Architecture Trivia

1. In architectural terms, where would you most likely find a finial?

From Quiz What's in a Home?

Answer: At the high point of a roof, dome or cupola

Derived from the Latin "finis" meaning "the end", finials are often the highest point on any given structure. Often thought to be used as lightning rods, finials are in fact a strictly decorative elements and can be made of stone, wood or metal.

From Quiz Arc-Aztec-Ture

Answer: Valley of Mexico, 14th - 16th centuries CE

The Aztec era lasted from around 1300 to 1521. The Aztecs were a culturally heterogeneous people united by the common language called Nahuatl. Aztec culture was organized into city-states which formed a confederation of three city-states to establish Tenochtitlan: city-state of the Mexica or Tenochca; Texcoco; and Tlacopan. Aztec culture shared elements with other central American cultures such as: Social divisions between nobility and common people, the cultivation of maize, a polytheism (featuring Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl), and a calendar system of a year ofof 365 days alternating with a tonalpohualli (a count of 20 periods of 13 days each ruled by a different deity) of 260 days. Unique to the Tenochtitlan people was the patron God Huitzilopochtli, twin pyramid structures, and a distinctive ceramic ware used amongst its people.

From Quiz Anatomy of a Thai Wat

Answer: Wall around the outside

The word 'wat' means enclosure, and is used for Buddhist temples in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. The wall around the outside of the temple complex is meant to show its separation from the secular world around it. Inside the wall, there are two general regions: the 'Phutthawat', which is set aside for the active worship of Buddha, and the 'Sangkhawat', where the living quarters and some other functional buildings are located.

From Quiz Architecture 101

Answer: Pointed arch, flying buttress, ribbed vault

Gothic architecture originated in France in the 12th Century and was popular into the 16th Century. Art Deco had bold geometric shapes, lavish ornamentation,and vibrant colors. Neoclassic generally replicated Classical with the emphasis on the wall. And Baroque used light, illusory effects, and ceiling frescoes.

From Quiz Dutch Canal Houses

Answer: Taxation: tax was paid according to the width of the canal house

Canal houses in Amsterdam were taxed according to their width. Along the wealthiest parts of the canals in Amsterdam (for example the Gouden Bocht or Golden Bend), rich people would build wide palaces-like houses - they could afford the higher taxes. Defensive aspects were not important in building canal houses, the most important aspects were living and storing goods. There are examples of "city castles" in the Netherlands (some of them along canals, i.e. Utrecht), but these defensive structures are not found in Amsterdam. When a flood would cause the dikes to collapse, the city would be submerged in one or two meters of sea water. For this purpose, the doors to many canal houses are raised and are only accessible by climbing a flight of stairs in front of the house. This however didn't have to do do anything with building high, narrow houses. The upper stories of many (if not all) canal houses were only for stocking goods, not for people to live during floods.

From Quiz The Sydney Opera House

Answer: Bennelong Point

Bennelong was more or less kidnapped by the early Europeans who settled Australia, and taken to our first governor, Arthur Phillip. The peculiar reason given for his enforced journey to Government House was that Governor Phillip wanted to establish cordial relationships with the local aboriginal people who lived in the Port Jackson area. A strange way to go about such an aim, it's true, but it did work to a degree. Bennelong was quite a character, a bit of a rogue, but extremely intelligent and quite adept at turning events to his favour over the years that followed. This included his request to have Phillip's men build him a comfortable hut on an area of land overlooking Sydney Harbour. Since that time, this prime piece of land has been known as Bennelong Point. It is here that the Sydney Opera House was built some 150 years later.

From Quiz A Very Stirling Affair

Answer: 1996

The Stirling Prize is much younger than people often think. It is named after Sir James Frazer Stirling, who is generally accepted to be one of the most influential architects of the second half of the 20th century. Prior to 1996 architects were given The Building of the Year Award. His designs include the Andrew Melville Hall, St Andrews, and the History Faculty Building at Cambridge. The prize is the architectural equivalent of the Booker Prize, and is the one that every architect wants on their c.v. The winner is chosen from six short listed buildings and these buildings and the award ceremony receive much media coverage.

