ANCIENT CITIES

AR 173P

ANCIENT CITY OF CATAL HUYUK

A settlement in Turkey about 7000 BCC
Contained domestic buildings attached
to one another.
Access was through stairs and opening
on the flat roof
Rooftops serve as place for outdoor
activities. Also contained communal
ovens
The people of atalhyk buried their
dead within the village.
Human remains have been found in pits
beneath the floors and, especially,
beneath hearths, the platforms
within the main rooms, and under
beds.

ANCIENT CITY OF JERICO

The ancient city of Israel existed about 8,000 BC
Has natural wall due to seismographic activity
producing a great rift extending from the
Sea of Galilee to Northern Africa. The land
dropped some 3,000 feet and settled at
least 900 feet below sea level. At this low
elevation we find one of the oldest ancient
urban dwellings of recorded history, Jericho.

Jericho's natural resources, beauty, and natural

defenses caused her to become the ideal
locale for trade
The presence of spring water attracted the
Natufian culture to settle and build
communities.

Neolithic inhabitants of Jericho lived in pit

dwellings, domesticated animals, and
produced decorated pottery. During the
Bronze Age (ca. 2000 B.C.), the need to
defend the settlement led to the
construction of massive city walls and
towers.

ANCIENT CITY OF KHIROKITIA

Settlement in Cyprus, the name of the village

means "Khiros" (hog / pig) and the word "Kiti",
an area where pigs were raised; the name
originally was "Sidirokitida", area were iron was
found;"Khirogetia", which implies the practice
of palmistry; like "Ierokitida" (Sacred
place);"gyros" and "oikia" due to the fact that
the prehistoric huts.
House-circular houses with outside diameter of
2.30 to 9.20 meters, internal diameter of 1.40
to 4.80 meters.
The base of the houses were built with stone at
their basis, upper part with adobe and mud. The
roofs were with branches and straws covered in
mud. There was a fireplace, a kind of grate and
a foramen that helped the smoke come out at
the centre of the house

Streets- main street was narrow and

long stone construction of 185 meters
,the settlement was set along a long
road considered as the wall of the
settlement.

ANCIENT BABYLON
It was a city-state of ancient
Mesopotamia, the remains
of which are found in
present-day Al Hillah, Babil
Province, Iraq
Babylon was at first a small
town, that had sprung up by
the beginning of the 3rd
millennium BC.
The town flourished and
attained prominence and
political repute with the rise
of the First Babylonian
Dynasty.
The city itself was built upon
the Euphrates, and divided
in equal parts along its left
and right banks.

 It was the "holy city" of Babylonia by approximately

2300 BC, and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
from 612 to 539 BC.
The First Babylonian Dynasty was established by
Sumu-abum, but the city-state controlled little
surrounding territory until it became the capital of
Hammurabi's empire a century later
capital of the region known as Babylonia although
during the almost 400 years of domination by the
Kassites during the Late Bronze Age, the city was
renamed Karanduniash

 The city itself was built

upon the Euphrates,
and divided in equal
parts along its left and
right banks.
Babylon grew in extent
and grandeur over time,
but gradually became
subject to the rule of
Assyria.
Babylon was the largest
city in the world from
ca. 1770 to 1670 BC,
and again between ca.
612 and 320 BC.

 During the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia

was in a constant state of revolt, led by MushezibMarduk, and suppressed only by the complete
destruction of the city of Babylon.
In 689 BC, its walls, temples and palaces were razed,
and the rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu, the sea
bordering the earlier Babylon on the south.
his successor Esarhaddon rebuilt the old city, to
receive there his crown, and make it his residence
during part of the year.
On his death, Babylonia was left to be governed by
his elder son Shamash-shum-ukin, who eventually
headed a revolt in 652 BC against his brother in
Nineveh, Assurbanipal.

