ARCH 249 Exam 3 OAO Questions
Mohenjo-Daro: “This section…is laid out on a grid plan and contains the best examples of fired-brick architecture,
including a drainage system connecting houses to a system of public sanitation. Curiously no temple or palace buildings
have been identified at this or any other sites. The size of the population is unknown, but the most frequent estimates
suggest a range of 20,000–30,000 at any given moment.”
Ancient Urban Forms on the Indian Sub-Continent: “Urban architecture includes high earthen city walls with
battlements; elaborate buttressed city gates with wooden balconies; gatehouses that follow a variety of village forms;
and urban palaces, with several open, pillared storeys above a solid ground storey, corner pavilions, keel-vaulted upper
chambers and distinctive barrel-vaulted dormers. Wooden braces support balconies, terraces are enclosed by fencelike
balustrades, and perforated screens are used as windows to enclose private spaces.”
Stupa: “In Vedic literature the term referred to a ‘crest’ or ‘summit’. In Buddhist usage the meaning was extended to
‘reliquary mound’.”
Pagoda: “Multi-storeyed and crowned by a stupa, spire, finial or flattened umbrella shape, Chinese versions were
constructed from brick, stone, timber and metals, and some were covered with glazed tiles. Most large examples can be
entered and ascended by means of internal staircases.”
Platform: “The platform is an indispensable part of any Chinese building, its height and elaboration being dependent on
the function of the building and on the position of its owner in the social and political hierarchy. … The platform fulfills a
practical function—that of protecting the timber building from ground-water—and symbolically heightens the building,
adding to its monumentality.”
For dougong question: Diagram of a bracket set (dougong), 12th century: (a) capital block; (b) lintel; (c) column; (d)
bracket arm (gong); (e) block (dou); (f) cantilever (ang)
For Song-period high-ranking timber hall: Structure of a typical Song-period (960–1279) high-ranking timber hall, as
described in the Yingzao fashi (‘Building methods’; 1103); sectional perspective
“Division of the large interior of a Chinese building was achieved through solid partitions, door panels, large openwork
lattice or free-standing shelves for displaying antiques and books.”
“The advantage of the [Chinese] underground Chinese dwelling lies in its thermal properties, by which the interior
remains cool during summer and warm in winter.”
Stone: “Stone was used in China mainly for constructing tombs, Buddhist pagodas, memorial structures and bridges. This
was probably due to the natural and perceived properties of the material: as a heavy, hard, cold and relatively
permanent material, stone must have been seen as suitable for reliquary building; its strength and resistance to
weathering made it useful for bridges and for use in places on a timber building that are most exposed to the elements,
such as the lower section of the wall, the platform and the column bases.”
T/F Archeological evidence suggests that the Chinese did not use stone or brick in traditional architecture.
Japan: “…the most useful way to interpret the reality of traditional Japanese architecture is to see it as the product of
four separate but dynamically interacting spheres: the functional sphere of different building types created for different
purposes; the technological sphere of materials and tools; the human sphere of the skills and practices of the hereditary
building professions and trades; and finally the historical sphere, in which architectural evolution can be seen as a
response to changing political, religious, social, economic and technological conditions.”
Mohenjo-Daro: “This section…is laid out on a grid plan and contains the best examples of fired-brick architecture,
including a drainage system connecting houses to a system of public sanitation. Curiously no temple or palace buildings
have been identified at this or any other sites. The size of the population is unknown, but the most frequent estimates
suggest a range of 20,000–30,000 at any given moment.”
Ancient Urban Forms on the Indian Sub-Continent: “Urban architecture includes high earthen city walls with
battlements; elaborate buttressed city gates with wooden balconies; gatehouses that follow a variety of village forms;
and urban palaces, with several open, pillared storeys above a solid ground storey, corner pavilions, keel-vaulted upper
chambers and distinctive barrel-vaulted dormers. Wooden braces support balconies, terraces are enclosed by fencelike
balustrades, and perforated screens are used as windows to enclose private spaces.”
Stupa: “In Vedic literature the term referred to a ‘crest’ or ‘summit’. In Buddhist usage the meaning was extended to
‘reliquary mound’.”
Pagoda: “Multi-storeyed and crowned by a stupa, spire, finial or flattened umbrella shape, Chinese versions were
constructed from brick, stone, timber and metals, and some were covered with glazed tiles. Most large examples can be
entered and ascended by means of internal staircases.”
Platform: “The platform is an indispensable part of any Chinese building, its height and elaboration being dependent on
the function of the building and on the position of its owner in the social and political hierarchy. … The platform fulfills a
practical function—that of protecting the timber building from ground-water—and symbolically heightens the building,
adding to its monumentality.”
For dougong question: Diagram of a bracket set (dougong), 12th century: (a) capital block; (b) lintel; (c) column; (d)
bracket arm (gong); (e) block (dou); (f) cantilever (ang)
For Song-period high-ranking timber hall: Structure of a typical Song-period (960–1279) high-ranking timber hall, as
described in the Yingzao fashi (‘Building methods’; 1103); sectional perspective
“Division of the large interior of a Chinese building was achieved through solid partitions, door panels, large openwork
lattice or free-standing shelves for displaying antiques and books.”
“The advantage of the [Chinese] underground Chinese dwelling lies in its thermal properties, by which the interior
remains cool during summer and warm in winter.”
Stone: “Stone was used in China mainly for constructing tombs, Buddhist pagodas, memorial structures and bridges. This
was probably due to the natural and perceived properties of the material: as a heavy, hard, cold and relatively
permanent material, stone must have been seen as suitable for reliquary building; its strength and resistance to
weathering made it useful for bridges and for use in places on a timber building that are most exposed to the elements,
such as the lower section of the wall, the platform and the column bases.”
T/F Archeological evidence suggests that the Chinese did not use stone or brick in traditional architecture.
Japan: “…the most useful way to interpret the reality of traditional Japanese architecture is to see it as the product of
four separate but dynamically interacting spheres: the functional sphere of different building types created for different
purposes; the technological sphere of materials and tools; the human sphere of the skills and practices of the hereditary
building professions and trades; and finally the historical sphere, in which architectural evolution can be seen as a
response to changing political, religious, social, economic and technological conditions.”
