48-747 Shape Grammars

THEPALLADIANGRAMMAR

language→style←shapegrammar

analyticshapegrammarsareintendedforaparticularstyle

criteriaforauthoringasuccessfulanalyticgrammarforstylewerespelledoutbyStinyandMitchell

clarify the underlying commonality of structure and appearance manifest for

the buildings in the corpus;

supply the conventions and criteria necessary to determine whether any

other building not in the original corpus is an instance of the style; and

provide the compositional machinery needed to design new buildings that are

instances in the style

thesources

AndreaPalladioIQuattroLibridell’Architetura

TheFourBooksofArchitecture,tr.IssacWare,1737

TheFourBooksonArchitecture,tr.RobertTavernorandRichardSchofield,2002

AndreaPalladio,TheFourBooksonArchitecture,pp56tr.RobertTavernorandRichardSchofield

“Andthoughvarietyandnoveltymaypleaseeverybody,oneshouldnot,however,doanythingthatiscontrarytothelawsofthisart,andcontrarytowhatreasonmakesobvious;sowecanseethattheancientsalsomadevariations,buttheyneverdepartedfromcertainuniversalandessentialrulesofthisart,asweshallseeinmybookofantiquities.”

exemplar–thevillaMalcontenta

stagesinshapegrammar

griddefinition

exteriorwallrealignment

roomlayout

interiorwallrealignment

principalentrances‐porticosandexteriorwallinflections

exteriorornamentation‐columns

windowsanddoors

termination

thestagespictorially

8 termination 7 windows + doors 6 exterior ornament 5 entrances

3 room layout 4 realignment 2 exterior wall 1 grid

systemofmeasurement

Avicentinefoot

“ThislinewithwhichthefollowingbuildingsaremeasuredishalfaVicentinefoot[piedevicentino].Thefootisdividedinto12inchesandeachinchinto4minutes[minuto]”

Palladio,pp.79

griddefinition

axialsymmetry

“Rooms[stanza]mustbedistributedateithersideoftheentranceandthehall,andonemustensurethatthoseontherightcorrespondandareequaltothoseontheleftsothatthebuildingwillbethesameononesideastheontheotherandthewallswilltaketheweightoftheroofequally;…”

Palladio,pp.57

1.therulesforgeneratingatartangrid

“Thereareseventypesofroomthatarethemostbeautifulandwell‐proportionedandturnoutbetter;theycanbemadecircular[ritundo],thoughthesearerare;orsquare[quadrato];ortheirlengthwillequalthediagonalofthesquare[quadrato]ofthebreadth;orasquare[quadrato]andathird;orasquare[quadrato],andathird;orasquareandahalf;orasquareandtwo‐thirds;ortwosquares.”

1.griddefinition

2.exteriorwalldefinition

3.roomlayout

3.roomlayout

4.interiorwallrealignment

5.principalentrancesporticosandinflections

5.principalentrances

portico in antis

portico prostyle

5.principalentrances

a second portico in antis

5.principalentrances

6.exteriorornamentation

“Nowthatwehavetalkedofwallsbythemselves[murosemplices],itisappropriatetomoveontotheirornaments,ofwhichcolumns,whenlocatedproperlyandinproportiontothewholebuilding,arebyfarthemostimportantthatcanbeappliedtoabuilding.”(pp.17)

7.windowsanddoors

7.windowsanddoors

8.termination

realorfake?