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The public realm of the ancient, Western city evolved situationally - over time and in response to the ethos of its citizens. Some of the urban forms that were born within the context of the ancient city are still in use today. These now archetypal forms met the specific needs of the ancient city, and as they were repeated, patterns arose that came to define what a physical city was. The physical form of the city and the citizen body were intrinsically linked in the ancient world - and in ancient Greece were defined by the same word - polis. In Rome, the city and the collective citizenry come to be defined separately - as urbs and civitas, respectively. The Romans continue to use and elaborate upon the urban forms and patterns developed in Greece, in support of the Roman civitas. The development of the public realm and its most archetypal forms, from the stoa to the public plaza, of a selection of ancient cities will be examined in three parts; Greece, Rome, and Roman colonies. Within these three representative examples, a tripartite examination of the myths, rituals, and development of the public realm will give a complete picture of the city - its form and its ethos. First, the Greek city will be discussed using the architectural development of the Athenian agora within its historical and political context. With an understanding of the Greek public realm, specific architectural advancements, including the stoa form, of the Greeks can be better understood. Second, the Roman elaboration of the Greek forms will be traced in the growth of the Forum Boarium in Rome. While situationally-developed, the archetypal urban forms that grew in Greece and Rome came to define urban patterns that could be used in new settings, like those of colonial settlements, while retaining the ethos of the original. From its first colony of Ostia to its exemplary Gallic capital of Lyon, Rome established a codified set of urban patterns that both represented and explained Roman urban values to its expanding populace. Finally, the Roman contributions, particularly the colony and fora patterns that evolved in Gaul, will be examined in detail using the colonial capital of Lyon as the primary example. As new socio-political systems evolved - the polis in Athens and the Empire in Rome - correlating urban forms developed in support of them. In the ancient city, the city and the public realm were the containers for ritual action - and the architecture that developed reflected this basic purpose of the city.

In the West architectural historiography, or writing on architectural history, can be considered as a modern practice. Its emergence accompanied with the development of modern nation states. Architecture’s reflection on its historical texts came to find particular expression in the search for the origins of architecture. The formation of oriental architectural history tended to follow this pattern. Oriental architectural historiography was initiated by a Japanese scholar, Chūta Itō. In his formulation, the origins of Japanese architecture were linked not only with Chinese and Indian architecture, but also with Classical Greek architecture. In addition, Itō’s theoretical formulation of architectural history was also followed by other Japanese scholars, and it informed those later scholars who studied Taiwanese architectural history. That is, the formulations and classification systems that Itō set out for Japanese architecture framed subsequent scholarship on the architecture of other parts of East Asia, including Taiwan. The system that Itō established has been widely regarded as being based on modern and scientific academic research. This thesis investigates Itō’s system, its significance for architectural scholarship in other parts of East, as well as its claimed scientific basis. The thesis pays particular attention to the architectural history of Taiwan in the Japanese colonial period. The thesis hypothesises that the historiographical tradition that Itō’s work established was based on an unbalanced colonial relationship of power and uneven structure of authority, It explores how authenticity in East Asian architecture was authorised, and how hidden ideologies and methodologies lie behind these historiographical practices. This is the first ambition of the thesis. The examination of Japanese construction of oriental and Taiwanese architectural history in this thesis pays particular attention to the context of Japanese colonialism. In doing so it draws on a range of contemporary postcolonial theoretical perspectives. In addition, the particular kind of oriental colonialism, as a materialised colonial medium, Japanese writing on oriental and Taiwanese architectural history provides an additional perspective on that current and recent postcolonial criticism expressed through such concepts as Edward Said’s orientalism, Homi Bhabha’s hybridity and Gayatri Spivak’s strategic essentialism. At a theoretical level, the thesis argues that since these concepts emerged from the colonial/anti-colonial operation and negotiation between the west and its colonies, a refined analysis is required for thinking through Japanese colonialism. To this end, the thesis supplements postcolonial theory with the idea of oriental orientalism as developed by Yuko Kikuchi. In so doing, the thesis aims to contribute to an enriched discussion of contemporary postcolonial criticism in general, and as it applies to East Asian in particular. The exploration of architectural history as the subject of a wider colonial operation and the revision of the core conceptual tools of postcolonial criticism in the context of Japanese colonialism in East Asian, and Taiwan, provides further possibilities for the the construction of identity in those formerly colonised subject in places such as Taiwan. A postcolonial reading of Japanese writing on architectural history shows both the limitation of postcolonial criticism, and to question the framework of architectural discourse in the discipline. This project has to be based on an inquiry into the way in which the other’s architecture has been formulated and constructed in the discipline of architecture in the light of postcolonial criticism. Without such an inquiry, we are unable to open the metaphorical ‘space’ to negotiate the self-writing of Taiwanese subjects on their own architecture and architectural history.

