Product Description

This fascinating introduction to classical art and architecture is the first book to investigate the way classical buildings are put together as formal structures. It researches the generative rules, the poetics of composition that classical architecture shares with classical music, poetry, and drama, and is enriched by a variety of examples and an extensive analysis of compositional rules. The 205 line drawings make up a discourse of their own, a pictorial text that serves as an introductory theory of composition or basic design aid.

Drawing from Vitruvius, the poetics of Aristotle, the theories of classical architecture, music, and poetry since the Renaissance, and the poetics of the Russian formalists, the authors present classical architecture as a coherent system of architectural thinking that is capable of producing a tragic humanistic discourse, a public art with critical, moral, and philosophical meaning.

Alexander Tzonis is Crown Professor of Architectural Theory and Methodology at the Technische Hogeschool, Delft. Liane Lefaivre teaches at the Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Arnhem.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395005 in Books
• Published on: 1986-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Review


"Classical Architecture is surely the first work in English to attempt to assemble, classify, and demystify the ill-understood legacy of classical lore which is, in many respects, the very basis of architecture in the West."
- Kenneth Frampton

About the Author
Liane Lefaivre is Professor and Chair of History and Theory of Architecture, University of Applied Art, Vienna, and Research Associate at the Technical University of Delft.

Customer Reviews

Interesting discussion of the appeal of classical form.
A highly useful if somewhat cursory look at the principals of classical architectural form. As an artist I found it to be very illuminating. Even more important was the author's attempt at developing a modern aesthetic which accounts for the lasting appeal of the classical.

Great book on architectural theory
Tzonis dose a very good job at laying out the foundations of classical architecture, for the biginner and the professional. This book has some very nice drawings incorperated into it that help with the understanding of the theories. This book is highly recomended for any one interested in classical architecture.