Rome.

Interiors: Like the Greeks, the Romans liked their colors. The use of rich green, blue, purple, and gold were used for the majority of the Roman's color scheme of their interiors. Rich, beautiful tapestries were also a decorating style the Greeks used to cover and decorate their walls.

The discovery and use of the Arch in the Roman design and architecture was the reason behind the amount of inventiveness used by the Romans. As opposed to the Greeks who used post-and-lintel the Romans took advantage of the arch, which, in turn led to the Roman exploration of the Arch and the creation of the barrel vault and dome adding to the architectural potential. That being said, the majority of the design process was focused on the exteriors rather than the interiors; However, sculptural design was also a focus, which is why a lot of the decoration in the interiors consisted a lot of gilded statues.

In addition to the use of the Arch, the Romans had a new material to work with: concrete. Although a lot of the building seems to be made from stone, concrete was the main building material. The Romans also took natural lighting into consideration, so much so that the Pantheon did not need any artificial lighting.









Modern Roman Influence:

 The use of the Roman arch.

Use of the dome as well as concrete.

Dome Ceiling.

Greece.

Coffered Ceilings, columns, detail, and bright blues and yellows and reds surround the age of Classical Greece. Architecture and Design was the focus of the people of this time...

Architecture: The people of this time were extremely thoughtful with the architecture in Greece. The most famous example of this thorough, architectural, thoughtfulness is the Parthenon; a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena and it is considered the most important surviving building of Classical Greece. The balance and appearance of this structure were heavily thought through during the creation of the building; columns incline inward, the shafts were tapered, the corner columns were make heavier, and the distance between the columns changes. All of these factors were put in place to make the Temple of Athena more appealing to the viewer.

Cisterns were also a part of the home during this time; this was a room in the home that was dedicated to collecting the rain water so that it could later be used. The way the water was allowed into the cistern was the compluvium, which was a hole in the roof that allowed the rain to fall through directly into the cistern.


Design: Compared to the Egyptian Culture, the people of Greece placed a lot of attention to beautiful decorations and designs within the homes and palaces. The structures were built on columns and walls and these were decorated in a specific way that was custom to the Greek culture; the white dado was the bottom of the wall, the top part of the wall and columns would be painted an earthy red, and there was a yellow line placed as the divider between these two colors. In addition to this painting style, there were also unplastered mud bricks used as walls and plastering and painting of these walls with designs that surrounded themes such as geometric, animal, and flower styles.

The floors were decorated beautifully as well; there was a lot of mosaic tile usage of glass, stone, and/or pebbles on the floors to create beautiful designs underfoot, using geometric, mythological figures, animal, and flower styles.

Along the edges of the walls and ceilings, the use of motifs were common. A few examples of these motif styles that were used were Floral/Marine, Egg and Dart, and Greek Fret and Key

Modern Examples of Greek Influence:

The use of coffered ceilings in the dining area.

 The use of the mosaic marine style in this pool.

This is an example of a dado wall, with the chair rail dividing the upper and lower wall colors.

Peer Review: Ancient Civilizations.

Nichole Kopsias: I really enjoyed how Nichole provided a lot of interesting facts about Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and the architecture during this time period. I liked how it provided specific details on how each civilization built their structures and what specifically was used in the process.

Paige S: I like how Paige pointed out the representation of lotus blossoms, palm, and open papyrus flowers in the artwork and how those plants influenced the architecture of this time period.

Ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egypt was located along the Nile River which allowed for transportation of goods as well as ideas and information, which aided in the success of Ancient Egypt's economy. Because of the knowledge floating up and down the Nile, Egypt was able to progress economically and technologically.

Ancient Egypt is divided into three periods:

The Old Kingdom
The Egyptians during this time period focused a lot on the afterlife and religion, which influenced the majority of the architecture of their structures. They believed that the architecture and the materials within were mediating between the rulers of Egypt and the gods; thus began the age of the pyramids and the building of the great pyramids of Giza.

