PART VI :

THEMATIC THEORIES OF
ARCHITECTURE
A Summary

http://www2.uiah.fi/projekti/metodi/13k.htm
THEMATIC THEORIES
Paradigm (=style) of architecture:
Doric, Ionian and Corinthian style and their varieties in
ancient Greece and Rome (Classical)
Romanesque and Gothic styles. (Middle Ages)
Renaissance, baroque, rococo, neo-classical style
Large constructions: bridges and halls. "Structuralist" styling Galilei: Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due
(=which emphasizes the structure).
l'Art Nouveau. Personal styles of architectural geniuses:
Gaudi, Le Corbusier etc.
Functionalism.
Systems Building from prefabricated components
Ecological architecture (energy collectors etc)
Symbolic architecture.
Postmodernism and Deconstruction
Thematic theories are treatises which aim
at the fulfilment of one principal goal,
usually at the cost of other customary
goals of building.
Basic presentation of its theory:
Vitruve: De Architectura libri decem. It was mainly
documentation of earlier architectural traditions.
Medieval anonymous tradition of trade guilds has not
survived to us; minor fragments are the following: Villard de
Honnecourt and Schmuttermayer.
Alberti: De re Aedificatoria. Serlio, Vignola, Palladio...
nuove scienze. Hooke, Bernoulli, Euler...
Viollet-le-Duc: Entretiens sur l'Architecture. The book
showed logical basis for new form languages but it did not
create them yet. Notice also Owen Jones and John Ruskin.
The teaching of Gropius and Bauhaus. Adolf
Loos. Neufert (1936): Bauentwurfslehre
The lectures and exemplars given by Mies van der Rohe and
others. Habraken.
Eco-philosophy by Henryk Skolimowski was one of the
pioneering works.
Norberg-Schulz: Intentions in Architecture, Jencks...
Robert Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in
Architecture
 CLASSICAL THEORIES
• MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO
– author of the oldest research on architecture
-- wrote an extensive summary of all the theory on
construction
-- had a thorough knowledge of earlier Greek and
Roman writings
• “TEN BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE”
– De architectura libri decem
-- consists mostly of normative theory of design (based
on practice)
-- a collection of thematic theories of design with no
method of combining them into a synthesis
-- presents a classification of requirements set for
buildings:
-- DURABILITY (firmitas)
-- PRACTICALITY or “Convenience” (utilitas)
-- PLEASANTNESS (venustas)

• VITRUVIAN RULES OF AESTHETIC FORM

-- based on Greek traditions of architecture
-- teachings of Pythagoras = applying proportions of
numbers
-- observations of tuned strings of instruments
-- proportions of human body
-- PLEASANTNESS = in accordance of good taste
= parts follow proportions
= symmetry of measures
THEORIES in the MIDDLE AGES
• MONASTERY INSTITUTION
– most documents retrieved from the Middle Ages
-- however, archives contain only few descriptions of buildings
-- described only as “according to the traditional model”
-- “There’s no accounting for tastes” was the rule of thumb

• DEVELOPMENT OF BUILDING STYLE

– Both the Romanesque and the Gothic building style developed
over the centuries, presumably with hardly any or no literary research with
hardly or no literary research present
-- Villard de Honnecourt’s “sketchbook” in 1235
-- Roritzer’s “Booklet on the right way of making pinnacles”
-- only through guidance of old masters
-- tradition binding and precise in closed guilds of builders

92. Topmost human need as per Maslow

THEORIES in the MIDDLE AGES
THEORIES in the MIDDLE AGES
 RENAISSANCE THEORIES

• 1418 – a copy of Vitruve manuscripts found at St. Gallen monastery

• LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI (1404-72)

– person in charge of constructions commanded by Pope
-- “On Building” = De re aedificatoria
-- one of the greatest works of the theory of architecture
-- completed in 1452, published in 1485
-- more emphasis on decoration of building exteriors

• SEBASTIANO SERLIO
-- “Regole generali di architectura”

• GIACOMO BAROZZI DA VIGNOLA

-- “Regola delle cinque ordini”
-- concise, fast and easily applicable rules of the five column systems
-- based his design instructions on four things:
-- idea of Pythagoras (proportions of small numbers meant
harmony
-- proportions and other instructions provided by Vitruvius
-- example set by earlier buildings
-- “general good taste”

93. Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or

convention, especially a material object used to represent something
invisible or immaterial, deriving its meaning chiefly from the structure in
which it appears
RENAISSANCE THEORIES

94. Objects observed have innate qualities that make them independent of the
perceiver and the environment
RENAISSANCE THEORIES
RENAISSANCE THEORIES
• ANDREA PALLADIO (1508-80)
– “I quattro libri dell’architectura”
-- the father of modern picture books of architecture

• PHILIBERT DE L’ORME
– one of French theorists who are critical of Italians
-- proved that Pantheon’s Corinthian columns had 3 different proportions
-- thus, rejected the doctrine of absolute beauty of measures

• WORKS PRINTED BY FRENCH THEORISTS

-- Francois Nicolas Blondel: Cours d’architecture (1675)
-- Claude Perrault: Ordonnance des cinq especes de colonnes (1683)
-- Jean Louis de Cordemoy: Nouveau traite de toute l’architecture (1706)
-- Marc-Antoine Laugier: Essai sur l’architecture (1753)
-- Jacques-Francois Blondel: Cours d’architecture (1770)
-- J-N-L Durand: Precis des lecons (1802-5)
-- Julien Guadet: Elements et theories de l’architecture (1902)

• No method for systematically inspecting the results

95. Type of Aesthetics that relies on scientific techniques in the analysis of aesthetic
experience
RENAISSANCE THEORIES
CONSTRUCTION THEORY
Building Material Architectural Form
Amorphic material:
Spherical vaulted construction
soft stone; snow

Sheets of skin or textile Cone-shaped tent construction

Logs of wood Box-shaped construction

• BEFORE WRITTEN CONSTRUCTION THEORY

- Architecture created without the help of architects or theory

- Builders used a model instead of mathematical algorithms
now used in modern construction.
- Inverted “catenary” model

• SEMI-CIRCULAR VAULT: THEORY BY VITRUVE

“When there are arches… the outermost piers must be made broader than the others,
so that they may have the strength to resist when the wedges, under the pressure of the load of the
walls, begin to thrust out the abutments.”
CONSTRUCTION THEORY

• DURING MIDDLE AGES

- No written document survived about theories or models to describe the

magnificent vaults of medieval cathedrals
- Shapes of gothic vaults resemble inverted catenaries
- Architects design not only the layout and decoration but also the construction
and stability of buildings

• DURING RENAISSANCE

- From Alberti onwards, architects began specializing. Thus, the mechanics of

materials & construction started to become a field of study of its own.
- Mathematical models by Francis Bacon and Galileo Galilei.
- 1675: Marquis de Vauban founded a building department in the French army
called “Corps des ingenieurs”
- 1747: Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, special school founded in Paris where
new profession specializing in construction was organized
- Other figures who developed mathematical construction theory Robert Hooke;
Jakob Bernoulli; Leonard Euler
- From Euler onwards, theory of elasticity of structures developed
CONSTRUCTION THEORY
CONSTRUCTION THEORY

96. The mental process by which knowledge

is acquired
CONSTRUCTION THEORY
PERSONAL STYLES

• COPYING FROM ANTIQUITY

- Architecture from antiquity came to a point of perfection

- Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (1863): the 1st theorist who set out to create a totally new system of
architectural forms independent of antiquity

“What we call taste is but an involuntary process of reasoning whose steps elude
our observation. Authority has no value if its grounds are not explained.”

- The foundation of modern architecture.

- Although Viollet-le-Duc did not create a timeless architectural style himself, he showed
others the philosophical foundation and method that they could use to develop even radically new form
languages.
- Owen Jones: used forms inspired from nature, especially plants.

• ART NOUVEAU

- The 1st architectural style independent of the tradition of antiquity after the Gothic style
- The example set by Art Nouveau encouraged some of the most skillful architects of the 20th
century to create their private form languages.
- Le Corbusier: architecture psychology, as natural forms of plants, buildings as giant
sculptures

97. Are stable combinations of activity and

place
PERSONAL STYLES
PERSONAL STYLES
PERSONAL STYLES

• THEORETICAL TREATISES

- Five Points of Architecture (1926, Le Corbusier)

1. pilotis
2. free plan
3. free façade
4. the long horizontal sliding window
5. the roof garden
- Architecture as Space (Bruno Zevi)
“the crux of architecture is not the sculptural pattern, but instead the
building interiors. These can be seen as “negative solids,” as voids which the
artist divides, combines, repeats and emphasizes in the same way as the
sculptor treats his “positive” lumps of substance.”

