• Vitruvian PrinciplesThe

interdependency of firmitas,
utilitas and venustas in
architecture and design
Vitruvius De Architectura Influential
Leonardo da Vinci Michaelangelo
• Andrea Palladio
• Leon Battista
• AlbertiDrainage wheel for mines
• Vitruvian man
• St. Peter’s Basilica
• Sant'Andrea, Mantua
• Villa Barbaro
Fundamental principles of
architecture
• Commodity
• Client
• Firmitas
• Utilitas
• Venustas
• Firmness, well-made, structured
• Builder
• Architect
• Firmness
• Delight
• Useful, functional, primary and secondary spaces
• Problem with the word ‘delight’
• See Alison Barnes
• “Architectural space is first of all utilitarian.
Architectural art begins physical and ends
psychological.”
• James O’Gorman
• Delight, beauty, order, arrangement, symmetry