Romanesque

Charles the Great, also known as Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Roman Empire in 800. He encouraged learning arts and started building communities and monasteries. Prior to A.D 1000 little architecture was built, it was the millennium of the Apocalypse. The religious movement was strong during this time. Charlemagne initiated pilgrimages to Christian shrines. The typical features of Christian churches were semicircular arch and vaults, plans from the Early Christian basilica and a side chapel added in the transept. The structures had vaulting and multiple aisles.

I would love to go into one of these churches because the detailing and architecture are simply breathtaking. The arches are so well designed and make the design really stand out. 

One example of a Romanesque church is the Pisa baptistery. It includes three free standing buildings, a cross shaped cathedral and a cylindrical baptistery. It is made of local marble.

The residential life during the Romanesque period was very drafty, wet and dark. The homes were made of wood, mud and twigs. Not many homes survived because of the wooden structure.

I liked the examples Wendy had in class of the modern applications. You have to really be open about applying design to today's buildings and furniture because sometimes it's hard to tell at first.

I also found this Portfollio someone had online and it had some great examples of modern applications from the Romanesque time period.

I looked at Emily P's blog and was amazed at some of the pictures she had. She talked about the arches and applied them to modern day designs. I thought it was cool to see how that plays into homes today. She also found a blog that talked about a Romanesque church that was converted into a home and made into a more modern style. The pictures of this house were astonishing and I was truly amazed at how they converted such an old building to a nice home like that. I also looked at Megan's blog and it was interesting to me when she was describing the town of Aigues and how it had very confusing roads that often led to dead ends. However it was found to be intimate and charming to strangers.