Form and Design in Classic Architecture

Arthur Stratton

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486137018
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: History of Architecture

Most people recognize at a glance the extraordinarily graceful proportions of classical-style buildings such as London's Syon House and Athenaeum Club and the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall. Few, however, appreciate the underlying geometrical principles that lend these buildings their elegant unity of expression. Form and Design in Classic Architecture explains in simple, direct terms — and with numerous photographic plates and line illustrations — the ways in which the relationship of exterior and interior elements creates that unity and sense of completeness.
Dozens of edifices by Inigo Jones, the Adam Brothers, Sir Christopher Wren, and other renowned architects appear here, in images accompanied by detailed analyses. The author presents a chapter-by-chapter view of buildings in a variety of shapes, with separate treatments of vestibules, corridors, domed and vaulted ceilings, pavilions, loggias, interior and exterior staircases, porticoes, and colonnades.
The informative, readable text and handsome illustrations — as well as the sheer beauty of the buildings themselves — make this volume appealing, not only to architects and architectural historians but also to anyone with even a casual interest in architecture and design.

VI

RECTANGULAR PLANS DISPOSED FOR INTERNAL EFFECT. PLATES XXVII TO XLV.

A STUDY of the architecture of all periods shows that the rectangle has been widely adopted as a primary form, not only for buildings complete in themselves, but also for the units of complex compositions. In the work of the past no less than in most plans of the present day, this form predominates. This work, however, is intended to treat solely of elementary forms and units, and does not include either the vast plans of the Thermae and Palaces of the Cæsars, or the involved plans of the Renaissance, in all of which the disposition of the rectangle in combination with other primary forms can be studied ad infinitum. Throughout domestic building in England and America, especially in houses built in the eighteenth century, variations of the rectangular form are found to be more or less standardised by reason of convenience and tradition. Examples of the exterior treatment of simple rectangular buildings will be found in Series XI.

For interior effect, the rectangular plan is capable of many interpretations. As the parallelogram appears more frequently in the plans of apartments of all kinds than any other figure, the variety of accepted ways of dealing with it is considerable, governed largely by the actual dimensions of the apartment and the method of covering adopted. The rectangular interior like the square, admits of the flat ceiling with or without a cove, as well as numerous applications of the vault, both continuous and intersecting, while scenic effect can be obtained by many dispositions of the dome, either as a central dominating feature with a diameter equal to the shorter side of the rectangular, or over a succession of square compartments within a rectangular plan of large dimensions.

Attention has been given in this Series to the sympathetic proportioning of width, length and height as followed in the best practice. The majority of writers in the past have laid down rules for the proportions of rectangular rooms which are ceiled with flat and coved ceilings, and it is generally agreed that when the length does not exceed twice the breadth the height should be equal to the breadth, and that if a room is coved it should be higher than if it is entirely flat, the cove being equal to one-quarter or one-fifth of the total height of the room. Rectangular rooms when coved may be given a height equal to the breadth plus one-fifth to one-third of the difference between the length and the width, and rooms with vaulted ceilings may have a height to the crown of the vault equal to one-half of the total obtained by adding together the length and the breadth of the room. But rules have rarely been followed so closely as to disregard the dictates of common-sense or to violate conditions imposed by convenience and suitability.

The schemes outlined on the Plates have been taken from many famed buildings which are remarkable for the logical disposition of their plans and sections, and they serve to illustrate the imaginative combinations of straight sided and curved forms which the treatment of the rectangular plan suggests. For all types of buildings for public and civil use they offer valuable suggestions from the standpoint not only of effect but also of utility. Various ways of treating the unbroken rectangle are shown, and where an unencumbered floor space is desired, this form is invariably adopted, but even then many combinations of flat, coved, vaulted and domed coverings are applicable. Relatively to the width, narrow or wide ambulatories can be formed by placing colonnades and piers along two or more sides to enhance the architectural interest of the interior and, by reducing the central span, to facilitate construction and bring about variety of perspective and lighting effects. Colonnades and clerestoreys are found in many of the most impressive interiors that have been raised on the rectangular plan, while halls with colonnades in two storeys with galleries disposed along the sides and at one or both ends, present problems which have been satisfactorily solved in the past. With dimensions that admit of a monumental treatment, the sub-division of the rectangular plan into a series of square compartments on the long axis by means of piers to support domes or intersecting vaults, and by colonnades introduced as sub-motives to support galleries, the rectangular interior assumes its grandest aspect, and apparently complex results may be obtained by the manipulation of elements which in themselves are of extreme simplicity.

Many of the schemes that follow should be studied not only as connecting links in schemes of large dimension, but as being applicable to isolated buildings. These examples of rectangular plan forms cover a wide range of design, and most of the customary arrangements have been considered, but innumerable modifications such as that shown in Fig. 7 will suggest themselves to the student who will realise that finality in composition is neither attainable nor desirable.