- The “personal styles” of architects are not necessarily based on laws of nature
or on logical reasoning. More important is that they exhibit a coherent
application of an idea which also must be clear that the public can find
it out. An advantage is also if the style includes symbolical
undertones.
PERSONAL STYLES
FUNCTIONALISM
• PRECONDITIONS IN FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE

- Function is one of the cornerstones of Vitruvian theory

- Did not receive as much attention in Renaissance era
- Industrial Revolution
- Eugene Viollet-le-Duc

• 20th CENTURY ARCHITECTURE

- The Chicago School

- Louis Sullivan: Ornament in Architecture (1892)
- “Form follows function”
- Frank Lloyd Wright “Form and function as one”
- Otto Wagner: Moderne Arckitektur (1895)
- Bauhaus and Walther Gropius
- Architecture supported by “mother sciences”
- Construction Economy “matchbox architecture”
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe “Less is more”

98. Type of space or Layouts where it is

easy to maintain face-to-face
contact
FUNCTIONALISM
FUNCTIONALISM

99. Type of space or Layouts where it is

easy to avoid interaction
POSTMODERNISM
• In his book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), Robert Venturi
opposed to simple "matchbox architecture". He analysed numerous esteemed
historical architectural masterpieces starting from the works of Michelangelo and
noticed that Mies' motto was mistaken.
• "Less is a bore", said Venturi.
• The principle of deconstruction (or 'deconstructivism') states that it is all right if the
architect lets the eventual contradictions in the builder's goals shine through the
finished design as well.
POSTMODERNISM
ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE
Making a shelter from bad weather was certainly one of the earliest goals of building, and it
has also later affected the building forms. Some examples:

In the Western countries room air conditioning is now so common that we have almost
forgotten the above foundations of architecture.

Nevertheless, lately the ecological imperative has again come to surface, the natural
resources of earth dwindling and the people in developing countries starting to contend their
share.

There is not yet much literature on the principles of ecologically sound architecture, but
more is certainly in preparation. It goes without saying that the theory of ecological
architecture can be based on the findings of industrial ecology which lately has made great
progress.

The physical appearance of ecological architecture is often dominated by large sloping

panels which gather solar energy.

Another approach in ecological design deals with building materials and aims at minimizing
the use of not replenishable raw materials. This means preferring such building materials as
wood, stone, earth and recycled material like used boxes and barrels, and naturally it
necessitates a peculiar style of architectural design as well.
ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE

100. BONUS
ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE
SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE
Building as a Message

• The oldest notes on architectural symbolism preserved until this day were issued by Vitruve
(I,II,5).
• Allegorical symbolism was popular in several fields of medieval culture, but hardly any original
writings exist on how this symbolism was precisely understood in architecture.
• What is known is that some church buildings were built to symbolize either the "vault of heaven"
or "heavenly Jerusalem".
• In other cases, the model was the temple of Solomon or the liturgical calendar. The pillars of the
church were put there to symbolize the prophets and the apostles. Proportions were sometimes
considered important not because of their beauty but because of the numeric symbolism hidden
in them.
• During Renaissance, symbolism suited to church buildings was developed further.
• Palladio (IV,II) thinks circular forms are fitting for churches because they symbolize the unity,
infinity and justice of God.
• Others thought that proportions and forms of the human body were suitable for a church
because, according to the Bible, the human being had been created in an image of God. Giorgio
Martini explored this idea in the sketch on the left.
• Etienne-Louis Boullée (1729-99), teacher of architecture at the Paris school of construction
engineering (Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées) presented rather original ideas on the symbolism of
building. He told his students to design "talking" (Fr. parlant) architecture, i.e., for example, the
house of a saw owner had to be designed to resemble the blade of a saw. "Buildings should be
like poems. The impressions they create to our senses should produce analogous feelings to
those produced by the use of those buildings." (Arnheim 1977, 275).
SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE
SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE
SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE
END OF PART VI