Arch history

December 9, 2018 9:52 AM

The History of Architecture in Eleven Arches
posted by infini (27 comments total)

Paywalled; works in icongnito mode.
posted by rhizome at 9:59 AM on December 9, 2018

This is great, but it's kind of hilarious that they look at all of human history and yet 6 of the 11 were built in the last 50 years. Are the living so much more clever than the dead?
posted by gwint at 10:08 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

There are certainly more interesting arches in ancient Roman architecture than the Colosseum, honestly.
posted by wellifyouinsist at 10:12 AM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Read it as 'Elven Arches'. I blame the Andy Serkis post.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 10:42 AM on December 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

Oh, ELEVEN, not Elven.
Well
Uh
It's still a good article, I guess.
posted by Adridne at 11:12 AM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Great article, but I'm surprised they didn't start with the corbeled arch, which was present in ancient Babylon, Ugarit, and even Neolithic (?) tombs.
posted by jamjam at 11:13 AM on December 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

This quickly swerved from "arches" to "things that have arch in the name"
posted by phooky at 11:21 AM on December 9, 2018 [7 favorites]

Yeah, also surprising they didn't end up discussing the Joker.
posted by jamjam at 11:31 AM on December 9, 2018

This quickly swerved from "arches" to "things that have arch in the name"

And from architecture to art.

There are certainly more interesting arches in ancient Roman architecture than the Colosseum, honestly.

The Pont du Gard for example, which is amazing.

It tickles me that the Grande Arche de la Défense was conceptualized as a monument to humanism; it always felt profoundly dehumanizing to me, especially close-up.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:36 AM on December 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

Okay I read the article and I take it back. It is not a good article. They make the most banal choice possible right off the bat ("We need Rome, what should we pick?" "Uh, I dunno, the Colosseum I guess? Whatevs, just pick something so we can move on to the stuff at the end."), and then seem to spend the last half intentionally picking the most obscure, esoteric things possible. Which, if the article was titled "Eleven We Really Like", okay, fine. But this does not seem like the eleven arches most representative of architectural history.
posted by Adridne at 12:11 PM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Like many in the thread, I was hoping that this would tell us some history and not just be random arches and art showing arches.

BUT if you came to the thread hankering for history-as-told-through-architecture, I strongly recommend the book Fallen Glory, about the life and death of great buildings: The Tower of Babel, The Temple of Jerusalem, The Library of Alexandria, The Bastille, Kowloon Walled City, the Berlin Wall, the Twin Towers, etc.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

I'm trying to remember when I've read a listicle that I felt really delivered on its title. The title usually grossly over-promises. As noted, if this had been "Eleven Arch-Shaped Things We Found Photos Of" it would have been gotten a perfect score.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 1:01 PM on December 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm going to the garden to eat worms.
posted by infini at 1:14 PM on December 9, 2018 [8 favorites]

I enjoyed this, since it talked about some art installations I'd never had heard about otherwise and since it didn't pretend that only Europeans ever did actual architecture.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:32 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

I like the idea of geometry listicles if only for the oddly abstract flame wars they might generate: “this is the least compelling list of important triangles I’ve ever seen”.

However, no Nervi? arch fail.
posted by q*ben at 1:47 PM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm going to the garden to eat worms.

It’s as though the metafilter comments are your arch-nemesis.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:59 PM on December 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

It is architecture, after all, amirite?
posted by clawsoon at 2:06 PM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm sure that this isn't the first hilariously lazy architectural listicle posted as an FPP, but I'm having trouble remembering what the others were. Maybe there was an "ugliest building" one? And one that had a spooky abandoned fairground?

Anyone, some interesting pictures here. Just needs a more honest title.
posted by clawsoon at 2:13 PM on December 9, 2018

Title promises: Deep knowledge of historian who has dedicated her life to arches.

Article delivers: Some cool stuff an intern Googled.
posted by clawsoon at 2:29 PM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

It’s not exactly dead arch-goating, but what else do we call it?
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:47 PM on December 9, 2018

This archticle goes up to eleven
posted by chavenet at 2:54 PM on December 9, 2018

To be fair to the intern, she was probably paid peanuts and given a ridiculous deadline.
posted by clawsoon at 3:14 PM on December 9, 2018

The only thing that deserved to be on the list is the Taq-i-Khosrow, imo. Replace coliseum with Porta Augusta in Perugia. Add the maqsura at the Quwwat-al-Islam masjid in Delhi for good corbelled arch... I guess I have strong opinions on this topic.
posted by Capybara at 3:25 PM on December 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Structurally speaking, an arch doesn't necessarily have to be round. As long as all members are acting in compression, it's an arch.
posted by LionIndex at 4:21 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

With all due respect to infini (who doesn't deserve a single worm), the following article dwells more on ancient arches: The Arch in Architecture and History, including the Corbelled Passage of Newgrange 3200 BC, Ireland and many others.

A bit younger arch not mentioned is the corbelled Grand Gallery inside the Great Pyramid at Giza.
posted by cenoxo at 10:39 PM on December 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

Metafiler: How to eat Fried Worms
posted by glasseyes at 4:03 PM on December 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

jamjam: "Great article, but I'm surprised they didn't start with the corbeled arch, "

Correct Link.
posted by Mitheral at 8:01 PM on December 10, 2018