Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is an ivory white marble mausoleum situated on the south bank of the Yamuna River in the Agra district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was initially built by Emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his wife. The Taj Mahal remains an architectural wonder of the modern world. The construction began around 1632 and completed in 1648, with the mosque, the guest house and the main gateway on the south, the outer courtyard and its cloisters were added subsequently and completed in 1653. In all, more than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe and the Ottoman Empire, along with some 1,000 elephants, were brought in to build the tomb complex.
The marble dome is often called an onion dome because of its shape. The onion shaped dome of the taj mahal sits on a massive drum that adds support to the circular top. The mausoleum was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. It was constructed of white marble decorated with semi-precious stones (including jade, crystal, lapis lazuli, amethyst and turquoise) forming complex designs in a technique known as pietra dura. At its center is the Taj Mahal itself, built of shimmering white marble that appears to change colour depending upon the sunlight or moonlight hitting its surface. Much of the calligraphy is composed of florid thuluth script, made of jasper or black marble, decorated in white marble panels. The four sides of the Taj Mahal are perfectly identical creating an incredibly mirrored image on
Ever since man began building structures and settling land, art has manifested itself in our architectural creations. Whether it be to celebrate or worship a God or Gods, a grand sculpture to bury a powerful leader or remember them by, or to show a culture’s dedication to specific values, our architectural constructions have led to some of the finest art this Earth has ever seen. The Taj Mahal and Palace of Versailles are two great examples of such art. By examining each of these individually, and then comparing and contrasting them, it will become clear that no matter how different looking these buildings may be, they still serve the same purpose to the civilizations that erected them.
One of the way that they thought it was built was that the builders used ramps, long ones to lengthen and heighten the pyramid as it rose, and it wound around the pyramid face as it faced each layer of blocks upward.
Construction on The Empire State Building began on October 1, 1929 just a few weeks before the biggest stock market crash in United States history. On September 9, 1930, Al Smith the former Governor of New York, marked the spot of the cornerstone of what would become the worlds tallest and the century’s best building. That day Smith gave a speech to a crowd of over five thousand, which included mostly workers in hopes of a job on the upcoming project. The Empire State Building opened its doors just eight months later on Friday, May 1, 1931. For a country in midst of a great depression The Empire State Building was a symbol of hope in dark times and showed that Americans would persevere even in a
The Freedom Tower also known as “One World Trade Center” is the tallest skyscraper in the western hemisphere, and the fifth tallest skyscraper in our planet earth. The building structure consists of 104 stories can also be described as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center. The Building location is 285 Fulton Street, Manhattan New York, United States 10007, as depicted in the map below Figure 1.
The dimensions of the sculpture are not known from the research as the Saudi government has the polytheistic sculptures and work censored. Saudi Arabia only lends the sculptures to the Non-Muslim country museum with strict censorship deal with the loaned country. Most of the polytheistic sculptures were destroyed in Muhammad’s time when Islam started to grow. The relief is stone carved with written language which might say “Blessings to the tribe”. The line structures are both thick and thin.The contours are flat with rounded faces and triangular noses. The texture would have been smooth and detailed. There is no color in the sculpture; it would be left as natural white color of the limestone. This sculpture would have become
Also buildings in both cultures have a lot in common in their visual characteristics they are different structures. Egyptian pyramids originally had smooth equal sides meeting on the top in the perfect apex. Mayan pyramids look like one huge stairway towards the sky. It reminds of earliest Egyptian structures-mastabas, where one layer of stones was put onto another creating the effect of pyramid. Also The Tikal Temple on Great Plaza was originally plastered white. Then the roof comb was painted with reds, blues, and other colors to accent the different areas of sculptural decoration. These roof combs were like giant billboards, with immense portrayals of the enthroned king, larger then life size (Cities pars.3). Egyptians never colored their religious structures. As well as in Egyptian pyramids, the stone used to construct Mayan pyramids is local limestone, obtained from nearby quarries. The ancient Maya had no stone tools but limestone is soft enough that the Maya could utilize
First, the outside temple 's architecture features many things. For example, a half shaped golden sphere, which sat in the center of the temple. It was made of several rectangle parts put together like a jigsaw puzzle to form a pregnant woman belly. The gold dome was elegant and shiny. So bright that Japan residents are blind by the glow. Next, the temple 's stone and marble combination were brilliant together. The stone wall a pale pink with a smooth texture like a baby 's bottom. The caramel
The structural similarity between the two buildings is the large domes, which are vital point of their construction. The materials used in the concrete of the dome also varies. At its thickest point, the aggregate is travertine, then terracotta tiles, then at the very top, tufa and pumice, both porous light stones. At the very top, where the dome would be at its weakest and vulnerable to collapse, the oculus lightens the load. Hagia Sophia is an innovative hybrid of longitudinal and central architectural planning. The building is clearly dominated by the hovering form of its gigantic dome. Its idiosyncratic mixture of basilica and rotunda precludes a ring of masonry underneath the dome to provide support around its circumference, the main dome of Hagia Sophia rests instead on four pendentives that connect the base of the dome with the huge supporting piers at the four corners of the square area beneath it. The origin of the dome on pendentive is obscure, but its large-scale use at Hagia Sophia
World famous and believed to be created in the first hundred years AD, the Al Khazneh in Petra of Jordan was once used as a mausoleum or a crypt (Macaulay-Lewis, n.d.). This building is now a tourist attraction and has been made famous by being featured in films from around the world.
