (architecture)” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3awE8Yt>. [Accessed 18th February, 2021].

“Pediment” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3bgG2eT>. [Accessed 17th February, 2021].

Davidson Cragoe C. (2012). Jak czytać architekturę. Najważniejsze informacje o stylach i detalach [How to Read Architecture], Romkowska E. trans., pp. 105, 161. Warszawa: Arkady.

Koch W. (2009) Style w architekturze. Arcydzieła budownictwa europejskiego od antyku po czasy współczesne. [Baustilkunde], pp. 440, 496. Baraniewski W., Kunkel R., Omilanowska M., Sito J., Zięba A., Żak K. trans. Warszawa: Świat Książki.

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 125. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

DICTIONARY, LETTER E

Eaves – Functional and Decorative Detail in Architecture

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The lower edges of the roof slope extending beyond the side of a building and overhang the face of the wall to protect it from rainwater running off. “The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural style, such as the Chinese dougong bracket systems. […] The eaves may also protect a pathway around the building from the rain, prevent erosion of the footings, and reduce splatter on the wall from rain as it hits the ground” (“Eaves” 2021).

In wooden constructions, eaves can also form a canopy (drip), a narrow, single-pitched roof, overhang at a certain height on the external walls of the building, most often between the gable and the wall (in Poland). It can also be based on the ends of the beams or logs or on special short corbels, called crosses. In taller wooden buildings, eaves protect the wall or its fragments, most often the foundation, against rainfall, and also act as an architectural division.

A single-pitched or gable roof over a gate, wicket, wall or fence is also called a drip or eaves canopy.

Featured image: The eaves canopy protects the foundation in the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Mikołów-Paniowy (Poland). Photo by EwkaC (2008). CC BY-SA 3.0. Colours intensified. Photo source: “Daszek okapowy” (2020). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Daszek okapowy” (2020). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/2ZFGNsA>. [Accessed 22nd February, 2021].

“Eaves” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/37yoKsD>. [Accessed 22nd February, 2021].

“Obdaszek” (2016). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3pF93WV>. [Accessed 22nd February, 2021].

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, pp. 281, 285. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

DICTIONARY, LETTER D

Doric Order in Ancient Greek and Roman Architecture

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The Doric order “was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian” (“Doric order” 2021). It is characterized by heavy proportions, austerity and monumentality.

Classical Greek Architecture. Example of the Doric Order: 1. Tympanum, 2. Acroterion, 3. Sima, 4. Cornice, 5. Mutule, 7. Frieze, 8. Triglyph, 9. Metope, 10. Regula, 11. Gutta, 12. Taenia, 13. Architrave, 14. Capital, 15. Abacus, 16. Echinus, 17. Column, 18. Fluting, 19. Stylobate. Drawing by Napoleon Vier (2005). CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo and caption source: “Sima (architecture)” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Doric columns do not have a base and are directly supported on a stylobate. They either have a fluted shaft: from 18 to 20 sharply cut grooves or a smooth-surfaced shaft. In any case it is tapered upwards, with a slight bulge (enthase) at 1/2 or 2/3 of its height. It has a head consisting of echinus and abacus.

Doric entablature consists of a smooth architrave, a frieze is divided into triglyphs and metopes (square spaces for either painted or sculpted decoration). Beneath each triglyph and below a flat band (taenia), separating the architrave from the frieze, there is the so-called regula (a row of six gutae). “[In] the frieze, […] the two features originally unique to the Doric [are] the triglyph and guttae; [they] are skeuomorphic memories of the beams and retaining pegs of the wooden constructions that preceded stone Doric temples. [But in] stone they are purely ornamental” (“Doric order” 2021). Above the frieze, there is, in turn, a flattened plate (modillion) with looking like water drops, three rows of mutules, supporting the cornice. A cornice (geison) often ends with a gutter (sim) with spouts and antefixes, located above.

Mandatory in the Doric order is the so-called triglyph rule (a correct spacing of the triglyphs), which strictly defines the arrangement of triglyphs on the frieze. It was, however, difficult to apply in monumental structures, which eventually may have caused the abandonment of the Doric architectural order in the Hellenistic period.

The Doric order was initiated “on the Greek mainland in the late seventh century [BC.] and remained the predominant order for Greek temple construction through the early fifth century [BC.], although notable buildings built later in the Classical period—especially the canonical Parthenon in Athens—still employed it” (Khan Academy 2021).

View of the Rhodian Apollo Temple, which used to be in the Doric order. Copyright©Archaeotravel.

After Vitruvius (81-15 BC.), a Roman author and architect, “the height of Doric columns is six or seven times the diameter at the base, [which] gives the Doric columns a shorter, thicker look than Ionic columns, which have 8:1 proportions. It is suggested that these proportions give the Doric columns a masculine appearance, whereas the more slender Ionic [or Corinthian] columns appear to represent a more feminine look. This sense of masculinity and femininity was often used to determine which type of column would be used for a particular structure” (“Doric order” 2021).

Featured image: Two early Archaic Doric order Greek temples at Paestum (Italy) with much wider capitals than later. Photo by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta – Own work (2013). CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo and caption source: “Doric order” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Sima (architecture)” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/2PSDVaC>. [Accessed on 6th May, 2021].

“Doric order” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3b7TORX>. [Accessed on 6th May, 2021].

Khan Academy (2021). “Greek architectural orders. The Doric order”. In: Khan Academy. Available at <https://bit.ly/2PXIroq>. [Accessed on 6th May, 2021].

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 327. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.