This document discusses several key figures in the development of architectural theory from antiquity to the Renaissance: Vitruvius, the Roman architect whose work "De Architectura" is the earliest surviving text on architecture; Leon Battista Alberti, the first major Renaissance theorist who emphasized beauty, proportion and the imitation of nature; and Andrea Palladio, a Renaissance architect whose works embodied classical ideals of symmetry and proportion. It outlines their contributions to establishing principles of strength, utility, beauty and harmony in architectural design.

1.  Vitruvius
 Leon Battista Alberti
 Andrea Palladio

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c. 80–70 BC, died after c. 15 BC
Architectural theory in the West begins with Vitruvius.
Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st
century BC. He is best known as the author of the multivolume work De ArchitecturA ("On Architecture").
The Ten Books on Architecture composed by this Roman
architecture, engineer, and artillery officer achieve their
special importance first by the breadth of the undertaking,
second, and more important, by the historical fortune of
being the only architectural treatise to survive from
antiquity.
As such, Vitruvius has been the primary authority in
architectural thinking, setting the tenor of theory in the West
for much of 1800 years.

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His ten books on architecture, De Architectura (trans. 1914),
are the oldest surviving work on the subject. They consist of
dissertations on a wide variety of subjects relating to
architecture, engineering, sanitation, practical hydraulics,
acoustic vases, and the like. Much of the material appears to
have been taken from earlier extinct treatises by Greek
architects.
Vitruvius's writings have been studied ever since the
Renaissance as a thesaurus of the art of classical Roman
architecture. It's in Vitruvius that we first see the classical
orders of architecture, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian.

4. The Need for a System of Proportions Architects and builders have always
sought systems of proportions, and Vitruvius was no different. He wrote,
"Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and
relation between the different parts and the whole general scheme, in accordance
with a certain part selected as standard."
 And later, "Therefore since nature has proportioned the human body so that its
members are duly proportioned to the frame as a whole, . . . in perfect buildings the
different members must be in exact symmetrical relations to the whole general
scheme".
 Here Vitruvius uses symmetrical relationships to mean the same proportions,
rather than some kind of mirror symmetry. Such a system would use the
repetition of a few key ratios, to insure harmony and unity.
 It would have additive properties, so the whole could equal the sum of its parts, in
different combinations. This would give a pleasing design, and maintain
flexibility. Finally, since builders are most comfortable with integers, it would be
based on whole numbers.
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5. depicts a male figure in two
superimposed positions with his arms
and
legs apart and simultaneously
inscribed in a circle and square. The
drawing and
text are sometimes
called the Canon of Proportions
or
Proportions of Man.
The drawing is based on the
correlations of ideal human proportions
described by Vitruvius, who named the
human figure as the principal source of
proportion for the Classical orders of
architecture.

6.  At the beginning of Book-I Vitruvius
separates the art into the realms of practice
(fabrica) and theory (ratiocinato). The former
is the manual activity associated with
building and construction; the latter
rationally demonstrates and explains
conventions and proportional sytems
governing design.

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Proportion is a correspondence among the
measures of the members of an entire work, and of
the whole to a certain part selected as standard.
From this result the principles of symmetry. Without
symmetry and proportion there can be no principles
in the design of any temple; that is, if there is no
precise relation between its members as in the case
of those of a well shaped man. —Vitruvius, The Ten
Books of Architecture.

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The art’s three main principles are strength (firmitas), utility
(utilitas), and beauty (venustas).
Strength encompasses the soundness of the foundation, the
building’s structure, and the selection of materials; utility
concerns the convenient planning and social suitability of the
ddifice; beauty is the building’s visual charm that arises
chiefly out of proportional harmony.
Beauty is further defined by six principles : order,
arrangement, eurythmy, symmetry, decorum, and economy.
These principles are often subdivided into three groups
whith order, eurythmy, and symmetry supplying the
proportional criteria for design; arrangement dictating the
correct planning and assembly of the work; decorum and
economy clarifying the appropriate use of the Orders, the
adaptation of the building to the site, and the correct
management of materials.

10. Leon Battista Alberti
 San Andrea, Mantua - Early Renaissance
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The first major Renaissance theorist to rival Vitruvius in
importance was Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) with his
book “On the Art of Building”.
Alberti sought to improve on the Roman author’s effort to
provide the Renaissance with a more coherent and logical
basis for theory. Aberti’s grounding of Renaissance
architecture in the imitation of nature, his emphasis on its
social or cultural importance, his definition of it as a
professional discipline, and the pre-eminence he placed on
beauty and harmonic proportions established the theoretical
focus of the next four centuries.

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The new conception of architecture begins with his
description of a building as “a form of body, which like any
other consists of lineaments and matter, the one the product
of thought, the other of nature” . The intent and purpose of
lineaments “lies in finding the correct, infallible way of
joining and fitting together those lines and angles which
define and enclose the surfaces of the building”.
“Beauty,” notes Alberti in Book IV, “is that reasoned
harmony of all the parts within a body, so that nothing may
be added, taken away, or altered, but for the worse”.

13. San Maria Novella : the facade of Santa Maria Novella completed the
exterior of a medieval church, and yet it has been rightly described as
'great Renaissance exponent of classical eurhythmia'
its dimensions are all bound to each other by the 1:2 ratio of the
musical Octave. The marble panels, which produce a mosaic like
effect of discrete color patches on medieval Italian church exteriors...
Here contribute to a sense of rhythmic, geometric unity...“

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Renaissance architecture was inspired by the Classical.
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period
between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different
regions of Europe, when there was a conscious revival of
certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and
material culture.
The Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry,
proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they are
demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity and in
particular ancient Roman architecture, of which many
examples remained. Orderly arrangements of columns,
pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular arches,
hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the
more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of
medieval buildings.

15.  The revival of classical antiquity can best be
illustrated by the Palazzo Ruccelai. where the
columns are classical orders.

16.  Alberti’s belief in an absolute numerical
scheme for beauty and proportion was
perhaps his most important contribution to
Renaissance theory.

17.  Palladio's architecture and theories
embodied Renaissance architectural thought
in the second half of the sixteenth century.
Although Palladio's works lack some of the
grandeur of other Renaissance architects, he
established a successful and lasting way of
recreating ancient classicism.

18.  His early commissions consisted primarily of
palaces and villas for the aristocracy, but he
began to design religious buildings in the
1560s. In 1570 he published his theoretical
work I Quattro Libri dell 'Architettura.. In the
same year, he was appointed architectural
adviser to the Venetian Republic.

21. Although influenced by a number of
Renaissance thinkers and architects,
Palladio's ideas resulted independently of
most contemporary ideas. Creatively linked
to the artistic traditions of Alberti and
Bramante, Palladio used principles that
related to art and forms that related to
nature to generate his architecture.

22. A major classic of the Pantheonic type
situated on the top of a hill outside the
town of Vicenza
Called the Villa Rotonda because
of its completely symmetrical plan
&central circular hall, the building is
rotated 45’ to south, enabling all
rooms to receive sunshine.
Asymmetrically sited in the
topography, with each loggia,
although identical in design,
relating differently to the landscape
it fronts through variations of wide
steps, retaining walls and
embankments. The symmetrical
architecture in asymmetrical
relationship to the landscape
intensifies the experience of the
hilltop.

23. Tetra Olimpico Modeled by Palladio after both his
studies of several ancient theaters and his own
illustrations of classical theater design, made for
Daniele Barbaro's translation of Vitruvius, this is a
lone surviving Renaissance theater.

24. Gloriously situated on the island of San Giorgio, San Giorgio
Maggiore's gleaming white facade faces across the basin of
San Marco to the great piazza.

25. Built as part of the Benedictine monastery on the island, the church's
facade is scaled to present a public face to the town of Venice .

26. Palazzo Chiericati- Late Renaissance