Palladian Grammar

48-747 Shape Grammars THEPALLADIANGRAMMAR
analyticshape
grammarsare
intendedfora
particularstyle
criteriafor
authoringa
successfulanalytic
grammarforstyle
arespelledoutby
StinyandMitchell
clarifytheunderlyingcommonalityof
structureandappearancemanifestforthe
buildingsinthecorpus;
supplytheconventionsandcriteria
necessarytodeterminewhetheranyother
buildingnotintheoriginalcorpusisan
instanceofthestyle;and
providethecompositionalmachinery
neededtodesignnewbuildingsthatare
instancesinthestyle
language→style←shapegrammar
Andrea Palladio I Quattro Libri dell’ Architetura The Four Books of Architecture, tr. Issac Ware, 1737
The Four Books on Architecture, tr. Robert Tavernor and Richard Schofield,
2002
thesources
“And though variety and novelty may please everybody, one
should not, however, do anything that is contrary to the laws of
this art, and contrary to what reason makes obvious; so we can
see that the ancients also made variations, but they never
departed from certain universal and essential rules of this art, as
we shall see in my book of antiquities.”
AndreaPalladio,TheFourBooksonArchitecture,pp56
tr.RobertTavernorandRichardSchofield
exemplar–thevillaMalcontenta
exemplar–thevillaMalcontenta
NicolòandAlviseFoscari–twobrothers–commissioned
Palladioaresidence–LaMalcontenta–worthyoftheone
ofthemostfamousfamiliesintown.
Palladiocreatedavillathatappearsisolatedandimposing
likeacastle.Itisbuiltuponanexceptionallyhighfooting,
whichmakesupfortheimpossibilityofcreatinga
basement,butmostofallunderlinesthebuilding’s
monumentallook.Asthecelebratoryaspectsdominate,
farmbuildingsarehiddenfromview.
Circa1554
VillaFoscari«LaMalcontenta»
Source:
http://www.lamalcontenta.com/index.php/en/
http://www.lamalcontenta.com/index.php/en/
VillaFoscari«LaMalcontenta»
griddefinition
exteriorwallrealignment
roomlayout
interiorwallrealignment
principalentrances-porticosandexteriorwallinflections
exteriorornamentation-columns
windowsanddoors
termination
stagesinshapegrammar
1grid
2exteriorwall
3roomlayout
4realignment
5entrances
6exteriorornament
7windows+doors
8termination
thestagesinthegrammar –pictorially
Avicentinefoot
“Thislinewithwhichthefollowingbuildingsaremeasuredis
halfaVicentinefoot[piedevicentino].
Thefootisdividedinto12inchesandeachinchinto4minutes
[minuto]”
Palladio,pp.79
systemofmeasurement
axialsymmetry
“Rooms[stanza]mustbedistributedateithersideoftheentrance
andthehall,andonemustensurethatthoseontherightcorrespond
andareequaltothoseontheleftsothatthebuildingwillbethe
sameononesideastheontheotherandthewallswilltakethe
weightoftheroofequally;…”
Palladio,pp.57
griddefinition
1.therulesforgeneratingatartangrid
“Thereareseventypesofroomthatarethemostbeautifulandwellproportionedandturnoutbetter;theycanbemadecircular[ritundo],
thoughthesearerare;orsquare[quadrato];ortheirlengthwillequal
thediagonalofthesquare[quadrato]ofthebreadth;orasquare
[quadrato]andathird;orasquare[quadrato],andathird;orasquare
andahalf;orasquareandtwo-thirds;ortwosquares.”
1.griddefinition
Toensurebilateralsymmetry,tofixwallthicknessataconstantvalue,
andtoincorporateproportioningrulessimultaneously,itisnecessary
toassociateparametersandparametricexpressionswiththegrid
generationrulesandwiththerulesspecifiedinthefollowingstages.
∴Parameterizationofrulesinthisstageismostcritical.
1.griddefinition
Ruleforgeneratingexteriorwalls
Underlyingwallpatternforthe
VillaMalcontenta
2.exteriorwalldefinition
TheinteriorspacesinPalladio'suniaxialvillaplansmayberectangular,
I-shaped,T-shaped,or+-shaped.
Noticethataplancanhaveatmostonenonrectangularspaceandthat
thisspacemustbebisectedbythenorth-southaxisofthecoordinate
system–becauseofbilateralsymmetry
3.roomlayout
3.roomlayout
Generationoftheroomlayoutfor
theVillaMalcontenta
3.roomlayout
Rulesforrealigninginteriorwalls
4.interiorwallrealignment
VillaValmaranainLisiera
VillaValmarana
5.principalentrances
porticosandinflections
porticoinantis
porticoprostyle
5.principalentrances
asecondporticoinantis
5.principalentrances
Generationoftheporticoandwallinflection
fortheVillaMalcontenta
5.principalentrances
“Nowthatwehavetalkedofwallsbythemselves[murosemplices],it
isappropriatetomoveontotheirornaments,ofwhichcolumns,when
locatedproperlyandinproportiontothewholebuilding,arebyfarthe
mostimportantthatcanbeappliedtoabuilding.”(pp.17)
Rulesforfinishingporticosbytheadditionofcolumns
6.exteriorornamentation
AdditionofcolumnsfortheVillaMalcontenta
6.exteriorornamentation
"Thewindowsontherighthandoughttocorrespondtothoseontheleft,
andthoseabovedirectlyoverthemthatarebelow;andthedoorslikewise
oughttobedirectlyoveroneanother,thatthevoidmaybeoverthevoid,
andthesoliduponthesolid,
andallfaceoneanother,so
thatstandingatoneendofthe
houseonemayseetothe
other,whichaffordsboth
beautyandcoolairinsummer,
besidesotherconveniences"
(page31).
7.windowsanddoors
Rulesforlocatingwindows
anddoorsinvillaplans
Generationofthe
windowsanddoorsin
theVillaMalcontenta
7.windowsanddoors
Terminationrules
Thefinalplan
generatedforthe
VillaMalcontenta
8.termination
realorfake?