Scaffold: WWW Architectural Project

Introduction

As in the early stages of all architectural projects, the documents in this scaffold are currently under construction, if not also design. The following is a brief synopsis of their contents and conditions:

• Indian architecture:
  The lower level of the scaffold is devoted to Indian architecture in its various aspects, a subject that provides both the continually developing foundation for my own research in architectural history and theory, and a counterpoint to the western architecture above.
  • sabha: Meetings Halls
    Due to a lack of archaeological evidence for these secular structures, they must be reconstructed from sculptural reliefs and textual sources. The images for this subject have been scanned but the html document is still under construction.
  • vedi: Vedic Altars
    To a great extent, the information in this section of the scaffold has been extracted from chapter 2 of my dissertation, on the ritual foundations of Indian temple architecture.
  • prasada: Indian temples
    This html document, currently under construction, is intended is intended to provide a general introduction to the topic of North Indian temple architecture. For more detail, particularly on temple construction, see my dissertation.
  • yantra: Hindu Tantric Diagrams
    The information on yantras here primarily derives from a paper entitled "Illustrating Occluded Realms: Tantric Geometry and the Approximation of Perfection" that I presented for the topic "Tantra Occluded: The Unrecognized Role of Tantra in Asian Culture," held at the annual meeting of the Society for Tantric Studies, Menlo Park, California, May 28-31, 1992.
  • mandala: Buddhist Tantric Diagrams
    This study of mandalas is based in part on a course in the construction of the five mandalas of the Vajrakilaya tradition that I attended at Namgyal Tantric College, Dharamsala, India, in 1991, and on observation of mandala construction by various groups of Buddhist monks in India and the United States.

• Classical and Renaissance architecture:
  The second level of the scaffold, the "piano nobile," is devoted to some of the primary sources of western architectural history and theory.
  • arxitekton
    This section will contain references to architects and architecture in classical Greek literature. The texts for this subject have been gathered, but the html document is still under construction.
  • Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c. 90-20 BCE)
    This subject currently consists of 12 images scanned from an eighteenth century Venetian compendium on Vitruvius, from the Perkins Library at the University of Pennsylvania. The portions of Vitruvius's text that refer to these images will be added as construction on this html document progresses.
  • Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72)
    This section of the scaffold, although minimally constructed at this time, has great "hypertextual" potential, particularly in tracing Alberti's comments on Vitruvius's treatise.
  • Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501/2)
    No mention of Renaissance treatises on architecture would be complete without di Giorgio's trattato di architettura civile e militare, which provides a practical counterpoint to the works of both Vitruvius and Alberti. This document is currently in the planning stages, and will consist of illustrations from editions of di Giorgio's treatise in the collection of the Perkins Library at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Bernardino Baldi (1553-1617)
    In response to Leon Battista Alberti's comments on Vitruvius's writing style and use of technical terminology, Bernardino Baldi wrote the first philological commentary on Vitruvius, entitled de verborum vitruvianorum significatione. This html document, not yet constructed, will present this and another work by Baldi, scamilli impares vitruviani, in which Baldi interprets Vitruvius's use of that term. The illustrations are from a seventeenth century edition of Baldi's treatise in the collection of the Perkins Library at the University of Pennsylvania.

• DOE 410 Architecture Studio:
  The upper level of the scaffold is devoted to some of the coursework of this undergraduate architecture studio from the Design of Environment Program in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Course description
    "Architecture (Fall) and Landscape (Spring) Studio. As an introduction to architecture and landscape design, complex projects explore the interdependence of building and landscape and engage in perceptual, technical and behavioral issues: order, light, scale, structure, community and privacy. Projects both unique and archetypal introduce students to a broad range of questions relevant to urban, suburban and ex-urban settings."
  • Materials
    Throughout this course, three lectures will be given on architects, the first of which is on the work of Josef Plecnik and Sigurd Lewerentz. During this time, students will be developing the plans of their projects, and thus selected examples of the work of these architects is presented with emphasis on their use of materials, particularly applied to floors.
  • Elevations
    A series of lectures will also be given on building parts throughout this course, ranging from floors, to walls, to doors and windows, and finally to ceilings. The second of these, on walls, is given here.
  • Representation
    The techniques of various media, including pencil drawing, collage, ink, and watercolor, are also presented in a series of separate lectures. The lecture on "ink" is here framed by a presentation of the concepts of exactitude, precision, and accuracy.
  • Interpretation
    Groups of artists, as well as architects, are discussed in this course. In this lecture on Andrea Mantegna and Rene Magritte, the problems and possibilities of interpretation are discussed.

Patrick George's creative website regarding architecture in South Asia remains a useful and informative resource. Unfortunately, we have no idea where the author now is or how to make contact with him.