BArch Bachelor of Architecture Bachelor of Architecture History 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Gothic cathedrals employed flying buttresses primarily to achieve which architectural goal?
- Support heavier roof loads in wet climates
- Allow thinner walls and larger stained-glass windows (Correct answer)
- Resist earthquake forces in southern Europe
- Create processional pathways around the exterior
Correct answer: Allow thinner walls and larger stained-glass windows
Flying buttresses transferred the lateral thrust of the vault outward, freeing the walls from bearing load and enabling large window openings filled with stained glass.
Question 2: The Barcelona Pavilion (1929), designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is celebrated for its pioneering use of which design concept?
- Biomorphic form
- Open or free plan with flowing space (Correct answer)
- Symmetrical classical layout
- Underground thermal mass
Correct answer: Open or free plan with flowing space
The Barcelona Pavilion demonstrated the 'free plan,' where non-load-bearing partition walls could be arranged freely to create flowing, interconnected spaces.
Question 3: Which American city is widely recognized as the birthplace of the modern skyscraper, with early examples built after the Great Fire of 1871?
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Chicago (Correct answer)
- Detroit
Correct answer: Chicago
Chicago became the cradle of skyscraper development; architects of the Chicago School pioneered steel-frame construction and curtain-wall facades after the city was rebuilt following the 1871 fire.
Question 4: Andrea Palladio's 'I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura' (1570) had an outsized influence on which later architectural movement in England and America?
- Gothic Revival
- Baroque
- Palladianism / Neoclassicism (Correct answer)
- Art Deco
Correct answer: Palladianism / Neoclassicism
Palladio's treatise directly inspired Palladianism and Neoclassicism, influencing architects like Inigo Jones in England and Thomas Jefferson in America.
Question 5: The Seagram Building in New York (1958), designed by Mies van der Rohe, is notable for being set back from the street on a plaza, which became a model for what urban planning incentive?
- Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
- Bonus FAR for public plazas in zoning codes (Correct answer)
- Tax Increment Financing districts
- Transit-Oriented Development ordinances
Correct answer: Bonus FAR for public plazas in zoning codes
New York City adopted bonus Floor Area Ratio provisions in its 1961 zoning code, allowing taller towers in exchange for publicly accessible plazas at street level — directly inspired by the Seagram Building.
Question 6: Which Roman architectural innovation allowed the construction of very large, durable structures without fired brick, using a volcanic aggregate called pozzolana?
- Roman concrete (opus caementicium) (Correct answer)
- Rusticated ashlar masonry
- Mud-brick (adobe) construction
- Fired terracotta tile vaulting
Correct answer: Roman concrete (opus caementicium)
Roman concrete, mixed with pozzolanic volcanic ash, was extremely durable and could be poured into molds, enabling the large spans and complex vaulted forms seen in the Pantheon and Roman baths.
Question 7: The Bauhaus school, founded in Weimar, Germany in 1919, was revolutionary in architecture education because it integrated what two previously separate disciplines?
- Engineering and urban planning
- Fine art craft and industrial design/architecture (Correct answer)
- Landscape architecture and interior design
- Structural engineering and environmental science
Correct answer: Fine art craft and industrial design/architecture
Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus to unite fine arts and crafts with functional design and architecture, breaking down the hierarchy between 'high art' and applied/industrial arts.
BArch Bachelor of Architecture Bachelor of Architecture History 3
Gothic cathedrals employed flying buttresses primarily to achieve which architectural goal?