From Quiz Key to the Door

Answer: Olive wood

Most of the wood used in the manufacture of the interior of the temple was either cedar or cypress, and beautifully carved with cherubim, palm trees, buds, open flowers, and then inlaid with gold. In the inner sanctuary the doors were specifically made of olive wood, and carved and inlaid in the same manner. The entire structure must have been very beautiful. The stone outer walls, and any stone used elsewhere in the construction, was hewn and carved in the quarry so that no sound of hammering or chiseling could be heard in the temple. The two huge free-standing cherubim in the inner sanctuary were also manufactured from olive wood. All details of the construction methods and the materials used in the construction of this extraordinary building can be found in the Hebrew Bible in 1 Kings.

From Quiz Takin' My Time

Answer: Noon

This clock which provides us with Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a twenty-four hour clock. Because of this, the hour of noon is at the bottom of the clock face. The Shepherd Gate Clock is located at Greenwich, London, England. The clock is mounted on the outer wall of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Charles Shepherd constructed and installed this clock in 1852.

From Quiz Building Nicknames

Answer: the cheese cover

The transparent dome literally and symbolically enables the people to peer down on their legislators at work, in order to never again allow their liberties to be curtailed by the government.

From Quiz "Quotable" Architecture

Answer: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was a German-American master of modern architecture, known for his connections to both the Bauhaus School and International Style. The Seagram building in New York and IBM Plaza in Chicago are examples of the steel-and-glass "skin and bones" skyscrapers he pioneered. This quote appeared in Time Magazine, Feb. 18, 1957. Quote source: http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-mies-quotes.htm

From Quiz Random Architectural History

Answer: Composite

The Composite Order was a late Roman development of the Corinthian Order.

From Quiz What's in a Home?

Answer: Muntin

Muntins were a common window component before the Industrial Revolution, as it was much more cost effective to produce and replace small panes of glass as opposed to large single panes. Modern insulated windows often have a false muntin sandwiched between two large panes in order to simulate the look of older windows.

From Quiz Victorian Architecture

Answer: Balmoral Castle

Victoria and Albert visited Scotland when they were 23 years old and had Balmoral built 10 years later in 1856. Balmoral was designed by architect William Smith and amended by Albert; and Victoria continued with his plans after his death. Balmoral embodies the Scottish baronial revival. Balmoral was designed with a principal keep tower and large turreted country house attached. The original Scots baronial style was comprised of tall keep towers and turrets, but had thin walls. It became obsolete with the advent of gunpowder weapons, but was associated with chivalry and the nobility. Balmoral has continued to be the vacation residence of the Royal Family.

From Quiz Dutch Canal Houses

Answer: Moving furniture

Because of the narrow and steep stairs in canal houses, moving furniture is done by using the pulleys that were once used for hoisting grain, spices, linen and other goods. Cleaning windows is done by putting up a ladder, tram cables are attached either to the gable or poles, electrical cables are in the ground. Although there might be some pulley systems that are never used for moving furniture, they were never meant as a decorative aspect, nor are they viewed in that manner nowadays.

From Quiz The Sydney Opera House

Answer: Jørn Utzon from Denmark

Requirements for this design stated that it must include a hall large enough to seat 3,000 cultured bottoms, another to seat 1,200, and with suitably sized areas incorporated in each hall to accommodate opera or ballet productions, orchestral and vocal performance concerts, lecture theatre, and various large meetings. Entries by 233 architects representing 32 countries from all over the globe flooded in, but it would be Jørn Utzon from Denmark whose design was selected as the ultimate winner.

From Quiz A Very Stirling Affair

Answer: Waterloo International

Designed by Grimshaw Architects, Waterloo International was built to accommodate the Eurostar train service from London to Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel. Eurostar offers a fast and convenient service which competes very well with the air service, if you take into account things like check-in times and having to find your way to Heathrow Airport. Following the move by Eurostar to St Pancras International in 2007, Waterloo International is being converted to domestic use.

