The notion that architecture is the art of building was implied by Alberti in the first published treatise on the theory of architecture, De re aedificatoria (1485; Eng. trans., Ten Books on Architecture, 1955); for, although he was a layman writing for other lay scholars, he rejected, by his title, the idea that architecture was simply applied mathematics, as had been claimed by Vitruvius. The specific denotation of architecture as “the art of building,” however, seems to be a French tradition, deriving perhaps from the medieval status of master masons, as understood by the 16th-century ... (100 of 26,307 words)The art of building
-
Palace of Versailles, France.
-
Palace of Versailles, France, built chiefly by Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart during the last half of the 17th century.
-
Place des Vosges, Paris.
-
Mayan temple at Tikal in present-day Guatemala.
-
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
-
Sarira Pagoda, Chengde, Hebei province, China.
-
Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
-
Marble tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici by Michelangelo, 1520–34; in the Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo, Florence.
-
Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, Italy; designed by Andrea Palladio and completed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, 1585.
-
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
-
Stonehenge, an example of early post-and-lintel construction.
-
“Mushroom” column with fountain, supporting a cantilever, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Rafael Mijares, 1964.
-
Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct in Nîmes, France.
-
Two flying buttresses on the abbey of Bath, Eng.
-
The transept of the Crystal Palace, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Hyde Park, London.
-
Climatron, geodesic dome designed by R. Buckminster Fuller, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
-
Nave of San Miniato al Monte (1062) showing roof trusses, Florence.
-
Plan for the basilica of St. Peter’s, Rome, 1505, by Donato Bramante.
-
Architect Renzo Piano discussing his design for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, from the documentary Riches, Rivals, and Radicals: 100 Years of Museums in America.
-
Scenes of Chicago’s building boom in the early 1960s, including architectural highlights and advances in infrastructure.
-
When architect William McDonough designs a building, he considers the exterior environment and the inhabitants’ physical and emotional needs
-
Architect Daniel Libeskind on democracy in architecture and his preference for making buildings on principles of public participation and democratic involvement, remarks at the historic Sixth & I Synagogue, Washington, D.C., June 2008. Click here to view the video at Fora.tv.
-
Architect Daniel Libeskind on an architect’s social responsibility, remarks at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, May 2008. Click here to view the video at Fora.tv.
-
Architect Daniel Libeskind on the place of architecture in culture, remarks at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, May 2008. Click here to view the video at Fora.tv.
-
Architect Philip C. Johnson discussing his Glass House (1949), from the documentary Philip Johnson: Diary of an Eccentric Architect (1996).
-
An overview of Renaissance architecture.