OPUS 2

Henry Wotten claimed "well-building hath three conditions: commodity, firmness and delight" (Roth, p.11). This is to say that any truly high-quality piece of architecture needs to be functional – at least in most cases, since it is difficult for a room to always function to its highest potential – have a secure, reliable foundation, and bring joy as well as satisfaction to those who enter, or at the very least look at it. An example of this would be the ziggurat at Ur: functional in its time because it brought people together to worship the moon god; firm because it is still standing after thousands of years; delightful because of its beauty.

The ziggurat in Ur was made out of hard brick which was laid in bitumen, a thick crude oil which came from the springs in Hit. (Roth 184) Hit was relatively nearby, providing them easy access to this lasting material. Like the Sumerians who constructed the Ziggurat in Ur, Cro-Magnons made shelter out of materials that were easily accessed from the areas they inhabited. The ones found across what is now Eastern Europe were constructed out of internal frames of wood, which were covered with hides, then surrounded at the base by mammoth skulls and bones. (Roth 163) Some may have also used caves or other shelters found naturally on the earth, or clay from nearby rivers. Unlike the Ziggurat however, these vernacular structures may have been commodious and even firm in very few cases (because some structures were found intact thousands of years later), but were most likely not pleasing to the eye.

As I have already mentioned, these structures were built at different time periods, by tremendously dissimilar cultures, and therefore they convey separate attitudes and feelings. Any piece of architecture communicates by a specific fashion, one that is affected by the society which built it, and the time they did so. The idiom, or distinct style, of the ancient Egyptian era for example conveys how important they thought the afterlife was, especially of pharaohs. They created pyramids which served as the instrument used by the king to ascend to the heavens. (Roth 200).

There were more structures which were illuminated by their relationship with the heavens. For example, though we do not know the exact meaning behind Stonehenge, one assumption is that it was a place to mourn the dead, and the circular formation of it could be seen from the heavens. Another more common idea is that it may have served as an astronomical observatory, marking phenomena such as eclipses and the summer solstice. (Roth 173) This also brings the idea that people spent much time and concentration making the stones, and placing them in a particular pattern, which shows how intelligent they were even then.

In conclusion, for architecture to be appreciated to its highest degree, it must be commodious, firm, and bring delight. The different materials used to build can influence how sturdy the structure is and even how beautiful or appealing it is. The materials used also translate what the meaning behind the architecture is, meaning that each culture and society, each architect has their own specific language, their own idiosyncrasies, which can be understood through the exploration of the architecture.