Symmetry
geometry
observation
illustrations
The concept I chose for my book “Della Architettura” from the author Giuseppe Viola Zanini is Symmetry. I chose this topic because in this book Zanini shows us the new symmetry of the five principles. He does this with the help of geometry and a lot of small illustrations throughout the book. He writes a lot of observations about the architectural builds of the best architects like “Sebastiano Serilo” or “Cristoforo Sorte”. In the book he writes about topics like the use of materials and the decorations of the columns. The Book is separated into 2 parts which deal about different topics. The 2 parts are listed as two books: libre primo and libre secondo. He also talks about a third book which would discuss the commercial buildings, but unfortunately it was never written. His theories from this book found a big audience. But many people wrote very critically about Zaninis book and didn’t share his opinions. Only after Leopoldo Cicognaras appreciation about Zaninis excellence in theory and art the majority started to agree his theories.
In the first book he discusses the origin of the architecture and looks at the principles of geometry and perspective. I find the illustrations and descriptions about the usage for perspectives very interesting. He also writes his interesting thoughts on arches and the use of drawbars. Building materials and the practical use of them is also a topic which is covered in the book, for example the technique of montage from wood.
In the second book he writes about the rules of the order with the theories of Vitrivus, Alberti and Palladio.
The Book has more text than illustrations. But even if someone doesn’t understand the language, like me, you can clearly look at the illustrations and know what he is writing about. The illustrations are very clear to read and give a lot of context to the subject. I find it easy to understand his illustrations because he uses a lot of geometry for explanation, which reminded me of my geometry books in school. The Book begins with an table of contents, which makes it easier to find the subject we want to read. On the last pages of the book, there is a illustration of the human body separated by lines. I find especially this illustration really interesting because I would not think about a architecture book which has illustrations about the human body. I think with this illustration he wants to point out the symmetry of the human body and that it does not actually differentiate with the architectural rules.