# Architecture II: Reading a Building Art History I · Artistic Languages · https://tryals.app/learn/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building ## Three Drawings and Two Plans Architects describe buildings through three standard projections: - **Plan**: a horizontal **cut**, seen from above. It shows layout, circulation, and wall placement. - **Section**: a vertical **cut**. It shows internal heights, roof structures, and construction. - **Elevation**: an exterior face seen straight on. It shows facade composition. > **Common pitfall:** reading a plan as a floor picture. A plan is a horizontal **cut** through walls and supports. Two basic plans organise most Western architectural history: - The **basilica** began as a Roman public hall. Christian worship adopted its longitudinal axis. - The **central plan** arranges space radially around a point. Renaissance theorists like Palladio favoured its ideal symmetry. ## Orders, Proportion, and Type Classical **orders** are complete proportional systems, not merely decorative column shapes. - Greek practice used three: **Doric**, **Ionic**, and **Corinthian**. - The Renaissance canonised **five**, adding Tuscan and Composite from Roman tradition. An order functions as a **module system**. Choosing the column base diameter sets every subsequent ratio and height automatically. Proportional systems give visual harmony an arithmetic basis. However, the **golden section is claimed far more often than it is used** in historical analysis. Finally, a **type** is a recurring configuration for a specific purpose, such as a basilica or villa. Type lets architects inherit proven spatial solutions. ## Practice questions 10 of this lesson's 14 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app. ### 1. Why did the orders survive the culture that produced them by two thousand years? A. Each is a module system, so fixing the column diameter fixes every other dimension by ratio B. They provided architects with proven building types suited to every standard civic function C. They embodied an ideal system of sacred geometry based strictly on the golden section ratio D. Their decorative profiles were the simplest and most economical carving details available **Answer:** A. Each is a module system, so fixing the column diameter fixes every other dimension by ratio **Why:** Because an order is a **proportional system**, not a column shape. Fix the diameter and the height, spacing, entablature and every other dimension follow by ratio, so a building can be scaled without becoming ungainly. That solves a real design problem, which is why the orders outlived their religion, their politics and their language. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/why-did-the-orders-survive-the-culture-that-produced-them-by-two ### 2. Which are true of the central-plan church in Renaissance debate? A. It carried associations of the tomb and the martyrium B. Liturgy pushed against it by requiring a processional axis C. Theorists valued it because the circle was held to be the most perfect figure D. It was adopted universally once Alberti recommended it **Answer:** A. It carried associations of the tomb and the martyrium; B. Liturgy pushed against it by requiring a processional axis; C. Theorists valued it because the circle was held to be the most perfect figure **Why:** The dispute was never settled, which is the interesting part. Theorists wanted the circle and liturgy wanted the axis, and the compromise plans of the sixteenth century, including the long argument over St Peter's, are that unresolved tension built at full scale. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/which-are-true-of-the-central-plan-church-in-renaissance-debate ### 3. An architectural type is a recurring spatial configuration rather than a fixed set of measurements. What follows from this distinction when an architect adapts an ancient type for a novel programme? A. They reproduce the exact functional arrangement while scaling down the ratios B. They preserve the classical column module while abandoning the overall ground plan C. They copy the outer facade composition while reconfiguring the internal rooms D. They adopt the underlying spatial layout while adjusting the scale and details **Answer:** D. They adopt the underlying spatial layout while adjusting the scale and details **Why:** Conflating type with fixed dimensions turns a structural typology into rigid replication. Type provides an inherited spatial schema—such as axial or radial circulation—which remains coherent even when materials, proportions, or specific utilitarian functions shift. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/an-architectural-type-is-a-recurring-spatial-configuration-rather ### 4. A plan is a horizontal cut through the building, so what is drawn solid is what the cut passes through. **Answer:** True **Why:** **True**, and it is the single most useful fact for reading architectural drawings. The cut is taken at roughly waist height; walls and columns it passes through are drawn solid, and anything above or below is shown by convention. Reading a plan as a picture of the floor makes every plan unintelligible. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/a-plan-is-a-horizontal-cut-through-the-building-so-what-is-drawn ### 5. Sort each feature by whether it belongs to a LONGITUDINAL or a CENTRAL plan. **Answer:** - Longitudinal: An axis running from entrance to apse, Nave with side aisles and clerestory, Movement is processional and directional - Central: Radial symmetry about a single point, A dome over the crossing as the focus, Used for baptisteries and burial chapels **Why:** The two plans are two answers to a question about **what the building is for**: moving a congregation towards a focus, or gathering it around one. That is why the liturgical argument and the geometrical argument could not be reconciled by design skill alone. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/sort-each-feature-by-whether-it-belongs-to-a-longitudinal-or-a ### 6. Complete the vocabulary of reading a building. **Answer:** A horizontal cut seen from above is a **plan**; a vertical cut is a **section**. The Roman public hall adopted for Christian worship is the **basilica**. A recurring configuration serving a recurring purpose is a **type**. **Why:** The last blank is the concept that makes an unfamiliar building approachable. Recognising the type tells you what the architect was working with and against, and the deviations from it are where the individual work actually is. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/complete-the-vocabulary-of-reading-a-building ### 7. How many orders did Renaissance theory canonise? **Answer:** 5 **Why:** **Five.** The Greeks used three — Doric, Ionic and Corinthian — and Renaissance theory added Tuscan and Composite from Roman practice. The canonisation matters because it turned a set of inherited practices into a teachable system with rules. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/how-many-orders-did-renaissance-theory-canonise ### 8. Match each element of a basilican church to its position. **Answer:** - Nave → The central space running the length of the building - Aisle → The lower flanking space beside the nave - Clerestory → The windowed wall above the aisle roofs - Apse → The semicircular termination at the focus **Why:** These four names describe most churches built in Western Europe for a thousand years, which makes them worth memorising exactly. The clerestory is the one that explains the section: the nave is taller than the aisles precisely so that it can be lit from above them. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/match-each-element-of-a-basilican-church-to-its-position ### 9. Arrange these steps for describing an unfamiliar building, in the order that works. **Answer:** 1. Identify the type it belongs to 2. Read the plan for organisation and circulation 3. Read the section for height and covering 4. Read the elevation for what it presents outward 5. Name the deviations from the type **Why:** Beginning with the type and ending with the deviations is what turns description into analysis. Everything shared with the type is inherited; what is left over is the individual work, and that is where the argument of an art-historical account usually lives. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/arrange-these-steps-for-describing-an-unfamiliar-building-in-the ### 10. The orders specify only the shape of the column and its capital. **Answer:** False **Why:** **False.** An order fixes the proportions of the whole composition — height, spacing, entablature, and the relationships between them — once the column diameter is set. That is why it survived as a design tool rather than as an ornamental vocabulary. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/architecture-ii-reading-a-building/the-orders-specify-only-the-shape-of-the-column-and-its-capital