Byzantine

Byzantine; the longest political entity in European history (324 - 1453)

Byzantine was located current Istanbul, Turkey.  Their culture was heavily influenced by Greek and East Asian cultures.  That explains why Turkey is part of Asia today.  Culture in Byzantine was rich and affluent.  It was the time when science and technology also flourished.  Public debates were taking place frequently with citizens and even emperor.  They mainly debated over Philosophical and theological discourse, which helped them to gain more knowledge and admiration of Greek philosophical and scientific heritage.  I found them very interesting that times like no internet, no technology as we have today, they had their own "social media", and maintaining their heritage. 



Their greatest architectural development was Pendentive style.  This Pendentive style are very familiar style even today.  Roman developed arch and dome shapes.  They took them more forward.  You can see their perspective went beyond dome.  they started to focus shapes from four directional elevation view.

Hagia Sophia (532 - 537 C.E.)



The pendentive style creates incredible interior, it also allowed them to create multiple dome shapes to the building.



From the sustainability stand point, this cathedral has many windows that allows daylighting, almost it does not even need any artificial light.  I think it is always great to learn sustainable design from our history, because they did not have any electricity back then.




Current Application

The kitchen at Castle Drogo, Devon, by Sir Edwin Lutyens

It clearly shows that he took the idea of Pendentive structure in his design.  This kitchen is also incorporated skylights, just like one that we saw from cathedral from Byzantine. 



Queen Alia Terminal in Amman, Jordan