Leon Battista Alberti

Alberti was a priest, a humanist, a mathematician, a poet and an architect as well ( although he
never directed any of projects). He was one of the great figures of humanism and the Renaissance.
In 1452 he wrote De re aedificatoria, a complete treaty on architecture dealing with all
theoretical and practical aspects of the profession. This treaty was destined to the general public,
and Alberti took Vitruvius books as a model.
In his opinion ,the architect will the one who using an admirable method has studied how to
project theoretically and also how to put into practice any work that suits most human needs in a
beautiful way.
De Re Aedificatoria
Alberti's Ten Books consciously echoes Vitruvius's writing, but Alberti also adopts a critical
attitude toward his predecessor. In his discussion, Alberti includes a wide variety of literary sources,
including Plato and Aristotle, presenting a concise version of the sociology of architecture. De re
aedificatoria is subdivided into ten books and includes:
Book One: Lineaments
Book Two: Materials
Book Three: Construction
Book Four: Public Works
Book Five: Works of Individuals
Book Six: Ornament
Book Seven: Ornament to Sacred Buildings
Book Eight: Ornament to Public Secular Buildings
Book Nine: Ornament to Private Buildings
Book Ten: Restoration of Buildings
In his survey of desirable floor plans for sacred buildings "temples" in his phraseAlberti
begins with the ideal form of the circle, which is expressed in numerous examples of Nature. Nine
ideal centrally-planned geometrical shapes are recommended for churches; besides the circle he lists
the square, the hexagon, octagon, decagon and dodecagon, all derived from the circle, and, derived
from the square, rectangles that exhibit the square and a half, square and a third and double square,
all of which have enharmonic parallels in music. Chapels add small geometric figures to the basic
circles and polygons to give a great variety of floor plans, in which each geometrical figure retains
its clear unity and simple ratios that bind all elements of the plans and elevations into a harmonic
unity.
De re aedificatoria remained the classic treatise on architecture from the 16th until the 18th
century.

A.C Quatremre de Quincy.

De Quincy was a French archaeologist, philosopher, art crtic and politician. Quatremre de
Quincy was the author of several articles and books and he was also responsible for editing de
Dictionnaire historique de l'Architecture
In his view of the generic definition of architecture as the art of construction, he will exclude
what correspondes to the material part, limiting to what takes into account the combination of
orders, intelligence and moral pleasure. For him architecture equals projecting, in this sense, he
inherits this concept from Alberti but he focuses more on the project.
Quatremre's historical investigations led him to formulate his theory of typological origins
around three kinds of early societies and of their respective types of shelter. According to the
various regions where the first societies found themselves, men submissive in those primitive times
to the hand of nature remain, according to their differing positions, hunter,s shephers or farmers.
The first dwellings that where associated with these three kinds of occupations could reflect their
requirements and bear very different characteristics. He associated the respective architectural types
of the cave, tent and hut which he in turn saw to be represented by the civilizations of Egypt, China
and Greece. The hunters who required to travel long distances found more convenient to hollow out
dwellings on the rocks or in caverns. As for the nomadic shepherds as they find difficult to find a
cave while wandering would rely for their shelter upon a tent. The agricultural society developed a
higher degree of stability and planning was thus represented in the form of their first shelter-the hut.