This is a classic book in architecture, which is considered the first work ever published on the field. Vitruvius is a Roman architect and soldier and he was ordered by the Roman Emperor to write this manual on architecture and building. The work is dissected into ten books, each discussing an aspect of architecture.
Book One
In this first book, Vitruvius discusses the education of an architect. According to him, the education of an architect needs to be complex and completed, spanning across fields such as music, theater, painting, or astronomy and so on. An architect excels on the basis of continuous practice with a strong foundations on theories of the realted field. He also recognizes that it’s impossible for an architect to be expert on all the disciplines but he or she should rather be an excellent generalist and knows how to make use of the different expertises in order to create beautiful places and leave positive impacts on society. He follows with the setting up of the fundamental principles of architecture, which is Order, Arrangement, Harmony and Symmetry, Propriety, and Economy. The synthesis of all these principles would result in Vitruvius’ architectural ideal: that all buildingd should possess the three attributes of strenght, utility, and beauty, or in his own words “firmitas,” “utilitas,” and “venustas.” Lastly, he discusses how to choose the best sites for building cities and major public buildings, with special attention to knowledge of medicine (to achieve healthy cities) and local climates (in order to lay out appropriate streets and buildings’ orientation etc.), as well as local resources (in raising city wall with local materials).
Book Two
Vitruvius begins the second book of the treatise with stating that dwelling is the earliest architectural form, which is a product of our observation and learning from nature. He conceptualizes that a house is an inseparable body, whose parts are spaces that closely link to one another and work in harmony like an organism. As a body, a dwelling also has a very natural development, functioning accordingly with the natural system which itself contains the basic natural elements of soil, water, fire and air. This understanding leads to his unique view on architectural typologies and styles. He posits that natural elements and its specific composition at specific places not only give a building its specific material specifications and textures but also help forming specific dwelling styles.
Book Three
Vitruvius’ third book switches the topic from dwelling to the most important public institution: the temple. As opposed to human dwelling, temples are mostly built in more “priviliege” sites so that they can attain perfect symmetry. The natural features here are not expressed in the adaptation of symmetrical ideal to specific topographical features of a site, but rather through the harmonious proportions between the building elements. In a style of typological approach, the author goes on to give a completed classification of temples, namely antis, prostyle, amphiprostyle, peripretal, pseudodipetal, dipteral, and hypaethral. The rules of symmetry across scales and the order of harmony is explained in great details in the proportion of intercolumnations and of columns, and the proportions of the base, capitals, and entablature in the Ionic order in particular.
Book Four.
VItruvius tells us that the the total form of a building starts from the column and its orders – the element that makes up the law that governs all of its proportions. He begins with the origin of the three basic orders of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian and ends up with formulating the two principles, that the proportions of a column follows human body’s proportions, and that they strictly apply axial symmetry. He further develop the construction of columns and buildings in general with information on the materials such as wood and marble. The attention to materials and details are applied to architecture and sculpture alike. The prerequisite rules of the buildings are indicated by Doric or Ionic laws,which govern the proportions of the building’s facade, colums, beams, triglyphs, metopes and so on. Like appropriating the ideal architectural typologies to a site, Vitruvius realizes that it’s impossible to have all temples in all places following the exact rules at all levels, and that there are unavoidable errors in construction by so doing. Rather, he advocates for changes and variations of the laws to adapt to specific context, as long as the important visual proportions are ensured.
Book Five.
Beside the temples, the fifth book discusses other types of public buildings and the laying out of public spaces. The most common public spaces other than temples are forum and basilica. The forum, in particular, is discussed in great detail with its square shape formulation, rules fof intercollumnations and especially the vertical development of the columns, following the rule of nature as “in the case of things growing” like the fir, cypress or pine trees. With the discourse on the forum, Vitruvisu also discusses the relationship between buildings and human activities and the numbers of inhabitants (or what we would call nowaday “occupancy”), that it also needs to attain harmony. The intercolumnations of the forum are also recognized as the interelationship between the spaces with different characteristics: private, semi-private and public. The other typologies are the treasury, prison, senate house, palaestra, bath, harbour, breakwater, shipyard and theater, in which the latter is discussed in great length. Unlike today’s theater, a roman theater needs to be placed in a healthy site, because it is first of all a public assembly, so that the spectators avoid noxious exhalations in their bodies. Also, the theater’s orientation needs to be carefully considered to avoid exposure to the sun, so that the “fluids of the human body” would not be impared. The design of the theater needs to follow the “footsteps of nature,” in investigating the nature of sound and how it is channelled within the public spatial setting of the theater. Vitruvius brings about a brach of musical science called “harmonics,” discussing its three classes of modes: enharmonic, chromatic, and diatonic and their fixed and moveable notes (eighteen in total) in order to find the “natural boudaries” that correspond to human voices. This knowledge is essential in designing the sounding vessels of a theater. He also mentions the precedents of the Greek theater and the intelligent solutions of the theaters found in small towns, in their use of alternative materials for sound resonance to achieve the “echea effect” despite the lack of proper materials for an ideal theater.