The Great Pyramid has a very distinctive form, despite its age. It is said that the triangular shape is a strong one construction wise. It only seems suiting that this may explain why this large pyramid still remains. The media of limestone blocks may have also contributed to the long life of The Great Pyramid. A pyramidal form typically is a boring
The limestone’s that were used to build the pyramids were taken from quarries along the Nile River. When the building was completed the Great Pyramid was surfaced using white casing stones that slanted and were flat at the top (Krystek, 2010). The smooth blocks were beautiful, extremely well polished and white. This came to be known as the Casing Stones (Krystek, 2010). These have since then been cut off by Arabs who use them to build mosques in Cairo. However, a few of them still remain. Before the Arabs begun to strip off the casing stones they were very beautiful to look at. The original pyramid with its white casing would operate like humongous mirrors that powerfully reflected light on the moon and be seen like a star on earth (gizapyramid.com, 2011).
Question 1. Choose an architect or practice whose work is covered by or relevant to this course and discuss critically one or more of their design projects or drawings or urban proposals as precedent case-studies. Selectively situate this work in relation to their body of work, and against the practices and concerns of the period. Focus on the architectural qualities of a specific key aspect of the design of the projects. Selectively consider how they might relate to the historical situation, cultural values, theoretical concerns and design practices of the time. This may involve a selective analysis of compositional design practices, material fabrication production and the experiential reception of built outcomes of the projects.
Taj Mahal is one of the famous monument situated in Agra, India built by the great Mughal Emperor Shan Jahan in dedication to his wife. The building was built between 1631 and 1648 by a famous architect Ustad Ahmad Lahouri with the help of more than 20,000 workers to complete the work. Taj Mahal was built in the remembrance of Shan Jahan’s third wife Mumtaz Mahal. This monument stands out for the internal love towards his wife. The building was built out with marvelous white marbles, also different types of marbles from many regions have. Taj Mahal is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. People of India is really proud to have a monument which took place in the seven wonders of the world. The real intent was to create a monument that would be matchless in beauty and magnificence and continuing inheritance, a masterpiece for the eternities to come, to assure his place in history. In 2007 the Official Declaration Ceremony took place and acknowledged Taj Mahal as the new seven wonders of the world. Along with The Great Wall of China, Petra, Chichén Itzá, The Statue of Christ Redeemer, the Colosseum, Machu Picchu. The Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally masterpieces of the world's heritage for Islamic community to worship and one of the engaged tourist site. According to history Taj Mahal is famous in India because of its significance in its culture, architecture, design, myths and legend and tourism.
From my observation at the Met, this sculpture is inside a medium glass and space. Also, it is by itself in the glass. It is a three-dimensional sculpture created by modeling and merging hard materials. Next to it there are other deities (Vishnu, Parvati, Ganesh etc.) and sculptors from the Chola Dynasty. The other works near it complements the sculpture as I have stated above they are from the same time period so, they are related to each other some way and
The Taj Mahal is a prime example of India’s rich culture. A mix of Indian, Persian and Islamic characteristics, the two decade long project is a renowned “Wonder of the World” that boasts an emotional and romantic history; it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan of the Mughal era in a splendid tribute to his deceased wife. To this day, the Taj Mahal continues to be a famous landmark and cherished piece of Indian art.