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Event
SOLVING THE RIDDLES OF THE DORIC ORDER* with ND Professor of Graduate Studues Richard M. Economakis
5:30 Reception
6:30 Lecture
The forms of the Doric column and entablature have remained virtually unchanged since the first stone temples were erected in the 7th century BCE. While the various details are clearly intended to evoke earlier wooden structures, attempts to reconstruct the original carpentry remain unconvincing on many levels. Difficulty in interpreting Doric forms goes back to the Roman architect Vitruvius, and before him to architects of the Hellenistic period. While some advances have been made in the study of pre-petrification temples, the purpose of many of the most characteristic details of the Doric system remains uncertain. As a result, current scholarship tends to assume that the builders of the first stone temples imitated carpentry merely in generic terms, fudging details and overlooking formal and conceptual incongruities for the sake of visual effect. The problems of interpretation arise from erroneous assumptions made by Vitruvius and the misleading association of the forms of the entablature with the peristyle colonnade. This presentation will demonstrate that Doric details can be entirely explained in terms of techniques known to ancient builders. Using archaeological, art-historical, literary and epigraphic evidence, and with the help of analytical scale models, it will be shown that Doric buildings were originally plain-walled structures employing three-fold built-up beams supported by a row of central columns. The beams ensured verticality in the columns by bracing them in a manner that also permitted lateral and rotational movement in response to earthquakes. This ingenious structural system, which was reinforced by carefully contrived bronze fittings, perfectly explains the distinctive forms of the Doric entablature and column capitals. The paper will also demonstrate that the red and blue colors used in later stone entablatures replicate copper flashing and fungicidal paint applied where end-grain was exposed in wooden members.
*A summary of the research behind this paper has been published in The Classicist No. 12, Reconstructing the Proto-Doric Temple: New Thoughts on a Theory of Origin
Richard Economakis combines practice and teaching in architecture. He is Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame and currently serves as Director of Architecture and Urbanism in the School of Architectures Graduate Program. He joined the School in 1996 after years of working with prominent firms in London and New York. He is both a Greek and US citizen and received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell University. While in London he worked as an editor at Academy Editions. Among his edited books are monographs on the works of leading traditional architects, and the book Acropolis Restoration (Academy Editions 1995), which was the first to document the ongoing restoration of the Acropolis monuments in Athens. He is the author of books on the architecture of the Acropolis in Athens, and the towns and buildings of Nisyros, an island in the Aegean Sea. His most recent edited work is the book Durability in Construction by Papadakis Publisher, London, which showcases new buildings that employ traditional techniques, with essays by their authors. The publication was selected as the July 2015 Book of the Month by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Prof. Economakis has led summer programs for the School of Architecture in Greece and Britain, and was twice named Educator of the Year by the Schools Student Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture. He has lectured on a variety of architectural topics at venues such as the Society of Architectural Historians, the Prince of Waless Foundation, Princeton Universitys Program in Hellenic Studies, the Benaki Museum in Athens, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Congress for New Urbanism. In 2002 he took a years leave from teaching to serve as Design Associate for the new Whitman College in Princeton University for the London-based firm of Porphyrios Associates, supervising the design development phase of the project. As principal of Richard Economakis Architectural Design, he has realized a number of projects in the US, Central America and Europe. He is currently engaged in designs for a Theater in Seaside, Florida, and a Market Hall for South Bend. Since 2007 he has realized a number of buildings for the new town of Cayalá in Guatemala, in collaboration with the firm Estudio Urbano of Guatemala City. His design for a Civic Hall at Cayalá received a 2013 Palladio Award. In 2015 his work in the same town was honored with the firm Estudio Urbano with an Acanthus Award or Arete from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Arts Chicago Midwest Chapter, and an urbanism award from the International Making Cities Livable conferences IMCL. His recent proposal for the construction of Refugee Villages in Greece and the Mediterranean was the recipient of an Honor Award of Excellence for Caring for our Common Home from the IMCL, at the Pontifical University in Rome in June 2016.
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LocationThe Richard H. Driehaus Museum (View)
40 East Erie Street
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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