The Textbook of Architecture

Index capitum

Contents

The book can be read from beginning to end, or opened anywhere. Each chapter explains a group of rules, with 3D models to turn and change.

Before the First Stone

What architecture is, how this book works, and how to read a building.

  1. What Is Architecture?Firmness, commodity and delightWhy buildings obey rules, where those rules come from, and why this book draws every one of them in three dimensions.
  2. How to Use This BookHandling the figures, and reading a buildingHow the live figures work, how the book is organised, and a first lesson in looking at a façade.

Part I The Grammar of Building

The elements every tradition shares: support and span, wall and opening, arch, vault, dome and roof, and the numbers that govern them.

  1. Post and LintelSupport and span, from Stonehenge to the ParthenonThe oldest way of making a room: two supports and a beam across them. Why stone beams stay short, how builders relieved them, and how the limits of the lintel shaped Egypt, Persia and Greece.
  2. Walls and OpeningsMasonry, bond and the hole in the wallHow walls are built to stand (dry ashlar, Roman concrete between facings, brick bond), and how doors and windows are cut into them without bringing them down.
  3. The ArchHow stones stand on airWhy a ring of wedges can span what no single stone can; how arches are drawn from their centres; why they push, how hard, and how thick their supports must be.
  4. VaultsThe arch extended into a ceilingBarrel, groin and cloister vaults; the rib vault and its skeleton; and the English elaborations (tierceron, lierne and fan), with the geometry that generates each.
  5. DomesFrom the Pantheon to Hagia Sophia and beyondThe dome as a rotated arch: how it stands and why it cracks, the concrete dome of the Pantheon, the pendentive and the squinch that set a circle on a square, and the cascade of domes at Hagia Sophia.
  6. The RoofPitch, frame and silhouette across the worldWhy roofs are steep or flat, straight or curved; how the European truss and the Chinese raised-beam frame hold them up; and how Mansart, the Song carpenters and the modernists made the roof a sign.
  7. Proportion and NumberModules, musical ratios, the three means and the golden sectionHow architects have used number to relate the parts of a building to each other and to the whole: from Vitruvius’s module and the musical ratios of the Renaissance to Palladio’s rooms, the irrational rectangles of geometry, the golden section and its myths, and the Modulor.
  8. StairsThe riser, the going and the grand ascentThe element of architecture most closely fitted to the human body: Blondel’s rule relating riser to going, the ancient and Renaissance rules for steps, Palladio’s kinds of stair, winding stairs and the walking line, and the Baroque grand stair.
  9. Frame and SkinHow iron, steel and concrete changed the rulesMaterials strong in tension split the building into a frame that carries and a skin that encloses, and made possible the tall building, the glass wall, the thin shell and the tent.

Part II The Classical Orders

The five orders of columns, their anatomy and proportions after Vitruvius, Serlio, Vignola, Palladio and Scamozzi, and how they combine into temples, arcades and façades.

  1. The Anatomy of an OrderPedestal, column, entablature and the module that binds themWhat an order is, how it is divided, how it is measured, and the small alphabet of mouldings from which all its profiles are spelled.
  2. The Tuscan OrderPlain, strong and ItalianThe simplest of the orders: its Etruscan origins in Vitruvius, its codification by Serlio and Vignola, and where architects have used it.
  3. The Doric OrderTriglyph, metope and the problem of the cornerThe oldest and most intellectual of the orders: Greek and Roman Doric, the rhythm of triglyphs, the corner conflict, and the refinements of the Parthenon.
  4. The Ionic OrderThe volute and the matronThe order of Asia Minor: its spiral capital, how the volute is drawn, the problem of the corner capital, and the dentilled cornice.
  5. The Corinthian OrderThe basket of CallimachusThe richest of the Greek orders: the legend of its invention, the geometry of its capital, and why Rome made it the imperial order.
  6. The Composite OrderRome combinesThe fifth order: a Roman union of Ionic and Corinthian, its place in the hierarchy, and the triumphal arch.
  7. The Authorities ComparedVitruvius, Serlio, Vignola, Palladio and Scamozzi, and Perrault’s doubtFive authors, five sets of numbers for the same orders. Why they disagree, how to compare them, and what the disagreement means.
  8. Columns in CompanySpacing, stacking, and the archHow columns are combined: the five intercolumniations, superimposed orders, the arch framed by an order, pilasters and pedestals.
  9. The TempleThe house of the god, and the model of all buildingsHow the classical temple is planned and proportioned: Vitruvius’s classes of temple, the cella, the pediment, round temples, and the Roman podium.

