The book ‘L’architecture et art de bien bastir’ in the original Latin language and translated in 1553 by Ian Martin into French was written by the well-known Florentine author, poet, artist and architect Lord Léon Baptiste Albert (1404-1472).
The title reveals the main themes of the ancient book: Architecture and the way in which it can be built safely and stably using methods that were very innovative at the time, creating the foundations for modern architecture.
Innovations such as the way of conducting water by adapting human needs to nature, through cisterns or other methods show how the architect studied and gave importance to every single detail.
The Florentine architect ingeniously found a solution to the heating and cooling of the rooms, to insects and animals and to all the other problems associated with housing at that time.
Among the fundamental criteria for a stable and durable construction described by the author are: The geographical location, environmental influences, construction materials, the way in which construction is designed and planned, timing and many other aspects.
The sequence of the text is in chronological order, from design to construction, leaving room for decoration by means of arches, circles, porticoes and columns.
The book, which is currently in the Bibliothèque NationaleFrançaise in Paris, contains many drawings of both horizontal cuts and, above all, vertical cuts as well as frontal drawings of the models and constructions implemented by the architect.
The size of the book’s pages, measuring 33.6 cm che x 21.7 cm, allowed the images and drawings in the book to be observed well.
Although the book is old, in my opinion it contains a lot of information and innovations that we still find in modern architecture today. I find it very important to keep these books in order to study architectural history and to trace back to the first modern architects.
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