Classical order

The five classical orders of columns are the most important structuring system of ancient and modern architecture from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The term order referred to in architectural history is always a system of vertical elements with base and capital. It is therefore of pillars or columns constructions formally demarcate.

The common theme of the five orders of columns is the ratio of column to entablature, mediation and logical relation between the architectual elements and their integration into the overall design of a building. Developed from this task, various details have already been transferred to the ancient world on pillars and arch systems, a development that further worked fruitfully in modern times.

After understanding the Renaissance build the five orders of columns on each other and put in their entirety an image of the hierarchical world dar. approaches to this hierarchy - without weltinterpretatorische view - but they are already familiar with classical antiquity.

• 4.1 The order of columns in Alberti
• 4.2 The order of columns in Serlio
• 4.3 The order of columns in Palladio
• 4.4 The order of columns in Vignola
• 4.5 The order of columns with Scamozzi
• 4.6 Comparison of column proportions in the Renaissance

Dissemination of the system of the orders

The architecture of the Greeks, in consequence also of the Romans, was based on certain rules that compacted more and more to special rules, without ever having been fixed binding. The basis for this was the first bound to the Greek tribes and of them populated areas of scenic styles that BC trained in the course of the 7th and 6th century with the Doric and the Ionic order. The Doric order was distributed mainly on the Greek mainland and in Great Greece, but was also in the rest of Doric settlement area, in particular to meet Rhodes. The term Doric order goes to the Dorians, one of the Greek tribes, back, in their settlement area - large parts of the Peloponnese, Rhodes, Crete and parts of Asia Minor - the architectural style is primarily designed. In contrast, the Ionic order, especially in Asia Minor, Ionia, on the ionic populated islands of the Aegean and Attica was widespread. The term Ionic order is derived from the Ionians, the elderly and displaced by the Dorians from the original settlement area Greek tribe. In the course of development, lost this strict scenic binding and both orders of columns have been all over Greek architecture and culture used.

The Corinthian order is the youngest of three architectural styles of ancient Greek architecture. Its development began in ' historical ' time towards the end of the 5th century BC with the ' invention ' of the Corinthian capital. Your canonical form apparatus, which made ​​a self-contained building code from the originally pure column order was binding but only in the middle of the 1st century BC before.

Since Marcus Vitruvius Pollio ( Vitruvius ), these three main orders and some side orders that arise from them, differentiated, the Corinthian order was limited even for Vitruvius solely on the column and Kapitellbildung, a canonical entablature structure was not associated with it. For the history of European architecture classical orders of columns are formative. In the architectural history of the Renaissance and classicism of the 19th century are to be mentioned as the most important phases in which the architecture has been renewed by a return to the ancient canon.

While these styles were originally applied only to single-storey architectures or two-storey installations, such as the one above the other identified pillars of some temple interiors, both colonnades of the same order followed, since the Hellenistic observed that the arrangement of different orders of columns on several floors of a building or facade certain rules and an order hierarchy follows. Since a description of the underlying rules can be found for the first time in Vitruvius, one also speaks of Vitruvscher order of columns. Nevertheless, the idea behind acting is much older and can be traced back at least to the 5th century BC. For the Hellenistic "bottom - up" the hierarchy already went to a classical buildings " inside-outside " forward. Thus, the Corinthian column is initially only indoors in particular the temple to find. Later, she then passes on to the the sanctuary facing sides of the gatehouses, ie inside the Holy district. The entanglement of the two aspects eventually met in the Stoa that Attalos II donated to Athens. There, the lower outer row of columns is the Doric order, while the inner columns of the hall are ionic. At the same time the outer half-columns - pillars - gallery of the second floor is also the Ionic order.

The system of the orders has been used in modern times by tracts that are based on Vitruvius. The term " column order" itself is borrowed from the Italian ordine and has not been used in ancient times for architectural styles. Vitruvius speaks because usually only the genus ( Vitruvius III, 6, 15 ), ie the type, or of a style proportiones ( Vitruvius IV, 6, 3 ), the ratios of the members to one another, which need to be complied with within one order.

The most important treatises of the modern era of the classical orders submitted by Leon Battista Alberti, Sebastiano Serlio, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Vincenzo Scamozzi and Palladio.

Modern authors on the column orders in Germany were spiral Dietterlin and Leonhard Christoph Sturm.

The five classical orders of columns

The five systems are composed of the same types of components, namely, pedestal, column (with and without a base, shaft and capital columns ) and an entablature. If columns of different orders are used in elevation, they are proportioned according to a common unit of measurement, the lower column shaft diameter, called in the treatises module. According to the hierarchical structure, the columns must be placed in the following order one above the other (bottom to top):

• Tuscan or rustic order, Etruscan order
• Doric order - with a Roman modification as a form
• Ionic order - is divided into an Attic, a small Asian and a Roman variant
• Corinthian order
• Composites order - a combination of ionic and Corinthian

While the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian order emerged already in classical Greek architecture, the Tuscan order and the composites an invention of classical Roman architecture.

