When I used Alice to help me find books in the Xenotheka library, I first thought of a few words from the title of my book (Extraordinario libro di architettura from Sebastiano Serlio) and the most obvious from knowing the content. The key word: “extraordinario” unfortunately, didn’t carry any useful results. For my next terms, I found books about architecture.
As the author (Sebastiano Serlio) represents many types of portals in his book, I used the search words “entrance”, “portal” and “Sebastiano Serlio” next. This was very interesting.
Firstly, I found the book: “Elements of Architecture” by Koolhaas, 2014. This book is interesting, as it has a chapter on almost every component of architecture. This is a book that my dad owns, and I did not know that it too deals with Vitruvius’ view on the columns. It explains how Vitruvius’ writings were exalted by Sebastiano Serlio, but still diverged from his architecture.
Secondly, I stumbled upon a book (Forensic Architecture, Forensis: The Architecture of Public Truth) where Forensis examines architecture and its relation to political struggle, violent conflict, and climate change. “The project is the subject of a major exhibition at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and catalog cum theoretical reader presenting the findings and contributions of over 20 influential architects, artists, filmmakers, and academics”. The book focuses on the different thought processes that architects have.
As third I found the publication: “Architectural Theory” by Mallgrave. In which he mentions Sebastiano Serlio quite a few times and speaks high of him, he refers to him as: One of the leaders of this Vitruvian revival, the architect who would attempt to translate Vitruvian theory into practical terms.
Overall, it was fairly easy to find texts and books that reference Sebastiano Serlio and which deal with similar subjects, such as entrances and other parts of architecture. Being able to have a peak into these books was very interesting.