Book Six.
In the introduction of this book, Vitruvius seems to advocate, surprisingly, the self-built activities of people, as opposed to his “promotion” of the architects in chapter one. It is, however, not to say that an architect is no better than a layman. He specifically expresses his contempt to the “false architect,” who have less knowledge of the trade and who are “far from being acquainted with architecture.” This opening on private houses goes on to the discussion of people and place and especially climate types, in which he position the Roman empire’s situation is “under the middle of the heaven,” and that “the races of Italy are the most perfectly constituted in both respects – in bodily form and in mental activity to correspond to their valour.” For the place, the divinity of symmetry and proportions are still the basis for private houses, and adaptation to site is understood as the “modifcations to suit the site,” in Vitruvius’ own words. The composition of the houses, then, are produced according to the addition and subtraction of the elements to keep the best possible symmetrical orders and compositions between the elements. In this chapter, Vitruvius uses a “typological” approach to describe the rules under the forms of the houses such as the Greek house or the Farmhouse. He also explains the “void typologies-” the different styles of cavaedium, for example. What is more intriguing is that he argues for the association of styles and houseowners. Styles are not fashionable preferences but rather a necessity for social status of the homeowners themselves. Styles are justified by the local climate, site, and the people, all at once. Aspects of site planning and design such as diminutions or additions to the orders are explained in great details, in supporting his observations on the symmetrical relations in the buildings, which hold aesthetic values not less than the “true symmetry” of the public buildings.
Book Seven.
Vitruvius acrredites a great deal of architects and intellectuals before his time, from Antiquity, including the Greeks and also others, for their contributions to the knowledge of architecture and construction. This act expresses both a thankful note to the wise ancients and disgrace towards those who “steal the writings of such men and publish them as their own.” This attitude posits himself as one with great dignity who has no other choices than studying in depth the works of the antecessors, to learn from them and transmit the knowledge to posterity, as he feels the responsibility to not “remain silent.” And as a metaphor for his task of synthesizing and “polishing” these knowledge, the seventh book presents his account in the methods in treating finishes in order to achieve buildings’ beauty and durability. The author, then, looks into the details of the floor finishes, the lime for stucco work, decorations of dining rooms, fresco painting, marble, and finallly the varied natural colors and their makings.
Book Eight.
People and place naturally bound to the natural elements of air, fire, earth and water, according to the Sages (such as Thales of Meletus) and the wise men before Vitruvius’ time (like Pythagoras, Empedocles or Epicharmus). He states that human body needs a right proportion of all these elements to sustain life. The water element, for Vitruvius, not only sustain life day by day, but also “the chief requisite for life, for happiness.” Finding water is the first act that people should do to maintain their existence. Vitruvius cites a few ways to find water, with special attention to localities or characteristics of the soil. Mountains with a northern exposure, for him, provides the best quality of water, due to its location facing away from the sun’s course and for the benefit of the shadows provided from the woods. Rainwater is also abundant in the mountains, due to the nature of the water cylce. In searching for water resources, or springs, Vitruvius painfully describes the varieties of water in different geographical locations, citing the sources of his investigations while paying attention to specific properties of these water sources in dealing with human health. Under Vitrivius’ view, different varieties of spring are analogous to different kinds of juices in human body like blood, milk, sweat, urine, and tears. Through the veins of the earth, these natural “juices” run through them and become saturated into them, and eventually make up the “characteristics of country, and dissimilar properties of soils.” People who live in land with good water quality seem to be healthier and possess exceptional natural gifts such as fine voices like in the case of his acquaintance Caius Julius, who live in the Balearic Islands. Vitruvius goes on to offer tests of good water and levelling instruments in conducting water to dwellings and cities. In this aspect, Vitruvius explains at length the three methods of conducting water, being Aqueducts, Wells, and Cisterns. He pays particular attention in the geographical conditions of the land where the water course run through, and describes the different methods of dealing with hills or valleys in maintaining the flow of water (such as the mechanism of descents, circuits, venters, and risings in managing pipes). The pipe’s material is also an important factor when people need to consider the construction costs and maintenance of the systems, for example clay pipes are less costly than lead pipes and also easier to maintained by less skillful workers.
Book Nine.
According to Vitruvius, the earth and the sea “naturally occupy the central point” of the universe. From this standpoint, the universe is seen as a firmament whose components are planets and their courses.
Throughout the treatise, Vitruvius expresses a striking balance between the ideals (that most architects aspires to achieve) and reality such as site or budget constraints, following by an empathetic attitude towards the built environment context, local climate, material, client’s budget and so on. In addition, he possesses a skillful storytelling ability, and uses it at the right place. In each chapter he would begin with a short introduction with stories of real people and places and gradually turn to specific architectural issues without much technical jargons, as if he narrates a story. Probably it is because Vitrivius writes it specifically for the Roman Emperor, but the technique is effective for architects and laymen alike, even until today.
references:
Roman aqueduct: http://www.romanaqueducts.info/introduction/
