cst sabe a.a. 2020/21 architectural theory i | the

Dr. Manlio MICHIELETTO1

CSTSABEA.A. 2020/21

ARCHITECTURAL THEORY_I

| THE CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE: VITRUVIUS |

INDEX

1. The Roman Empire2. Classicism3. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio4. De Architectura5. Classicism – De Architectura6. Classicism of vitruvius7. The end of classicism (?)

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INDEX

8. The ten books of Architecture: De Architectura8.1 Book I8.2 Book II8.3 Book III8.4 Book IV

9. The Classical Orders9.1 The five Orders

10. Bibliography

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1. The Roman Empire (27 B.C. / 476 A.D.)The Roman Empire was the post-Roman Republic period ofthe ancient Roman civilization, characterized bygovernment headed by emperors and large territorialholdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Africaand Asia.

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1. The Roman Empire

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1. The Roman Empire (27 B.C. / 476 A.D.)The chief Roman contributions to architecture werethe arch, vault and the dome.

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1. The Roman Empire (27 B.C. / 476 A.D.)

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Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone."But which is the stone that supports the bridge?"Kublai Khan asks."The bridge is not supported by one stone or another," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form."Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds:"Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me."Polo answers: "Without stones there is no arch.“

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

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1. The Roman Empire (27 B.C. / 476 A.D.)Even after more than 2,000 years some Roman structuresstill stand, due in part to sophisticated methods of makingcements and concrete.

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Amphitheater of El Djem, in Tunisia(North Africa),the second biggest in the Roman Empire , after the Colosseum in Rome.


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2. ClassicismThe word ‘‘classical’’ in English, like its Latin counterpartclassicus, carries with it rich connotations.

The Latin word derives from the verb calare, ‘‘to call,’’ butthis meaning in the Late Roman Republic gave way toreferring to those ‘‘of the first class,’’ as opposed to thoseof the lower classes.

Similar meanings accompanied it until its early Englishusage in the sixteenth century, when the word moregenerally came to refer to someone or something of thehighest rank or importance, a standard or model toimitate.

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2. ClassicismAround the same time, ‘‘classical’’ also came to beassociated with any of the Greek and Roman writers ofantiquity who were held up as worthy models foremulation.

When we speak of the classical tradition in architecture, werefer to the intellectual and artistic productions of Greekand Roman antiquity, and to the ‘‘rediscovery’’ of thislegacy in medieval times, the Renaissance, and in theensuing centuries.

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3. Marcus Vitruvius PollioClassicism in architecture, by happenstance, begins withVitruvius – or Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c.85–c.20 BC) as heis sometimes called, although only the middle name iscertain.

Classicism is synonymous with Vitruvius because, of thedozens of treatises written on architecture in classical times,his is the one to have survived into modern times.

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3. Marcus Vitruvius PollioOnly a few details of the life of this architect, engineer, andscholar are known with certainty.

He was born probably in the second decade of the firstcentury B.C., and his breadth of knowledge suggests agood liberal education, training with architects, and travelto various parts of Asia.

The chapters of his treatise on the design of houses suggestsome familiarity with this subject, but sometime aroundmid-century he was hired into the service of Julius Caesaras a military engineer.

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3. Marcus Vitruvius PollioDuring the Empire Vitruvius was working hard to completethe treatise on which he had probably worked for manyyears. He dedicated it to the new Emperor, Augustus, andshortly thereafter built the one building that he included inhis 10 scrolls, the basilica at Fano.

His description of this building, of which nothing hassurvived, would in itself also later shape the idea ofclassicism.

Vitrvuius must have died shortly after completing his treatisein the mid-20s B.C..

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3. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

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4. De ArchitecturaDe architectura, or the text generally referred to as the TenBooks of Architecture, embraces many more concerns thanwhat today is considered to fall within the realm ofarchitecture.

The last three books deal with water (aqueducts, wells),time-pieces (zodiacs, planets, astrology, sundials), andmechanics (pulleys, screws, catapults, battering rams).

The first seven books concern architecture, in both itsmaterial, constructional, and theoretical aspects.

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4. De ArchitecturaPerhaps the heart of his treatise is found in Books 3 and 4,in which he presents the proportional rules and descriptionof three types of temples, first and foremost their columns,which later will be construed as ‘‘orders.’’

Books 5 and 6 concern other building types, such asbasilicas, treasuries, theaters, gymnasia, and dwellings.

In Book 1 he presents the six principles of architecture,which are order, arrangement, eurythmy, symmetry,propriety, and economy.

