Architectural knowledge

Abstract

The subject of this chapter is the structure of architectural knowledge in the long sixteenth century. In its first section, the social dimension of the structure of architectural knowledge is addressed, which is not regarded as a feature particular to this field of practical knowledge, but something that can be studied in almost every complex field of such knowledge. In the second section, the focus lies on the central figure of the field of architectural knowledge, namely the architect. Special attention is paid to the development of the scope of his tasks during the Renaissance and to a trend towards specialization among architects. Finally, aspects of the mathematical knowledge of Renaissance architects are the topic of the third and last section. In particular, the knowledge structure of geometrical procedures that were employed and developed by architects over centuries and that cannot be regarded as applications of learned (Euclidean) geometry will be discussed; rather, these procedures eventually constituted the starting point of a new sub-discipline of learned geometry: descriptive geometry.