A Short History Of Western Architecture From Vitruvius To Rem Koolhaas

摘要

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c 80-15 bc) was the first Roman architect to have written surviving records of his field. In The Ten Books on Architecture, the only major book on architecture from classical antiquity, he famously asserted that a structure must exhibit the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas and venustas (durability, usefulness and beauty). According to Vitruvius, architecture is an imitation of nature. This concept is exemplified by the Vitruvian Man, of which Leonardo da Vinci provided a universally known drawing: the human body is inscribed in the circle and the square as a rule following the fundamental geometric patterns of the cosmic order.