Architectural Designs Of Castles Vs. Modern Homes :: essays research papers

Is the architectural design of modern homes slowly changing tail to the architectural design of castles in the Middle Ages? If design of homes is changing sticker to design of castles is it a reflection on our society that castles of the Middle Ages were create primarily for defense. Does this mean that as a society we are binder to pull away from each other? There are umteen similar characteristics and features between modern homes and castles that are incorporated into the design specifically for defense reasons. Castles in the Middle Ages were built primarily for defense in war. They were constantly being attacked so they had to be built very unassailable and almost impenetrable. Castles were very large to protect from invaders, but they were definitely not make for comfort. They were very dirty inside, but their main purpose was for defense. Castles were built with very strong environs. Some of the castles had walls that could be as big as thirty feet thick. They withal had multiple walls so that if invaders got past the outer wall they still had to get past one or two more, this made defending the castle much easier. The walls were constructed with narrow, wedge-shaped slits in them for archers to shoot arrows at invaders. The outer walls also had holes in the floors for defenders to drop rocks down on invasive people who had gotten through the first wall. These holes were called murder holes. Inside the castle were many knights, archers, and soldiers prepared to defend against anyone who breaks all of the way through the walls and gets inside of the castle. Castles also had very large gates and gatehouses to permit people into the castle. There was a gatehouse for each wall. Each gatehouse usually had a very large metal and wooden gate that could be lowered into the opening to stop an adversary from get in or it could be raised to let friends in. likewise huge gates, outer gatehouses also had drawbridges, which could be lowered across moats to let people into the castle. They were also raised to prevent people form getting across. Castles were also built in strategic places so that they could use inhering defenses. For instance, some castles were built on the sides of mountains. Others were built in places with many trees touch them. Some were built near lakes and rivers, but most of them had moats dug slightly them.