Symmetry , and

Modification in it to Suite
the Site
Chapter II

Standard of Symmetry
First thing to settle is the standard of
symmetry, from which we need not
hesitate to vary, then lay out the
ground lines of the length and breath
of the work proposed and when once
we have determined the size, let the
construction follow this width with
due regard to beauty of proportion,
so that the beholder may feel no
doubt of the eurhythmy of its effect.

Proportions of the Principal

Rooms
Chapter III

Styles of Cavaedium

Tuscan
Corinthian
Tetrastyle
Displuviate
Testudinate

Tuscan
The girders that cross the breadth of
the atrium have crossbeams on
them, and valleys sloping in and
running from the angles of the walls
to the angles formed by the beams,
and the rainwater falls down along
the rafters to the roof opening
(compluvium) in the middle.

Corinthian
The girders and roof opening are
constructed on these same
principles, but the girders run in from
the side walls, and are supported by
all around on columns

Tetrastyle
The girders are supported at the
angles by columns, an arrangement
which relieves and strengthens the
girders; for thus have themselves no
great span to support, and they are
not loaded down by the cross beams.

Displuviate
Beams slope upwards, supporting the
roof and throwing the rainwater off.
This sty7le is suitable chiefly in
winter residences, for its roof
opening, being high up, is not an
obstruction to the light of the dining
rooms.

 It is however, very troublesome to

keep in repair, because the pipes,
which are intended to hold the water
that comes dripping down the halls
all around, cannot take it quickly
enough as it runs down from the
channels, but get too full and run
over, thus spoiling the wood work
and the walls of houses of this style.

Testudinate
Employed where the span is not
great and where large rooms are
provided in upper stories

Three Classes of Atrium according to

Width and Length
The first is laid out by dividing the
length into five parts and giving
three parts to the width.
The second, by dividing it into three
parts and assigning two parts to the
width.
The third, by using the width to
describe a square figure with equal
sides, drawing a diagonal line in this
square, and giving the atrium the

Height
Their height should be one fourth
less than their width, the rest being
the proportion assigned to the ceiling
and the roof above the girders

Alae
The alae, to the right and left, should
have a width equal to one third of
the length of the atrium, when that
is from 30 to 40 ft long.

Alae

Alae
From 40- 50 ft, divide the length by
three and one half, and give the alae
the result

Alae
From 50 60 ft in length, devote one
fourth of the length to the alae.

Alae
From 60 80 ft, divide the length by
four and one half and let the result
be the width of the alae.

Alae
From 80 100 ft, divide the length
into five parts will produce the right
width for the alae.

 Their lintel beams should be placed

high enough to make the height of
the alae equal to their width.

Tablinum

Tablinum
It should be given two thirds of the
width of the atrium when the latter is
twenty feet wide.

 30-40 ft, let half of the width of the

atrium be devoted to the tablinum

Tablinum
40 60 ft
Divide the width into five parts and
let two of these be set apart for the
tablinum.

 In the case of smaller atriums, the

symmetrical proportions cannot be the
same as in larger.
For if, in the case of the smaller, we employ
the proportion that belong to the larger,
both tablina and alae must be
unserviceable, while if, in the case of the
larger, we employ the proportions of the
smaller, the rooms mentioned will be huge
monstrosities.

 The height of the Tablinum at the

lintel should be one eight more than
its width. Its ceiling should exceed
this height by one third of the width.

 The fauces in the case of smaller

atriums should be two thirds, and in
the case of larger one half the width
of the tablinum.

Ornaments
Let the bust of ancestors with their
ornaments be set up at a height
corresponding to the width of the
alae.

Doors
The proportionate width and height
of doors may be settled, if they are
Doric, in the Doric Manner, and if
Ionic, in the Ionic manner, according
to the rules of symmetry which have
been given about portals in the
fourth book.

 In the roof opening let an aperture be

left with a breadth of not less than
one fourth nor more than one third
the width of the atrium, and with a
length proportionate to that of the
atrium.

Peristyles

Peristyles
Lying athwart, should be one third
longer than they are deep and their
columns as high as the colonnades
are wide.

 Intercolumniations of peristyles
should be not less than three nor
more than four times the thickness of
the columns

 If the columns of the peristyle arc to

be made in the Doric style, take the
modules given in the fourth book, on
the Doric Order, and arrange the
columns with reference to these
modules and to the scheme of the
triglyphs

Dining Room
Dining room ought to be twice as
long as they are wide. The height of
all oblong rooms should be
calculated by adding together their
measured length and width, taking
one half of this total, and using the
result for height. But in the case of
exedrae or square oeci, let the height
be brought up to one and one half
times the width.

Picture Gallery
Picture Galleries, like exedrae, should
be constructed generous dimensions.
Corinthian and tetrastyle oeci, as
well as those termed Egyptian,
should have the same symmetrical
proportions in width and length as
the dining rooms described above,
but since they have columns in them,
their dimensions should be ampler.

Distinction between Corinthian and

Egyptian oeci
Corinthian
Have single tier of columns, set either
on a podium or on the ground, with
architraves over them and coronae
either of wood work or of stucco, and
carved vaulted ceilings above the
coronae.

 Egyptian
There are architraves over the columns, and joist
laid thereon from the architraves to the
surrounding walls, with a floor in the upper story
to allow walking round under the open sky. Then,
above the architrave and perpendicularly over the
lower tier of column, columns one fourth smaller
should be imposed. Above their architraves and
ornamentsare decorated celings, and the upper
columns have windows set in between them. Thus
the Egyptian are not like Corinthian dining rooms,
but obviously resemble basilicas

Cyzicene
Oeci in Greeks
Built with a northern exposure and generally
command a view of gardens, and have a folding
doors in the middle. They are also so long and so
wide that two sets of dining couches, facing each
other, with room to pass round them, can be place
therein. On the right and left they have windows
which open like folding doors, so that views of the
garden may be had from the dining couches
through the opened windows. The height of such
rooms is one and one half times their width

 All the above-mentioned symmetrical relations

should be observed, in these kinds of buildings,
that can be observed without embarrassments
caused by the situations. The windows will be an
easy matter to arrange if they are not darkened by
high walls; but in cases of confined space, or when
there are other unavoidable obstruction, it will be
permissible to make diminutions or additions in the
symmetrical relations, - with ingenuity and
acuteness, however, so that the result may not be
not unlike the beauty which is due to true
symmetry