EGYPT - architecture

EGYPT - architecture
EGYPT - architecture
EGYPT – geographcal location
• Egypt was relatively isolated by geography and uniquely
protected from foreign incursions with but one route
from the Red Sea and another into the eastern delta.
The environment of Egypt was uniquely favourable to
early settlement and the development of a centralised
state. It comprised of the long, narrow valley of the Nile,
it’s rich alluvial soil with the extensive delta, bounded
on each side by the arid desert. Successive Pharoahs
organised expeditions to exploit the mineral resources
(copper and gold).

• The Nile, a majestic, slow flowing river, supremely

reliable throughout the year and the only accountable
source of water, the outcome of this being the
distinctive form of the settled zone of Egypt; the towns
and villages were strung out over long distances,
comprising loosely connected compounds.
 EGYPT – timeline
• 20,000 B.C – 16,000 B.C archaeological sites show the region to have been inhabited by
hunters-gatherers.
• 12,000 B.C Proto agricultural economy developed in some areas
• 6000 B.C emergence of an agricultural community in Lower Egypt.
• 4000 B.C emergence of an agricultural community in Upper Egypt.
• 3200 B.C unification was achieved under the god-king and the historic (dynastic) period
began.
EGYPT – timeline
• Egyptian architecture often labelled as ‘monumental’ is not actually an
abstract of technology and mathematics seen in sacred buildings of
temples and tombs but has it’s actual origins in secular buildings of
everyday architecture of an agricultural community.
• The Pyramid is seen not only as an epitome of ancient Egyptian
architecture but also as the model for the political and social system of
the pharoahs’ empire.
• These views easily disregard the continuous development of ancient
Egyptian architecture over a period of 3000 years.

EGYPT - architecture
 • The architecture of the pharaohs is
dominated by stone buildings giving
us the impression that stone was
the main building material at that
time. The majority of the buildings
on the Nile actually consisted of
easily degradable material, the silt
deposits of the river provide the
most important building material.
Unfired, air-dried bricks are not only
easily obtainable and cheap but in
the dry heat of the valley, provide
basic air-conditioning inside the
buildings. But very little of this
ancient secular architecture of mud
bricks and reed mats has been
preserved whereas the stone
temples and tombs have survived
undamaged through the years. The
reason lies not only in the choice of
building materials , but also in the
sites selected for their construction,
a decision influenced by
considerations of function. Tombs
and temples were generally built
away from the valley floor above the
water table and out of reach of the
annual floods.

EGYPT - architecture
 EGYPT
- architecture

• Everyday architecture – huts, houses, stables, workshops etc., were

located on either side of the Nile, on the humid valley floor. These
structures were subject to damp and intense use, so that after a few
decades it became necessary to replace the old dilapidated
buildings with new ones – of not too expensive an undertaking in
view of the ease of obtaining building material. So these buildings
are buried deep below the water level today and not available for
excavation or study. Still it is possible to study the secular
architecture of ancient Egypt through architectural models placed
as grave objects in tombs, equivalent to the reliefs and paintings in
the tombs of the Old Kingdom. i.e preserving elements of this life
for the life in the hereafter.
 EGYPT
- architecture

