Asia Architectural styles that often include battered walls as a stylistic feature include
Indo-Islamic architecture, where it was used in many tombs and some mosques, as well as many
forts in India.
Tughlaqabad Fort in Delhi is a good example, built by
Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, whose tomb opposite the fort (illustrated above) also has a strong batter. In
Hindu temple architecture, the walls of the large
Gopurams of South India are usually battered, often with a slight concave curve. In the Himalayan region, battered walls are one of the typifying characteristics of traditional
Tibetan architecture. With minimal foreign influence over the centuries, the region's use of battered walls are considered to be an indigenous creation and part of Tibet's vernacular architecture. This style of batter wall architecture was the preferred style of construction for much of Inner-Asia, and has been used from
Nepal to
Siberia. The 13-story
Potala Palace in
Lhasa, is one of the best known examples of this style and was named a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
Middle East Battered walls are a common architectural feature found in
Ancient Egyptian architecture. Usually constructed from
mud brick for residential applications, limestone, sandstone, or granite was used mainly in the construction of temples and tombs. In terms of monumental architecture, the
Giza pyramid complex in
Cairo utilized different grades of battered walls to achieve great heights with relative stability. The
Pyramid of Djoser is an archeological remain in the
Saqqara necropolis, northwest of the city of
Memphis that is a quintessential example of battered walls used in sequence to produce a
step pyramid.
North Americas In the Americas, battered walls are seen as a fairly common aspect of
Mission style architecture, where Spanish design was hybridized with Native American
adobe building techniques. As exemplified by the
San Estevan del Rey Mission Church in Acoma, New Mexico, c.1629-42, the heights desired by Spanish Catholic Mission design was achieved through battering
adobe bricks to achieve structural stability. ==Gallery==