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4. De Architectura

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4. De ArchitecturaA few pages later he reduces these principles to the morefamous Vitruvian triad – following a seventeenth-centurytranslation – of commodity, firmness, and delight.( UTILITAS, FIRMITAS, VENUSTAS)

Notwithstanding his rules for proportion and symmetry,Vitruvius was not especially dogmatic in his strictures andhe allowed the architect considerable latitude in adjustingproportions where the eye deems it necessary.

This freedom would be disallowed in later years asproportional rules often came to be seen as sacrosanctcanons.

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5. Classicism - De ArchitecturaThe history of ‘‘classicism’’ in relation to De architectura isan interesting one.

Limiting the historical importance of these scrolls is the factthat Vitruvius composed them prior to the reign ofAugustus, of whom Suetonius once noted that ‘‘he foundRome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.’’

Thus many of the major monuments whose ruins still gracethe city today were not yet built or even contemplated. Andwhen they later came to be constructed they were notdesigned to the proportional and design specificationsoutlined by Vitruvius.

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5. Classicism - De ArchitecturaThe treatise of Vitruvius, however, is its relation with theclassical past.

He was an architect versed not only in such Greekphilosophers as Pythagoras, Archimedes, Democritus,Plato, and Aristotle, but also in the work of suchcontemporaries as Varro and Cicero.

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5. Classicism - De ArchitecturaMoreover, he makes references to dozens of passages andprevious treatises on architecture, the vast majority ofwhich were Greek.

Vitruvius’s own taste in architecture tended toward the late-Hellenic style, especially the Ionian work of Hermogenes(late third or early second century) and Hermodorus ofSalamis (mid-second century).

In this way, Vitruvius actually reveals more of the theoreticalbody of Greek architecture than of the contemporaryRoman situation.

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5. Classicism - De Architectura

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5. Classicism - De ArchitecturaThe classicism of Vitruvius, however, defines only onefoundation stone of the antique tradition upon whichWestern intellectual development is based; the otherderives from the rise and eventual dominance ofChristianity in the West.

With its roots in Judaism, Christian culture is at least as oldas its parallel Hellenistic and Roman counterparts, withwhich it would become conjoined after Constantine’sdefeat of Maxentius in A.D. 312.

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6. Classicism of VitruviusFrom his new throne in Constantinople (founded 324–30),Constantine granted religious freedom to all, but himselfconverted to Christianity, which now aligned its fortunes (atthis point a religion still with a small number of followers)with that of the new Empire.

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7. The end of classicism (?)The fates of both the eastern and western Roman empires,however, were not peaceful ones.

The Visigoth Alaric captured Rome in 410 (the westernempire had moved its capital to Ravenna in 404), and thusbegan the centuries of the so-called barbarian invasions(actually tribal migrations) that plagued the politicalstability of Europe well beyond the crowning ofCharlemagne as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in theyear 800.

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7. The end of classicism (?)Seven-hundred Viking longships camped on the Champ deMars in 885 and laid siege to Paris for 11 months.

As the Byzantine empire fell into serious decline in theeleventh century, both Turks and Mongols pressed intoEurope from the east, while only the Pyrenees protected theFranks from Muslim incursions moving up through Spain.

Pope Gregory VII declared the supreme legislative andjudicial power of the Papacy in 1075, and 40 years laterthe first of the Crusades was raised to wrest Jerusalem fromIslamic control.

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7. The end of classicism (?)By the time of the fourth Crusade (1198–1216), the LatinChurch had achieved its apogee as a political and militarypower and essentially unified Europe with its language,law, and theology.

Moreover, contacts with Arab scholars had reintroducedthe fruits of the Greco-Roman classical tradition into theWest.

Thus the Gothic period appeared at the moment when aclassical cultural renaissance was taking place in Europe;scholars renewed historical interest and the production ofbooks increased dramatically.

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7. The end of classicism (?)Throughout these years the Church’s relationship withclassicism was nevertheless ambiguous, to say the least.

On the one hand classicism bore the marks of paganism,and therefore many of its secular practices (such as art)were often viewed with suspicion.

On the other hand there was a genuine interest inrecapturing, as it were, the legacy of the past.

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7. Classic Vs Gothic ArchitectureFor instance Vitruvius, whose impact on Romanarchitecture was very slight, gains considerably in stature inthe Epistles of Sidonius Apollinarius in the fifth century A.D..

The oldest existent manuscript of his treatise dates from theninth century, and from that time forward it was copied anddistributed by the monastic route.

The Archbishop of Rouen bequeathed a copy of the treatiseto his cathedral in 1183 and Vincent of Beauvais quotedVitruvius on proportions – affirming that De architecturawas read during Gothic times.

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7. Classic Vs Gothic ArchitectureNevertheless, the book of Vitruvius – until the Renaissance– was by no means an influential text, and the majormonuments of Romanesque and Gothic times (even withtheir reminiscences of classical motifs) followed localtraditions and the technical knowledge of vaulting that hadbeen evolving since Late Roman times.