 Under Nabopolassar, Babylon

threw off the Assyrian rule in
612 BC and became the capital
of the Neo-Babylonian
Chaldean Empire.
his son Nebuchadnezzar II
(604561 BC) made Babylon
into one of the wonders of the
ancient world. He ordered the
complete reconstruction of the
imperial grounds, including
rebuilding the Etemenanki
ziggurat and the construction
of the Ishtar Gate
Nebuchadnezzar is also
credited with the construction
of the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon (one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world),
said to have been built for his
homesick wife Amyitis.

CITY FORM AND SHAPE

Use of burnt brick
It had an inner and
outer part.
Heavily fortified
Inner town:
Square in plan
Contains the principal
buildings, the Euphrates
river in the west side

Main streets intersected

at right angles
terminating in tower
framed bronze gates

 Between the main streets

tiered dwellings, business
houses, temples, chapels
and shrines jostled in
lively disorder
Principal sites lined the
river front, and behind
them ran a grand
professional way, its vista
closed on the north by
the Ishtar gate.
There were palacecitadels and connected
with Nebuchadnezzars
great palace complex

SOCIO-CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECT

CODE OF HAMMURABI
Code consists of 282 laws,
with scaled punishments,
adjusting "an eye for an eye"
as graded depending on social
status, of slave versus free
man. It also insists on justice
to widows, orphans and to
the poor.
The code has been seen as an
example of even a king not
being able to change
fundamental laws concerning
the governing of a country
which was the primitive form
of what is now known as a
constitution.
an eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth

 The Babylonians and their neighbors developed the

earliest system of economics that was fixed in a legal
code, using a metric of various commodities.
The early law codes from Sumer could be considered
the first (written) economic formula, and have many
attributes still in use in the current price system today,
such as codified amounts of money for business deals
(interest rates), fines in money for wrongdoing,
inheritance rules and laws concerning how private
property is to be taxed or divided.

 Babylonian merchants were a powerful class and

were even called the rulers in some communities.
There were no coins then but the use lumps of silver
of a given weight
Schools were necessary to train men for business
and government
These were usually in or connected with the temple

STRUCTURES
HANGING GARDENS OF
BABYLON
Considered to be one of the
original Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World.
Sometimes referred to as the
Hanging Gardens of
Semiramis.
Built by the Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar II around
600 BC.
He is reported to have
constructed the gardens to
please his homesick wife,
Amytis of Media, who longed
for the trees and fragrant
plants of her homeland
Persia. The gardens were
destroyed by several
earthquakes after the 2nd
century BC.

A 16th-century hand-coloured engraving of the

"Hanging Gardens of Babylon" by Dutch artist Martin
Heemskerck

 ISHTAR GATE
Eighth gate to the inner city of
Babylon. It was constructed in
about 575 BC by order of King
Nebuchadnezzar II on the north
side of the city.
Dedicated to the Babylonian
goddess Ishtar, the Gate was
constructed of blue glazed tiles
with alternating rows of basrelief sirrush (dragons) and
aurochs.
The roof and doors of the gate
were of cedar, according to the
dedication plaque. Through the
gate ran the Processional Way
which was lined with walls
covered in lions on glazed
bricks (about 120 of them).
Statues of the deities were
paraded through the gate and
down the Processional Way
each year during the New
Year's celebration.

The replica Ishtar Gate in Babylon in

2004

 ETEMENAKI
Was the name of a
ziggurat dedicated to
Marduk in the city of
Babylon of the 6th
century BCE NeoBabylonian dynasty.
Originally seven stories
in height, little remains
of it now save ruins.
Seven stories of the
ziggurat reached a height
of 91 meters, according
to a tablet from Uruk,
and contained a temple
shrine at the top

ANCIENT EGYPT

Ancient Map

City Planning
Descriptions:
Grid Layout
Walled Cities
More on Square
Symmetrical
Considerations:
Settlements were located
along Nile
Residential NE, SW
Mid-winter sunrise

