Construction technology and innovation from Mesopotamia through the Industrial Revolution

History Of Construction Technology of 12 Periods in Western Civilization

What makes humans different from other animals can be attributed to many things, but it usually begins with our conscious choice to explore the world and separate ourselves from nature through some mastery of it. With the advent of agriculture, humans were now congregating in population centers and living for both themselves and their gods. Religion has always taken a guiding hand through history and is intimately connected to the history of construction itself.

What pushes man to go beyond himself and create structures of immense stature and/or beauty? Only Gods can do that and have done that as evidenced in the still standing great pyramid of Giza and the Parthenon in Athens. Building these monuments to divinity itself required sophistication that was possible through the discovery and practice of mathematics.

It is said that mathematics is both the language of God and science, and indeed it has opened up the potential of mankind in ways that would have been previously impossible. Looking towards our place in the universe by building temples situated accurately to corresponding stars in the sky is only possible through a grasp of mathematics and innovation in simple machines.

From Mesopotamia through to the Industrial Revolution, the progress of mankind in the realm of construction and architecture starts out as all children do with tentative steps, followed by assured steps, and ending with a still running sprint. All innovations in construction are built on the shoulders of those who have come before and the knowledge they had achieved in service to their religion and culture. The guiding hands of production have been religion, culture, and war alternately, but the end result has been progress that continues today past the thousands of years of technological innovation. The foundations to all of these innovations however, start with the simple lever, pulley, and screw coupled with imagination and knowledge. From these humble beginnings great cities throughout Western civilization have been built.

Mesopotamia

The early cultures of Mesopotamia acted as a catalyst to human civilization as a whole with the advancements and discoveries occurring between 6000 and 3000 B.C. During these ancient times the Babylonians, people of the Bronze Age, created a written alphabet and discovered mathematics -- the language of science. For early peoples, mathematics was a tool used for necessity in their architectural and construction designs, but the foundation it created for future cultures and centuries is invaluable (Boyer).

The need for advanced construction and design was predicated by the shift towards agriculture which did not require a roaming Bedouin lifestyle. Dwellings that were impermanent only required the use of mud brick, which was a natural fit for the material of choice due to the resources available and the climate therein (Darby). Mud brick construction was simple with the only baking required being a drying out under the hot sun (Bilkadi). To suggest that structures were primitive however would be incorrect as Mesopotamians fashioned their homes and temples to include architectural features like columns, domes, and arches (Darby). In fact, bricks would be used in place of wood, a scarce commodity in the ancient dessert region, to create features as complex as ziggurats (Roth). This was possible through the innovation of tunnel or barrel vaulting which arranged bricks in a circular configuration along a determined line (Roth). These ziggurats would be the precursors of future cathedrals and public works (Faiella).

Being able to stay in one area created populations centers, or cities, that evolved further into governed areas with laws. Cities also need civic projects and so construction methods evolved out of this necessity. Reinforcement of the traditional mud brick material was done through the addition of bitumen, also known as tar (International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group). This Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil was one of the first steps in being able to set more lasting foundations, with tar reinforcing the bricks while also being used as a waterproofing and adhesive agent (Moorey). Tar itself had been used as building material thousands of years prior in the cultures of the Tigress-Euphrates region which combined it with marsh reeds to create a sort of plaster (Bilkadi). Brick shape than evolved from a traditional loaf shape to a planoconvex shape that is flat one side and convex on the other, and rather than lying in the sun these bricks were heated in kilns (Moorey).

As more permanent buildings were created, mathematics came into play to create geometric forms and patterns that festooned the interior of the people's temples (Boyer). City-states with their stronger more lasting buildings and population growth required civil engineering when it came to water systems and it is with water that the pump and wheel came into play. The earliest known type of pump was the Archimedes screw used in Babylon circa 3rd century B.C. (Dalley & Olson). The wheel, arguably the greatest human invention of early history was invented during the 5th millennium B.C. And used as a potter's wheel. Wheels, in fact, were first mostly likely used in industrial and manufacturing applications than as a transportation method, seen on chariots in 3200 B.C. (Sax, Meeks, and Collon). It is almost impossible to downplay the importance of the wheel and its impact on mankind due to its appearance in nearly all machines developed since the start of the Industrial Revolution (Yenne and Grosser).

