Vitruvius annotation
ARCHHTC 236: HISTORY AND THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM 2
Monsul Dewes - Tupara [ID# 5463936]
ASSIGNMENT 1 – ANNOTATIONS
The Ten Books on Architecture
By Marcos Vitruvius Pollio
Book I
Chapter I: The Education of the Architect
Marcos Vitruvius Pollio was a military engineer and architectural theorist of whom was the earliest whose writing remains from ancient times.1 His writing, “The Ten Books on Architecture” was lost for centuries until it was rediscovered in 1414 at the Swiss Monastery of St. Gall. 2In this extract from the book specifically chapter one Vitruvius speaks of the education of the architect. 3 He includes a broader range of subjects than the syllabus of today’s design schools, where we the students of architecture of today would simply study history, design and media, Vitruvius was of the belief that true architects should be well versed and well educated in many aspects even if not specifically suited for architecture, many lessons can be taken from other disciplines and applied to architecture.4 For instance taking on such topics as philosophy, music, medicine and even astronomy, all contributing to forming a better architect as he states “I think that men have no right to profess themselves architects hastily, without having climbed from boyhood the steps of these studies and thus, nursed by the knowledge of many arts and sciences”.5 He also reinforces the importance and distinction between work and theory, as he states architecture and the arts comes from these two things, something he says Pytheos failed to recognise.6 You cannot be an accomplished or very successful architect with only one of these things. An architect must possess both to be truly successful, without work a man chases the “shadow” were the substance lies more in the work done than in the lessons the courses teach, and without theory or scholarship a man cannot acquire an authoritative position to match his work. 7 The point being for an architect to
Monsul Dewes - Tupara [ID# 5463936]
ASSIGNMENT 1 – ANNOTATIONS
The Ten Books on Architecture
By Marcos Vitruvius Pollio
Book I
Chapter I: The Education of the Architect
Marcos Vitruvius Pollio was a military engineer and architectural theorist of whom was the earliest whose writing remains from ancient times.1 His writing, “The Ten Books on Architecture” was lost for centuries until it was rediscovered in 1414 at the Swiss Monastery of St. Gall. 2In this extract from the book specifically chapter one Vitruvius speaks of the education of the architect. 3 He includes a broader range of subjects than the syllabus of today’s design schools, where we the students of architecture of today would simply study history, design and media, Vitruvius was of the belief that true architects should be well versed and well educated in many aspects even if not specifically suited for architecture, many lessons can be taken from other disciplines and applied to architecture.4 For instance taking on such topics as philosophy, music, medicine and even astronomy, all contributing to forming a better architect as he states “I think that men have no right to profess themselves architects hastily, without having climbed from boyhood the steps of these studies and thus, nursed by the knowledge of many arts and sciences”.5 He also reinforces the importance and distinction between work and theory, as he states architecture and the arts comes from these two things, something he says Pytheos failed to recognise.6 You cannot be an accomplished or very successful architect with only one of these things. An architect must possess both to be truly successful, without work a man chases the “shadow” were the substance lies more in the work done than in the lessons the courses teach, and without theory or scholarship a man cannot acquire an authoritative position to match his work. 7 The point being for an architect to
Bibliography: Eugene Dwyer, "Vitruvius," Oxford University Press, accessed August 14, 2013, http:// www.oxfordartonline.com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/subscriber/article/grove/art/T089908? q=vitruvius&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit Skyes, A. Krista, ed., The Architecture Reader: essential writings from Vitruvius to the present New York: George Braziller, Inc., 2007 Vitruvius Pollio, Marcos. Vitruvius: The ten books on architecture. Translated by Morris Hicky Morgan. New York: Dover Publications, 1960 Cicero’s De officiis, I, 39 quoted in John Onians, “ Alberti and Filarete: A Study of Their Sources”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes: 34 (1971),