Housing were according to

social classes

Presence of workers camp

to temporarily house worker
farmers commissioned as
construction workers

Ancient cities
Some examples:
Memphis
Abydos
Alexandria
Thebes
Tanis

Memphis
Historical Development
Founded around 3100 BC by Menes
Memphis had some 30,000 inhabitants
It declined briefly during the 12th and 13th Dynasties which
had their Capital at Fayum
Memphis remained important as Lower Egypt Capital
during the dominance of Thebes
Became the seat of the Persian satraps, during the 27th
Dynasty. Second only to Alexandria under the Ptolemies
and under Rome
It finally declined with the founding of nearby Fustat by the
Arabs

Memphis
Type of settelement:
Capital City
Local Deity: Ptah
Remains:
Saqqara
Temple of Ptah

Abydos
Historial Development
kings of the 1st and 2nd Dynasty were buried here.
Abydos became the centre of the worship of Osiris
- 18th Dynasty - Large chapel of Ahmose 1, and then
Tuthmose built larger temple, 40 x 90 m.
- 19th Dynasty - Seti 1 founded a temple to the south
of the town in honor of the ancestral kings of the early
dynasties, this was finished by Ramses 2, who also built
a lesser temple of his own.
Ahmose 2 in the 26th Dynasty rebuilt the temple again,
and placed in it a large monolith shrine of red granite

Abydos
Type of Settlement:
Religious center
Structures:
Great Osiris Temple
Temple of Seti
Rameses II Temple

Alexandria
Historical Development
Founded in 331 BC
The city flourished as the greatest center of Hellenistic civilization,
Alexandria formally became part of the Roman Empire in 30 BC
In A.D. 391, Theodosius I had pagan temples and other structures
razed.
Alexandria rivaled Rome and Constantinople as a center of Christian
learning
When the Arabs took Alexandria in 642, its prosperity had withered
In 969 Alexandria's decline continued, accelerating in the 14th
century,

Alexandria
Architectural Planning:
Designed by Dinocrates, the
personal architect of
Alexander the Great .
The city incorporated the
best in Hellenic planning
and architecture.
Streets had a grid square,
well defined pattern, unlike
any other city in the ancient
world.
Remains:
Pompeys Pillar

Thebes
Historical Development
3200 BC
a number of small settlements and a village called Waset
Mentuhotep I 11th Dynasty united Egypt
Amenemhet 1 of the 12th Dynasty moved his capital to
Crocodilopolis
Ahmose 1 18th Dynasty established Thebes as his Capital
Thebes went into decline.
For a time in the 11th cent. BC, it was a separate political
entity under sacerdotal rule. Thebes was sacked by the
Assyrians in 661 BC
The Romans sacked it in 29 BC

Thebes
Type of settlement:
Capital City
Local Deity: Amun
Monument:
Temple of Karnak
Temple of Luxor
Presence of monumental
structures such as
temples and pyramids

Tanis
Founded around the time of the 20th Dynasty
- Capital city of the 21st and 22d dynasties
- The Tanite rulers brought existing statues and
monuments from elsewhere in Egypt to build
- The city became an important port for Asiatic
trade, and a centre of textiles manufacture
- However, to due flooding problems, it declined
during the Roman period, and by the 14th
century, the region was deserted.

Tanis
Type of Settlement:
Capital City
Local Deity: Amun
Structures:
Amun Temple

ANCIENT GREECE

 Classical Greek cities were

either the result of continuous
growth, extending prehistoric
times through Dark Age and
Archaic periods, or created at a
single moment, usually as the
result of colonial settlement.
The Former had streets which
followed lines of communication,
curving and bending where
necessary to avoid obstacles or to
ease gradients.

The latter generally Grid plans,

with straight streets crossing at right
angles, ignoring obstacles, and
becoming stairways where the
gradients were too steep,
Towns always had fixed
boundaries.
In the 6th century some were
surrounded by fortifications

In the most Greek towns much of

the available area were devoted to
public rather than private use.