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek architecture exists mainly in surviving temples that survive in large numbers even today and is tied into Roman and Hellenistic periods which borrowed heavily from the Greeks. Temples are unlike modern churches due to the altars being open to the elements while interior spaces were devoted to storage and treasuries (Penrose).

Greek culture, and eventually Roman, was much more advanced in terms of the structure of a city state with many people living within ancient cities requiring more sophisticated building and architecture. Moving past mud bricks like the Ancient Egyptians, the Greeks used stone to build monument walls which supported the first tiled roofs, the earliest evidence of which was at the temples of Poseidon and Apollo in Corinth between 700 and 650 B.C. (Goldberg). The spread of tiled roofs which were constructed with an S-shape pan and cover tile forming one continuous piece was rapid and expansive reaching to Western Asia Minor (Wikander). Although they were labor intensive and costly, the benefit in fire resistance made them essential to temple construction (Wikander).

The most well-known and persistent feature of Greek architecture is the column which established three separate types with the Doric being the most famous (Benson). Doric columns can be seen in the Parthenon and are created by having a capital or crown built of a circle and topped by a square, while the shaft is plain and has twenty sides with no base (Thompson, Papadopoulou and Vassiliou).

Simple machines, a marriage of the lever, pulley and screw were also birthed in Ancient Greece through Archimedes in the 3rd century B.C. (Ostdiek). Archimedes, however, was ignorant of force and distance moved which Heron discovered in 10-75 a.D. And increased the components of a simple machine to include the winch and wedge (Strizhsak). These five tools existed to make work easier (Singer, Holmyard, and Hall) and became the simple machines that are wheels, screws, pulleys, levers, inclined planes, and wedges (Koloski-Ostrow) which all work to change the direction and degree of force. Mechanical advantage through the increase of output to input force made loads easier to move and increased overall production (Anderson). The innovation of the crane, winch and pulley, watermill, wheelbarrow, and odometer all impacted what is perceived as an ancient technological boom (Anderson).

The evolution of the crane which was comprised of a wooden beam, or boom, attached to rotating base with rope wound around a drum driven by a wheel with rope attached to one end of the boom and the other free to be hooked onto heavy loads, usurped the need for ramps (Coulton). The push away from ramps was due to a preference for small groups of skilled labor and may have been facilitated by a need from the Greek military (Coulton). The invention of watermills was the first use of hydropower by a civilization and was possible through the use of a water wheel or turbine that powered some mechanical process (Wilson).

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire borrowed and built open the work completed by the Ancient Greeks, adding the arch. No small thing, the arch revolutionized construction and architecture itself. The less supportive post and lintel structures of Ancient Greece now had the superior strength of the arch which eventually begat the dome (Allen). Arches allowed the construction of larger buildings than ever before with the addition of scaffolding held in place by keystones spread evenly down the bottom of an arch and provide stability (Onians).

The most famous example of innovation through architecture is the use of arches to create the Roman aqueduct. Composed of two levels of arches, the aqueducts could carry water from far away locations in the hills or reservoirs close to the city-state revolutionizing human life thus far (Mark & Hutchinson). The arch stands still today as the dominant symbol of the Roman Empire as it was used in both interiors, such as within basilicas and temples and exteriors to provide support (Mark & Hutchinson).

The early Roman construction methods were generic and made of more organic materials like wood and earth and as such did not survive (MacDonald). It was the ingenuity of its citizens building upon earlier civilizations and, indeed, the growth of construction materials that catapulted the latter Roman Empire into a construction and architectural frenzy.

