A course in theoretical and practical architecture: a new and easy method for making calculations of the proportions of the five orders of architecture of Giacomo Barozzi of Vignola

168 Pages·1921·15.627 MB·English

by  Francisco Scarlata

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A Course in Theoretical and
Practical Architecture
A New and Easy Method for Making Calculations of the
Proportions of the Five Orders of Architecture
of Giacomo Barozzi of Vignola
Useful for Students of Architecture,
Architects, Draughtsmen, Desi&ners, Sculptors, Painters, Engineers
and Building Superintendents
By
Francisco. Salvatore Scarlata (Bordonaro) :
of Termini Imerese, Italy.
Now resident of Port Huron, Michigan, U.S. A.
Port Huron, Michigan
1921
Copyright 1921, by | 2 een ee
Francisco Salvatore Scarlata
moe ee A CoE
HEN the author was occupied in the study of architecture
he was much impressed with the desirability of some
means of establishing the proportions of architectural
parts by simple calculations, so that, the general dimen-
sions being given, the details might be worked out in
conformity with established rules without too great
labor, but with a certainty of producing a harmonious
and well balanced design.
Difficulties of various natures have stood in the way; the
working out of the proper factors and the preparation of the
various tables have required years of work, but at last the diffi-
culties have been surmounted, the proper factors determined
and the tables of proportions worked out to cover every detail.
These factors and tables are based on careful ‘study of the
proportions established by Vignola’s “Rules of the Five Orders
of Architecture,” the accepted authority on classical architecture,
and will be found to give a much needed short cut to Vignola’s
exact proportions.
This book is dedicated to the American Institute of Architects
with the hope that members of the profession may find it
simplify some of their problems of design.
F.S. SCARLATA.
Port Huron, Michigan, 1921.
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
of
Giacomo Barozzt of Vignola
Fe<4P IGNOLA was born in 1507, in the City of Vignola, Province ofM odena,
cs a Italy. He was the noted architect of many very large and famous public
structures. He died at the age of sixty-six years and his remains were
<* placed in the Pantheon with the most famous men of Italy.
When Vignola established himself in Rome, public officials commissioned him
to make accurate measurements and drawings of all the ancient structures. He
proved to be very successful at everything he undertook. Everybody admired the
cathedrals and convents which Vignola designed and built at Bologna, Perrugia
and many other places in Italy. In Rome, the grand palaces that he designed, are
admired and studied even until the present day.
Foreign countries offered Vignola large sums for his services, but he refused
to leave Rome, because he wished to finish St. Peter’s Cathedral, and so he dedi-
cated his services to Rome above all else, and loved the city as though it had been
his birth-place.
Vignola established the proper proportions of architecture, and made the
measure unchangeable.
The proportions which he developed, were the fruits of his study of Vitruvius’
“De re aedificatoria.” He compared the memoranda of Vitruvius with the actual
ancient buildings as he found them.
After he had determined the quota, or relative height or width of the various
members and mouldings of the orders, he was very successful in obtaining Bae
lent effects.
a:
No architect should fail to use Vignola’s proportions. They are indispensable
to every student of architecture, and Vignola justly deserves the title “The Law-
maker of Architecture.”
Page Five
PART ONE
What Is Architecture?
1. Architecture is the art of building structures not only in accordance with the mechani-
cal principles of the builder’s art and by the requirements established by the ends the structure
is intended to serve, but also (and of equal importance) in accordance with principles deter-
mined by high considerations of beauty and harmony.
2. The History of Architecture may be divided into four periods: Antique, Mediaeval,
Renaissance and Modern.
3. Antique Architecture covers the period from the dawning of the art to the fall of the Ro-
man Empire, about 400 A. D., including Egyptian, Chaldean, Grecian, and Roman architecture.
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
The architecture of Egypt has a very rustic and primitive appearance. It is heavy and
severe. The outside walls of the temples are built ona slant like military fortifications. Almost
the only remains which we now find of ancient Egyptian art, are the pyramids and the tombs
or sepulchers which were built into the cliffs along the River Nile.
GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE
The Greeks were masters of art. This people produced men who developed the art of
architecture to the utmost state of perfection.
ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE
The Etruscans developed a style of architecture very similar to that of the Greeks, and we
find remains of monuments in both of these countries whereby we can see the resemblance.
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
The Romans were very ambitious people and acquired many ideas of art from the Greeks.
They descended from the Etruscans, who erected the first edifice in Rome. They mingled
their art with that of the Greeks and made rapid progress. From Sicily they transported Greek
monuments to Rome and were inspired to refine their art.
The Romans invented the great public baths (called thermae), the ampitheatre, the circus,
the public sewer (cloaca), and the aqueduct. They built many temples, not only in Rome,
but all over the empire; they were the first people to build paved roads and streets; they built
bridges across the Tiber River, etc.
Page Siz
Under Emperor Augustus, eighty-two temples were built in Rome alone, besides many
others throughout the Empire. Roman art reached its climax during this reign and marble
was substituted for brick and terra cotta.
Roman art declined with the fall of the Empire and a period of great confusion followed,
. during which time very distressing and bizarre examples of art were produced. The time,
however, came, when a modified style of art was developed and this was the birth of the Roman
Byzantine or Latin Style. %
During the invasions of the barbarians the entire land was plundered, and with the collapse
of the empire, all appreciation for art and learning was smothered.
4. Mediaeval Architecture covers the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to
the Italian Renaissance about A. D. 1452, including Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, and
Arabesque architecture.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
The name of this style of art was obtained from Byzantium, the capital of the Eastern Em-
pire, which later became known as Constantinople.
This style is mixed with the Greco-Roman and has semicircular arches and fanciful mosaic
ornament, but it has little sense of symmetry.
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
This style originated with the Roman Christians and they alone employed it from 1000 to
1200 A. D. They used the semicircular arch.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
This is a mixture of various styles and has the pointed arch and vaulted ceilings with deli-
cate trim. This style was in vogue during the XIII and XIV centuries and declined in the XV
century A. D. Some call it the Norman gothic, others call it Saxon gothic, and it is thought by
still others that the style originated with the barbarians, but it is absurd to ascribe this art to a
roving people who had no science of building. The author thinks it was a French or Italian
invention and that it was simply given the name “Gothic.”
ARABIAN, SARACENIC, MOORISH OR MOHAMMEDAN ARCHITECTURE
This was evolved by the Arabs at the time when they dominated the great region from Con-
stantinople through North Africa to Spain. They used the so-called Arabesque ornament with
fantastic compositions of leaves, flowers, etc., because the Mohammedan religion forbade the
representation of the human figure or animal forms.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
5. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there was a gradual awakening in Italy from