This work seeks to identify the forms and origins of Ancient Egyptian architecture and the complex historical progress which brought these to Scotland, identifying the affinities shared by both countries and their evolving role from their first arrival to the present day. The thesis follows Egypt’s first appearance in Scottish legend and its later influence, at the close of the 16th century, in the practices of organised Freemasonry, to be followed, from the second quarter of the 17th century, by numerous obelisk sundials and with the construction of the first pyramid towards its close. In the 18th century, single obelisk monuments with Masonic implications appeared, and the outstanding significance of the Scottish Enlightenment and its fascination with Antiquity are noted. That this coincided with the Grand Tour encouraged Scottish aristocrats, architects, and artists to observe, to study and to be inspired by Egyptian forms, principally in Rome, which then appeared in Scottish country house and garden. The first recorded visit of a Scot to Egypt, in 1768, led to the delayed publication of an account in 1793 and the century closed with the outbreak of the British military campaign in Egypt against Napoleon’s invading forces. The participation of Scots troops led to a new familiarity with the land and, albeit from France, there were produced the first accurate details of the country’s monuments and an ensuing enthusiasm for an ‘Egyptian Revival’. This thesis goes on to record the 19th century absorption with mourning, when the use of Egyptian symbols, aided by industrial methods of production, grew to a peak, allied to new archaeological discoveries by visiting Scots and the growth of accurate publications. These two latter, increased by the growing number of Scots who visited the country, influenced the use of Egyptian themes in a wide range of buildings, religious, domestic and industrial. The 20th century rejection of both religion and commemoration, except in acknowledgement of the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars, led to the decline of Egyptian mourning themes and new building techniques left little place for Egyptian references which were mainly reduced to mere surface ornament. This thesis concludes with an important 21st century military example which contains within it, a unique range of Egyptian symbols of commemoration.

This thesis discusses Scottish triumphal entries, and Scottish triumphal culture in general, and aims to advance understanding of the local application of Renaissance ideas, in relation to art and architecture. Triumphal language represented a strongly unifying element in XVI century European culture. Through temporary architecture, decorations, and entertainments, many sovereigns showed visually to a local and international audience their increasing power, legitimate rule, personal qualities, and ambitions. Urban entries also represented an important moment of dialogue with the local authorities of the city hosting the triumph, who would have used this unique opportunity to communicate with the ruler, presenting issues, asking for help, or offering advice. Although the importance of triumphal language has been recognized with regard to Europe, the use of triumphal language in Scotland and by the Stewart monarchs has been only marginally considered: in particular, each entry has been considered separately, and not in connection with each other, with their architectural setting –the city- or as a source of inspiration for permanent architecture. This thesis will show how local triumphal entries and ceremonies can be used to analyze the development of Scottish culture during the Renaissance. Some of the topics treated will be, the imperial aspiration and increasingly absolutist ideas of the Stewarts, the surfacing of religious issues and the uneasy coexistence of different creeds, and the increasing interest in classical language in and beyond the court. This thesis will reinforce the connection between the Scottish Renaissance and the European Renaissance, Italian in particular, showing how many aspects of Scottish architecture of the time can be interpreted not as surprising, isolated expression of taste, but as consequences or related facts to the spectacularization of life of which triumphal culture was a politicized, dynastical expression. Two of James V’s main architectural enterprises, the refashioning of Linlithgow Palace with the creation of a fountain in the central courtyard, and the elaborated stone decoration created for Stirling Castle, will be shown as derivations and expression of international triumphal culture. The perfect king and queen represented through them, presiding over a perfect court, are similar to the idealized figures presented to the crowd during a triumphal entry, and can be connected with foreign sources of inspiration, particularly French, Italian, and German. Outdoor spaces like the garden of Edzell Castle will be interpreted as the permanent, private recreation of the controllable, perfect world created through triumphal entries, inspired by triumphal decoration and foreign designs. The messages delivered through the decorations also reflected the usual admonitions to an entering queen, and the politicized messages suitable to a ruler of international prestige. The city of Edinburgh will be analyzed in its role as a stage and a protagonist of Stewart royal entries in the period 1503-1636. As an active character, it will pose limits and offer opportunities through its very geological conformation and the positioning of its main buildings. As a stage, it was endowed with timber settings, the Piazzas and upper promenades, where and from where the spectacle of everyday life could be performed and enjoyed. An artificially tamed natural landscape was also granted temporary access, showing with its presence the ruler’s control upon the forces of the world which he can evoke and govern at will, creating a perfectly balanced, renewed cosmos.