Theory
The section as analytic instrument
Explore in the Atlas →The architectural section emerges in the late Quattrocento as an orthogonal cut that displaces perspectival interior views and gives architecture a body — an inside, a skin, a depth — analytically independent of any specific viewing subject. With Raphael's letter to Pope Leo X (c. 1519), plan-section-elevation is codified as the canonical orthographic triad and architecture acquires disciplinary autonomy from painting.
Representation Knowledge Body
Details
- Introduced
- 1956
Referenced by
- Wolfgang Lotz proposed
- James S. Ackerman proposed
- Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture articulates
- Origins, Imitation, Conventions: Representation in the Visual Arts articulates
- Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture proposed
Sources
- Wolfgang Lotz. The Rendering of the Interior in Architectural Drawings of the Renaissance. MIT Press, 1977.
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "The section as analytic instrument." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/theory/section-as-analytic/. Accessed July 17, 2026.