Vitruvius had the privilege to be the author of the sole treatise on architecture that survived from antiquity to the present. The issues he deals with are as timely as they have ever been. Some of them, though, haven’t been given the appropriate attention. The seminar will focus on these issues.

Vitruvius could be read in the context of today’s challenges from sustainability to design procedures to the control architects could exercise over their output.

Chapters

• The beginnings of building activity. Architecture and construction.
• Firmitas, utilitas, venustas. Why in this order?
• The difference between intentional building, according to a beforehand blueprint, and random and progressive building.
• The concept of Order
• The concept of Symmetry
• Issues of economy, symbolism and social order
• What are the limits of design?
• Environmental considerations
• Issues of representation and drawing
• Ethics and professional practice
• World-views, philosophy, and construction