Classical Orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian)
Introduction
The classical orders are canonical architectural styles with which, in classical Greek and Roman architecture, an attempt was made to obtain buildings of harmonious proportions in all their parts.
An architectural order, in the context of classical architecture, is an architectural system that affects the project of a building, providing it with its own characteristics and associating it with a certain language and a certain historical style. It includes the set of previously defined and combined elements that relate to each other and to the whole in a coherent way according to the classic precepts of beauty. The different architectural orders were created in classical antiquity, although they have sometimes been altered in certain periods, such as the Renaissance.
The architectural order arises from the need to establish a relationship between each of the parts of the building, managing to define an aesthetic pattern that reproduces the ideal of beauty of the historical period in question. In classical Greek architecture, order fixed the relationship between the supporting element (the column "Column (architecture)") and the supported element (lintel).
For most people, the most recognizable element, the one that differentiates one order from the others, is the capital, in which no geometric layout pattern is followed, but rather its composition was freely designed.
History
These rules of composition were developed in Greece and reached maturity in the classical period from the century BC. C. leading to the creation of three orders: the Doric, the Ionic and the Corinthian (considered by some authors a variation of the Ionic). From the century BC. C. were reused and adapted in the Roman Empire, giving rise to two other orders: the Tuscan (simplified version of the Doric) and the compound (combination between Ionic and Corinthian).[1].
Vitruvius's manual De Architectura, written in the century BC. C., was the only written legacy about the architecture of Antiquity that survived the passage of time. It was rediscovered in the 19th century, and ended up becoming an essential manual in the field of architecture and the classical orders in particular.[1].
In 1562, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola published the treatise Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura in which the five architectural orders are listed and defined, presents a study and a systematization, defining their composition proportions from a module and establishing the geometric layouts to be used by architects in the future.[1].