Prehiastoric Architecture INT 231


History of Interiors, Art, and Furnishing 

Ruth Hernández Silva 

Prehistoric History 

Prehistoric architecture is the collection of buildings made it at least 4,000 years before Christ and before the Egyptian pyramids appear. They are the first rudimentary structures created by humans, and thanks to them we know the first elements used construction. Prehistoric architectural constructions are studied from three periods of human evolution that make up what is known as the Stone Age: the Paleolithic, the Neolithic, and the Mesolithic.




It was consisted of a series of constructions made of large stones. They were large, uncut blocks of stone found buried in the ground.



A menhir consists of a large stone stuck vertically into the ground.
A dolmen is a structure made up of several menhirs and a large stone placed horizontally on top of them.
A cromlech groups several menhirs together in a circle.
A naveta is a structure shaped like an inverted ship made of large stone blocks. They were used as a communal tomb.
A taula is a ceremonial monument made up of a vertical stone and a horizontal stone on top of it, similar to a table, hence the name.


The work to build these monuments was a long, and arduous collective effort. Stones had to be cut, the blocks carved to the desired shape and dimensions, the stones transported (generally by dragging them over a roller made of logs and rope tied together), and the ground prepared by digging large holes to place a portion of the stone block. And then the hole was then filled with earth and wedge-shaped stones. More than a hundred people were required for this type of construction.

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One Step Further:
Santiago Calatrava 
Santiago Calatrava (born July 28, 1951, Benimamet, near Valencia, Spain) is a Spanish architect widely known for his sculptural bridges and buildings.
In his architectural commissions, Calatrava used his knowledge of engineering to create innovative, sculptural structures, often in concrete and steel. He stated that nature served as his guide, inspiring him to create buildings that reflected natural shapes and rhythms.

He was intensely interested in the architectural use of zoomorphic forms, a passion evident in such buildings as Turning Torso (1999–2005), his unique apartment tower in Malmö, Sweden. Its sculptural shape suggested a twisting spinal column. For the Lyon (France) Airport Railway Station (1989–94), he created a building that resembled a bird with outspread wings; the interior skeletal steel frame reinforced this birdlike effect. The bird allusion had symbolic meaning as well, since the station served as the end point of the route from Lyon to the airport. Calatrava’s other memorable buildings include a renovation of the Stadelhofen Railway station (1983–90) in Zürich, the BCE Place Gallery and Heritage Square (1987–92) in Toronto, Tenerife Opera House (1991–2003) in the Canary Islands, and several structures (including an opera house, an arboretum, and a planetarium) for the City of Arts and Sciences (1991–2004) in Valencia.










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