The evolution from mud brick to stone continued with the Romans and their use of concrete. The first temple to be built using concrete was the Pantheon which married this innovative material with decorative classical Greek structure, as well as including a hemispherical dome (Terenzio). The components of concrete were quicklime, pozzolanic ash, and pumice aggregate spawned a veritable concrete revolution that freed builders from the traditional constraints of working with stone or brick and ushered in a new design aesthetic (Lancaster). Concrete hardened quickly and did not suffer the internal strains of earlier materials (Robertson).

As the empire expanded so too did its access to more materials ranging from chalk and sand through to pozzolanic concrete. Broken pottery would be mixed into mortar to fill in wall segments, and pumice would be added to concrete to make it lighter and more aesthetically pleasing (MacDonald). Importing materials, however, was only used in the most luxurious of cases with Romans preferring locally available items like stone, wood, ceramics, terracotta, and metal to a lesser degree (MacDonald). Regarding stone, Romans delineated between types depending on use for instance marble was to be used decoratively, lime and sandstone would be used for pedestrian low wear areas and basaltic lava or granites would be used in areas subject to increased stress (Moropoulou, Bakolas, and Anagnostopoulou). This shows sophistication in understanding the overall brittleness, durability and porous nature of various stone materials (Robinson).

One of the most advanced achievements showcasing Roman architectural skill was in the construction of a concrete dome comprised of a twenty foot base that tapered in stages on the outside as it rose to an oculus thirty feet in diameter and only ninety inches thick. All of this in turn is supported by a twenty-four foot thick wall that is built upon a ring of concrete fifteen feet thick making the dome not at all as heavy as it appears since the materials gradually lighten as it reaches the top; the bottom being gravel made of mostly basalt and the top being more pumice. The construction is also broken up by empty clay jugs embedded in the upper courses and hidden brick reinforcement arches (W. MacDonald).

It was during the Roman Empire and the technological advancements therein that there seemed to be a blending of art and structure. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, the Roman writer and engineer (80-15 B.C.) wrote on the subject of Roman architecture and its composition. Increasingly populace cities needed temples, civil buildings, domestic buildings, pavements and decorative plasterwork, water supplies and aqueducts (Vitruvius). These broad categories were also all influenced by science (geometry, mensuration, astronomy, sundials) and machines (siege engines, water mills drainage machines, pneumatics) (Vitruvius).

Byzantine Empire

As has been the case for others thus far, the Byzantine Empire relied on the work of the empires before it as well as on its own religion. Constantinople, which was in contact with the Hellenized East, took on the architectural and construction mentality of its neighbor (Van Milligan). Form and function, which was introduced by the Romans found a home in the brick work of the Byzantines (Hakim). Sculpted bricks were formed and aligned to produce bands of ornamentation showcasing Persian art aesthetic in the very walls of its churches (Hakim).

The most famous example of Byzantine architecture is in the Hagia Sophia which was built between 532-37 a.D. And which was clearly shaped by religion. A central domed space is flanked and partly sustained by smaller domes and half domes, all of which utilized ramps, levels, levers, pullets and winches as well as the mathematics of angles and arches (Ousterhout). The aisles of the Hagia Sophia also display various forms of vaulting technology that were built without cent rings, a process procured from the earlier Assyrian builders and one that is still in use today (Ousterhout).

Domes became a characteristic feature of Byzantine architecture, most notably the dome of pendentives which is the coming together of four arches built of masonry to complete a circle capable of sustaining any type of super structure that does not possess excess weight that would disrupt and overthrow the four supporting arches (Vanderpool). The great cisterns of Constantinople contain large areas covered by rows of small domes supported on ranges of columns (Balance).

Another new form of construction technology well understood by the Byzantines and previously employed by the Romans in their saunas, was buttressing which provided internal abutments that continued above the roofs of the side aisles to prop main vaults. The Byzantine method however followed the Romans to a lesser degree (Balance).

