Vitruvius quotes - page 10

Thus a material which cannot last even a little while above ground, endures for a long time when covered with moisture. (Vitruvius)
Lay a second foundation enough inside the first. View quote
Vitruvius
Bricks will be most serviceable if made two years before using; for they cannot dry thoroughly in less time. When fresh undried bricks are used in a wall, the stucco covering. View quote
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The trees in sunny neighborhoods. View quote
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As for "wattle and daub" I could wish that it had never been invented. View quote
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In Sparta, paintings have been taken out of certain walls by cutting through the bricks, then have been placed in wooden frames, and so brought to the Comitium. View quote
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In swampy places, alder piles driven close together beneath the foundations of buildings. View quote
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The construction of temples of the Ionic order. View quote
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In felling a tree we should cut into the trunk of it to the very heart, and then leave it standing so that the sap may drain out drop by drop throughout the whole of it. View quote
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Cypress and pine are also just as admirable; for although they... are apt to warp. View quote
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The towers themselves must be either round or polygonal. Square towers are sooner shattered by military engines. (Vitruvius)
Economy consists in a due and proper application of the means afforded according to the ability of the employer and the situation chosen; care being taken that the expenditure is prudently conducted. View quote
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Architect's designs must refer to the unquestionable perfection of the body's symmetry and proportions. If a building is to create a sense of eurythmia, it is essential that it mirrors these natural laws of harmony and beauty. View quote
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A harmonious design requires that nothing be added or taken away. View quote
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The architect must not only understand drawing, but music. View quote
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Lay a second foundation enough inside the first... Having laid these two foundations... build cross walls between them uniting the outer and inner foundation in a comb like arrangement set like teeth of a saw. With this form of construction the burden of earth will be distributed into small bodies and will not lie with all its weight in one crushing mass so as to thrust out substructures. View quote
Vitruvius
There is no kind of material, no body, and no thing that can be produced or conceived of, which is not made up of elementary particles; and nature does not admit of a truthful exploration in accordance with the doctrines of the physicists without an accurate demonstration of the primary causes of things, showing how and why they are as they are. View quote
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If there are no sandpits from which it can be dug, then we must sift it out from river beds or from gravel or even from the sea beach. This kind however has these defects when used in masonry: it dries slowly... and such a wall cannot carry vaultings. Furthermore, when sea-sand is used in walls and these are coated with stucco, a salty efflorescence is given out which spoils the surface. View quote
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In Sparta, paintings have been taken out of certain walls by cutting through the bricks, then have been placed in wooden frames, and so brought to the Comitium to adorn the aedileship of [C. Visellius] Varro and [C. Licinius] Murena. View quote
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Trees which grow in places facing the course of the sun are not of porous fiber but are solid, being drained by the dryness... The trees in sunny neighborhoods, therefore, being solidified by the compact texture of their fiber, and not being porous from moisture, are very useful, so far as durability goes, when they are hewn into timber. The lowland firs, being conveyed from sunny places, are better than those highland firs, which are brought here from shady places. View quote
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For the eye is always in search of beauty, and if we do not gratify its desire for pleasure by a proportionate enlargement in these measures, and thus make compensation for ocular deception, a clumsy and awkward appearance will be presented to the beholder. (Vitruvius)
Now architecture consists of order, which in Greek is called taxis ... Order is the balanced adjustment of the details of the work separately, and, as to the whole, the arrangement of the proportion with a view to a symmetrical result. View quote
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There are also kinds of water that cause death, as they run through harmful juices in the soil and become poisonous. View quote
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Quicksilver is used for many purposes; without it, neither silver nor brass can be properly gilt. View quote
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The towers themselves must be either round or polygonal. Square towers are sooner shattered by military engines, for the battering rams pound their angles to pieces but in the case of round towers they can do no harm being engaged as it were in driving wedges to their center. View quote
Vitruvius