Superposition

The floor to floor overlaying position is called superposition. The arrangement of the columns one above the other is based on the increasing complexity of the capitals. With three storeys, the lowest colonnade on simple Doric Schalenkapitelle, the average ionic Rollenkapitelle and the uppermost configured Corinthian Blattkapitelle.

The columns in the Romanesque and Gothic

In the Romanesque period, the order of columns, as it was known from antiquity, not continued. The massive, thick stone wall is the defining element of Romanesque architecture. Columns are built in much smaller dimensions ( cf. Santa Maria del Naranco, Oviedo), and if so, they usually wear bows or bow ensemble. The ratio of column diameter to column height is often reduced, the columns appear compressed in comparison to their ancient models. In the transition from Romanesque to Gothic, there are still columns with capitals trained and foot, mostly they are free borrows the Corinthian order. Clustered columns, the first still end at the capital of the column, displacing in the high and late Gothic pillars, as they are now down to the floor.

The development of the order of columns in the Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the order of columns part of the contemporary architectural debate, which is also reflected in the treatises are. Here, rules are formulated that see the column in a context of the entablature above it and also distinguish whether the column is free as a supporting element or is embedded in a wall. The column therefore consists of the shaft, the capital and the base, for which the same word is used as for feet in the Italian Trakaten. Also, the entablature is divided into three parts ( Cornice - Fries - architrave ), as well as the pedestal ( di Giorgio and call Serlio this stylobate ), to which the column is placed, consists of three parts.

The order of columns in Alberti

In his main work The Ten Books on Architecture Alberti describes ( in the seventh book ) the way, how columns are designed to, in particular depending on the bridging length. Thus, the columns will be narrower, if the distances are small. In the description of the capitals, he can hardly hide irony, as he describes how the ancient Greeks, the Doric and the Ionic capital developed. In his subsequent descriptions Alberti pretends fixed dimensions in feet and often changes in relative sizes. They are his followers who formulate a system from it. He describes the first as the Entasis must be designed in slender columns.

In his buildings Alberti differs in the design of the capitals significantly from the classical models. So he invents for the facade of the Palazzo Rucellai new forms.

The order of columns in Serlio

Serlio describes the order of columns far more systematically than Alberti. In the fourth book of his Libri d' architettura Sette he rearranges the order of columns, he processed this information from Vitruvius and Alberti. For the intercolumniations (distances between the columns ) give different information, depending on whether the column is free or is integrated into a wall. He suggests in his lavishly illustrated volume, apply the same order of columns on several floors. However, he achieved more convincing examples when he, like his successors, the change of orders applies. Its dimensions he distributed in his lyrics.

The order of columns in Palladio

For Palladio, the columns should be used so that the strongest type of column (the one with the lower ratio of diameter to height ) should always be placed below. So shall the Doric always under the Ionic column.

He shall also provide information for intercolumnium, the distance between the columns. Free standing columns, so the distance between them is about in the Tuscan order 4 modules (diameter). This distance, it increases for the Doric on 5 1/ 2 modules and reduces it to 2 modules at the Corinthian and 1 1/ 2 modules in order composites. If the columns are embedded in a wall ( pilasters ), the distance is much further: in the Tuscan order 6 modules in the Corinthian 6 1/ 2 modules.

Some of his buildings Palladio converts the order of columns down very freely. So he designed the mansion Sarego ( 1569 ), the ionic column in colossal order. It forms the stem of Boss in work which he borrowed from the ancient times as a design element.

The order of columns in Vignola

Vignola, the same generation as Palladio Belonging, the order of columns systematized most closely. He 's not in his Regola delle cinque ordini d' architettura (rules of the five orders of architecture) from the diameter of the column as a module, but from radius. So the column is respectively 2 modules wide. The change to the radius allows him for the individual components of the column ( capital and base ) specify integer ratios, also the beams he can so easily be broken. Similar to Palladio his system is adaptable to different regional measures of length, as only the measure of the column radius must be specified.

His book is up to the 19th century part of architectural education ( The Little Vignola ). There can be found for the individual orders detailed information on the design of the capitals, bases, entablatures, pilasters, distances and the formation of the respective Entasis.

The order of columns with Scamozzi

In his treatise L'idea della architettura universale, a six -volume work, Vincenzo Scamozzi describes in the last volume only very slightly the proportions and the inclusion of columns in the facade. Although a student of Palladio, but he differs from for proportions. And even though he belongs to the generation after Vignola, it does not reach its systematics.

Comparison of column proportions in the Renaissance

In the following table, the moduli ratio as for the lower column diameter to the height of the pillar (including capital and base ) is shown.

The proportional stipulations between column diameter at base and capital as well as the beams is shown in Vignola's default to the Tuscan order. The base and the capital will each receive a module ( = radius) for their height. The entablature above it is divided into the architrave, frieze and cornice. The architrave gives the level of a module, a module of the Fries plus 2/12 module ( Vignola divides the module into 12 parts, analogous to the usual footages ) and the cornice is a module plus 4/12 module high. Due to the larger distances up becoming the top entablature parts should appear right at the bottom, the optical shortening effect can be reduced. Similar provisions meets Vignola for the other orders. The architects listed above specify different proportions of the various components and systems.

