A comprehensive, systematic analysis of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic non-domestic architecture demonstrates the variability in the way communities were facing the challenges presented by changing life practices. Using a multi-sensual, embodied methodology, the affordances of the structures are examined and demonstrate that the large majority of the structures provided an open, undifferentiated experience for participants. Activities held in these spaces would therefore have provided opportunities for intensely arousing common experiences, enhancing community cohesion. The methodology used in this thesis demonstrates that some of the structures examined were not integrative community spaces, functioning either as industrial, domestic, or other specialised spaces. This highlights the fact that while some PPN communities were constructing non-domestic architecture as a manifestation of the relationships developing in the PPN, other solutions existed.

Despite the convergence points between architectural identity and nation branding, the relationship between them remains ambiguous. Moreover, the formulation of a sustained and competitive national identity and architecture of nation branding are yet to be completely comprehended. Thus, this study seeks to fill this gap by developing a model that explains the impact of architectural identity on nation brand, particularly for the case study of Kurdistan (paradoxical paradigm of the political independency in the dependent architectural environment). To assess the impact of architectural identity on nation branding, the study formulates the following research questions: How does a nation brand project itself in architecture? Can the existing architectural theories be adapted to explain this relationship effectively? Consequently, this study points out broad implications of architectural influence on nation branding; for understanding the dynamics of its political message and discourses on its symbolic power in the context of national recognition. Testing “the impact of architectural identity on nation brand” has been done through comparative analysis on the selected cases of Finland and Israel. This testing provides sufficient empirical evidences to throw light on the complex relationship between “Kurdish architectural identity” and “Kurdish nation brand”. Moreover, focusing on empirical findings, this research allows for comparisons and contrasts between nations as recognized, semi-recognized and non-recognized states by examining the historical, socio–political, and cultural dimensions of each nation in relation to its built environment. The study of the different built environments as well as the nation brand, identity and image background and development of the compared nations brings to light what is hidden as an overall conception from an architectural perspective. This also discloses the significance of the architectural identity in context with their original objects. Valuable conclusions have been derived on the similarities and the differences in the polices maintaining the nation brand in architecture, which is used in this research as a foundation to help the development of the best management practice of sustainable and competitive national identity in Iraqi Kurdistan. Within the context of Iraqi Kurdistan, as a result of the Kurdish quest to be an integrated nation having its own geographical borders, questions have seldom been raised about the Kurdish identity in architecture, much less about, to what extent the reconstruction of the collective memories of the disputed historical architectural sites in Iraqi Kurdistan can be the collective identity of the Kurdish nation. Simultaneously, there is a surprising amount of available research on Kurdish identity, history, and regional politics. Thus, this study offers a new theoretical horizon for a good understanding of the powerful force of architecture as central in transforming the Kurdish nation brand and opening a new direction for the empirical inquiry and theorization of the current efforts of Kurdish independence.

This study combines a design analysis of Roman luxury villa architecture with a cultural analysis of Roman luxury villa lifestyle to shed light on the villas' architectural design as a dynamic process related to cultural, social as well as environmental factors. Roman luxury country houses articulated a novel architectural language that Roman designers developed by appropriating the existing stylistic and thematic vocabularies of Hellenistic and Roman architecture. The present analysis ofluxury villa architecture seeks to describe and explain the ways in which architecture accommodated the lifestyle of educated leisure, the lifestyle aIa grecque, and the appreciation of landscape; and how, in doing so, architecture was instrumental in the construction of the identity of the cultural phenomenon itself and became an agent of Romans' cultural identity. In their effort to accommodate the Greek style Romans created something completely unprecedented and intrinsically Roman. Five villas from around the bay ofNaples (circa 100 BCE - 79 CE) are the focus of this study, but examples are drawn from a wider corpus of evidence. The first chapter outlines the luxury villa cultural phenomenon, assesses the previous scholarship, addresses the scope of this study and introduces the five case studies. Chapters two. through five focus on four architectural structures and/or features within the villas to discuss them as generating spaces for the life led in them - the life that was intertwined and became identified with the luxury villa trend: porticus and cryptoporticus (chapter two), peristylia/porticus and gardens (chapter three), water features (chapter four) and dining facilities (chapter five). The final chapter analyzes the architectural design concerns and priorities to which the four architectural structures or features were related, and explicates the ways in which designers responded to them.