From Quiz Key to the Door

Answer: Camouflaged hidden door in the walls of a room

A jib door was usually constructed so that it lay flush with the walls of the room from which it led, and was decorated in the same fashion as the rest of the walls in that room, so that, unless one knew the door was there, it was not obvious at all. Jib doors were often used in the old historic manor homes of England in particular, and more often than not as entrances to the rooms where servants worked behind the scenes. After all, if one is entertaining royalty at a great feast in the dining hall, it would be rather distracting to see flustered servants dashing to and fro in the background preparing dishes and organising wine and cutlery, old boy. Pip, pip, tallyho, for England and Saint George!

From Quiz Takin' My Time

Answer: Minute hand

"Big Ben" clock tower is located in Westminster, London, England. This famous tourist attraction's clock dials are twenty-three feet square. The minute hand, on each clock face, is fourteen feet long. Each number is two feet high. "Big Ben" is actually the nickname for the bell of the clock in the north end of the Palace of Westminster. The name is sometimes incorrectly applied to the clock or tower. "Big Ben" was 150 years old in May, 2009.

From Quiz Deconstructivism

Answer: Deconstruction

The focus of Deconstructivism is on the form and the shape of the building, and many of the Deconstructivist buildings are built with similar materials.

From Quiz Building Nicknames

Answer: hemorrhoid

The highly spatial building resembles a squatting human, and despite government efforts to rally public support for a name change, this effort has so far been unsuccessful.

From Quiz "Quotable" Architecture

Answer: Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was a leader of the Prairie School of architecture and advocated an "organic" style, typified by the Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania and the Guggenheim in New York. Quote source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/frank_lloyd_wright.html

From Quiz Random Architectural History

Answer: Neoclassicism

Excavations at the newly discovered cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were part of the reason for the return to classical styles in architecture.

From Quiz Architectural Skeletons

Answer: Wrought Iron

Eiffel designed the wrought iron skeleton which is clad with copper per Bartholdi's design. Bartholdi's first idea was to make a hollow statue filled to the hips with sand. This wouldn't have worked since the outward thrust of the sand would have ripped the copper sheathing apart at the seams.

From Quiz Bits of Architecture

Answer: Painted brilliantly, with reds, blues and yellows, in a riot of color

To modern eyes, ancient Greek temples derive much of their grandeur from their simple lines, their disciplined elegance and the white austerity of their stones. But the Greeks saw them differently. Scholars now know that originally the temples were almost gaudy. Brilliant paints - blues, reds and yellows - were splashed on many of the stones and turned columns. Since the pigments were expensive, their lavish use was simply an ostentatious display of wealth. The temples' present whiteness is the result of time and the bleaching, paint-flaking power of the Mediterranean sun.

From Quiz What's in a Home?

Answer: Between two or more adjacent windows

Mullions are vertical dividers, rarely more than six inches wide, that separate two or more adjacent windows. Originally designed as structural posts intended to reduce the span of lintels or headers, in modern architecture they are primarily used to create a visually pleasing separation.

From Quiz Victorian Architecture

Answer: Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall was the world's first domed amphitheater. It was opened in 1871 by Queen Victoria in memory of her late husband, Albert. It was built in the Italianate style of architecture, and was made of wrought iron and glass. It was originally designed for an 8000 person capacity, but due to modern safety regulations, its capacity is now 5544. At first, the acoustics were not good, as there was a reverberation of 11 seconds in some parts of the theater. Throughout the years, improvements were made, and finally, in 1969, large fiberglass acoustic diffusing discs were hung from the ceiling, which are still used today. Many improvements have been made in heating, ventilation, and sight lines. The Hall now hosts 390 performances in the main event space, annually, across all music genres, including community events.

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Last Updated Apr 13 2024 5:45 AM

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