Shri Ram College of Architecture I 3rd Year I Semester VI I Theory of Design I 2012-13

Shri Ram Group of Colleges

Theory of Design

Scientist
Inventor
Artist

Architect
Artist
Poet
Author
Moni bhardwaj

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

Vitruvius' De Architectura libri decem (De Architectura)

Vitruvius is the author of De architectura, known today as

The Ten Books on Architecture
Written in Latin and Greek on architecture
This work is the only surviving major book on architecture from classical antiquity
Alberti's reformulation of Ten Books, was not written until 1452
According to Petri Liukkonen, this text "influenced deeply from the Early Renaissance
onwards artists, thinkers, and architects, among them Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72),
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), and Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Vitruvius is famous for asserting in his book De architectura that

a structure must exhibit the three qualities of
Firmitas - Solid
Utilitas
- Useful
Venustas Beautiful
These are sometimes termed the Vitruvian virtues or the Vitruvian Triad
According to Vitruvius, architecture is an imitation of nature
As birds and bees built their nests
So humans constructed housing from natural materials, that gave them shelter
against the elements.
When perfecting this art of building, the Greeks invented the architectural orders:
Doric
Ionic
Corinthian

It gave them a sense of proportion,

culminating in understanding the
proportions of the greatest work of art:
the human body

This led Vitruvius in defining his

Vitruvian Man
As drawn later by
Leonardo da Vinci
The human body inscribed in
the circle and the square

(the fundamental geometric patterns

of the cosmic order).

Vitruvius is sometimes loosely referred to as the first architect,

but it is more accurate to describe him as the first Roman architect
to have written surviving records of his field.

He himself cites older but less complete works. He was less an original thinker
or creative intellect than a codifier of existing architectural practice.
It should also be noted that Vitruvius had a much wider scope than
modern architects. Roman architects practised a wide variety of disciplines;
in modern terms, they could be described as being engineers, architects,
landscape architects, artists, and craftsmen combined.
Etymologically the word architect derives from Greek words meaning
'master' and 'builder'.

The first of the Ten Books deals with many subjects which now come within
the scope of landscape architecture.

Andrea Palladio

Return to Classicism
Main articles: Palladian architecture and Neoclassical
architecture
In the late 17th and 18th centuries, the works and
theories of Andrea Palladio (from 16th century Venice)
By the mid-18th century, there tended to be more
restrained decoration and usage of authentic classical
forms than in the Baroque,

The Palladian, or Serlian, arch or window has become

one of the most instantly recoognisable features of
Palladianism. This example is from the early-20th
century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele III, Messina.

Palladio

The style continued to be popular in Europe throughout the 19th and early 20th
centuries, where it was frequently employed in the design of public and municipal
buildings.
From the latter half of the 19th century it was rivalled by the Gothic revival, whose
champions, such as Augustus Pugin, remembering the origins of Palladianism in ancient
temples, deemed it too pagan for Protestant and Anglo-Catholic worship.
However, as an architectural style it has continued to be popular and to evolve; its
pediments, symmetry and proportions are clearly evident in the design of many modern
buildings today

Thomas jefferson monticello

Drayton Hall

morris-jumel mansion

Hammond harwood house

in annapolis md

Greek house plan after Vitruvius

Architecture Department
Shri Ram School of Architecture, Muzaffarnagar

B. Arch Semester VI AR 604 Theory of Design

Module / Class Plan
Moni Bhardwaj
Week

Date

Contents

Books

2013
Unit I

21/01

Architectural
DesignTheory of
Design
By
M Pratap
Rao

The History
of Architecture by
Gaynor
Aaltonen
The
Encycloped
ia of North
American
Architecture
by Janice
Anderson
Online

Architecture by
Alex S
Vidiella

Post Modern Historicism

Rooted to place in history. Regards of expression: Ornaments,
symbolism and context with crony and humour, exemplified through
the works of James Stirling, Michael Graves, Charles Moore, Arata
Isozaki.
Disregard historical imagery to recapture ideas for modern
architecture of 20s. Hi-tech metal abstractions of Richard Rogers,
Norman Foster, showing structure and equipment as implied
ornament. References of Russian constructivists. The early works of
New York five including later works of Richard Mier as complicated,
exaggerated and sophisticated revival of the modern grid and
Corbusiers geometry. Synthesis of High-tech and historicism in the
works of Aldo Rossi, Mario Botta and Cesar Pelli.

Unit VI

History of
Architecture by B.
Fletcher
Six Think
ing Hats by
E De Bono

Post Modern Architecture

Post Modern Architecture as a revision of modern architecture and
resistance of functional containers of 60s. Objectives,
representational and emphasis on content. Pluralistic and differing
trends.

Unit V

26

Modern Architecture
Social intensions and search for Ideal world. Pluralism in place of
Past unity of styles. Search for Paradigms in historical sources; It
return to Fundamentals and Origins in Geometry, Nature and
Paradigms of Technology.
Expressions of construction and technology. Equating technology
and progress with present. Functionists and functional
appropriateness. Thoughts and works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter
Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Alvar Alto, Louis Kahn,
Dutch De Stijl Italian Futurists and Russian Constructivists.
International Style: Oversimplification of Modern Movement in to
Functional, Steel and Glass, Cubes. Monotonous functionalist
abstractions and Modernism as a style.
Disenchantment of modern cities and fall of modern movement.

Unit IV

13

Enlightenment and Beginnings of Modern

Belief in Creation of New and Ideal world through return to
fundamentals, True and Original Values. Romanticizing elementary
geometrical forms with undecorated surfaces. Iron and Glass
construction for openness and lightness: Art Nouveau, Repetitive,
Orthogonal, Skeleton Systems for \horizontal and Vertical expansion.
Latter attempts to disassociate references to past styles.

Unit III

No of
Tutorials

Picturesque and New-Classical Architecture

Purity and Structural honesty of Antiquity preferred over
Ornamentation and exaggeration of Baroque. Representation
ancient Roman monuments in imaginary compositions.
Archaeological purism and importance of Pictorial values in historical
settings. Recreation of Antique Roman simplicity and splendour for
Modern living. Study of important palaces and Public buildings in
Britain and France.

Unit II

No of
Lectures

Masterpiec
es of
Modern
Architecture by M
Argnoletto
et al
Architectural
Excellen-ce
by Cattermole

Deconstructive
Narrative and representational. Sources in Russian Constructivism,.
Non perfection in the works of Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman,
Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Sibskind, questioning traditional parity of
form, geometry and structure.

Top
American
Architect-s
USA

No of
Studio

Neolithic cultures - 10000 BC

Southeast to eastwards and westwards.
Syria and Iraq by 8000 BC
Food-producing societies
Appear in
Southeast Europe by 7000 BC, and
Central Europe by c. 5500 BC

A well and drainage system at Lothal 3300BC.

A bath and toilet excavated in Lothal.

The architecture of Mesopotamia

TigrisEuphrates river system
Spanning from the 10th millennium BC
Permanent structures built in 6th century BC
Development of urban planning,
The courtyard house, and ziggurats.
No architectural profession

Ceiling decoration
An example of ancient
Egyptian architecture

Ancient Egypt

The architecture and urbanism

Greeks and Romans

The Parthenon under restoration in 2008

The Theatre and Temple of Apollo in mountainous

country at Delphi

Temple of Concordia in Agrigento, Sicily

above: Capital of the Ionic

Order showing volutes and
ornamented echinus
left: Architectural elements
of the Doric Order showing
simple curved echinus of
capital

above: Capital of the Corinthian

Order showing foliate
decoration and vertical volutes.

Roman Temple: Maison Carre, Nimes, France

Dome: Interior of the Pantheon in Rome

Triumphal Arch: Arch of Constantine, Rome

Arch: Roman aquaduct in Segovia, Spain

Medieval architecture

Bodiam Castle, England,

fourteenth century.

Religious architecture

The Cistercians made

extensive use of
waterwheel technology.

Abbey church of
Santa Maria
Arabona, Italy.

Fountains Abbey
a UNESCO World
Heritage Site

Cistercian architecture
was applied based on
rational principles.
The "architecture of light"
of Acey Abbey represents
the pure style of Cistercian
architecture

Pre-Romanesque art and architecture

Church of So Pedro
da Lourosa , Portugal

The royal palace, Santa

Mara del Naranco,

Imperial palace in
Ingelheim Germany 800 AD

Digital reconstruction of
Ingelheim Palace 800 AD.

Baptistery of Aix
Cathedral 500 AD

Reconstruction of charlemagne's
palace of Aachen 800 AD.

St. Michael's Church,

Hildesheim 1031 AD.

Saint Frutuoso Chapel in

Braga, Portugal.

Speyer Cathedral from the

south 1030 AD.

Pre-Romanesque Church of
St Donatus in Zadar 900 AD

Romanesque architecture from the 6th to the 10th century- 12th century into the Gothic style

Maria Laach Abbey, Germany

Tum Collegiate Church, Poland

Karltejn is a large Gothic castle founded 1348

Lessay Abbey, Normandy, France. Windows

contrast from Romanesque building.

Byzantine architecture: Church of

St. Eleftherios in Athens, Greece
(early 13th century)

Norse architecture: Borgund

Stave Church, Norway

Comparison of Medieval European religious architecture

Romanesque architecture:
St. Gereon's Basilica, Cologne,
Germany

Russian Orthodox architecture:

Church of the Intercession on the
erl in Russia

Comparison of Medieval European religious architecture

The Renaissance began in the 14th century,

St Peters, Rome

Tempietto di San Pietro

in Montorio, Rome,
1502, by Bramante

Temple of Vesta,
Rome, 205 AD
Ancient Rome

16th century onward through the early 20th century,

The periods of Mannerism and the Baroque that
followed the Renaissance
decorative tastes of Rococo.

Sicilian Baroque:
Basilica della Collegiata,
Catania, Sicily, Italy.

Return to Classicism
Main articles: Palladian architecture and Neoclassical
architecture
In the late 17th and 18th centuries, the works and
theories of Andrea Palladio (from 16th century Venice)
By the mid-18th century, there tended to be more
restrained decoration and usage of authentic classical
forms than in the Baroque,
The Palladian, or Serlian, arch or window has become
one of the most instantly recoognisable features of
Palladianism. This example is from the early-20th
century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele III, Messina.

Plate from Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Brittanicus.

Beaux-Arts architecture
academic classical architectural style
taught at the cole des Beaux Arts in Paris.
18501870

The Palais Garnier (1861-75)

is an exemplar of the
Beaux Arts style.

The Crystal Palace, 1851, was one of the first buildings

to have vast amounts of Plate glass supported by
structural wrought airon, foreshadowing trends in
Modernist architecture.
For Industrial Revolution. Designed by Joseph Paxton,
Destroyed by Fire in 1936

Early Modern architecture began with a number of

building styles with similar characteristics, primarily the
simplification of form and the elimination of ornament,
that first arose around 1900. By the 1940s these styles
had largely consolidated and been identified as the
International Style.

The Glass Palace, a celebration of transparency, in

Heerlen, The Netherlands (1935) Glaspaleis

Expressionist architecture

Goetheanum by Rudolf Steiner in 1923

The Second Goetheanum, 1924-1928, in Basel,

Switzerland, is an example of architectural
Expressionism.

The Bauhaus building at Dessau, Germany, designed

by Walter Gropius

Greyhound Bus Station in Cleveland, Ohio, showing the

Streamline Moderne aesthetic.

The Seagram Building, New York City,

1958, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,
is regarded as one of the finest
examples of the functionalist aesthetic
and a masterpiece of
corporate modernism.

National Congress of Brazil, by Oscar Niemeyer, in the

modernist-designed city of Brasilia.

Legislative Assembly by Le Corbusier

Punjab and Haryana High Court

Saint John's Abbey Church,

Collegeville, Minnesota, United States,
by Marcel Breuer, 1958-1961

TWA Terminal, John F. Kennedy Airport,

New York, 1962, by Eero Saarinen

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City,

an example of "New Formalism"

Central Library of UNAM, in Mexico City,

1950-1956, showing the detailed
artwork of plastic integration.

The National Assembly Building of

Bangladesh by Louis Kahn; compare its "weightiness"
with works above.

Contrasts in modern architecture, as shown by adjacent

high-rises in Chicago, Illinois. IBM Plaza (right), by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is a later example of the
clean rectilinear lines and glass of the International
Style, whereas Marina City, (left), by his student
Bertrand Goldberg, reflects a more sculptural MidCentury Modern aesthetic.

World Trade one

Portland Building, Oregon

The Sony Building (formerly AT&T building)

New York City, 1984, by Philip Johnson,

Postmodern design at Gare do Oriente, Lisbon,

Portugal, by Santiago Calatrava.

Frank Gehrys The Dancing House in Prague

Libeskind's Imperial War Museum North in Manchester

comprises three apparently intersecting curved
volumes.

designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites

Gordon Wu Hall
by Scott Brown 1983

1949

1970

University of St Thomas
By Phillip Johnson 1957

Republic Bank Ceentre by Phillip

Johnson 1981-84

PPP HQ Pittsburgh 1884

Aesthetic design values-

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN VALUES influence Architects

Artistic aspects and self-expression

The spirit of the time design value
The structural, functional and material honesty design value
The simplicity and minimalism design value
The nature and organic design value
The classic, traditional and vernacular aesthetics design value

The regionalism design value

Social design values

The social change design value

The consultation and participation design value
The crime prevention design value
The 'Third world' design value
Environmental design values
Re-use and modification
Health
Traditional design values
The tradition based design value
The design value of restoration and preservation
The vernacular design value
Gender-based design values
The economic design value
The novel design value
Mathematical and Scientific Design Values

Vladimir Tatlin

Vladimir Tatlin 1919

Anish Kapoor 2012

ArcelorMittal Orbit, London Olympic Park

What is design theory? / Ideology

Methodology
Conceptual design
Design vocabulary
Organisation principles
Lateral Thinking
Basics of criticism
Physiology / Psychology / Philosophy
Historical Theorytheoretical
Concept development workshop
Presentation of Ideas workshop

Aesthetic design values-

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN VALUES influence Architects

Artistic aspects and self-expression

The spirit of the time design value
The structural, functional and material honesty design value
The simplicity and minimalism design value
The nature and organic design value
The classic, traditional and vernacular aesthetics design value

The regionalism design value

Social design values

The social change design value

The consultation and participation design value
The crime prevention design value
The 'Third world' design value
Environmental design values
Re-use and modification
Health
Traditional design values
The tradition based design value
The design value of restoration and preservation
The vernacular design value
Gender-based design values
The economic design value
The novel design value
Mathematical and Scientific Design Values