Classical Architecture: A Handbook of the Tradition for Today
The Institute’s Classical Architecture: A Handbook of the Tradition for Today, available from W. W. Norton in the Fall of 2007, will provide today’s architects and design professionals with essential lessons on the classical tradition of architecture and urbanism for practice today.
This companion website, featuring excerpts from the Handbook, serves as a gateway to the canon of classical architecture. The complete classical orders are presented here, for the first time online, in detailed drawings and explanatory text for every practitioner’s use. Further excerpts from the Handbook will be added over time.
It is the hope of the Institute that these resources will help practitioners improve their knowledge of classical architecture and in turn increase the portion of beauty in the built world.
The Elements of Classical Architecture
All classical architecture of the Greco-Roman tradition is composed, or written, in one language of forms. These elements of classical architecture include specific Moldings and assemblages of moldings called an Order. An Order is an accepted way of assembling a column (supporting element) with an entablature (spanning element) while imparting a certain character. In short, an Order orders a design. Orders are never applied after the building is designed, as they are generative. Over time the canon has come to include five Orders: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The Orders and Moldings presented here represent the canon of the Roman tradition.
With Moldings and Orders we compose the buildings that create our built environment. While the most important buildings, such churches or civic buildings, might use the Orders fully expressed, most buildings, especially those that are more vernacular, typically use only a vestige of an Order or Moldings. Careful study of the Orders is required if one is to design with them, in addition one can learn compositional concepts such as repetition of forms, hierarchy and more. The student is encouraged to construct each order on their own following the text and image, and to employ the orders in design, either fully expressed or as an ordering mechanism.
Clicking on each of the following images will lead to a page showing the plates available for that Moldings or Order category. Within each category, click on the thumbnails for a larger plate and explanatory text, or download the PDF with full size image and explanatory text.
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