Islamic Golden Age

Flourishing under the Abbassid Dynasty from the mid 8th to 13th centuries a.D., Islamic culture was a melting pot of Arab, Persian, Egyptian and European influences and as such became a hotbed of intellectual and cultural advancement (Wiet). Adding onto the Byzantine use of domes and arches, Islamic architects utilized cranes, ramps, levels and wheels to construct their large and heavy structures, the most famous of which is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Fundamentally octagonal, the wooden dome is mounted on an elevated drum comprised of sixteen piers and columns making a circle. This circle is surrounded the octagonal shaped arcade of twenty four piers and column, this construction outlines the progression and expansion that Islam brought to the already established constructions of domes and arches (Kostof).

Religion again, called for the construction of places of worship which in the case of Islam were mosques which consisted of columns and arches with covered walkways along with a small niche and fountain placed in an open courtyard. Architecturally, Islam added minarets which are large towers that allow muezzins to call to other Muslims when prayer time is at hand (Ousterhout). Using the same materials from previous eras including marble, stone, brick, composites, tar, and metal, the largest contribution to construction was the skilled trades and craftsman that perfected decorative techniques in sculpting, metallurgy and other material artwork (Ousterhout). Buildings were truly becoming works of art along with structurally necessities.

The final resting place of the Prophet Muhammad, the Mosque Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (622-781 a.D.) represents an amalgamation of Islamic mosque architecture and technique. Built upon the Prophet's home in Medina and worked on by him, it was originally an open air building built of mud brick with columns made of palm trunks (King). A little more than one thousand square feet with a walled courtyard, the foundation was stone (Ism?'?l 33). Subsequent rebuilding with lime mortar and chiseled stone would incorporate these and other newer materials and techniques, evolving the mosque into the political center in which the city is built around (Ettinghausen, Graber, and Jenkins-Medina).

The Crusade Period

Where beforehand religion played a role in the shape and direction of architecture and innovation, the Crusade period was a time of religion shaping warfare. Religion and war together influenced construction technologies progress. Castles were introduced into the building lexicon as fortresses from outside influence and attack, along with war machines utilizing rope, tension, torque and force toward brutal application (Erlich).

Starting at the beginning of the Middle Ages, Europe was broken into mostly peaceful feudal states managed by the Holy Roman Church. Conflict erupted between European Christians and Islamic Byzantines, both of whom were cultural and architectural influences. Indeed, the elementary design of castles became obvious to crusaders traveling to the Holy Land and seeing Byzantine structures (Smail). This aberration was due to the manpower Byzantines had at their disposal in comparison to the small garrisons available to the Europeans (Smail).

Aesthetics did not come into play with castles; the realities of attack influenced and guided the design hand that produced high walls that were thicker to withstand attack for long periods. Construction in the Crusades had become strategic as evidenced by the digging of canals around the castle (Ellenblum).

As crusaders came back to the home base of their castles, they brought back the influences of Byzantine architecture such as the addition of round towers to the usual Roman boxed construction which offered better field view and attack resistance (Williams). Portcullis, bent entrances, chapels, storerooms, civil servant offices, and other immediate need additions were spurred by military operations (Williams). The heavy structure and design of castles instituted a change in cranes, ramps, pulleys, and winces, as well as an increased production and productivity in stone masonry (Williams).

Romanesque

After the staid and militaristic construction during the crusades, the Romanesque period began, which was centered on religion and included familiar dome shaped cathedrals. Military thinking was not done away with entirely; however, as new cathedrals were built heavy and strong with a dark and gloomy interior as beauty was not a part of construction- a reminder of the thinking during times of war (Edson). A shift in thinking about construction comes in the new demand on changing the use of space, with a focus on interior design (Carlsson).