Part III The Styles of the World

Every major way of building, from the first monuments to the parametric present, each with its rules, its buildings and its models.

  1. The Ancient WorldMegaliths, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and the AegeanArchitecture before the orders: stone circles and dolmens, pyramids set out by the seked, the axial temples of Egypt, the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the columned halls of Persia and the corbelled tombs of Mycenae.
  2. The Classical WorldGreece and Rome, beyond the ordersThe architecture of Greece and Rome as a whole: the refined stone temple and the open-air theatre of the Greeks, the concrete, arches and building types of the Romans, and the rules, written by Vitruvius or measured in the stones, that governed them.
  3. Byzantium and the Early ChurchBasilica, dome and onion domeHow the Christian empire turned the Roman hall into the basilica church, how Byzantine builders set the dome at the centre of the church at Hagia Sophia and in the cross-in-square, and how Russia transformed the Byzantine church into a tower of domes.
  4. Romanesque and GothicThe churches of Latin Christendom, c. 1000–1530From the massive round-arched basilicas of the eleventh century to the skeletal glass cages of the thirteenth: how the masons of western Europe vaulted in stone, and the geometry by which they designed.
  5. The Islamic WorldA wall towards Mecca, a court open to the sky, and the geometry of paradiseFrom the Prophet’s house at Medina to the Taj Mahal: the hypostyle mosque of Córdoba and Kairouan, the girih star pattern and the muqarnas vault, the four-iwan mosque of Iran, Sinan’s domes and the gardens and tombs of the Mughals.
  6. South and Southeast AsiaThe mound, the mountain and the diagramThe architecture of India and its neighbours as the building of a cosmos: the Buddhist stupa, the squared diagram of the Vastu Purusha Mandala, the northern and southern Hindu temple, and the temple-mountain of Angkor Wat.
  7. China, Japan and KoreaThe timber frame, the bracket set and the curved roofOne system of building shared across East Asia (platform, frame and roof, measured bay by bay in a module), and how China, Japan and Korea made it their own, from the Yingzao fashi to the tatami room.
  8. Renaissance and BaroqueFrom Brunelleschi’s dome to the oval church, 1420–1750How Florence revived the architecture of Rome and made it a science of proportion; how Rome made it monumental, Palladio made it portable and the Mannerists made it witty; and how the Baroque set it in motion.
  9. Enlightenment and RevivalThe primitive hut, the grid, the parti and the pointed arch, 1750–1900How the Enlightenment sent architects back to first principles (Laugier’s hut, Durand’s grid), and how the nineteenth century, armed with archaeology, turned the history of architecture into a choice of styles: Greek and Roman, Gothic, and the eclectic classicism of the Beaux-Arts.
  10. The House in England and AmericaFrom the hall house to the bungalow, 1350–1930How the ordinary house was planned, from the medieval hall with its screens passage to the Georgian double pile, the Victorian house divided between family and servants, the Edwardian living hall and the American bungalow: rules of use and comfort rather than of the orders.
