The book is structured into two parts, each with sub-chapters. Each chapter describes a different topic, such as perspective drawing, geometry and fortification. The book is a guidebook for creating technical drawings and designing fortresses and is not intended to be read cover to cover. Instead, many illustrations guide the reader. These are grouped into two sections, one in the centre and one at the end of the book. The illustrations are to be read in parallel with the text, as they illustrate the technical drawings being described in the text. The reader is thus required to flick back and forth between the chapters and the images succeeding them. The illustrations each fill an entire page and are numbered and referenced. They depict shadows, perspective drawings, fortresses and their correct construction, small towns and various three dimensional shapes, among other things. Letters are used to enumerate points on the geometric drawings and lists withing the chapters reference these and describe them in detail. Towards the end of the second section of illustrations there is also a table with standard values for fortress dimensions.
The book is written on spreads, each with two columns, separated by a double line. The chapters are written first in flowing text and then with ever more technical descriptions. Paragraphs are headed with a letter, a roman numeral or a number for easily finding the various tutorials and the first letter within the paragraph is stylized with a three-line drop cap. Chapters are prefaced with a large title and an ornamented, five-line drop cap. The text is interspersed with many technical annotations, legends and formulas for calculating the geometries. The font is of an easily legible size with a simple serif typography and there are wide margins on each side of the text. It is also notable that there are no page numbers within the book.