By the end of the Romanesque period, between the 11th and 12th centuries, more specialized rooms were being created with castles, for example separate sleeping quarters which were previously unheard of with everyone sleeping in the great hall (Castles Architecture). Those not living with castles lived in huts and dwellings that offered little outside meager shelter. While the needs of the exterior required large scale machinery, human capital and material resources, interior space required technology that planned and designed living spaces in terms of function, size, durability, defensibility, and aesthetics while taking into account heating issues, water access, and cooking needs (Sacred Destinations).

During the crusades, the ground floor of stone, earth, brick or tiles was covered in brush of some kind and while they brought back Persian rugs, they were put up on the walls as decorations and were discovered to do a service against heat and cold (Erlich). Furniture and its construction came into vogue with a need for tables, benches, and large storage chests constructed with wrought iron (Castles Architecture).

Interior design schemes implemented mathematics and materials knowledge with specialized tools in hopes of planning areas that were valuable in a military sense but also from a personal perspective, bringing comfort to the forefront for the first time with issues of indoor plumbing, running water, and insulation from the heat and cold (Williams). Like its name sake Romanesque architecture looked to the design of the Roman Empire in terms of: harmonious proportions, stone barrel or groin vaults, thick and heavy walls and pillars, small windows, round arches supporting the roof, blind arches for decoration inside and out, painted decoration throughout the interior, as well as other concerns (Sacred Destinations). The heavy stone construction of stone vault ceilings required arches and improved buttress support employed through feudal labor and not the skilled artisans of prior times (Castles Architecture).

Gothic

Following the Romanesque period, Gothic architecture today seems to be indicative of an old-world European sensibility with emphasis on vast spaces with an influx of light to create impressions of reverence (Branner). The high period between 1250 and 1300 a.D., France was a dominant force in gothic architecture in its construction of the Chartres cathedral (Bony). Abandoning the traditional quadripartite elevation and taking with it the need for alternating supports, the elevation of the church was increased to allow in great wash of light to create a luminous effect (Von Simon).

Accomplishing gothic architecture meant maturing the design process to include small scale modeling to test the stability of a proposed design plan (Branner). Using flying buttresses, rib vaults, and pointed arches solved the issue of creating tall structures while preserving light (Wilson). It was a time of experimentation, essentially.

In that spirit, flying buttresses were created through trial and error in response to outside pressure to create a space that would show the presence of God through the rays of light that would fill a room and were first recognized in the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris (Turnbull). The previous heavy strength of Romanesque cathedrals gave way to more graceful gothic spires created through external buttressing that applied a stronger counter acting force toward the cathedral wall and counteracts the tendency of walls to bulge out from lateral pressure (Macaulay). The lateral pressure of something like wind is redirected by the flying buttresses downwards into pier buttresses which were modified and added as builders noticed any problems (Arch) (Erdogmas, Boothby, and Smith).

With the skeleton of the building carrying all of the weight there was no longer a need to construct curtain walls in between the load bearing skeleton and this allowed builders to create more daring design plans and fill spaces with pillars and ribs with glass (Arch). Sexpartite design, an innovate design used within cathedrals, further spreads out any load during building (Erdogmas, Boothby, and Smith).

Previous Roman arches and domes were sturdy but simple and the pointed arches of gothic cathedrals were replacements to the old Roman arch, allowing construction of taller and more complex buildings which included ribbed arched vaults that spanned across large spaces (Vanderpool). The demand for monuments and cathedrals bathed in light spurred technology to catch up the whims of the day (Branner). Some Islamic influence can be seen in the decorative carved stone screens and window openings with pierced stone (Warren).

The treadwheel represents the next evolution in the crane after technology had fallen into disuse within Western Europe with the demise of that region of the Roman Empire. Its construction was that of a large wooden wheel turning around a central shaft with a treadway wide enough for two workers to stand side by side and manipulate the compass and clasp arms (Matthies).