Symbolism, a prominent feature of Gothic architecture inparticular, remained wedded to theological andpedagogical interests.

The great monuments of the Middle Ages were extensionsof the Church’s teachings.

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8. The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaVitruvius compiled his 10 ‘‘books’’ (actually scrolls) from avariety of sources, almost entirely Greek.

We might therefore see him – like his contemporary Cicero– as a champion of a Greek revival that was prominent inthe last years of the Roman Republic.

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8. The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaThis was a movement among the Roman intelligentsia, inall of the liberal arts, to assimilate and transpose conceptsor terminology from Greek theory.

The problem inherent in such a process of grafting, asVitruvius’s many interpreters have often pointed out, is thatof achieving conceptual clarity and consistency of terms.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIAfter an initial discussion of the areas of education that theaspiring architect should master, Vitruvius identifies the sixprinciples composing the art and science of architecture.

But only the last two principles – propriety and economy –are relatively straightforward in their meaning.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIOrder (Greek taxis) is the ordering of parts alone and as awhole, and thus implies the concepts of a module andsymmetry.

Arrangement (Greek diathesis), which has also beenrendered in English as ‘‘design,’’ is similar to order but alsoadds the idea of aptness of placement.

It is also familiar to architects through his discussion of thefloor plan, elevation, and perspective.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIOrder and Arrangement

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIEurythmy (Latin eurythmia is a transliteration of Greekeurythmos) and symmetry (Greek symmetros; no Latinequivalent) are more elusive.

Symmetry, which for Vitruvius is a key concept, is a properharmony of the parts to each other and to the whole,defining a kind of beauty.

Eurythmy, which has also been translated as ‘‘proportion’’,is not dissimilar to order and arrangement, and it suggeststhe use of numerical ratios. It is also the visible coherenceof form.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIEurythmy and Symmetry

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIEurythmy and Symmetry

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIIn the next section, after his very broad definition ofArchitecture, Vitruvius reduces architecture to the principlesof durability (Latin firmitas), convenience (Latin utilitas), andbeauty (Latin venustas).

These are the three terms that Henry Wotton translated in1624 (in a different order) as ‘‘commodity, firmness, anddelight.’’

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II‘‘commodity, firmness, and delight.’’

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-IIThe idea of constructing a work in a durable andconvenient way is self-evident, and what he means bybeauty is made manifest by his invocation of the term‘‘symmetry.’’