Village architecture included simple shelters

raised on stilts to provide shade underneath
and flat roofed buildings, often with steps
leading up the outside to the roof. Larger
settlements had grain stores with domed
roofs as well as workshops with separate
rooms for carpenters, weavers, butchers and
bakers. Architectural models from the first
millennium B.C show tower like houses with
several storeys.
 EGYPT
- architecture
RESOURCES
Only truly local materials were available for
building purposes. Labour and
construction were also local. Mud brick is
one of the most important ancient building
materials with the limit on size being the
weight readily handled by one man. Reeds,
papyrus( a plant now almost extinct) and
palm-branch ribs, plastered over with clay
were the materials readily available in the
Nile valley, used commonly in the buildings
of pre-dynastic Egypt.
In Egypt abundant labour was available for
the transportation of stone blocks from
quarry to building site, by raft on the Nile
and laboriously up ramps from the river
bank.
There was a lack of timber for major
building work with only the date palm used
for houses, largely for roofing. The
Egyptian kings imported cedar wood by
ship from Byblos, for building purposes,
coffins and some ship building.
The building was pre-dominantly in mud
brick. After careful selection of clay, the
main bricks were formed by hand or
occasionally moulded and then sun-dried.
Alternatively clay was used by building wet
mud in courses and allowing each to dry
before adding the next. Fixed features such
as storage bins, platforms, hearths and
seats were modelled on site. Occasionally
the mud was mixed with straw for extra
reinforcement. Foundations were
sometimes made of stone to ensure that
the building did not stand on a wet base.
Roofs were generally flat and made of
timber beams covered with matting ,
plastered with clay. Thatched roofs were
used sometimes and walls buttressed to
support the roof timbers. Doorways were
lined with timber reveals. Plastered floors
and walls were common. Mud or lime
plaster was finished in a variety of ways
including painting, burnishing or setting
with terrazzo.
In Egypt sun-dried brick walling never went out of use. It was only for the finest buildings of
religious character that cut stone became normal. Even palaces remained relatively frail. For
stability walls of Egyptian buildings diminished course by course towards the top, chiefly
because of the alternate shrinkage and expansion of the soil caused by the annual
inundations. Since the inner face of the walls had to be vertical for ordinary convenience , it
was the outer face which showed the inward inclination and this remained as one of the
principal characteristics of Egyptian architecture whether in brick or stone. sometimes fibre
or reed mats were placed between the brick courses at intervals up the walls to reinforce
them.
Without knowledge of the typical forms of the architecture in mud bricks, wood and mats it
is difficult to understand the characteristic appearance of stone architecture because the
forms and materials used here can be traced in the elements and structure of the sacred
architecture.
The pylon for example, a typical entrance structure in Egyptian temples has walls that slope
outwards towards the bottom- a typical feature of mud architecture. Similarly the rush
bundles used in mud brick buildings to reinforce edges, are reflected in stone architecture.
At the top of the pylon is an “Egyptian gorge cornice” consisting of a cavetto and a
horizontal roll moulding, a form derived from a wreath of palm leaves. This type of cornice
has renewed popularity in postmodern architecture.
In pre-dynastic Egypt there is evidence that bundles of reed were set vertically side by side
and lashed to bundles placed horizontally near the top, to make walls or fences.
Alternatively palm leaf ribs were planted on the ground at short intervals, with others
laced in a diagonal network across them and secured to a horizontal member near the top,
the whole being finally daubed with mud. The pressure of flat reed and mud roofs against
the top of the wall produced the characteristic Egyptian ‘gorge cornice’.
The ‘kheker’ cresting originated from the terminal tufts of a papyrus stalk wall.
The kheker frieze was a common decorative motif used at the top of a wall of painted
scenes. Probably it represents the large “thistle” of a papyrus plant tied together at the top
and bottom
Almost always cavetto
cornices stand just above
a torus molding.
This simple molding
consists of a rib with
etched indications of
wrapping, strongly
suggesting that some sort
of rope material served as
the model.
Egyptian architecture in stone produced
forms that are not ideally suited to the
building material of stone, because the goal
was the expression of content. A temple
with sloping walls is representative of a
house, a house of the gods. Stone as the
building material is used for permanence.
Other formal elements and motifs are taken
from everyday buildings. The papyrus
column with it’s tulip shaped capital
resembles the shape of a stylised papyrus
stem in it’s cross-section. As a load bearing
element intended to support the ton weight
of the roof, a plant shape would seem rather
unsuitable. For the Egyptian builder, the
content expressed by the form was the key
issue and his job was to just imitate plainly.
In Djoser’s step pyramid complex, the
columns are clearly a monumental
representation of plant stems, commonly
used as supports for lightweight tent like
structures.
 In the tombs of the old kingdom, the
columns resemble lotus stems with closed
lotus blossoms on the top. Clearly lotus
stems and lotus blossoms are too fragile to
support even the lightest tent but the
significance here is; it is the blossom that
opens itself to the sun, so in the form of a
column, gives the ceiling its function as the
sunlit sky.
In the Temple of Luxor the real sky is held
aloft by the papyrus bundle columns.

PAPYRUS CAPITAL
WITH
OPEN UMBEL
PAPYRUS
CAPITAL
WITH
CLOSED
UMBEL
FLUTED (plant)
COLUMN
 LOTUS
CAPITAL
WITH LILY
BUDS
PAPYRUS AND LILY BUDS
CAPITAL
 PALM
CAPITAL
 PLANT
CAPITAL
COMPOSITE
CAPITAL
 COLORED
REPRESENTATION
ON
CLUSTERED
COLUMN