Design History: Medieval Period

Before you scroll any further - press play on this video to give you the soundtrack for your experience:

Design in the Medieval Period

The Medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages, ran from the 5th to the 15th century. In this blog post I will focus on this era, relating it to my own context as a contemporary designer.

Indian Shantraj set, 12th Century

As a designer I have an interest in the effect of competition on our society. I have created the mood board below to represent what design in the Medieval period represents to me - an important element that I have introduced into this board is the chess board, as chess was invented in this time. It is believed that it reached Europe via India, China, then Persia.

Chess represents the medieval period for me because there is so much that directly mirrors the society at the time, for example:

There are different players, of varying importance in society - each of the members has different rules about the ways in which they can engage
Each team plays with a different colour, but the pieces are all the same, meaning that in the game, just as in life, there is balance to the competition
The game is all about strategy and the way you play it - there is an element of force, but ultimately the mind rules the game

My trip to a Medieval Castle

Blarney castle is in Co. Cork, Irelend and was originally built in 1210A.D., the current structure was built in 1446, but is no longer liveable. I have included photos from my visit in 2010 below, and I'll discuss the different design elements I found when I was there:

1. Castles were built on high ground to give good visibility from the castle, so that if attackers were coming toward the castle, they could be seen from many miles away.

2. Castles were built with tunnels underneath them to allow the lords to escape while the peasants fought off attackers

3. walls were often built up to around 2m thick in stone, which is why so many of them are still standing today, even though their timber roofs and floors have eroded

4, 5 & 7. Windows are very small to allow for archers to aim their arrows out, but to make the target hard to shoot

6. Different floors were accessed by stone spiral stairs

Interior design scheme