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Education of the Architect”[…] 1. The architect should be equipped with knowledge ofmany branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for itis by his judgement that all work done by the other arts isput to test. This knowledge is the child of practice andtheory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise ofemployment where manual work is done with anynecessary material according to the design of a drawing.Theory, on the other hand, is the ability to demonstrate andexplain the productions of dexterity on the principles ofproportion. […]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Education of the Architect”[…] 2. It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimedat acquiring manual skill without scholarship have neverbeen able to reach a position of authority to correspond totheir pains, while those who relied only upon theories andscholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not thesubstance. But those who have a thorough knowledge ofboth, like men armed at all points, have the soonerattained their object and carried authority with them. […]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 1. Architecture depends on Order, Arrangement,Eurythmy, Symmetry, Propriety, and Economy.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 2. Order gives due measure to the members of a workconsidered separately, and symmetrical agreement to theproportions of the whole. It is an adjustment according toquantity. By this I mean the selection of modules from themembers of the work itself and, starting from theseindividual parts of members, constructing the whole work tocorrespond. Arrangement includes the putting of things intheir proper places and the elegance of effect which is dueto adjustments appropriate to the character of the work.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] Its forms of expression are these: groundplan,elevation, and perspective. A groundplan is made by theproper successive use of compasses and rule, throughwhich we get outlines for the plane surfaces of buildings.An elevation is a picture of the front of a building, setupright and properly drawn in the proportions of thecontemplated work. Perspective is the method of sketchinga front with the sides withdrawing into the background, thelines all meeting in the centre of a circle.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] All three come of reflexion and invention. Reflexion iscareful and laborious thought, and watchful attentiondirected to the agreeable effect of one’s plan. Invention,on the other hand, is the solving of intricate problems andthe discovery of new principles by means of brilliancy andversatility. These are the departments belonging underArrangement.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 3. Eurythmy is beauty and fitness in the adjustments ofthe members. This is found when the members of a workare of a height suited to their breadth, of a breadth suitedto their length, and, in a word, when they all correspondsymmetrically.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 4. Symmetry is a proper agreement between themembers of the work itself, and relation between thedifferent parts and the whole general scheme, inaccordance with a certain part selected as standard. Thusin the human body there is a kind of symmetrical harmonybetween forearm, foot, palm, finger, and other small parts;and so it is with perfect buildings. In the case of temples,symmetry may be calculated from the thickness of acolumn, from a triglyph, or even from a module.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 5. Propriety is that perfection of style which comeswhen a work is authoritatively constructed on approvedprinciples. It arises from prescription, from usage, or fromnature. From prescription, in the case of hypaethraledifices, open to the sky, in honour of Jupiter Lightning, theHeaven, the Sun, or the Moon: for these are gods whosesemblances and manifestations we behold before our veryeyes in the sky when it is cloudless and bright.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] The temples of Minerva, Mars, and Hercules, will beDoric, since the virile strength of these gods makesdaintiness entirely inappropriate to their houses. In templesto Venus, Flora, Proserpine, Spring-Water, and the Nymphs,the Corinthian order will be found to have peculiarsignificance, because these are delicate divinities and so itsrather slender outlines, its flowers, leaves, and ornamentalvolutes will lend propriety where it is due.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] The construction of temples of the Ionic order to Juno,Diana, Father Bacchus, and the other gods of that kind,will be in keeping with the middle position which they hold;for the building of such will be an appropriate combinationof the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of theCorinthian.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 6. Propriety arises from usage when buildings havingmagnificent interiors are provided with elegant entrance-courts to correspond; for there will be no propriety in thespectacle of an elegant interior approached by a low,mean entrance. Or, if dentils be carved in the cornice ofthe Doric entablature or triglyphs represented in the Ionicentablature over the cushion-shaped capitals of thecolumns, the effect will be spoilt by the transfer of thepeculiarities of the one order of building to the other, theusage in each class having been fixed long ago.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 7. Finally, propriety will be due to natural causes if, forexample, in the case of all sacred precincts we select veryhealthy neighbourhoods with suitable springs of water inthe places where the fanes are to be built, particularly inthe case of those to Aesculapius and to Health, gods bywhose healing powers great numbers of the sick areapparently cured. For when their diseased bodies aretransferred from an unhealthy to a healthy spot, andtreated with waters from health-giving springs, they will themore speedily grow well.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] The result will be that the divinity will stand in higheresteem and find his dignity increased, all owing to thenature of his site. There will also be natural propriety inusing an eastern light for bedrooms and libraries, awestern light in winter for baths and winter apartments, anda northern light for picture galleries and other places inwhich a steady light is needed; for that quarter of the skygrows neither light nor dark with the course of the sun, butremains steady and unshifting all day long.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 8. Economy denotes the proper management ofmaterials and of site, as well as a thrifty balancing of costand common sense in the construction of works. This willbe observed if, in the first place, the architect does notdemand things which cannot be found or made readywithout great expense.

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] For example: it is not everywhere that there is plenty ofpitsand, rubble, fir, clear fir, and marble, since they areproduced in different places and to assemble them isdifficult and costly. Where there is no pitsand, we must usethe kinds washed up by rivers or by the sea; the lack of firand clear fir may be evaded by using cypress, poplar, elm,or pine; and other problems we must solve in similarways.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] 9. A second stage in Economy is reached when wehave to plan the different kinds of dwellings suitable forordinary householders, for great wealth, or for the highposition of the statesman. […]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] A house in town obviously calls for one form ofconstruction; that into which stream the products of countryestates requires another; this will not be the same in thecase of money-lenders and still different for the opulentand luxurious; for the powers under whose deliberationsthe commonwealth is guided dwellings are to be providedaccording to their special needs: and, in a word, theproper form of economy must be observed in buildinghouses for each and every class.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Fundamental Principles of Architecture”[…] A house in town obviously calls for one form ofconstruction; that into which stream the products of countryestates requires another; this will not be the same in thecase of money-lenders and still different for the opulentand luxurious; for the powers under whose deliberationsthe commonwealth is guided dwellings are to be providedaccording to their special needs: and, in a word, theproper form of economy must be observed in buildinghouses for each and every class.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Departments of Architecture”[…] 1. There are three departments of architecture: the artof building, the making of timepieces, and the constructionof machinery. Building is, in its turn, divided into two parts,of which the first is the construction of fortified towns and ofworks for general use in public places, and the second isthe putting up of structures for private individuals. Thereare three classes of public buildings: the first for defensive,the second for religious, and the third for utilitarianpurposes.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Departments of Architecture”[…] Under defence comes the planning of walls, towers,and gates, permanent devices for resistance against hostileattacks; under religion, the erection of fanes and templesto the immortal gods; under utility, the provision of meetingplaces for public use, such as harbours, markets,colonnades, baths, theatres, promenades, and all othersimilar arrangements in public places.[…]

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8.1 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook I – Chapter I-II“The Departments of Architecture”[…] 2. All these must be built with due reference todurability, convenience, and beauty. Durability will beassured when foundations are carried down to the solidground and materials wisely and liberally selected;convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments isfaultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when eachclass of building is assigned to its suitable and appropriateexposure; and beauty, when the appearance of the work ispleasing and in good taste, and when its members are indue proportion according to correct principles ofsymmetry.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IIVitruvius devotes almost all of Book 2 of his treatise to adiscussion of materials, but he introduces these technicalmatters with his exposition on the origin of architecture.