Hippodamus of Miletus

was an ancient Greek architect,

urban planner, physician,
mathematician, meteorologist and
philosopher and is considered to be
the father of urban planning, the
namesake of Hippodamian plan of
city layouts (grid plan).
His plans of Greek cities were
characterized by order and regularity
in contrast to the more intricacy and
confusion common to cities of that
period, even Athens.

Dinocrates of Rhodes

was a Greek architect and technical

adviser for Alexander the Great. He is
known for his plan for the city of
Alexandria, the monumental funeral
pyre for Hephaestion and the
reconstruction of the Temple of
Artemis at Ephesus, as well as other
works.

Socio-cultural

 Greece in the Archaic Period was made up from

independent states, called Polis, or city state.
Greek Society was mainly broken up between Free
people and Slaves, who were owned by the free
people. Slaves were used as servants and labourers,
without any legal rights. Sometimes the slaves were
prisoners of war or bought from foreign slave traders.
Although many slaves lived closely with their owners,
few were skilled craftsmen and even fewer were paid.
The social classes applied to men only, as women all
took their social and legal status from their husband or
their male partner. Women in ancient Greece were not
permitted to take part in public life.

 The Greeks developed three architectural systems, called

orders, each with their own distinctive proportions and
detailing. The Greek orders are: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

Doric

Ionic

Corinthian

The Doric style is rather The Ionic style is thinner The Corinthian style is
sturdy and its top (the
and more elegant. Its
seldom used in the
capital), is plain. This
capital is decorated with Greek world, but often
style was used in
a scroll-like design (a
seen on Roman temples.
mainland Greece and the volute). This style was
Its capital is very
colonies in southern
found in eastern Greece elaborate and decorated
Italy and Sicily.
and the islands.
with acanthus leaves.

Agora of Athens
The important gathering place
was the Agora, which was the placed
conveniently for communication, on
the flat ground and as easily
accessible as possible from all
directions.
The agora of Athens was situated
on low lying damp ground to the
North of the Acropolis, which had
been incorporated in the city in the
early Archaic Period.

The central space of Agora was

free of buildings.
Other public buildings included
gymnasia and stadia and places
for watching dramatic and related
performances.
Private houses were normally of
the courtyard type.
Most extensive series of houses
of the Classical period are those
excavated in the area
immediately excavated at the
North Aegean Town of Olynthus;
a new area was laid out in grid
plan.

Civic Buildings

Other administrative buildings

provided closed accommodation.
On the west were the Bouleuterion
or council house and the Tholos.
Bouleuterion held five hundred
councilors who met in closed session
.The original building was a square,
probably with windows set high in
plain walls and the roof was
pyramidal. The building was divided
internally into an anteroom and an
auditorium.
Tholos is a circular building. Though
an official structure its walls were
unbaked mud brick. The roof
supports, were arranged not in a
circle but in an ellipse. The roof itself
was conical, with scale like tiles.

STOAS
proved to be useful buildings in
the context of the agora. They
provide shelter, and served many
purposes, especially when they
include rooms behind the
colonnade. In addition, they were
a way of embellishing boundary
of the agora, looking in towards
the open space.

POLITICAL SET-UP
REPUBLIC: Rome was ruled by kings.
Priests are the first Roman
EMPIRE: Rome was ruled by an
architects.
emperor.
Etruscans gave Romans their
Three administrative assemblies:
earliest contact with Greek Gods
a.
Senate, which acted as an
and Goddesses.
advisory body for the King.
Temples are named after their
b.
Comitia Curiata, which could
Roman Gods and Goddesses.
endorse and ratify laws
suggested by the King.
In the forum, temples are
typically ornamented with Roman c.
Comitia Calata, which was an
assembly of the priestly college
Gods and Goddesses statues or
that could assemble the people
relics.
to bear witness to certain acts,
In the forum, monuments seen
hear proclamations, and declare
along the streets are tribute to
the feast and holiday schedule
their Roman Gods and Goddesses
for the next month.

ROMAN CITIES

POLITICAL SET-UP

Has an effective administration.