This thesis is concerned with architecture as a creative process which is distinct with respect to the physical appearance of its end products and the manual operation exclusively proper to the architect, yet it can be contextualised within the wider circle of human making with respect to the mental image to which all artists work - when their interest focuses on an inner world of reality - and to the noetic and imaginative operations proper to all makers. First, it embarks on a theoretical inquiry into the nature of architecture as a creative activity or process whereby man is brought into dwelling commensurate with human nature. The purpose of this inquiry is to illuminate the meaning of architecture and the formal principle that finds expression in its products, the kinship between architecture and poetry, and the pivotal role and function of language in the significant act of architectural creation. This theoretical inquiry establishes the perspective within which the architectural making process is examined in the modern Greek socio-cultural context, the distinct historical milieu of Greece after Independence. Viewing architecture as a human poetic projection, as a realisation of the unity of being with word, vision with language, this examination aims at delineating this long poetic journey that through stages of loss and recollection brought about the embodiment of the inner reality of the Greek world in architectural form, made by the hand of Dimitris Pikionis. The stages of this process are traced and paralleled to those of modern Greek poetry, a contemporaneous art process directed towards making intelligible the same reality, and one with a privileged position in the cultural life of modern Greece. Subsequently, the thesis focuses on the making process as a personal creative experience. An account of Pikionis' personal poetic journey is followed by a close reading of his most accomplished work on the Attic hills. This work is viewed as the built product of his self-knowing and world-knowing process, the embodiment of his vision of "the mythical reality of the world", the same vision of the eternal and sacred aspect of visible things that The Axion Esti of Pikionis' contemporary poet, Odysseus Elytis, seeks to evoke. A comparison is ventured between Pikionis' architectural work and The Axion Esti of Elytis, two art-acts which are not simply contemporaneous but also in the same spirit of loyalty - loyalty without servility - to the values and principles of the cultural order in which the two individual creators found themselves embedded and which, for them, conforms to the order of the natural world which they inhabit. Finally, the suggestion is put forward that the architectural act, and the art-act in general, the begetting of a significant form which 'speaks' about and of the created world-order, is essentially a 'world-redeeming' act, an act directed towards a recreation of the world as it was in the beginning.

This PhD thesis investigates how political propaganda was carried out via architectural display by Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great in Rome during the mid-first century BC. Only recently have scholars begun to focus on the ideological meaning and importance of monuments in the context of the political struggles of the Late Republic; furthermore, while the figure of Caesar has recently seen re-assessment, the theatre of Pompey and its decorative programme and ideological meaning are still a matter of debate. Since architecture was one of the main media in a Roman politician’s efforts to gain prestige and support, my intention is to understand the political reasons and the propagandistic needs that led these two great figures to the promotion of particular buildings in a specific context. Furthermore, the diachronic development of the ideological content of those monuments is analysed, as well as the target of that content. The results of my research confirm that the political conflict between Caesar and Pompey was very visible in their monumental programmes, and demonstrate that these interventions progressively acquired new meanings in relation to political events and to the shifting balances of power. Finally, new interpretations are presented in connection to the plurality of meanings that a single propagandistic message could acquire according to the cultural education and social status of the groups and individuals for which it was intended.

In Rome's Forum of Trajan fragments from architraval friezes with figurative motifs of seven different types have been discovered over the centuries: eagle-headed griffins and candelabra; eagle-headed griffins and tripods; eagle-headed griffins and cupids; lionheaded griffins, cupids and vases; cupids in acanthus; Victories killing bulls and dressing candelabra; sphinxes. The aim of this research is to investigate if there is a connection between these decorative motifs and the architectural structures where they were exhibited, and if their iconographic choice depends on their deeper significance in the Forum's wider context. Following an introduction to the history of the excavation of the Forum and to its different sections, for each frieze type is proposed a comprehensive analysis of all the fragments with an ascertained provenance from the Forum, which have never previously been studied together. Their location in the different buildings forming the Forum's complex, as identified through information from excavation reports, drawings and the relevant reconstruction of the architectural orders is discussed, as well as their iconography and comparison with other artworks and monuments, which attests that Trajan chose a traditional iconography already used in previous similar examples in contexts comparable to the various structures of Trajan's Forum. Against this background, we argue that the reliefs were part of a wider figurative programme, and Trajan expressed the messages he wanted to transmit through the traditional language of his predecessors. Griffins, cupids, Victories and sphinxes are polysemous mythological figures, attributes of different divinities: their symbolism related to diverse gods depending on their various aspects can be interpreted according to the function of the buildings forming the Forum when it is known, or can help to investigate the use of these structures when it is not known.