What this story reveals is the extent of Vitruvius’s travels,although it is unclear if he indeed ventured to Spain andPortugal.

The vividness of his description of the Phrygians suggeststhat he visited these parts of central and western AsiaMinor, generally what is today Turkey.

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IIHe also seems to have visited Athens, but the city’s mostfamous monument – the Parthenon – is unfortunately notmentioned in his treatise.

This passage also becomes important in the mid-eighteenth century when Marc-Antoine Laugier, who isseeking to overturn the relevance of Vitruvian theory, againdraws on the primitive hut to prove that architecture is arational art.

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 1. The men of old were born like the wild beasts, inwoods, caves, and groves, and lived on savage fare. Astime went on, the thickly crowded trees in a certain place,tossed by storms and winds, and rubbing their branchesagainst one another, caught fire, and so the inhabitants ofthe place were put to flight, being terrified by the furiousflame.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] After it subsided, they drew near, and observing thatthey were very comfortable standing before the warm fire,they put on logs and, while thus keeping it alive, broughtup other people to it, showing them by signs how muchcomfort they got from it. In that gathering of men, at a timewhen utterance of sound was purely individual, from dailyhabits they fixed upon articulate words just as these hadhappened to come; then, from indicating by name thingsin common use, the result was that in this chance way theybegan to talk, and thus originated conversation with oneanother..[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 2. Therefore it was the discovery of fire that originallygave rise to the coming together of men, to the deliberativeassembly, and to social intercourse. And so, as they keptcoming together in greater numbers into one place, findingthemselves naturally gifted beyond the other animals in notbeing obliged to walk with faces to the ground, but uprightand gazing upon the splendour of the starry firmament,and also in being able to do with ease whatever they chosewith their hands and fingers, they began in that firstassembly to construct shelters.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] Some made them of green boughs, others dug caveson mountain sides, and some, in imitation of the nests ofswallows and the way they built, made places of refuge outof mud and twigs. Next, by observing the shelters of othersand adding new details to their own inceptions, theyconstructed better and better kinds of huts as time wenton.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 3. And since they were of an imitative and teachablenature, they would daily point out to each other the resultsof their building, boasting of the novelties in it; and thus,with their natural gifts sharpened by emulation, theirstandards improved daily. At first they set up forked stakesconnected by twigs and covered these walls with mud. […]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] Others made walls of lumps of dried mud, coveringthem with reeds and leaves to keep out the rain and theheat. Finding that such roofs could not stand the rainduring the storms of winter, they built them with peaksdaubed with mud, the roofs sloping and projecting so as tocarry off the rain water.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 4. That houses originated as I have written above, wecan see for ourselves from the buildings that are to this dayconstructed of like materials by foreign tribes: for instance,in Gaul, Spain, Portugal, and Aquitaine, roofed with oakshingles or thatched. Among the Colchians in Pontus,where there are forests in plenty, they lay down entire treesflat on the ground to the right and the left, leaving betweenthem a space to suit the length of the trees, and then placeabove these another pair of trees, resting on the ends ofthe former and at right angles with them. […]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] These four trees enclose the space for the dwelling.Then upon these they place sticks of timber, one after theother on the four sides, crossing each other at the angles,and so, proceeding with their walls of trees laidperpendicularly above the lowest, they build up hightowers. The interstices, which are left on account of thethickness of the building material, are stopped up withchips and mud. […]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] As for the roofs, by cutting away the ends of thecrossbeams and making them converge gradually as theylay them across, they bring them up to the top from thefour sides in the shape of a pyramid. They cover it withleaves and mud, and thus construct the roofs of theirtowers in a rude form of the ‘‘tortoise’’style.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 5. On the other hand, the Phrygians, who live in anopen country, have no forests and consequently lacktimber. They therefore select a natural hillock, run a trenchthrough the middle of it, dig passages, and extend theinterior space as widely as the site admits. Over it theybuild a pyramidal roof of logs fastened together, and thisthey cover with reeds and brushwood, heaping up veryhigh mounds of earth above their dwellings. Thus theirfashion in houses makes their winters very warm and theirsummers very cool.