Because the Egyptians of this time were so focused on the afterlife, the elites of Egypt practiced the custom of entombing the dead masterfully, when the ruler's body was laid to eternal rest. In addition to preserving the body, their possessions would be laid to rest among the body in hopes that they will pass on into the next life with the ruler and aid them in the afterlife. Since there was this preservation of objects within the tombs (pyramids), we were able to uncover intact furniture and objects from thousands of years ago.





The Middle Kingdom
During this time period the pharaohs focused the majority of their attention on building and outfitting the great pylon temples.



The New Kingdom
Prior to the New Kingdom, the main focus was on the building and creating of structures; however, during the New Kingdom, the building process slowed down and the main focus turned towards art and architecture. The reign of Akhenaten  is significant when looking at the art form advancement; this ruler introduced several new art forms, including a unique style of portraiture, as well as intimate family portrayals. In contrast, the Reign of Ramesses was more focused on the structures; this ruler is known for his many statues of himself, some over 65 feel high!






















Modern Influences of Ancient Egypt:
A lot of Egyptian influences are present in modern day design; most of which includes the use of tapestries or wall murals, color scheme (black and yellow/gold), as well as objects that resemble those of Ancient Egypt.

Modern Day Stonehenge.

I thought this was a fun example of how the Neolithic time period influences artists and builders in our modern day world; even though this Stonehenge is built from cars not stones, people are still drawn to the formation and the similarities of these structures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsfyqj-piUQ#t=24

Peer Review: Pre-Historic.

Mackenzie Carpenter: I really liked how Mackenzie discussed the importance of each piece of artwork, furniture, or carving and how they all had a specific purpose for being there; people of this time didn't create items or artwork without a practical use since it was hard enough for them to be living on a day to day basis. I also loved the first modern day picture of prehistoric design that she posted which incorporated the cave like columns in the living space.

Alex Richardson: I thought Alex did a great job of connecting the Skara Brae example, used in class as well as in the book, with the picture of the outdoor fireplace; where the space is constructed of stone and the fireplace is sort of the central location with seating areas surrounding it.

Prehistory.

Prehistory of interior design marks the beginning of the journey to our modern day interior design. It dates all the way back to 2,500,000 years ago, also known as the Paleolithic Period, and continues on through the Neolithic Period and ends in the Bronze Age in 1000 B.C.E. However; since the start of prehistory dates back over a million years ago and the technology was not advanced enough to create long-lasting objects, it is hard to know exactly how our ancestors chose to take advantage of the spaces they occupied.

Here are some things we do know about the three time periods within the prehistory of interior design:

Paleolithic (2,500,000-9000 B.C.E.): The Paleolithic period is the oldest known period and begins at two and a half million years ago simply because the oldest known artifact ever found dates back to that time. Aside from a few artifacts that have survived the years, the majority of the interior design knowledge is formed from the cave structures and the cave drawings and wall carvings from this time. We may also make the assumption that the people of this time chose to take advantage of the nature that surrounded them (i.e. a log or a stone could serve as a chair or a table) in which case there would be no specifically designated furniture. However, there are some specific cases where interior design was incorporated into the lives of these ancient people. Lascaux is a cave site from the Paleolithic period in which anthropologists concluded that the cave drawings were a form of story telling or a way to record their own lineage.

Neolithic (9000-2000 B.C.E): The Neolithic period  began the construction and fashioning of stone objects. The most famous stone structure of this time is Stonehenge; giant stone rock formations that were believed to be a place of ritual. Because the people in the Neolithic period created with more durable materials, there is more known about the Neolithic period than the Paleolithic. We even continue to use some of the same design principles used during this time: post-and-lintel construction!

The Bronze Age (4000-1000 B.C.E.): The Bronze Age is the most recent of the prehistory and it is also the beginning of the use to creating objects out of metals, such as copper and bronze. The Bronze age began taking place first in the Middle East, while Europe was still making their progress with the structures of the Neolithic period. The Bronze age made more technological progress aside from just using metals; people liked the idea of having different materials as building options so the people of the Indus River Valley began to fire mud bricks to form the structures of their houses.

Modern Day examples of post-and-lintel: