The ten books on architecture

VITRUVIUS
KYLA YZABELLE BUENO
LYNETTE CABANTING

BOOK I : PREFACE
The Preface is used by the author
as an opportunity to fawn on his
emperor.
 CONTENT
MARCOS VITRUVIUS POLIO
01 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: THE EDUCATION OF THE

02 ARCHITECT

CHAPTER II: THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF

03 ARCHITECTURE

CHAPTER III: THE DEPARTMENTS OF

04 ARCHITECTURE

CHAPTER IV: THE SITE OF A CITY

05
 CONTENT
CHAPTER V: THE CITY WALLS
06

CHAPTER VI: THE DIRECTIONS OF THE STREETS;

07 WITH REMARKS ON THE WINDS

CHAPTER VII: THE SITES FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS

08
MARCOS VITRUVIUS
POLIO
• was a famous Roman architect in the 1st century BC.
• Vitruvius became famous as an architect to the emperor
Augustus and his work called
"De architectura” - a summary of his own experience in the field of
architecture. Dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar
Augustus, as a guide for building projects.
The work, consisting of 10 volumes, was written around 15 BC and
dedicated to the emperor. It is thought to be the only direct source
on antique architecture and had a considerable influence on the
Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The book contains the theory of the architectural order of pillars, as VIVIAN NOVA
well as shapes and types of temples and introduced rules for the CEO / FOUNDER
design of houses.
CHAPTER I: THE EDUCATION OF
THE ARCHITECT -deals with education, which includes a broader range of
subjects than the syllabus of today's design schools

An architect should be equipped with knowledge

of many branches of study and varied kinds of
learning. This knowledge comes from the
combination of practice and theory,

One who calls himself an architect should be well-

versed in both defining the architecture of
something, but also be able to demonstrate its
significance through scientific principles. For this,
an architect not only needs to have the natural
abilities, but also be amenable to instruction.
CHAPTER I: THE EDUCATION OF
THE ARCHITECT
• The architect should be thorough in this knowledge
• An architect needs to be able to describe the
architecture and be well versed in the tools
• An architect needs to be a philosopher and not self-
assuming.
• An architect needs a good understanding of the
functional attributes of technologies used in building.
• An architect should be aware of environmental
constraints.
• In essence, it takes time and experience to become an
architect.
 CHAPTER II: THE ARCHITECTURE depends on Order
Order gives due measure to the members of a work

FUNDAMENTAL considered separately, and symmetrical agreement to

PRINCIPLES OF
the proportions of the whole. It is an adjustment
according to quantity

ARCHITECTURE
.

with the five fundamental principles of design

(Order, Eurythmy, Symmetry, Propriety, and Economy).
Eurythmy is beauty and fitness in the adjustments of the members.
Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole
general scheme,
Propriety is that perfection of style which comes when a work is authoritatively constructed on approved principles. It arises from
prescription (Greek θεματισμῷ), from usage, or from nature. appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of
the Corinthian.
Propriety arises from usage when buildings having magnificent interiors are provided with elegant entrance-courts to correspond;
natural propriety in using an eastern light for bedrooms and libraries, a western light in winter for baths and winter apartments, and a
northern light for picture galleries and other places in which a steady light is needed; for that quarter of the sky grows neither light nor
dark with the course of the sun, but remains steady and unshifting all day long.

Economy denotes the proper management of materials and of site, as well as a thrifty balancing of cost and common sense in the
construction of works.
CHAPTER III: THE
DEPARTMENTS OF
ARCHITECTURE
contains the most famous section in the book, making the
case for Commodity, Firmness and Delight

THERE are 3 departments of architecture:

the art of building,
the making of time-pieces,
and the construction of machinery.

Building is, in its turn, divided into two parts, of which the first is the
construction of fortified towns and of works for general use in public
places, and the second is the putting up of structures for private
individuals.

There are three classes of public buildings:

the first for defensive,
the second for religious,
and the third for utilitarian purposes.
CHAPTER III: THE
DEPARTMENTS OF
ARCHITECTURE
• Under defense comes the planning of walls,
towers, and gates,permanent devices for resistance against
hostile attacks;

• under religion, the erection of fanes and temples to the

immortal gods;
• under utility, the provision of meeting places for public use,
such as harbors, markets, colonnades, baths, theatres,
promenades, and all other similar arrangements in public
places.

All these must be built with due reference to durability,

convenience, and beauty.
Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to
the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected;
convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments is
faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when each class
of building is assigned to its suitable and appropriate exposure;
and beauty, when the appearance of the work is pleasing and in
good taste, and when its members are in due proportion
according to correct principles of symmetry.
CHAPTER IV: THE on for planning a site in relation to climate, lay

SITE OF A CITY down the basis for landscape architecture.

• For fortified towns the following general principles are to be

observed.
Such a site will be high, neither misty nor frosty, and in a climate
neither hot nor cold, but temperate; further, without marshes in
the neighborhood.

• For when the morning breezes blow toward the town at

sunrise, if they bring with them mists from marshes and,
mingled with the mist, the poisonous breath of the creatures
Description
of the marshes to be wafted into the bodies of the
inhabitants, they will make the site unhealthy. Suitable for all categories

Again, if the town is on the coast with a southern or western business and personal
exposure, it will not be healthy, because in summer the southern presentation.
sky grows hot at sunrise and is fiery at noon, while a western
exposure grows warm after sunrise, is hot at noon, and at
evening all aglow.
 For heat is a universal solvent, melting out of things their power of CHAPTER IV: THE
SITE OF A CITY
resistance, and sucking away and removing their natural strength with
its fiery exhalations so that they grow soft, and hence weak, under its
glow.