Church and state are well respect.
Administration brought large
engineering projects: streets,
aqueducts and effective city
planning measures.
Romans were the first to
incorporate the methodical
development of water supply
systems into urban planning.
THREE PERIODS:
a. REPUBLICAN PERIOD (510-44 B.C.)
b. EARLY EMPIRE (44 B.C.-A.D. 285)
c. LATE EMPIRE (A.D. 285-A.D.1453)

SOCIO-CULTURAL
Roman families are characterized by
strong ties and responsibilities
among its members including father
(pater familias), his wife, children,
and other relatives.
Families typically lived in:
a. Roman private residence (Domus)
with the introduction of Impluvium
and Compluvium.
b. Insulae house has no toilets, but
public baths sprawled within the
city are located near the house.
c. Multistory apartment blocks where
ground floor is for commercial
purposes while second floor
typically with balcony is for living
purposes.

STRUCTURES BUILT
FORUM (Market place) an open
area usually rectangular in shape,
and often surrounded by colonnades
on one or two storeys typically have
Basilica (law courts with money
exchanges), treasuries, record offices
and Comitium (assembly places).
Temples - dedicated to Roman Gods
and Goddesses, typically raised on a
high podium, emphasis was given to
the facade and often set either singly
or in groups inside colonnaded
enclosures.
Churches earliest worship were in
rooms of private houses, and only the
altar and decorations identified them
as Christians.
Roman house have atrium,
compluvium (a large room with
rectangular opening in the middle of
its roof.) and impluvium (a shallow
rectangular basin set in the floor
immediately beneath, which the rain
water ran into a vaulted underground
cistern.).
Shopping centers had a row of
shops opening off a barrel vaulted
market hall.

Taberna (one roomed shop) :

a. Bakeries had counters near the
street where the bread was sold
while at the back of the shop there
was storage space for grain, mills
and ovens.
b. Fish shop had marble slabs for
preparing the fish, water tanks and
ovens.
c. Wine shop had solid masonry
counters with wide mouthed jars
sunk into them.
Theatre composed of three elements:
a. Cavea ( public seats)
b. Orchestra ( private seats)
c. Scaena ( stage)
Amphitheatre it is an elliptical with
an oval arena in the center use either
for gladiatorial games or venationes.

 Circus It was used for chariot

racing and ion occasion for
venationes and was the largest of
all buildings used for
entertainment.
Public baths have:
a. Apodyterium (Dressing room)
b. Palaestra (Gym)
c. Sudatoria (Sweating room)
d. Caldarium (Hot bath)
e. Tepidarium (Warm bath)
f. Frigidarium (Cold bath)
Thermae baths on the large scale
Balnea baths on the small scale
Natatio (Swimming pool)
Bridges It is built typically in one
major span.

Aqueducts have three pipes:

a.
Top pipe for private houses.
b.
Middle pipe for public baths
and circuses.
c.
Lowest pipe for public
fountains.
Triumphal arches It is usually
dedicated to the emperor or
members of the imperial family, but
sometimes to towns, municipalities
or to divinities.
Fortifications
Tombs Four burial methods:
a. Formae burials in the ground
covered with a stone slab.
b. Loculi a burial slot in the wall of a
catacomb.
c. Arcosolia an arched recess with
the body either immured or in
sarcophagus underneath.
d. Chamber tomb

PUBLIC BATH PLAN

TRIUMPHAL ARCHES

CASTRUM / CASTRA (MILITARY

CAMP)

CITY SHAPE AND FORM: POMPEII

LAYOUT:
a. City layout is not that of the ideal CASTRUM TYPE or TIMGAD type (GRID
PATTERN).
b. City layout is irregular.
c. Later, typical city layout after rules in city planning were implemented is
rectangular plan and is influenced due to military condition.
STREETS:
a. Streets do not intersect at right angles.
b. Streets are irregular and narrow.
c. Stepping stones for pedestrians were spaced.
d. Street intersections have public fountains.
e. STRADA DELL ABBONDANZA a commercial street with small shops,
offices, taverns, bakeries, etc.
f. Streets are paved with heavy flagstone.
g. Introduction of CARDO (North to South) and DECUMANOS (East to West)
axis - a grid of smaller streets dividing the city into blocks, and a wall
circuit with gates (Vesuvius and Stabian).
BLOCKS:
a. Islands (CITY BLOCKS) are irregular.
b. Forums are set apart from the major traffic arteries, and vehicles cannot
enter it.
c. Forum is situated in the intersection of the cardo and decumanos axis.
d. Curia and basilica stands on south.