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] Some construct hovels with roofs of rushes from theswamps. Among other nations, also, in some places thereare huts of the same or a similar method of construction.Likewise at Marseilles we can see roofs without tiles, madeof earth mixed with straw. In Athens on the Areopagusthere is to this day a relic of antiquity with a mud roof. Thehut of Romulus on the Capitol is a significant reminder ofthe fashions of old times, and likewise the thatched roofs oftemples on the Citadel.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 6. From such specimens we can draw our inferenceswith regard to the devices used in the buildings of antiquity,and conclude that they were similar. Furthermore, as menmade progress by becoming daily more expert in building,and as their ingenuity was increased by their dexterity sothat from habit they attained to considerable skill, theirintelligence was enlarged by their industry until the moreproficient adopted the trade of carpenters.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] From these early beginnings, and from the fact thatnature had not only endowed the human race with senseslike the rest of the animals, but had also equipped theirminds with the powers of thought and understanding, thusputting all other animals under their sway, they nextgradually advanced from the construction of buildings tothe other arts and sciences, and so passed from a rudeand barbarous mode of life to civilization andrefinement.[…]

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8.2 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook II“The Origin of the Dwelling House”[…] 7. Then, taking courage and looking forward from thestandpoint of higher ideas born of the multiplication of thearts, they gave up huts and began to build houses withfoundations, having brick or stone walls, and roofs oftimber and tiles; next, observation and application ledthem from fluctuating and indefinite conceptions to definiterules of symmetry. Perceiving that nature had been lavish inthe bestowal of timber and bountiful in stores of buildingmaterial, they treated this like careful nurses, and thusdeveloping the refinements of life, embellished them withluxuries.[…]

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IIIVitruvian theory is sometimes described asanthropomorphic in the sense that he predicatesproportional rules on the ratios of the human body.

Here, in this explication of the idea of ‘‘symmetry’’ in Book3, he supplies this theoretical basis for why proportions areimportant.

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IIIHis description of a man with outstretched limbs, placedwithin a circle and square, later becomes the basis forvarious Renaissance sketches, the most famous of which isthat of Leonardo da Vinci.

This proportional aligning of architecture with the humanfigure, or more generally with the proportional rules ofnature, will become a cornerstone of classical theory.

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook III“On Symmetry: In Temple and in the Human Body”[…] 1. The design of a temple depends on symmetry, theprinciples of which must be most carefully observed by thearchitect. They are due to proportion, in Greek analogia.Proportion is a correspondence among the measures of themembers of an entire work, and of the whole to a certainpart selected as standard. From this result the principles ofsymmetry. Without symmetry and proportion there can beno principles in the design of any temple; that is, if there isno precise relation between its members, as in the case ofthose of a well shaped man.[…]

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook III“On Symmetry: In Temple and in the Human Body”[…] 2. For the human body is so designed by nature thatthe face, from the chin to the top of the forehead and thelowest roots of the hair, is a tenth part of the whole height;the open hand from the wrist to the tip of the middle fingeris just the same; the head from the chin to the crown is aneighth, and with the neck and shoulder from the top of thebreast to the lowest roots of the hair is a sixth; from themiddle of the breast to the summit of the crown is a fourth.[…]

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook III“On Symmetry: In Temple and in the Human Body”[…] If we take the height of the face itself, the distancefrom the bottom of the chin to the under side of the nostrilsis one third of it; the nose from the under side of thenostrils to a line between the eyebrows is the same; fromthere to the lowest roots of the hair is also a third,comprising the forehead. The length of the foot is one sixthof the height of the body; of the forearm, one fourth; andthe breadth of the breast is also one fourth. The othermembers, too, have their own symmetrical proportions,and it was by employing them that the famous painters andsculptors of antiquity attained to great and endless renown.[…] 88


8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook III“On Symmetry: In Temple and in the Human Body”[…] 3. Similarly, in the members of a temple there ought tobe the greatest harmony in the symmetrical relations of thedifferent parts to the general magnitude of the whole. Thenagain, in the human body the central point is naturally thenavel. For if a man be placed flat on his back, with hishands and feet extended, and a pair of compasses centredat his navel, the fingers and toes of his two hands and feetwill touch the circumference of a circle describedtherefrom. […]

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook III“On Symmetry: In Temple and in the Human Body”[…] And just as the human body yields a circular outline,so too a square figure may be found from it. For if wemeasure the distance from the soles of the feet to the topof the head, and then apply that measure to theoutstretched arms, the breadth will be found to be thesame as the height, as in the case of plane surfaces whichare perfectly square.[…]

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8.3 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook III“On Symmetry: In Temple and in the Human Body”[…] 4. Therefore, since nature has designed the humanbody so that its members are duly proportioned to theframe as a whole, it appears that the ancients had goodreason for their rule, that in perfect buildings the differentmembers must be in exact symmetrical relations to thewhole general scheme. Hence, while transmitting to us theproper arrangements for buildings of all kinds, they wereparticularly careful to do so in the case of temples of thegods, buildings in which merits and faults usually lastforever.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IVNo book reveals the ‘‘Roman’’ character of De architecturabetter than Book 4, the Preface to which forms thisdedication to the Emperor Augustus Caesar.

