William Carroll

Professor Cunningham
Final: Abstract
December 9, 2022

Abstract: Based on Option One

The following is an elevation view and a floor plan diagram of a created space
representing certain themes of Plato’s Republic Book: X. The space that will be presented
doubles as a courtyard and a workshop. The inner courtyard represents the truest form of
vegetation within the center, as workshops are placed along the perimeter. Friezes depict
vegetation found within the center and are placed along stone-like walls. Below this depicted
image is an essay elaborating on the complexities of imitation and truth found within Book X
through examples of space, friezes, and columns. This building program represents the “Three
Degrees from Truth” of which Plato argues. A space for “craftsmen”, that is found along the
perimeter, fosters the imitation of the truest forms symbolized within the courtyard, and ornate
friezes are placed to only attempt to imitate the virtue found within these truest forms. Repetition
is used thoroughly as seen within these friezes, arcades, and corinthian columns. However, this
repetition gives way along the extremities as truth is further distorted by un-knowledgeable
imitation; a point argued within Plato’s work. The columns presented closest towards the
entrance are the ideal, and as these columns move away, detail becomes distorted.