With technology accommodating new design, Masons came into prominence within constructions of massive cathedrals working the stones to be laid and mixing the lime and sand, using a level and plumb line to make sure the foundation stayed level (Arch). The unskilled feudal workers of the Romanesque age gave way to skilled laborers and craftsman once again that knew there trade and materials. Once again, in respect to materials, a wealth of knowledge was required to know what stones could survive one or two thousand years in compression (What is Civil Engineering).

Renaissance

Considered one of greatest periods in history and beginning in 1500 a.D., the Renaissance combined art and architecture with technology with renewed vigor and interest in the classic design of ancient Greeks and Romans heralding harmony and symmetry (Milo). Construction technology to create Renaissance architecture included the reversible hoist, a mobile crane on rollers with a hoist, a lifting device with pincers, a bell-lifting device with a counterweight, screw operated lifting devices and pile drivers with all of the energy used to operate these machines coming from human and animal labor along with plows, hoes, and steam power (Institute and Museum of the History of Science). The renewed interest in science made it possible for builders and engineers at the time to use hydraulic power as well as investigate the prospect of harnessing wind energy (Institute and Museum of the History of Science).

With the cultural rebirth and advancements in art, particularly painting and sculpture, material advancements used in the construction of buildings changed to allow for ornamentation. Throughout the Renaissance, architecturally, arches, domes, and columns were all present as reminders of the past and its influence on both proportion and design applied to a variety of Christian structures (Ackerman). Domes were prevalent in church construction (Betts) and old Greek and Roman forms were utilized in the palaces of Florence and Rome as well as trickling down to street level to create an aesthetic that blanketed an entire city-state (Partridge).

There was no real revolution when it came to structure other than development on the dome. Columns were used for aesthetic purposes rather than supportive, ornamentation being a characteristic of the time (Walker). Adding to the structure of the dome fell onto the shoulders of Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi who designed the Florence Cathedral dome and was there for the entirety of its building (Walker). Working from a relatively weak foundation and having to create dome over a great area, Brunelleschi created the idea of two shells to a dome to enhance its structural integrity (J. Anderson).

Baroque

Rooted in the early 17th century, Baroque style represented an esoteric move toward higher aspirations and superiority all while showing the power and might of the Catholic church (Hersey). The architecture strived to show movement through utlization of curvature in building and went away from the straight line models of the Renaissance with spiral shaped columns signaling its stylistic break. Different modes of craftsmanship were needed and so construction technology witnessed another shift in the evolution of mastery over materials, development of tools, and mastery of those tools (Hersey).

Risalits were used in building facades whcih required a change in support planning and material strength along with any potential design elements (Cohen). The aesthetic was one in which everyone was to appear bigger and richer and so colonates were decorated with straight beams to give an impression of more room. Builders and designers made use of convex and concave shapes, giving new opportunities in room design (Cohen).

Baroque construction practices contain methods used to increase masonry mortar setting time, employment of unique mechanical devices, along with innovative techniques in brick manufacture and laying using lime, plaster and freestone (Marconi).

The use of ropes, pulleys, winches, levers, ramps, and other predecessors in construction technology had not changed much. What changed in the Baroque age was the connection between architecture and building technology, with technology belonging to engineers (Cohen). Culture during the Baroque period was one of rigid social structure with global changes in finance and commerce that found the rich exerting their power through the ability to power it through building (Houston and Snell).

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time when the nature of manufacturing was, in a word, revolutionized and mass production became a reality (Schivelbusch). Easier transport routes made the acquisition of materials faster and less costly (Evans). The ease of acquisition without the addition of a price gouge also revolutionized the construction industry (Schivelbusch).

The critical technological advancement concerning construction was the harnessing of energy to power machines which took less of a toll on human and animal labour (Greenburg). Machines did the work of hand tools and could replace muscle power with steam power. Productivity began a steep climb. From Britain the Industrial Revolution spread gradually throughout Europe and to the United States (Greenburg).