  11. Gardens and LandscapeFrom Pliny’s box to Jekyll’s borders, and the gardens of Persia, China and JapanThe garden had treatises and rules like the building: the terraces and falling water of the Italian villa, the parterres and allées of Le Nôtre, the parks of Capability Brown and their critics, the glass and bedding of the Victorians, the Arts and Crafts garden of rooms, and the fourfold, scholar’s and stone gardens of Asia, with the plants each tradition grew and why.
  12. The Modern MovementFrom the tall building to the concrete slab, 1880–1970How architects of the industrial age abandoned the historical styles and wrote new rules (form following function, the five points, the free plan, the curtain wall, the Modulor), and how those rules triumphed and then came into doubt.
  13. The ContemporaryMeaning, technology, form and climate since 1965After the modern consensus broke, architects pursued four different answers (meaning, visible technology, new geometries and the climate), each with rules of its own, several of them now written as code.
  14. The AmericasMesoamerica and the Andes before 1500Two great traditions invented independently of the Old World: the platform pyramids, plazas and corbel-vaulted temples of Mesoamerica, and the mortarless masonry, trapezoidal openings and terraced landscapes of the Andes.
  1. Prehistoric and Megalithic9500–1500 BC
  2. Mesopotamian3500–539 BC
  3. Aegean Bronze Age3000–1100 BC
  4. Andean3000 BC – 1572
  5. Ancient Egyptian2700–30 BC
  6. Chinese1600 BC – 1912
  7. Mesoamerican1200 BC – 1521
  8. Ancient Greek700–31 BC
  9. Achaemenid Persian550–330 BC
  10. Persian and Mughal garden550 BC – 1750
  11. Ancient Roman300 BC – AD 476
  12. Buddhist India270 BC – 1200
  13. Early ChristianAD 313 – AD 600
  14. ByzantineAD 330 – 1453
  15. KoreanAD 372 – 1910
  16. Hindu Temple: Nagara (North Indian)AD 450 – 1300
  17. JapaneseAD 588 – 1868
  18. Hindu Temple: Dravida (South Indian)AD 600 – 1750
  19. Early Islamic (Umayyad and Abbasid)AD 622 – 1050
  20. Moorish (Western Islamic)AD 756 – 1492
  21. Japanese gardenAD 794 – today
  22. KhmerAD 802 – 1431
  23. Chinese gardenAD 960 – 1911
  24. RussianAD 988 – 1700
  25. Persian Islamic (Seljuk, Timurid and Safavid)1000 – 1722
  26. Romanesque1000 – 1200
  27. Gothic1140 – 1530
  28. Ottoman1300 – 1922
  29. Tudor1350 – 1603
  30. Renaissance1420 – 1600
  31. Italian Renaissance garden1450 – 1650
  32. Mannerism1520 – 1600
  33. Mughal1526 – 1857
  34. Palladian1540 – 1800
  35. Baroque1600 – 1750
  36. French formal garden1600 – 1760
  37. Georgian and Colonial1714 – 1830
  38. English landscape garden1715 – 1800
  39. Rococo1720 – 1780
  40. Gothic Revival1740 – 1900
  41. Neoclassical1750 – 1850
  42. The Picturesque1780 – 1840
  43. Beaux-Arts1830 – 1930
  44. Victorian garden1830 – 1900
  45. Victorian1837 – 1901
  46. Arts and Crafts1860 – 1915
  47. Arts and Crafts garden1880 – 1939
  48. Chicago School1880 – 1910
  49. Art Nouveau1890 – 1914
  50. Organic architecture1900 – today
  51. Craftsman1901 – 1930
  52. Edwardian1901 – 1914
  53. Art Deco1920 – 1940
  54. Modernism1920 – 1970
  55. Brutalism1950 – 1980
  56. Postmodernism1965 – 1995
  57. High-Tech1967 – today
  58. Sustainable architecture1970 – today
  59. Deconstructivism1982 – 2005
  60. Parametricism2000 – today