No description available.

This work seeks to identify the forms and origins of Ancient Egyptian architecture and the complex historical progress which brought these to Scotland, identifying the affinities shared by both countries and their evolving role from their first arrival to the present day. The thesis follows Egypt’s first appearance in Scottish legend and its later influence, at the close of the 16th century, in the practices of organised Freemasonry, to be followed, from the second quarter of the 17th century, by numerous obelisk sundials and with the construction of the first pyramid towards its close. In the 18th century, single obelisk monuments with Masonic implications appeared, and the outstanding significance of the Scottish Enlightenment and its fascination with Antiquity are noted. That this coincided with the Grand Tour encouraged Scottish aristocrats, architects, and artists to observe, to study and to be inspired by Egyptian forms, principally in Rome, which then appeared in Scottish country house and garden. The first recorded visit of a Scot to Egypt, in 1768, led to the delayed publication of an account in 1793 and the century closed with the outbreak of the British military campaign in Egypt against Napoleon’s invading forces. The participation of Scots troops led to a new familiarity with the land and, albeit from France, there were produced the first accurate details of the country’s monuments and an ensuing enthusiasm for an ‘Egyptian Revival’. This thesis goes on to record the 19th century absorption with mourning, when the use of Egyptian symbols, aided by industrial methods of production, grew to a peak, allied to new archaeological discoveries by visiting Scots and the growth of accurate publications. These two latter, increased by the growing number of Scots who visited the country, influenced the use of Egyptian themes in a wide range of buildings, religious, domestic and industrial. The 20th century rejection of both religion and commemoration, except in acknowledgement of the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars, led to the decline of Egyptian mourning themes and new building techniques left little place for Egyptian references which were mainly reduced to mere surface ornament. This thesis concludes with an important 21st century military example which contains within it, a unique range of Egyptian symbols of commemoration.

Stuart E. Madnick, John J. Donovan. / Bibliography: leaves 24-25.

Etruscan architecture underwent various changes between the later Iron Age and the Archaic period (c. 800-500 BC), as seen in the evidence from several sites. These changes affected the design and style of domestic architecture as well as the use of raw materials and construction techniques. However, based on a supposed linear progression from inferior to superior building materials, explanations and interpretations often portray an architectural transition in Etruria from ‘prehistoric’ to ‘historic’ building types. This perspective has encouraged a rather deterministic, overly simplified and inequitable view of the causes of change in which the replacement of traditional materials with new ones is thought to have been the main factor. This thesis aims to reconsider the nature of architectural changes in this period by focussing on the building materials and techniques used in the construction of domestic structures. Through a process of identification and interpretation using comparative analysis and an approach based on the chaîne opératoire perspective, changes in building materials and techniques are examined, with special reference to four key sites: San Giovenale, Acquarossa, Poggio Civitate (Murlo) and Lago dell’Accesa. It is argued that changes occurred in neither a synchronous nor a linear way, but separately and at irregular intervals. In this thesis, they are interpreted as resulting mainly from multigenerational habitual changes, reflecting the relationship between human behaviour and the built and natural environments, rather than choices between old and new materials. Moreover, despite some innovations, certain traditional building techniques and their associated materials continued into the Archaic period, indicating that Etruscan domestic architecture did not undergo a complete transformation, as sometimes asserted or implied in other works. This study of building techniques and materials, while not rejecting the widely held view of a significant Etruscan architectural transition, argues for a more nuanced reading of the evidence and greater recognition of the nature of behavioural change during the period in question.