Orders of Columns and Architectural Alphabet

Architectural Orders and Systems of Drawing

These six architectural posters show how historical treatises translated building design into rules, measurements and images. The classical orders are examined from the complete system down to the individual capital, while Johann David Steingruber transforms letters into extraordinary architectural plans.

AP 405 and AP 210 · Claude Perrault, Les cinq ordres d’architecture

Claude Perrault published his Ordonnance des cinq espèces de colonnes selon la méthode des anciens in Paris in 1683. Its first plate places the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite columns side by side within a shared proportional grid, allowing their bases, shafts, capitals and entablatures to be compared directly. AP 405 retains the character of the historical treatise page, whereas AP 210 turns the same image into an accessible chart by adding a title and the names of all five orders.

AP 203 · Francesco Muttoni, Ordine Dorico

In the eighteenth century, Francesco Muttoni devoted an extensive edition to the architecture of Andrea Palladio. This Doric plate breaks the order into measurable components: column shaft and base, capital, architrave, triglyph frieze and cornice are accompanied by dimensions and construction lines. Rosettes, diamond panels and a bucranium in the metope also demonstrate how geometric proportion and sculptural ornament operate within the same architectural system.

AP 209 and AP 204 · Ionic and Corinthian Capitals

Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola’s Regola delli cinque ordini d’architettura, published in 1563, became a fundamental visual and proportional guide to the classical orders. AP 209 concentrates on the Ionic order with its volutes, egg-and-dart moulding and richly ornamented entablature; dimension lines and geometric guides explain its construction. AP 204 returns to Perrault and compares Corinthian capitals with their layered acanthus leaves and volutes. A plan, geometric construction and an ancient fragment bring the ideal rule into dialogue with the study of surviving architecture.

AP 202 · Johann David Steingruber, Architectural Alphabet

Johann David Steingruber’s Architectonisches Alphabeth, printed in Schwabach in 1773, comprises thirty designs. The outlines of letters become plans for princely residences, chapels, churches and a monastery. This poster assembles the letters A to Z as a compact survey. Staircases, sequences of rooms, courtyards and halls follow each letterform, turning writing into a playful experiment in Baroque architectural planning.