Ten Books on Architecture

it is mostly occupied with combustion or obscurity, on account of the more illustrious rays of other light than those of the object itself.

Jo. Heurn. Hist. Med. lib. 7. c. 2.

From these diverse sciences, as I have said, and perhaps from others as well, Architects derive their learning regarding the choice of site: in which I have not been as severe as a learned man of our age, who precisely restricts the perfect site, especially regarding healthfulness, to a place against which the Sun casts its rays when it rises under Aries: To put it in a word, he wishes to have the first salutation of spring. But these remarks, wherever we encounter them in serious or light authors, are in my judgment wishes rather than precepts, and in this capacity I let them pass. Meanwhile, I affirm that in choosing a site (which is, as it were, a marriage with a place), builders ought to be as prudent as suitors: lest, when we have done everything, the condemnation that our Master pronounces upon Mytilene falls upon us: a town, indeed, he says, built elegantly, but situated imprudently. And these things, then, concerning universal position or station.

There follows now the arrangement of parts; regarding which (so that I may attribute as little as possible in this work of mine to imagination, which is uncertain and irregular), I shall propose a rule collected by myself, and which I came upon in this way: I had noted that every art is then most perfect when it can be reduced to some natural principle. For what are the most judicious Artists if not mimics of nature? This led me to contemplate the fabric of our own body, in which the supreme Architect shows such industry that it carries human reason into astonishment. There I encountered the Heart, as the fountain of life, located roughly in the center for the most equal distribution of vital spirits. The eyes placed above, so that they might be able to describe so much the greater circle within their sight. The arms projected to either side, so that they might grasp more easily. In short (lest we wander in this pleasant speculation), it clearly appears, as a sentiment drawn from divine light, that the place of each and every part must be determined by its use.

Therefore, that we may proceed from natural structure to artificial, and preserve in rougher things some image of the most excellent: Let all principal rooms serving pleasure, such as museums and libraries, face the East: for the dawn is friendly to the Muses. Let all service areas that require heat, such as kitchens, baths, bakeries, washrooms, and the like, face the South. Let all that require a cool temperature, such as storerooms, granaries, and the like, face the North. To this same side also those things that are destined for motion, such as porticoes, especially in hot climates, or those which otherwise demand a constant and invariable light, such as Pinacothecae (says Vitruvius), by which he understands (if it is permitted to conjecture from his Greek, as is often necessary regarding Latin) certain repositories of rare painted works or others, which the Italians call Studioli, which in other places where the course of the Sun varies shadows would lose much of their grace. And according to this rule, with consideration always given to use, each part will be able to be aptly located.

It must not be passed over here that the ancient Greeks and Romans, in the country and in a place free on all sides, almost religiously established the fronts of their houses toward the South; perhaps lest the eye of the master returning home should be dimmed, or so that the front, illuminated by the Sun, might render a more pleasing aspect, or for some such reason. But the Italians today differ from this, concerning which more will be said elsewhere. Let these things suffice thus far regarding the position of individual members: of which, as our Author often implies, and especially in book 6, chapter 10, a singular account must be had, according to the nature of Regions; for every Nation is held, above any rules whatsoever, to prudently foresee against its own inconveniences, and for that reason, perhaps, a good dining room in Egypt would make a good storeroom in England. There follows now the second member, concerning the general section of the work. In the work, I shall first consider the principal parts;