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Dec 23 - Jan 6, 2001 |
A timeless architect of the future
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio's De Architectura is still relevant after 2000 years
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2001-12-09
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The Vitrius drawing that inspired Michaelangelo
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Some 2000 years ago, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio wrote "Fame escaped me. I'm not well known, and I can only hope in posterity." His lack of fame with his contemporaries is proven by the scarcity of news about him; his luck with posterity is proven by the success of his De Architectura, history's first architecture handbook which fascinated Leonardo da Vinci and hosts of architects. It also anticipated the ideas of the Renaissance.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio lived during the times of Caesar and Augustus (Vitruvius dedicated his work to the latter, and probably wrote it in his adult age, around 27 B.C.). In regards to his birthplace, many Italian towns claim the honour: Verona, Piacenza, Fano, Formia. The most likely contender is Formia because the gens Vitruvia was originally from there, and several inscriptions mention the name Vitruvius. That's all we know.
We learn a lot more about Vitruvius from the pages of his masterpiece. De Architectura is not just a handbook on civil engineering and construction techniques, but also a philosophy treatise. The author compiled his technical knowledge and his outlook on life as well, describing his own personality better than any biographer could do. And that's where our interest lies.
The book is a heavyweight (10 tomes), and reveals how the Romans built so many roads, bridges, buildings, and aqueducts. It contains precise descriptions of methods, scale drawings, machines for lifting large stones and beams, and what would now be called construction site organization.
For instance, it makes us understand why Roman roads have such a long and useful life. They were to be made in four layers, Vitruvius wrote: the first of crushed stone, the second of fist-sized stones. Before laying them, these materials were to be mixed with lime, and after laying them (for a total height of at least 23 centimetres) they were to be accurately beaten with large logs in order to compact them. Over these two layers went at least 15 centimetres of nucleus, i.e. a mortar composed of ground terracotta and lime. Finally, the fourth layer was the pavimentum, i.e. the pavement of large flat stones. As an alternative to the double foundation layer, Vitruvius suggested the use of gravel and pozzolana, natural cement that could create a very strong foundation. Nowadays we would call it a sort of concrete.
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