Vitruvius, in his ambition to write a ‘‘complete and orderlyform of presentation,’’ obviously felt he was setting ahistorical precedent.

Even more enchanting to later generations is his often-repeated discussion of the origin of the three architecturalorders: the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IVThese stories are sometimes said to compose the‘‘mythology’’ of architecture, fables that were eventuallydiscredited by the rational forces of the WesternEnlightenment, but once again they demonstrate theanthropomorphic basis of Vitruvian theory.

One sentence within this passage that should not beoverlooked is his admission that the proportions for boththe Doric and Ionic columns changed after some‘‘progress in refinement and delicacy of feeling.’’

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IVRenaissance humanists, operating from a very differentaesthetic basis, regarded this remark as a fault of his theoryand sought to find hard and fast rules for proportions, onesthat would not change over time. In the end, this disputeover the invariability of proportions would eventually leadclassical theory into a crisis.

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 1. Corinthian columns are, excepting in their capitals,of the same proportions in all respects as Ionic; but theheight of their capitals gives them proportionately a tallerand more slender effect. This is because the height of theIonic capital is only one third of the thickness of thecolumn, while that of the Corinthian is the entire thicknessof the shaft. Hence, as two thirds are added in Corinthiancapitals, their tallness gives a more slender appearance tothe columns themselves.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 2. The other members which are placed above thecolumns, are, for Corinthian columns, composed either ofthe Doric proportions or according to the Ionic usages; forthe Corinthian order never had any scheme peculiar toitself for its cornices or other ornaments, but may havemutules in the coronae and guttae on the architravesaccording to the triglyph system of the Doric style, or,according to Ionic practices, it may be arranged with afrieze adorned with sculptures and accompanied withdentils and coronae.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 3. Thus a third architectural order, distinguished by itscapital, was produced out of the two other orders. To theforms of their columns are due the names of the threeorders, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, of which the Doricwas the first to arise, and in early times.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] For Dorus, the son of Hellen and the nymph Phthia,was king of Achaea and all the Peloponnesus, and he builta fane, which chanced to be of this order, in the precinct ofJuno at Argolis, a very ancient city, and subsequently othersof the same order in the other cities of Achaea, althoughthe rules of symmetry were not yet in existence.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 4. Later, the Athenians, in obedience to oracles of theDelphic Apollo, and with the general agreement of allHellas, despatched thirteen colonies at one time to AsiaMinor, appointing leaders for each colony and giving thecommand-in-chief to Ion, son of Xuthus and Creusa (whomfurther Apollo at Delphi in the oracles had acknowledgedas his son).[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] Ion conducted those colonies to Asia Minor, tookpossession of the land of Caria, and there founded thegrand cities of Ephesus, Miletus, Myus (long ago engulfedby the water, and its sacred rites and suffrage handed overby the Ionians to the Milesians), Priene, Samos, Teos,Colophon, Chius, Erythrae, Phocaea, Clazomenae,Lebedos, and Melite. […]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] This Melite, on account of the arrogance of its citizens,was destroyed by the other cities in awar declared bygeneral agreement, and in its place, through the kindnessof King Attalus and Arsinoe, the city of the Smyrnaeans wasadmitted among the Ionians.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 5. Now these cities, after driving out the Carians andLelegans, called that part of the world Ionia from theirleader Ion, and there they set off precincts for the immortalgods and began to build fanes: first of all, a temple toPanionion Apollo such as they had seen in Achaea, callingit Doric because they had first seen that kind of temple builtin the states of the Dorians.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 6. Wishing to set up columns in that temple, but nothaving rules for their symmetry, and being in search ofsome way by which they could render them fit to bear aload and also of a satisfactory beauty of appearance, theymeasured the imprint of a man’s foot and compared thiswith his height.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] On finding that, in a man, the foot was one sixth ofthe height, they applied the same principle to the column,and reared the shaft, including the capital, to a height sixtimes its thickness at its base. Thus the Doric column, asused in buildings, began to exhibit the proportions,strength, and beauty of the body of a man.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 7. Just so afterwards, when they desired to construct atemple to Diana in a new style of beauty, they translatedthese footprints into terms characteristic of the slendernessof women, and thus first made a column the thickness ofwhich was only one eighth of its height, so that it mighthave a taller look.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] At the foot they substituted the base in place of a shoe;in the capital they placed the volutes, hanging down at theright and left like curly ringlets, and ornamented its frontwith cymatia and with festoons of fruit arranged in place ofhair, while they brought the flutes down the whole shaft,falling like the folds in the robes worn by matrons. Thus inthe invention of the two different kinds of columns, theyborrowed manly beauty, naked and unadorned, for theone, and for the other the delicacy, adornment, andproportions characteristic of women.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 8. It is true that posterity, having made progress inrefinement and delicacy of feeling, and finding pleasure inmore slender proportions, has established seven diametersof the thickness as the height of the Doric column, andnine as that of the Ionic. The Ionians, however, originatedthe order which is therefore named Ionic. The third order,called Corinthian, is an imitation of the slenderness of amaiden; for the outlines and limbs of maidens, being moreslender on account of their tender years, admit of prettiereffects in the way of adornment.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 9. It is related that the original discovery of this form ofcapital was as follows. A freeborn maiden of Corinth, justof marriageable age, was attacked by an illness andpassed away. After her burial, her nurse, collecting a fewlittle things which used to give the girl pleasure while shewas alive, put them in a basket, carried it to the tomb, andlaid it on top thereof, covering it with a roof-tile so that thethings might last longer in the open air.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] This basket happened to be placed just above the rootof an acanthus. The acanthus root, pressed downmeanwhile though it was by the weight, when springtimecame round put forth leaves and stalks in the middle, andthe stalks, growing up along the sides of the basket, andpressed out by the corners of the tile through thecompulsion of its weight, were forced to bend into volutesat the outer edges.[…]

