INFLUENCE OF THE VITRUVIAN MAN IN WESTERN ARCHITECTURAL AESTHETICS

Abstract

: Although knowledge regarding the economic use of space and of building techniques in Vitruvius’ The Ten Books on Architecture may have been phased out over time, Vitruvius’ concept of Beauty alone has kept its status as the unique origin of aesthetic standards in Western architectural culture, even in the broader occidental culture of Western plastic arts in general, not just in architectural culture. Through studying Vitruvius’ The Ten Books on Architecture, Alberti’s The Ten Books of Architecture and Palladio’s The Four Books on Architecture, this research analyses and discusses aesthetic standards in Western architectural culture as an introductory study of Western traditional aesthetics. This research draws the following conclusions on aesthetic views represented in these architectural books: (1) Aesthetic implications came to be gradually obscured; (2) Aesthetic form became more sophisticated step by step; (3) Development of the formal principles of Western aesthetics may be traced back to the Pythagorean theory of numbers.