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.