Part IV The Treatises

The books in which architects wrote down the rules. They are reproduced where the text is free, summarised and illustrated where it is not.

  1. Reading the TreatisesHow architects wrote down their rulesA short history of the architectural book, from Vitruvius’s ten scrolls to the manifestos of the twentieth century, and a guide to the library.
  1. Survey and archaeology, Measured buildingsall periods
  2. Ahmes (scribe), Rhind Papyrusc. 1550 BC (copy of a text of c. 1850 BC)
  3. Baudhāyana, Āpastamba, Kātyāyana and Mānava, Śulba-sūtrasc. 800–200 BC (Baudhāyana the earliest)
  4. Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar’s inscriptionsc. 604–562 BC
  5. Darius I and Xerxes, kings of Persia, Achaemenid inscriptionsc. 520–465 BC
  6. Herodotus, Historiesc. 430 BC
  7. Xenophon, Memorabilia; Oeconomicusc. 380–360 BC
  8. Aristotle, Politicsc. 335–322 BC
  9. Anonymous (Warring States), Record of Tradesc. 5th–3rd century BC
  10. Anu-belshunu (scribe), copying an older text, Esagila Tabletcopied 229 BC
  11. The Theravāda tradition, Pāli Canonoral from the 5th–3rd c. BC; written down c. 1st c. BC
  12. Vitruvius, Ten Booksc. 30–15 BC
  13. Attributed to Kauṭilya, Arthaśāstrac. 2nd c. BC – 3rd c. AD (compiled)
  14. Pliny the Younger (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus), Pliny’s Lettersc. AD 97–109
  15. Pausanias, Description of Greecec. AD 160–180
  16. Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebiusc. 313–339
  17. Anonymous compiler (Syria), Apostolic Constitutionsc. 375–380
  18. Ambrose of Milan (attributed), Ambrose, epigramc. 380–397
  19. Compiled under Theodosius II, Theodosian Code438
  20. Julian of Ascalon, Julian of Ascalonsixth century (c. 530s)
  21. Compiled under Justinian, Code of Justinian529; revised 534
  22. Benedict of Nursia, Rule of Benedictc. 530–560
  23. Varāhamihira, Bṛhat Saṃhitāc. 550
  24. Procopius of Caesarea, On Buildingsc. 554–560
  25. Attributed to the sage Mānasāra, Mānasārac. 6th–10th century (date disputed)
  26. Ō no Yasumaro (compiler), Kojiki712
  27. Prince Toneri and others (compilers), Nihon shoki720
  28. Priests of the Inner Shrine of Ise, Ise ritual records804
  29. Drawn at Reichenau (attributed to Abbot Haito’s circle), Plan of St Gallc. 820–830
  30. Ahmad ibn Abi Ya‘qub al-Ya‘qubi, al-Ya‘qubi, Buldanc. 891
  31. Issued under Leo VI, Book of the Eparchc. 911–912
  32. Fujiwara no Tokihira, Fujiwara no Tadahira and others, Engishikicompiled 905–927, in force 967
  33. Attributed to Maya, Mayamatac. 9th–12th century
  34. al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Khatib, Ta’rikh Baghdadmid-11th century
  35. attributed to Tachibana no Toshitsuna, Sakuteikilate 11th century
  36. Muhammad ibn ‘Abdun al-Tujibi, Ibn ‘Abdun, Hisbaearly 12th century
  37. Li Jie, Yingzao fashi1100 (printed 1103)
  38. Villard de Honnecourt, Portfolioc. 1220–1240
  39. The kings of France and England, the counts of Toulouse, and local lords, Bastide chartersc. 1220–1370
  40. Zhou Daguan, Record of Cambodiac. 1297–1312
  41. Xiong Mengxiang, Xijin zhi14th century (Yuan)
  42. Ibn al-Rami (Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lakhmi), Ibn al-Rami, Rules of Buildingearly 14th century
  43. Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima1377
  44. The council of the Fabbrica of Milan Cathedral, Milan debates1391–1401
  45. Office of Annals (Chunchugwan), Joseon Annals1413–1865
  46. Leon Battista Alberti, On the Art of Building1452 (printed 1485)
  47. Antonio Averlino, called Filarete, Treatise on Architecturec. 1461–64
  48. Mathes Roriczer, Booklet on Pinnacles1486
  49. Anonymous Timurid–Turkmen draughtsmen, Topkapı Scrolllate 15th century
  50. anonymous; attributed to Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachia1499
  51. Monastic and court chroniclers, Chronicles11th–17th centuries
  52. Lorenz Lechler, Instructions1516
  53. Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, Baburnamawritten c. 1494–1530
  54. Sebastiano Serlio, Seven Books1537–1575
  55. Andrew Boorde, Dyetary of Helth1542
  56. Sigismund von Herberstein, Herberstein1549
  57. Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Rule of the Five Orders1562
  58. Diego de Landa, Relaciónc. 1566
  59. Andrea Palladio, Four Books1570
  60. Mimar Sinan, as told to Sai Mustafa Çelebi, Sinan’s memoirsc. 1580s
  61. Domenico Fontana, The Moving of the Vatican Obelisk1590 (second book, Naples, 1604)
  62. Heinouchi Masanobu, Shōmei1608
  63. Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries1609
  64. Vincenzo Scamozzi, Idea of a Universal Architecture1615
  65. Ji Cheng, Yuanye1631 (printed 1634)
  66. Jacques Boyceau de la Barauderie, Traité du jardinage1638
  67. Adam Olearius, Olearius1647; enlarged 1656
  68. André Mollet, Jardin de plaisir1651
  69. François Bernier, Bernier, Travels1670–71
  70. François Blondel, Cours d’architecture1675–83
  71. Robert Hooke, Helioscopes (the hanging chain)1676
  72. Evliya Çelebi, Evliya Çelebi, Seyahatnamec. 1630s–1680s
  73. Claude Perrault, Ordonnance1683
  74. Jean Chardin, Chardin, Voyages1686; full edition 1711
  75. Various master carpenters, Pattern books17th–19th century