The new methods increased the amount of goods produced and decreased the cost. Cities grew rapidly, and the demand for city construction and new methods of creating buildings that housed many people necessitated new engineering modalities (Houston and Snell).

The perfection of the steam engine was instrumental in supplying the power to anything from clockwork to steam-powered cranes and steam shovels which used extensively for the excavation of building sites without the need for large groups of labourers (Stuart). These advances changed the way construction was done in that without the proper machinery, the construction does not happen

Other major technological advances in construction include electricity, canal-building, iron and brass smelting, steel production, oil and petroleum production, agricultural innovations such as the threshing machine, metal tools for hand and machine-originated building projects, reinforced concrete, steamships, the assembly line model for large factories, and many other smaller yet important inventions (Landow). Machine made goods also changed building materials since metal was widely available, lumber could be milled more efficiently, and glass could be readily produced (Asif). The ability to have any material for any project through the advent of mass production and transportation impacted construction greatly.

From Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire

The time between Mesopotamia and the Roman Empire stretches across thousands of years, but the technological innovations are still helping to shape our world today. Within the cultures of Mesopotamia the greatest leap lay in the discovery of mathematics which made it possible to create more sophisticated dwellings. The need for permanent dwellings owes thanks to the invention of agriculture. With agriculture, humankind stopped being hunter-gatherers that wandered across the globe and instead became the precursors to urban dwellers.

Religion at this time was burgeoning and strong and had a definite hand in pushing mankind to create something outside of what he would need to survive. Living in a dwelling did not require much, but creating something for the Gods? This demanded creativity and innovation. The Ancient Egyptians stand as a testament to the power of religion as a tool to create architecture.

Pharaohs, Gods on Earth essentially, spent a good portion of their life overseeing the construction of their final resting place. These tombs were elaborate and filled with treasures and belongings that would follow royalty into the afterlife, however, some pharaohs wanted more and so the building of the pyramids began. The use of construction know-how in an age without the advent of iron or methods of efficient long-range transportation is truly astounding. The levels of technical expertise inherent in creating the inclines and stone blocks of the pyramids while taking into account astronomical positions, shows a level of sophistication in knowledge that encompassed materials, pulleys and transport system, as well as engineering.

Moving from Mesopotamia to Ancient Egypt also showed a gradual evolution in construction materials and tools. Where mud bricks were enough at one point, geosynthetic soil bricks in conjunction with measuring instrumentation and surveying tools allowed for a more permanent and sophisticated building methodology. This carried over into Ancient Greece.

The ancient Greeks laid the foundation for the Romans which took on much of what the Greeks had done while improving it. Greek temples were simple structures that utilized stone columns and support structures in a large scale using simple machines consisting of levers, pulleys, and screws. City-states grew as did their populations and the need for civic projects became inevitable. Water pumps were created along with watermills which showed that humans were looking to outside energy sources to provide power -- in this case hydropower.

When the Roman Empire took over, it built upon the impressive knowledge of the cultures that had come before it, but it made a huge architectural leap with the invention of the arch. Arches allowed for the construction of the Roman aqueduct which is still stands today and works, thousands of years later! With the arch there was strength is the simplistic design that allowed for heavier and more intricate structures to be made since weight could be distributed and managed better.

Advances in material production also caused subsequent advancements in architecture when concrete was invented. Being able to create material of varying weight made it possible to create more sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing architecture like the dome, which would act as a muse and catalyst for building in another future era. Marrying form with function also began in Ancient Rome with various materials different, less functional and more aesthetic ways like marble top tables.

The ancients delving into mathematics and science opened the world to them and made it possible for sophisticated architecture and construction to exist with the guiding hand of religion. It is not and cannot be an either or situation, without the divine inspiration, the need to create something more than what is absolutely needed may not have happened.