Plates XXVII and XXVIII.—These show rectangular rooms with a length equal to twice the breadth. In Plate XXVIII, Nos. I, II and III, the floor space is unbroken by columns or piers. No. I represents the double cube system of proportion in which a flat ceiling, divided into compartments is used with a cove one-fifth the total height of the room : this is suitable for all principal apartments with a width of from twenty to thirty feet. In No. II a central square is formed by means of arches springing from an attached Order, above which a saucer dome on a low drum is raised : barrel vaults carry on the curve of the transverse arches, producing a far more elaborate covering than the flat ceiling. In No. III a continuous segmental ceiling with top-lighting, completes a simpler scheme than the last, but both of these are suitable for halls or waiting places in conjunction with a series of apartments. Nos. IV, V and VI introduce colonnades, dividing the plan longitudinally into three, the narrow side divisions being carried up a second storey to provide corridors as in No. IV, or ceiled at the level of the top of the colonnade, admitting of a clerestorey, as in No. VI. The plan given in No. V is common to the three types illustrated, but the various methods of admitting light show to what an extent the architectural disposition can be varied in the section.

FIG. 7. INTERIOR OF THE LIBRARY AT MALMAISON. DESIGNED BY PERCIER AND FONTAINE.

The fine room illustrated on Plate XXVII has a segmental ceiling similar in principle to that given in No. III, Plate XXVIII, but without the top light. It shows a very successful ceiling treatment for a large room with side lighting and is decorative and expressive of the importance of a particular apartment.

Plate XXIX.—In Nos. I-IV is shown a type of simple rectangular plan covered with a barrel vault : the lighting is of the clerestorey type, groined lunettes being arranged at the springing of the vault. This scheme has been used in an isolated building with an apse at one end covered with a semi-dome as shown, but it offers suggestions for the treatment of halls and small places of assembly in which any considerable encroachment on the floor space is undesirable. Nos. V and VI are variations of the foregoing in which additional interest is given to the internal perspective by columns standing clear of the walls and carrying simple intersecting vaults with light admitted through lunettes.

Plate XXX shows further dispositions of the rectangular apartment with clear floor space and interest centred in the coved ceiling. No. I has been selected from Italian practice and is typical of the ceiling treatment common to the halls and apartments of Italian palaces during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. No. II is a motive which is found in several of Sir Christopher Wren’s churches in the City of London, and by its simplicity recommends itself for the majority of meeting places.

Plate XXXI.—This combines an unbroken rectangular plan with additional lateral features ; the ceiling being coved all round gives a rectangular space in the centre above which an elliptical lantern is carried. This excellent scheme is eminently suitable for the entrance hall to a large mansion or to a semi-public building.

Plate XXXII.—This fine rectangular apartment with enriched flat ceiling and side lighting introduces screens at the ends corresponding to the architectural treatment of the side walls. The illustrations show the room as designed by Sir Robert Taylor. The screens in this instance cut off vaulted approaches to the room. Further examples of rectangular rooms with screens across the ends...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• PREFACE
• Table of Contents
• FOREWORD
• INTRODUCTION.
• I - CIRCULAR PLANS. PLATES III TO X.
• II - CIRCULAR AND RECTANGULAR FORMS UNITED. PLATES XI TO XIV.
• III - SQUARE PLANS. PLATES XV TO XVIII.
• IV - THE ROMAN “ D ” OR TRIBUNE PLAN, SEMI-CIRCULAR AND ELLIPTICAL PLANS. PLATES XIX TO XXII.
• V - OCTAGONAL PLANS. PLATES XXIII TO XXVI.
• VI - RECTANGULAR PLANS DISPOSED FOR INTERNAL EFFECT. PLATES XXVII TO XLV.
• VII - INTERNAL CORRIDORS. PLATES XLVI AND XLVII.
• VIII - VESTIBULES, VAULTED LOGGIAS AND COVERED APPROACHES. PLATES XLVIII TO LIII.
• IX - STAIRCASES. PLATES LIV TO LXV.
• X - PAVILIONS, LOGGIAS AND OPEN HALLS. PLATES LXVI TO LXVIII.
• XI - FACADES. PLATES LXIX TO LXXXV.
• XII - PORTICOES AS FRONTISPIECES AND AS APPROACHES. PLATES LXXXVI TO LXXXIX.
• XIII - EXTERNAL STEPS AND STAIRCASES. PLATES XC AND XCI.
• XIV - TRIUMPHAL ARCHES, GATEWAYS AND PORCHES. PLATES XCII TO XCIV.
• XV - SCREENS AND COLONNADES. PLATES XCV TO XCVIII.
• XVI - GROTTOES. PLATES XCIX AND C.
• INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.