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8.4 The ten books of Architecture: De ArchitecturaBook IV“The Origins of the Three Orders, and the Proportions ofthe Corinthian Capital”[…] 10. Just then Callimachus, passed by this tomb andobserved the basket with the tender young leaves growinground it. Delighted with the novel style and form, he builtsome columns after that pattern for the Corinthians,determined their symmetrical proportions, and establishedfrom that time forth the rules to be followed in finishedworks of the Corinthian order.[…]

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9. The classical orders of ArchitectureThe classical orders are not susceptible to so casual animitation.

Individually, each order is constructed of a series ofcomponents standing in a clear, though not immutable,proportional relationship with one another, and peculiar tothat order.

At the same time the orders are closely related to oneanother by a further series of mathematical progressionsand by the manner in which their component mouldingsare developed from the simplest order to the mostcomplex.

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9. The classical orders of ArchitectureThus, the orders as a whole form a complete systemanalogous to a language, abiding by rules of grammarand syntax, capable of being used in a literate manner, butvulnerable to illiterate abuse.

“Architecture is a language and I think you have to have agrammar in order to have a language. If you are good atthat, you speak a wonderful prose, if you are really good,you can be a poet”. Mies Van der Rohe

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9. The classical orders of ArchitectureThe grammatical rules of the orders can be emphasised,elided or distorted for a particular purpose, but thedramatic or poetic effect of such manipulation cannot bemore than superficial unless the grammatical rules havefirst been mastered.

Like a language, the orders are capable of development inthe long term, but they remain recognisably the samethroughout the centuries of their development.

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9. The classical orders of ArchitectureThe origin, purpose and history of the orders is socomprehensively traced by Sir John Summerson in TheClassical Language of Architecture that nothing that couldbe encompassed by this book could be more than themerest imitation.

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9. The classical orders of ArchitectureSummerson says, “It is a mistake ever to think of the fiveorders (Tuscanic, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite) ofarchitecture as a sort of child’s box of bricks whicharchitects have used to save themselves the trouble ofinventing. It is much better to think of them as grammaticalexpressions imposing a formidable discipline within whichpersonal sensibility always has certain play – a disciplinemoreover which can sometimes be burst asunder by a flightof poetic genius.”

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9. The classical orders of ArchitectureTraditional System of proportionApart from some ambiguities, Vitruvius sets out theproportions of the orders with considerable precision.

The principle is established in his writing of taking thediameter of the column at its base as the unit ofmeasurement.

The proportions of the various elements of the order arederived from this unit, albeit not always directly, as a seriesof fractions.

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9.1 The classical orders of ArchitectureThe five Orders

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10. Bibliography

Robert Chitam, The classical Orders of Architecture,Burlington: Architectural Press, 2005.John Summerson, The Classical Language of Architecture,London: Paperback,1980.Vitruvius, The ten Books on Architecture, (1st c. BCE),edited by Ingrid D. Rowland and Thomas Noble Howe,New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Harry Francis Mallgrave, An Anthology from Vitruvius to1870, Victoria: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.

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