The achievements of the ancient Greek and Romans have influenced our lives more than we could possibly imagine.
To this day we still use many ideas and ways of life that they used thousands of years ago. Many of the modern, public, government buildings and monuments reflect the design features of the ancient Greeks and Romans because of their elegance and beauty. Architecture today has been shaped by the ancient Romans and Greeks architectural design features. The way the ancient Romans and Greeks viewed the beauty in their architecture has not changed after thousands of years of growth and development in technology.
Modern architecture has used the ancient Greeks and Romans design features to create a significant impression on todays society. The ancient Greeks and Romans had many design features that were used for different purposes. The most common of these were the use of columns, which have been used extensively throughout history in many different civilisations. These columns gave a sense of power and gave a strong impression of authority.
In architecture today the same idea of the use of the column exists. Government buildings, such as court houses (see appendix 6) and the white house in America (see appendix 5) use the column for this very reason. The types of columns that are mainly used in the government buildings are usually ionic or Doric columns. These columns have a strong and dominant look, so this then again brings across the meaning of power and authority. Modern Architecture not only uses the design features for a sense of authority, but for beauty and elegance.
In the ancient world of the Romans and Greeks beauty and perfection was a huge aspect in their architecture. The column was so important that even if they were not needed; half columns were decoratively attached to the walls. Today architects are using the column even if they are not essentially needed for the support of a structure, but used to add style and beauty to their buildings an example of this is the Brisbane city hall (see appendix 7). The creation of the roman arch has also made a huge impact on the way buildings are designed today. The arch was extensively used throughout the Roman Empire in aqueducts, entertainment arenas (see appendix 3) and political buildings. The arch was used to create a sense of style and beauty to every day structures for example the aqueducts, and the arch is still being used today for this exact reason.
Societys views on elegant and true beauty in their architecture have not changed since the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans. in all areas of life things are always evolving and change to suit the needs of every era. Although the area that has stayed remarkably the same since the ancient Greeks and Romans, is western societys views on the beauty of a building. To the Greeks and Romans there was beauty in just every day things; house hold items, clothing, town structure and the design features in buildings. The types of design features were such an important part of their culture that the Greeks used mathematics and proportion to determine the size and shape of buildings to make sure everything was perfect and flawless. The Romans borrowed this same concept making the columns used only Corinthian (see appendix 4) so true elegance was added to their buildings.
Today these same concepts have not changed, even though the technology has become more advanced, the same design features are still being used on buildings today. Even though more design techniques have been created, we still refer back to the Greeks and Romans to find true elegance to make todays important buildings exceptionally beautiful for example the white house and court houses (See appendix 5 and 6). The designs of ancient Greek and Roman architecture have stayed with western culture for thousands of years. Modern, public, government buildings and monuments reflect all the things that they found important, beauty, elegance, power and authority by using element of design like the column and the arch. Not only architecture, but also our way of life would not be the same today with out the influence of the ancient Greeks
