2015 Annual Symposium
Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain
The Tercentenary of Vitruvius Britannicus: Architectural Books in Eighteenth Century Britain
The 2015 SAHGB annual symposium will mark the Tercentenary of the publication of volume I of Vitruvius Britannicus: a formative text in the history of British Architecture which went on to inspire authors and architects at home and abroad for many years. Although Colen Campbell authored volumes one to three (1715, 1717 and 1725) the legacy continued long after his death with further volumes from Badeslade and Roque in 1739, and Woolfe and Gandon in 1767 and 1771. Further to this, George Richardson’s New Vitruvius Britannica appeared almost one hundred years later (1802-8) to continue the legacy.
This dynasty spanned almost a century, but the effect of these books has been far reaching and hugely influential both at home and abroad. This symposium will allow a re-evaluation of the publication and its reception and legacy through the themes of architectural history, drawing scholarship, and architectural publishing.
16 May 2015, 10:00-18:00
Hosted by the Royal Academy of Arts
Burlington House, Piccadilly
Please contact Dr Joanne O’Hara with any questions at symposium2015@sahgb.org.uk
ARQ 123 | Housing: Urban Form
As far as we know, it was Leon Battista Alberti who first set down in writing the reciprocal analogy between house and city. Writing in the mid-15th century—at a time when cities were believed to grow according to principles of natural law—he proposed the phrase now...