Theory
Proportion (as architectural theory hub)
Explore in the Atlas →The relational system of measure between architectural elements (column to entablature, room to room, building to body), theorised through the canon of the orders, the body-building analogy, and the symmetria / concinnitas / harmonie lineage from Vitruvius through Alberti, Vignola, Palladio and Perrault to Le Corbusier's Modulor. Distinguishes measure (proportion) from grammar (type).
Proportion Type Tectonics
Details
- Introduced
- Antiquity–Renaissance
Connections
- central to Vitruvius
- relates to Architectural Typology
Referenced by
- Cours d'architecture articulates
- Ordonnance des cinq espèces de colonnes selon la méthode des Anciens articulates
- Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura articulates
- Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva (I sette libri dell'architettura) articulates
- Trattato di architettura (Libro Architettonico) articulates
- De re aedificatoria (On the Art of Building in Ten Books) articulates
- Vitruvius proposed
- Leon Battista Alberti proposed
- The Four Books of Architecture articulates
Sources
- Vitruvius. De architectura. 1914.
- Alberti. On the Art of Building in Ten Books. MIT Press, 1988.
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "Proportion (as architectural theory hub)." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/theory/theme-proportion/. Accessed July 17, 2026.