Eastern Architectures Secular and Religious: From Pre-historic Times to the Early Twentieth Century

The contents of this collection (publication and lectures) are intended to form a brief introduction to the principal cultures of Asia and their buildings. That inevitably involves a great deal of generalization, a lot of simplification — and the reader will have to accept that. But in doing so we are trying to make the subject approachable and intelligible. And to show something of the extraordinary sweep of architecture over one continent in a period of over four and five thousand years. This book will trace the domestic architecture of many regions of Asia and in each area will attempt to show how that relates to the development of the religious buildings of each culture. Overall it examines the question of the genesis of architecture and urbanism as conscious responses to the environment to social conditions and to beliefs and ideologies.

Eastern Architecture is a collection of lectures given by Professor Ron Lewcock at the School of Architecture, University of Queensland, Australia. The lectures were organised Dr. Pedro Guedes.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) Education Programme is grateful to the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland, Australia, and to Professor Ron Lewcock for having authorized the posting on Archnet of these 12 lectures. The lectures were filmed by Hana Broughton and edited by Dr. Pedro Guedes. The lectures are accompanied here by a guidebook co-edited in 2019 by Prof. Lewcock and Dr. Pedro Guedes. AKTC wishes to thank Dr. Guedes for having facilitated the sharing of this high-quality Creative Commons educational resource, which can be accessed on the University of Queensland platform

In this collection:

Eastern Architectures Secular and Religious: From Pre-historic Times to the Early Twentieth Century

Pre-historic Asia (2 parts)

Southeast Asia Transoceanic Influences

Hindu Temples and Houses

Buddhist Temples and Houses

China (2 parts)

Japan

Korea

Korea, Japan, and the Islamic World Part 1

The Islamic World Part 2

The Islamic City (2 parts)