The order of columns in Classicism and Historicism

The creators of classicism appealed even to their role models from antiquity and the Renaissance, they sought no changes to the order of columns on. Rather, they varied the integration of the column in the structure (eg Schinkel in the Old Museum ). Claude Perrault translated Vitruvius into French and wrote a standard work on the orders of columns: Ordonnance of cinq espèces of colonnes selon la méthode the anciens ( order of the five types of columns according to the method of the ancients ). Whose rules he applied consistently in the facade of the Louvre. Also Inigo Jones and the circle around Lord Burlington, whose activities are classified in the Palladian architecture, but to create new products.

In historicism new building techniques and materials (cast iron and Portland cement) are being developed, but this initially leads to any new form of language (" new technology in ancient dress "). Especially the style of Neo-Renaissance eras, Neoclassicism live their historical models faithfully (eg the buildings Gottfried Semper in Dresden).

The order of columns from the modern to contemporary

The use of steel in architecture since the mid 19th century, and a little later the new concrete, can arise as soon dominant design the skeleton. This is at first hardly be distinguished from the order of columns. In the beginning of the Modern ( Art Deco, Art Nouveau, the Werkbund ), there are still significant echoes of the classical order of columns. They are increasingly stylized and free transformed beyond recognition through her ​​role models.

As examples of new forms of order of columns: Otto Wagner Villa Wagner built quite in the style of Neohistorismus, his version of the classic order, he opened in dealing with the fluting of the columns, which he is only one third of the column height. His rail Pavilion is created in cast iron columns, for which he formulated the classical column order new. Also at the crematorium in Prague cemetery in Stuttgart distinct echoes of the classical order of columns. Heinrich Tessenowstraße sets instead of the pillars pillars in free Tuscan order at the Festspielhaus in Hellerau. The facade of the Elisabeth Hall in Aachen, where columns divide the window and incorporate the integration into an order from console and roof cornice. The Hackescher Markt in Berlin, the columns are resolved as pilasters in services and the cornice indicates an entablature. When Hebbel Theater, also in Berlin, an integration with an indicated entablature is effected. In the hope of the Church in Pankow the entablature consists of a simple frieze. At Spital Gasse 19 ( Coburg ) artfully structured columns with cornices are integrated into the facade. When Prince Regent Theatre in Munich, the columns of the input received instead of the triglyphs lion heads, the subject can be found at various locations in the building. Fritz Hoger builds partly true to the order of columns but is increasingly a brick such as the dished house in Hamburg, while Chile house he formulated the order of columns to expressionistic. Likewise, Fritz Schumacher designed the order of columns in brick to, about the design for Emil Krause -Gymnasium in Hamburg- Dulsberg, in the Tuscan order is even hinted at.

In the Casa Batlló Antonio Gaudi extends the classical order of columns from the most innovative. The entablature above the columns is dissolved in gables and nestles in organgischen forms in statically optimized lines the façade up. The columns are understood by Gaudi rather than sculpture and learn an artful development. In his design for the Sagrada Familia it releases final of the classical order and uses only one column obliquely, so follow the static and artistic optimizing the chain lines.

The order of columns is revived in the Nazi era. So spear formulated at the Reich Chancellery to the order of columns. In the garden front of the pillars simple bases obtained ( based on the Ionic order ) and the capitals are flat in relief stylized and seem borrowed from the Corinthian order. But most of the bases and capitals are reduced to simple plinths, run the shanks smooth without fluting or Entasis. The entablature is usually reduced to its cuboid shape or excessive stylized, as in the Haus der Kunst in Munich or at the front entrance at the Germania - design the " Hall of the People ."

Only Postmodernism uses the column order again: Charles Willard Moore (1925-1993) creates in New Orleans Piazza d' Italia a joyous revival of the Renaissance and the order of columns. Rob Krier interpreted in his Cite judiciaire ( in Luxembourg as of 1992 ) new by shrinks the Tuscan pilasters and also simplifies the entablature, the cornice is like the frieze decorated. Ricardo Bofill and Paolo Portoghesi act in a similar manner.

Other orders of columns

• While the classical Greek and Roman architecture has only orders also in multi-storey buildings that stick to the floors, start from the Renaissance columns as well as half-columns larger sections to overlap. This design element is referred to as colossal order.
• In the Romanesque columns are sometimes formed with a much greater diameter. There arise separately from the classical order, a variety of Kapitellformen that are passed on to the Gothic.
• In the Gothic, especially in the high and late Gothic period, the order of columns will be replaced by services.
• A Baroque version of the Ionic order is also called the German order of columns.
• Gianlorenzo Bernini invented in 1624 for the canopy over the grave of Peter in St. Peter's is another, the Solomonic order, which is characterized by spirally twisted column shafts.