DECLINATION OF POMPEII
Damaged by an earthquake in A.D. 63.
Demolished by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 24 August A.D. 79
burying to a depth of 4 5meters of volcanic ash, the eruption also
changed the course of the Sarnus and raised the sea beach, placing
the river and the sea at a considerable distance from the ruined
city and obscuring the original site.
They put CIVITA to remind people that once there had been city
there until it was excavated in the 18th century.

MEDIEVAL CITIES

SOCIO-CULTURAL ECONOMIC
the structure of society was
determined by how hard it
was to provide a steady
food supply.
the proportion of the
population freed of all
agricultural tasks was
extremely low, and the
materials of luxury or
warfare were rare and
highly prized.

the top of the system were

kings and emperors, but
with the spread of
Christianity, they to exude a
certain amount of priestly
character.
FEUDALISM

FEUDALISM
Barbaric rulers established citystates and rulers divided their
lands among vassal lords who
pledged military support for the
kingdom.
People depended on agriculture
and entered a state of serfdom
under their lords. The feudal
system was the new order.
Wars among the feudal lords
were frequent. Strategic sites
were sought for new castles,
within these structures were serf
dwelling for protection

CITY PLANNING
Irregular pattern in planning was
devised to confuse enemies.
Open spaces, streets, plazas
developed as an integral part of
site.
Streets were used for pedestrian
while wheels were restricted to
main roads.

Early medieval town was

dominated by church or monastry
& castle of lords.
towns were sited in irregular
terrain, occupying hill tops or
islands. Towns assumed informal
& irregular character.
Church plaza became a market
place.
Roads generally radiated from
church plaza& market plaza to
gates with secondary lateral
roadways connecting them.
Castle was surrounded by wall &
moat as a protective elements.

Medieval City
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Street Layout

Streets generally generated from

the church plaza and market square
to the gates with secondary lateral
roadway connecting them
Irregular street pattern in planning
was devised to confuse enemies.

Open spaces, streets, plazas

developed as an integral part of
site.

Streets were used for pedestrian

while wheels were restricted to
main roads.
CARCASSONNE
- It contains market square, castle
& church of St.Nazzair.
- Irregular pattern for streets is
seen.

CARCASSONNE

 Dominated by castles, church,

or monasteries
Church plaza became the
market place
Townhall and guild hall were
build adjacent to the market
plaza
Castles were fortified to
shelter the lords in case of war
NOERDLINGEN
- It shows the radial & lateral pattern of irregular
road ways with the church plaza as the principal
focal point of the town.
A Cathedral
B Moat

NOERDLINGEN

PICTURESQUE TOWNS

Buildings assumed a functional

character in both location and
form
Structures were built to be
picturesque

Accidental vista, contrast of form

and color resulted from the
contour of the land and the
ingenious selection of sites for
each structures

Structures were of Romanesque

or Gothic styles
Mont-Saint-Michel located in Normandy

Medieval towns
Mont-Saint-Michel located in
Normandy
is one of the most picturesque
castles
this castle is also its own city, built in
the Saint-Michel bay.
tides would bring in a daily barrier of
water between the castle and the
mainland..

