Review: Leon Battista Alberti's Of the Compartition, and of the Origin of Building
ARCHHTC236 Assignment One: Annotations
‘Of the Compartition, and of the Origin of Building’ by Leon Battista Alberti
The universal man of the renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), was an Italian humanist, writer, painter, sculptor, architect, mathematician, art and architect theorist1. His treatise was the first treatise written in 1500 years since Marcos Vitrivius Pollio wrote his treatise on architecture2. Alberti’s buildings, such as the Palazzo Rucellai façade, Tempio Malatestiano reconstruction and the completion of the façade of Basilica of Santa Maria Novella are universally commended by generations of architects.
Chaper nine, ‘Of the Compartition, and of the Origin of Building’ from On the Art of Buildings in Ten Books by Leon Battista Alberti3, talks about the essential thoughts on the private and public buildings and sets guides on them. Book one is about the lineaments, about how the potential of design, skill and experience in the art of building are applied in composing the different areas of the building4. This is because he sees houses as small cities and cities as large scale houses and also rooms as small houses5. Rooms need to be considered to have the correct openings and placing within the house depending on the different functions they have and the different seasons they will go through6. The proposition “large buildings should have large members” is an idea followed by the ancients who made public buildings elements larger in scale than public houses7. Each member of the building should be placed at appropriate areas and positions and not be larger or smaller than they need to be8. However, it is pleasurable to have variety in sizes and shapes of parts as long as it obviates unevenness9. For architects, they do not need to pursue what the past architects have done, but to gain inspiration to create new ideas to compete or outperform them10.
Filarete,a goldsmith, sculptor, engineer, architect, and an architectural theorist who
‘Of the Compartition, and of the Origin of Building’ by Leon Battista Alberti
The universal man of the renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), was an Italian humanist, writer, painter, sculptor, architect, mathematician, art and architect theorist1. His treatise was the first treatise written in 1500 years since Marcos Vitrivius Pollio wrote his treatise on architecture2. Alberti’s buildings, such as the Palazzo Rucellai façade, Tempio Malatestiano reconstruction and the completion of the façade of Basilica of Santa Maria Novella are universally commended by generations of architects.
Chaper nine, ‘Of the Compartition, and of the Origin of Building’ from On the Art of Buildings in Ten Books by Leon Battista Alberti3, talks about the essential thoughts on the private and public buildings and sets guides on them. Book one is about the lineaments, about how the potential of design, skill and experience in the art of building are applied in composing the different areas of the building4. This is because he sees houses as small cities and cities as large scale houses and also rooms as small houses5. Rooms need to be considered to have the correct openings and placing within the house depending on the different functions they have and the different seasons they will go through6. The proposition “large buildings should have large members” is an idea followed by the ancients who made public buildings elements larger in scale than public houses7. Each member of the building should be placed at appropriate areas and positions and not be larger or smaller than they need to be8. However, it is pleasurable to have variety in sizes and shapes of parts as long as it obviates unevenness9. For architects, they do not need to pursue what the past architects have done, but to gain inspiration to create new ideas to compete or outperform them10.
Filarete,a goldsmith, sculptor, engineer, architect, and an architectural theorist who
Bibliography: Pearson, Casper et al. Humanism and the urban world : Leon Battista Alberti and the Renaissance city. University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011. Alberti, Leon Battista, ‘Of the Compartition, and of the Origin of Building’, in James Leoni (ed.), The architecture of Leon Batista Alberti. In ten books. Of painting. In three books. And of Statuary. In one book. London, Edward Owen, 1755 Coleman, Nathaniel, Ralahine Utopian Studies, Volume 8 : Imagining and Making the World : Reconsidering Architecture and Utopia. Oxford, Peter Lang AG, 2011