Plan the principal hall as a long rectangle entered on its short side through a porch with two columns between the side walls and a vestibule, and put a great round hearth in the centre of the hall, ringed by four columns carrying a raised roof.
Two agoras: one for citizens, one for trade
Keep a free agora for public life, clear of merchandise and near the magistrates, the temples and the gymnasium; put buying and selling in a separate market place convenient for goods.
Aristotle takes the idea from Thessaly, where there was a “free” agora from which craftsmen, farmers and traders were excluded unless summoned by the magistrates. Priene has something like it: the colonnaded agora with its altar and the Sacred Stoa across the main street, the council house and town hall behind; while meat and fish were sold in a separate market block to the west.
Related rules
Let one simple ratio govern the whole: at the Parthenon the lower diameter is to the axial spacing, the width of the stylobate to its length, and the height of the order to the width of the front, all very nearly as 4 is to 9.
D : axial spacing ≈ 1.905 : 4.296 ≈ 4 : 9; stylobate 30.88 : 69.50 ≈ 4 : 9
Plan a Greek theatre by inscribing three squares in the orchestra circle; the side nearest the scene fixes the front of the stage (proscaenium), and the scene is set back to a line tangent to the circle.
proscaenium at r cos 45° ≈ 0.71 r from the centre; logeion 10–12 ft high
In a peripteral temple the flanks have twice as many intercolumniations as the front: six columns in front means eleven along each side, counting the corner columns twice.
side columns = 2n − 1 (Vitruvius) · 2n + 1 (Greek practice)
Divide the city into equal rectangular blocks by straight streets crossing at right angles, and assign whole blocks to the public buildings; but let walls follow the ground, not the grid.
Make the Greek agora square, surround it with spacious colonnades, double if possible, with close-set columns and architraves of stone or marble, and walks above on an upper floor.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Two agoras: one for citizens, one for trade”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/aristotle-two-agoras. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.