From Byzantine Empire to Gothic

From an aesthetic standpoint only the change from Byzantine to Gothic can seem overwhelmingly different, but the inspiration for it all goes back to religion. The Byzantines represented the marriage of Western architectural achievements with neighboring countries and cultures. Utilizing dome structures for their own religious buildings as well as incorporating brick building with an ornamental twist, showed the evolution from staid buildings to more beautiful and artistic buildings was well under way.

Each culture adds to the previous achievements in terms of technique and tools. The golden age of Islam founds a milieu of cultures and people coming together and creating architecture. Along with levers, pulleys, and screws, there were the additions of the winch and pulley in Ancient Greece and Rome followed by cranes, ramps, levels and wheels. Construction was an intricate system and the end result was a marriage of form and function.

The change in construction and aesthetics that show up in during the times of the Crusades in Europe is attributed to war. Two of the largest factors in shaping society are religion and war and when the two come together, adding to the ornamentation of architecture does not seem like the priority. That is not to say that cultures did not influence one another. Crusaders brought back what they had seen in the Holy Land with them to the feudal castles they inhabited.

While thick walls that can stand attack is the most important feature in a castle, Byzantine and Islamic architecture influenced builders to make round towers like those they had seen in the holy land that offered sweeping views of terrain. Persian rugs, gathered at war and brought back, became the art that decorated and insulated the walls. With the Crusades running into the Romanesque period there is a change in looking at the interior of a dwelling as something different than what it had been previously. While those living in the castle slept all together in the great hall, architecture and design was changing to think of personal rooms.

With the crusades over and architecture wanting to stretch past its prison of fortresses it had been boxed into during the Crusades and into the Romanesque period, the Gothic period was a directly opposite reaction to what had come before it. It was also a time of pure experimentation when the decree of the church to build large buildings that would let in the presence of god through light was made; technology was forced to catch up. Building on the vaults and buttresses that were present in earlier cultures like the Byzantine, architects were able to create skeletons that did not need the structural support of before due to interior and exterior buttresses, they were able to create cathedrals bathed in light. This was as different from what had come before as was possible in terms of design and aesthetics.

From Renaissance to Industrial Revolution

The Renaissance was a time that human civilization was free from the Crusades fully and the Gothic period had come and gone. Now it was a rebirth of science and curiosity harkening back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans which influenced the art and design of this time. Inventions came fast with a number of machines created that would take away the need for one hundred percent of the energy to come from human or animal, or both. There were explorations into different means of energy, including wind and with this marriage of architecture, art, and technology the Renaissance created its own aesthetic.

Using the classical designs of the Greeks and Romans, the Renaissance builders did not improve upon them much, but with their knowledge of structural support and materials, the elements of classical design could take on a purely ornamental, not structural role. Coupled with the art of the time, a street level make over of city-states spread across Europe and exists still today.

Cultures shifted and commerce and financial classes became more solidified which found the rich showing their power for power's sake in the Baroque period. This was a time where building became about esoteric higher ideals and so architects were shunted off to the design side while builders busied themselves with the engineering side of things. Once the Industrial Revolution came along, however, construction and building exploded on a scale never before witnessed in the history of human kind. The knowledge up to the Roman Empire was gradual and slow when compared against the one hundred year spread of the Renaissance aesthetic. The Industrial Revolution in comparison to everything that came before it felt like only seconds until the world changed.

The advent of factories meant that mass production was officially a reality. Metal tools could be made to do the job of hand tools, transportation and manufacturing were no longer a boondoggle meant that increased cost. Cities exploded in growth and demanded quick construction and building to grow with it which was possible through the Industrial Revolution. Metal, and any kind, was finally available to anyone and able to be shipped anywhere thanks to the manufacturing companies. This was also coupled with a number of other inventions like electricity and locomotive.

The world was suddenly much smaller and yet growing much faster and because of the foundations laid down through the thousands of years of human history. The growth of technology from the Industrial Revolution has been exponential with the time between inventions growing smaller and smaller making innovations the rule rather than the exception. What that means for construction is continued evolution.