  76. Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville, Theory and Practice of Gardening1709
  77. Alexander Pope, Epistle to Burlington1731
  78. James Gibbs, Rules for Drawing1732
  79. Board of Works (Gongbu), Qing Structural Regulations1734
  80. Jacques-François Blondel, Maisons de plaisance1737–38
  81. Marc-Antoine Laugier, Essay on Architecture1753 (2nd ed. 1755)
  82. William Chambers, Treatise on Civil Architecture1759
  83. James Craig, New Town Plan1767 (engraved 1768)
  84. Thomas Whately, Observations on Modern Gardening1770
  85. Horace Walpole, Modern Taste in Gardening1780 (written c. 1770)
  86. Uvedale Price, Essay on the Picturesque1794 (enlarged 1796–98, 1810)
  87. Richard Payne Knight, The Landscape1794
  88. Humphry Repton, Sketches and Hints1795
  89. Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand, Précis1802–05
  90. Humphry Repton, Observations1803
  91. Asher Benjamin, American Builder’s Companion1806
  92. Gouverneur Morris, Simeon De Witt and John Rutherfurd; surveyed by John Randel Jr, Commissioners’ Plan (1811)1811
  93. Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, Contrasts1836; 2nd ed. 1841
  94. John Claudius Loudon, Suburban Gardener1838
  95. Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, True Principles1841
  96. Cambridge Camden Society (John Mason Neale), Few Words1841
  97. J. M. von Mauch, Greek and Roman Orders1845 (English text 1910)
  98. John Ruskin, Seven Lamps1849; 1851–53
  99. Andrew Jackson Downing, Country Houses1850
  100. Francis Cranmer Penrose, Athenian Architecture1851 (enlarged edition 1888)
  101. Gottfried Semper, Four Elements; Style1851; 1860–63
  102. J. H. Parker, Domestic Architecture1851–59
  103. Charles Downes, with a description by Charles Cowper, The Building in Hyde Park1852
  104. Second Empire, Préfecture de la Seine, Paris decrees26 March 1852; 27 July 1859
  105. Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné1854–68
  106. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Greensward Plan1858
  107. Robert Kerr, The Gentleman’s House1864
  108. William Robinson, The Wild Garden1870 (illustrated edition 1881)
  109. Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Mémoires1890–93
  110. Reginald Blomfield, illustrated by F. Inigo Thomas, Formal Garden in England1892
  111. Chicago City Council, Chicago height limits1893; 1902; 1911
  112. Louis H. Sullivan, The Tall Office Building1896
  113. Otto Wagner, Moderne Architektur1896; 1911
  114. Auguste Choisy, Histoire1899
  115. Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, The Art of Building a Home1901
  116. Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities1898; revised 1902
  117. M. H. Baillie Scott, Houses and Gardens1906
  118. Gertrude Jekyll, Colour in the Flower Garden1908
  119. Frank Lloyd Wright, In the Cause of Architecture1908 · 1954
  120. J. Alfred Gotch, Growth of the English House1909
  121. Gustav Stickley, Craftsman Homes1909
  122. Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett (ed. Charles Moore), Plan of Chicago1909
  123. Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crimelecture 1910 (often dated 1908); printed 1913, German text 1929
  124. Raymond Unwin, Nothing Gained1912
  125. Board of Estimate and Apportionment, City of New York, 1916 Zoning Resolution25 July 1916
  126. Walter Gropius, Bauhaus manifestoApril 1919
  127. Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), Towards an Architecture1923 · 1926 · 1948
  128. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Mies: writings1923–1960s
  129. Arthur Stratton, Elements of Form & Design1925
  130. Ernest Hanbury Hankin, Hankin, Geometric Patterns1905 (paper); 1925 (memoir)
  131. Le Corbusier, Urbanisme1922–1935
  132. Hugh Ferriss, Metropolis of Tomorrow1922; 1929
  133. Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style1932
  134. Frank Lloyd Wright, Broadacre City1932; model 1935; 1945; 1958
  135. CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne), edited by Le Corbusier, Athens Charter1933; published 1943
  136. Alison and Peter Smithson, Streets in the air1952–1968
  137. R. Buckminster Fuller, Geodesic dome patentgranted 1954
  138. Frei Otto, The Hanging Roof1954
  139. Reyner Banham, The New Brutalism1955 · 1966 · 1969
  140. Félix Candela, The hyperbolic paraboloid1958
  141. Victor Olgyay, Design with Climate1963
  142. Colin Buchanan and a Ministry of Transport working group, Traffic in Towns1963
  143. Peter Cook and Archigram, Plug-in City1964
  144. Robert Venturi; with Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour, Complexity and Contradiction1966 · 1972
  145. Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein and others, A Pattern Language1977
  146. Charles Jencks, Post-Modern Architecture1977
  147. Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, for Robert Davis, Seaside codec. 1980–85
  148. Bernard Tschumi, Cinégramme folie1982–1987
  149. Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley, Deconstructivist Architecture1988
  150. Wolfgang Feist and Bo Adamson (Passivhaus Institut), Passivhaus1988–1996
  151. Congress for the New Urbanism, CNU Charter1996
  152. Patrik Schumacher, Parametricist Manifesto2008
  153. Bill Dunster, Craig Simmons and Bobby Gilbert, ZEDbook2008