48-747 Shape Grammars

THEPALLADIANGRAMMAR

language→style←shapegrammar

analyticshapegrammarsareintendedforaparticularstyle

criteriaforauthoringasuccessfulanalyticgrammarforstylearespelledoutbyStinyandMitchell

clarifytheunderlyingcommonalityofstructureandappearancemanifestforthe

buildingsinthecorpus;

supplytheconventionsandcriterianecessarytodeterminewhetheranyother

buildingnotintheoriginalcorpusisaninstanceofthestyle;and

providethecompositionalmachineryneededtodesignnewbuildingsthatare

instancesinthestyle

thesources

Andrea Palladio I Quattro Libri dell’ Architetura

The Four Books of Architecture, tr. Issac Ware, 1737

The Four Books on Architecture, tr. Robert Tavernor and Richard Schofield, 2002

AndreaPalladio,TheFourBooksonArchitecture,pp56tr.RobertTavernorandRichardSchofield

“And though variety and novelty may please everybody, one

should not, however, do anything that is contrary to the laws of

this art, and contrary to what reason makes obvious; so we can

see that the ancients also made variations, but they never

departed from certain universal and essential rules of this art, as

we shall see in my book of antiquities.”

exemplar–thevillaMalcontenta

exemplar–thevillaMalcontenta

VillaFoscari«LaMalcontenta»

NicolòandAlviseFoscari–twobrothers–commissionedPalladioaresidence–LaMalcontenta–worthyoftheoneofthemostfamousfamiliesintown.

Palladiocreatedavillathatappearsisolatedandimposinglikeacastle.Itisbuiltuponanexceptionallyhighfooting,whichmakesupfortheimpossibilityofcreatingabasement,butmostofallunderlinesthebuilding’smonumentallook.Asthecelebratoryaspectsdominate,farmbuildingsarehiddenfromview.

Circa1554

Source:http://www.lamalcontenta.com/index.php/en/

VillaFoscari«LaMalcontenta»

http://www.lamalcontenta.com/index.php/en/

stagesinshapegrammar

griddefinition

exteriorwallrealignment

roomlayout

interiorwallrealignment

principalentrances-porticosandexteriorwallinflections

exteriorornamentation-columns

windowsanddoors

termination

thestagesinthegrammar

1grid 2exteriorwall 3roomlayout 4realignment

5entrances 6exteriorornament 7windows+doors 8termination

–pictorially

systemofmeasurement

Avicentinefoot

“ThislinewithwhichthefollowingbuildingsaremeasuredishalfaVicentinefoot[piedevicentino].Thefootisdividedinto12inchesandeachinchinto4minutes[minuto]”

Palladio,pp.79

griddefinition

axialsymmetry

“Rooms[stanza]mustbedistributedateithersideoftheentranceandthehall,andonemustensurethatthoseontherightcorrespondandareequaltothoseontheleftsothatthebuildingwillbethesameononesideastheontheotherandthewallswilltaketheweightoftheroofequally;…”

Palladio,pp.57

1.therulesforgeneratingatartangrid

1.griddefinition

“Thereareseventypesofroomthatarethemostbeautifulandwell-proportionedandturnoutbetter;theycanbemadecircular[ritundo],thoughthesearerare;orsquare[quadrato];ortheirlengthwillequalthediagonalofthesquare[quadrato]ofthebreadth;orasquare[quadrato]andathird;orasquare[quadrato],andathird;orasquareandahalf;orasquareandtwo-thirds;ortwosquares.”

1.griddefinition

Toensurebilateralsymmetry,tofixwallthicknessataconstantvalue,andtoincorporateproportioningrulessimultaneously,itisnecessarytoassociateparametersandparametricexpressionswiththegridgenerationrulesandwiththerulesspecifiedinthefollowingstages.

∴Parameterizationofrulesinthisstageismostcritical.

2.exteriorwalldefinition

Ruleforgeneratingexteriorwalls

UnderlyingwallpatternfortheVillaMalcontenta

3.roomlayout

TheinteriorspacesinPalladio'suniaxialvillaplansmayberectangular,I-shaped,T-shaped,or+-shaped.

Noticethataplancanhaveatmostonenonrectangularspaceandthatthisspacemustbebisectedbythenorth-southaxisofthecoordinatesystem–becauseofbilateralsymmetry

3.roomlayout

3.roomlayout

GenerationoftheroomlayoutfortheVillaMalcontenta

4.interiorwallrealignment

Rulesforrealigninginteriorwalls

VillaValmaranainLisiera

VillaValmarana

5.principalentrancesporticosandinflections

porticoinantis

porticoprostyle

5.principalentrances

5.principalentrances

asecondporticoinantis

5.principalentrances

GenerationoftheporticoandwallinflectionfortheVillaMalcontenta

6.exteriorornamentation

“Nowthatwehavetalkedofwallsbythemselves[murosemplices],itisappropriatetomoveontotheirornaments,ofwhichcolumns,whenlocatedproperlyandinproportiontothewholebuilding,arebyfarthemostimportantthatcanbeappliedtoabuilding.”(pp.17)

Rulesforfinishingporticosbytheadditionofcolumns

6.exteriorornamentation

AdditionofcolumnsfortheVillaMalcontenta

7.windowsanddoors

"Thewindowsontherighthandoughttocorrespondtothoseontheleft,andthoseabovedirectlyoverthemthatarebelow;andthedoorslikewiseoughttobedirectlyoveroneanother,thatthevoidmaybeoverthevoid,

andthesoliduponthesolid,andallfaceoneanother,sothatstandingatoneendofthehouseonemayseetotheother,whichaffordsbothbeautyandcoolairinsummer,besidesotherconveniences"

(page31).

Rulesforlocatingwindowsanddoorsinvillaplans

7.windowsanddoors

GenerationofthewindowsanddoorsintheVillaMalcontenta

8.termination

Terminationrules

ThefinalplangeneratedfortheVillaMalcontenta

realorfake?