Ancient Greece

History:

Greek civilization was the beginning of western ideas and culture; in other words focus shifted to the worth of the individual and democracy. They were masters of philosophy, science, fine arts, medicine, legal systems, and astronomy. During the Golden Age between 480 B.C. and 400 B.C., there were many great strives in architecture and interior design. The most important surviving building of Classical Greece, the Parthenon, was constructed in 438 B.C. This structure is generally considered the culmination of the Doric order. Other buildings also displayed the variety of classic orders of architecture.

The systems of columns and details were a key characteristics in Greek design. The columns contained multiple different pieces. There was the base, shaft, capital, and entablature. The entablature was made up of the architrave, frieze, and cornice. The columns were also the Greeks way of developing a sense of balance. One of the common misconceptions about the columns, is that they were uniformly shaped from top to bottom but this is not true. The entablature bowed in the center and the columns incline inward. The shafts tapered and heavier columns were placed on the corners. The distance between the columns was also not the exact same throughout. The three main styles of columns and entablatures were the doric, ionic, and corinthian.

Compared to the grand design that was known to be applied to  public buildings, domestic structures were far less impressive. These homes were usually constructed with mud brick on a wooden frame and topped off with terracotta roof tiles. The house was centralized around an inner courtyard. There were few high placed windows in order to prevent the immense heat from the sun and air as well as a security precaution. The rooms found without a home in ancient Greece were normally given specific purpose just like those of the modern home today.

One of the most distinct traits of a Greek home was their process of collecting drinking water. There was an opening in the roof referred to as the compluvium. This allowed water from when it rained to come into the home and be collected in a basin referred to as the cistern or impluvium. 

The interiors of most Greek buildings had varying characteristics. The floors would either be plastered then painted or decorated with mosaic techniques. The walls were either unplastered mud bricks then painted with symbolic frescoes to tell stories. Motifs were very prominent in Greek design. They ranged from floral to marine, egg and dart, and Greek fret or key. Common paint applications included divisions: the walls were red, the dados were white, and they were separated by a yellow line.

Furniture was a defining factor in Greek design. Their specialty was seated furniture. The most well known and influential styles of seating were the thronos, klismos, diphros, and kline. The thronos, is the typically thought of throne, or formal chair of honor. The klismos was the most graceful and influential piece of Greek furniture simply because its beauty comes from its form. It was crafted out of wood and had splayed legs with a curved back. The diphros was a stool without arms or a back that was usually made out of wood. The more expensive versions were commonly made of ebony and the legs were dipped in silver. The finally piece, the kline, was abed that functioned as a modern day sofa and was also used for dining purposes. They typically had sweeping curbed headboards and the mattresses were stuffed with wool or feathers. 

Current Applications:

Peer Reviews:

Allysia: I reviewed her blog and unlike others I have reviewed she decided to use more pictures to depict the different design techniques instead of writing. I thought it was very smart to use political buildings like our modern day Capital to show how Greek influenced architecture throughout history.
Tara: Next I reviewed Tara's blog and she explained in detail how they were obsessed with visually pleasing designs which she later supported with a variety of images ranging from motifs to seating.

Additional Links!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhPEdr1ax0