With
The Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to the Middle
Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Associate
Dean John Stamper examines the development of Roman temple
architecture from its earliest history in the sixth century BC to the
reigns of Hadrian and the Antonines in the second century A.D.
Prof. Stamper begins with a challenge to the currently accepted reconstruction
of the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, arguing that its width, length,
height and interaxial spacings are far too large for the technology
of Roman builders in the sixth-century B.C. Because of its exaggerated
size, the Capitoline Temple has been viewed---until now---as an anomaly
in the history of Roman architecture. This exaggerated size has always
made it difficult to relate the Capitoline Temple to either contemporary
Etruscan or later Roman temple architecture.
The new reconstruction proposed by Prof. Stamper is based on a different interpretation of the building's physical and written evidence, and it takes into account a comparative study of later temple architecture in Rome. It proposed a building whose dimensions are more compatible with both contemporary and later temples, and thus more within the actual capabilities of builders in the sixth-century B.C. The Temple of Capitoline Jupiter presented here is seen not as an anomoly, but rather, as a paradigmatic building that had a major influence on the designs of many later temple structures and their iconographic programs, at least until the middle of the second century A.D.
Prof. Stamper analyzes the temples' formal qualities, the public spaces
in which they were located and, most importantly, the authority of precedent
in their designs. He also traces Rome's temple architecture as it evolved
over time and how it accommodated changing political and religious contexts,
as well as the affects of new stylistic influences.
In Timeless Cities: An Architect's Reflections on Renaissance Italy (Westview Press), Prof. David Mayernik traces the continuity of the Idea of the City in five Italian cities from late antiquity through the 18th century, looking most deeply at the extended Renaissance, examining both the urban artifacts themselves and what the people who built them said and thought about them. The urban story that unfolds is a powerful testimony to the beauty of cities and the nobility of city-dwelling, but ultimately to the importance of coming to grips with what we want to say with our own urban legacy.
The Architecture of the Classical Interior (W. W. Norton & Company), by Prof. Steven Semes, is a unique study of the formal and compositional --- as well as pragmatic and constructional --- issues arising in the design and appreciation of interior architecture in the classical tradition. While the literature of classical architecture is rich in reflections about the design of building exteriors, there has been little attention to issues specific to the design of interior rooms. The book describes the design of classical rooms according to 10 principles: space, structure, the orders, elements, composition, proportion, ornament, decoration, light and color, and character. Chapters on each of these principles are followed by chapters reviewing individual elements, such as ceilings, wall treatments, doors and windows, fireplaces, stairs, and millwork. Illustrations are drawn from rooms spanning the entire classical tradition, from ancient
Approximately
2,025 years ago, an aged Roman architect named Vitruvius wrote down
on 10 scrolls everything he knew about architecture. He presented this
work, known today as "Ten Books on Architecture," to Emperor
Augustus in the hope of changing what he perceived as a rampant lack
of professionalism and educational rigor in the practice of architecture.
The "Ten Books," the most comprehensive architectural book
written in antiquity and the only such work to survive, is a seminal
volume in Western culture and continues to be an important resource.
In Viturvius on Architecture, Prof.
Thomas Gordon Smith presents not only a new translation of
the five books most relevant to contemporary architecture but also new
drawings and watercolors that illustrate, for the first time since ancient
days, Vitruvis's methods of proportion and composition. Prof. Smith
re-created these finely detailed illustrations directly from the text.
Also included are many photographs of historic architecture from Greece,
Italy, Turkey and throughout the Mediterranean region.
Thomas
Gordon Smith: The Rebirth of Classical Architecture (Andreas
Papadakis Publishers) highlights the career and achievements of Thomas
Gordon Smith, a professor of architecture at the University of Notre
Dame. Written by Richard John, a professor of architecture at the University
of Miami, the book highlights the central role Smith has played in the
revival of classicism in contemporary architecture in America during
the past two decades and examines Smith's influential role as educator,
commentator on the Roman architect Vitruvius, historian of the Greek
Revival, painter of frescoes, and designer and collector of furniture.
Prof. Dennis Doordan's Twentieth-Century Architecture (Prentice
Hall) presents a detailed account of the many architectural orientations
of the last 100 years. The book explores a broad spectrum of styles
- including art deco, organic, state classicism and traditional architecture
- and their relationship to the social, cultural and political life
of the period.
With Nisyros:
History and Architecture of an Aegean Island (Melissa), Prof. Richard Economakis highlights the Greek island's history, countryside and the
architecture of its ancient settlements. The book examines the indigenous
architecture and the increasing tendencies toward social and urban disintegration
and charts a new way forward that respects the spirit of new traditional
architecture and urbanism.
In Nature and the Idea of a Man-Made World (MIT Press) Prof. Norman Crowe argues that we have lost a vital balance between the built environment and nature by neglecting our traditional motives for building in the first place. His approach to understanding the built environment is to see it as a sort of nature in itself, revealed through an exploration of the evolutionary roots of form and order in the built environment, beginning from a time when human settlements first emerged in lonely isolation among the wilds of nature. In counter distinction to our understanding of architecture and urbanism today, with its reliance on the abstractions of post-Enlightenment science and an increasingly commercialized culture of economic quantification, Prof. Crowe articulates values that animated architecture and urbanism until our own time. Explorations include the quest for unity in things man-made, the ancient idea of harmony, approaches to the inevitability of change in the quest for timelessness, and the idea of the city as the manifestation of all of these things and, especially, their relationship to the natural world upon which we ultimately depend.
Reconquering Sacred Space 2000 (Il Bosco e La Nave, Rome), edited by Prof. Duncan Stroik, is the first book in over four decades to showcase the new Renaissance of Catholic architecture. Over 40 new sacred buildings and works of art are featured created by architects and artists from around the world. Reconquering Sacred Space is the book which accompanied the groundbreaking exhibition held in Rome in the Fall of 1999. Included in this book are essays on the tradition of classical architecture since WWII, the importance of symbolism and iconography, the limitations of abstract modernism, and the church in city planning. Dr. Denis McNamara writes that Reconquering Sacred Space “proves a very important foundation for future work, a critically important first step toward rediscovering how to make brick and stone and steel rise to a sacramental level, so that material things may manifestly represent the spiritual realities of the Church.”
Samir
Younés, Director of the Rome Studies Program, is the author of The True, the Fictive and the
Real, The Historical Dictionary of Architecture of Quatremère
de Quincy (Papadakis). The book's introductory essays examine
the thought of French theorist A.C. Quatremère de Quincy (1755
- 1849) and its applicability to contemporary traditional architecture.
It also provides the first English translation of all the key entries
of the Historical Dictionary of Architecture. The Journal of Architectural
Education's Book Review called the book: "...an important contribution
on the role of tradition in contemporary architectural practice."
These books may be ordered from the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.