We may also recognize the truth of this from the fact that in summer the heat makes everybody
weak, not only in unhealthy but even in healthy places, and that in winter even the most unhealthy
districts are much healthier because they are given a solidity by the cooling off. Similarly, persons
removed from cold countries to hot cannot endure it but waste away; whereas those who pass from
hot places to the cold regions of the north, not only do not suffer in health from the change of
residence but even gain by it.

It appears, then, that in founding towns we must beware of districts from which hot winds can Description
spread abroad over the inhabitants. For while all bodies are composed of the four elements (in
Suitable for all categories
Greek στοιχεῖα), that is, of heat, moisture, the earthy, and air, yet there are mixtures according to
natural temperament which make up the natures of all the different animals of the world, each after business and personal
its kind.
presentation.
CHAPTER V: THE CITY
WALLS

1. AFTER insuring on these principles the healthfulness of the future city, and
selecting a neighbourhood that can supply plenty of food stuffs to maintain
the community, with good roads or else convenient rivers or seaports affording
easy means of transport to the city, the next thing to do is to lay the
foundations for the towers and walls. Dig down to solid bottom, if it can be
found, and lay them therein, going as deep as the magnitude of the proposed
work seems to require. They should be much thicker than the part of the walls
that will appear above ground, and their structure should be as solid as it can
possibly be laid.
.
CHAPTER V: THE CITY
WALLS
2. The towers must be projected beyond the line of wall, so that an enemy
wishing to approach the wall to carry it by assault may be exposed to the fire
of missiles on his open flank from the towers on his right and left. Special
pains should be taken that there be no easy avenue by which to storm the wall.
The roads should be encompassed at steep points, and planned so as to
approach the gates, not in a straight line, but from the right to the left; for as a
result of this, the right hand side of the assailants, unprotected by their shields,
will be next the wall. Towns should be laid out not as an exact square nor with
salient angles, but in circular form, to give a view of the enemy from many
points. Defence is difficult where there are salient angles, because the angle
protects the enemy rather than the inhabitants.
CHAPTER V: THE CITY
WALLS

3. The thickness of the wall should, in my opinion, be such that armed men
meeting on top of it may pass one another without interference. In the
thickness there should be set a very close succession of ties made of charred
olive wood, binding the two faces of the wall together like pins, to give it lasting
endurance. For that is a material which neither decay, nor the weather, nor time
can harm, but even though buried in the earth or set in the water it keeps sound
and useful forever. And so not only city walls but substructures in general and
all walls that require a thickness like that of a city wall, will be long in falling to
decay if tied in this manner.
CHAPTER V: THE CITY
WALLS

4. The towers should be set at intervals of not more than a bowshot apart, so
that in case of an assault upon any one of them, the enemy may be repulsed
with scorpiones and other means of hurling missiles from the towers to the
right and left. Opposite the inner side of every tower the wall should be
interrupted for a space the width of the tower, and have only a wooden flooring
across, leading to the interior of the tower but not firmly nailed. This is to be
cut away by the defenders in case the enemy gets possession of any portion of
the wall; and if the work is quickly done, the enemy will not be able to make his
way to the other towers and the rest of the wall unless he is ready to face a fall.
 CHAPTER VI: THE
DIRECTIONS OF THE
STREETS; WITH
REMARKS ON THE
WINDS
THE town being fortified, the next step is the apportionment of house lots within the wall and the laying out of streets and alleys with regard to
climatic conditions. They will be properly laid out if foresight is employed to exclude the winds from the alleys. Cold winds are disagreeable, hot
winds enervating, moist winds unhealthy. We must, therefore, avoid mistakes in this matter and beware of the common experience of many
communities.

Wind is a flowing wave of air, moving hither and thither indefinitely. It is produced when heat meets moisture, the rush of heat generating a
mighty current of air.
By shutting out the winds from our dwellings, therefore, we shall not only make the place healthful for people who are well, but also in the case
of diseases due perhaps to unfavourable situations elsewhere
 CHAPTER VII: THE
SITES FOR PUBLIC
BUILDINGS
HAVING laid out the alleys and determined the streets, we have next to treat of the choice of building sites for temples, the forum, and all other
public places, with a view to general convenience and utility.
If the city is on the sea, we should choose ground close to the harbour as the place where the forum is to be built; but if inland, in the middle of
the town.
For the temples, the sites for those of the gods under whose particular protection the state is thought to rest and for Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva,
should be on the very highest point commanding a view of the greater part of the city. Mercury should be in the forum, or, like Isis and Serapis,
in the emporium: Apollo and Father Bacchus near the theatre: Hercules at the circus in communities which have no gymnasia nor
amphitheatres; Mars outside the city but at the training ground, and so Venus, but at the harbour. It is moreover shown by the Etruscan diviners

WATERCOLO
in treatises on their science that the fanes of Venus, Vulcan, and Mars should be situated outside the walls, in order that the young men and
married women may not become habituated in the city to Category : Illustration
the temptations incident to the worship of Venus, and that buildings may be free from
the terror of fires through the religious rites and sacrifices which call the power of Vulcan beyond the walls. As for Mars, when that divinity is
enshrined outside the walls, the citizens will never take up arms against each other, and he will defend the city from its enemies and save it
from danger in war.
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