RENAISSANCE

The Italian urban palace and

country villa were adapted to the
different political, social, and
economic conditions.
17th and 18th century royal
initiatives were often connected
with military training or military
services.
18th century movements for social
reform brought a renewed
emphasis on public buildings.

late 18th and early 19th century

were notable for the construction
of hospitals, prisons and
institutions of public education,
such as museums and for
entertainment such as theatres
an opera houses.
Linked with military needs were
Renaissance ideas of city
planning based on radial streets
systems and centralized plan.
Most commonly put into practiced
in founding new fortress citadels
such as the Venetian Town of
Palmanova.

The basic layout of the city was an

eight point star, created by overlaying
two squares so that all the coners
were equidistant.
This shape probably tied to Filaretes
interest in astrology.
By superimposition of two square
whitin a circle and 16 radial routes,
he designed a radial layout of the
city.

Within existing city, streets were

widened, straightened or newly
planned on geometrical principles
to focus on important
monuments, fountains and
obelisks.
The need for military control and
the increase in the use of
carriages and coaches made
wider streets desirable.
City Planning provided the
opportunities for uniform
architectural developments such
as terraced housing and the
beginning of speculative building.

 The political history of Italy

was marked by shifting
alliances and petty wars
between numerous citystates.
The economic prosperity
of late medieval Italy
depended on early
urbanization, precocious
development of banking
and the textile industries,
maritime trade and the
revenues of the church.
The planning of churches
was influenced by
symbolism, liturgical
change, reforming
movements and the new
religious orders.

Decorum was a fundamental

rule of Renaissance culture
and the function of a church
was crucial to its plan.
Large urban dwellings
(palazzi) of the urban
participate exhibit considerable
regional variation in their
plans.
Symmetrical planning was
common from the early 15th
century.

In Roman cardinals, palaces

were larger, initially more loosely
planned.
The distinctive planning of
Venetian palaces was related to
their waterside setting and
conservative mercantile
occupants.
The villa as a distinctive
architectural type remerges in the
Renaissance after its
disappearance in late antiquity.

After the end of the Hundred

Years of War and the expulsion of
the English in 1453, France was
less Feudal Kingdom and more
Modern Monarchy.
Many fine Roman buildings had
survived in Provence but it was
not until French invasions of Italy
in 1494 and 1508.
End of 16th century, a growing
proportion of royal and state
business was conducted in Paris.

Paris saw the construction of a

large number of rich residences
hotels which became the
characteristic building type on
domestic planning.
The most striking example in the
17th century was Antoine Le
Pautres Hotel de Beavais, Rue
Francios Miron, Paris (1656).
new Counter- Reformation had
an important impact on Roman
Catholic church buildings.
The Napoleonic era saw a brief
preference for the antique temple
form, as in the Madeleine, Paris
(1806).

Unparalleled centralization of
royal power produced in
Versailles a building which
remained in France.
Versailles is also the supreme
example of the garden as an
adjunct to the house.
In mid 16th century to Ledouxs
revolutionary designs, the
organization of urban spaces was
a constant preoccupation of
French architects.
Second half of 18th century saw
the emerge of new types of
buildings.

RENAISSANCE
The styles of antiquity
inspired Renaissance urban
planning.
Earlier cities were
reorganized
Utopian plans for ideal
states were popular yet
seldom realized.
Rich citizens patroned
massive building campaigns
that reshaped Renaissance
Europe

Ideal cities are imagined according to

absolute standards.
They aim to provide the best possible
accommodation for the society to
which they aspire.
The ground plans of ideal cities are
often based on grids or other
geometrical patterns.
Antonio Averlino (1400 -1469) known
as Filarete, proposed the first
complete ideal city plan of the
Renaissance - Sforzinda.

IDEAL CITY PLAN AND SHAPE

The plan of the ideal city of

Sforzinda, from a treatise by
Filarete (c. 1465) (Source: Urban
Friction)

Francesco di Giorgio Martini, ideal city,

c.1475 (Source: Urban Friction)

Francesco di Giorgio Martini, mountain cities, c.1475

(Source: Urban Friction)

Giorgio Martini, mountain cities,

c.1475 (Source: Urban Friction)

Pietro Cataneo, pentagonal city plan, 1554