Elements and Materials
Column
Also Known As Pillar
Structural Element
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The upright post that carries load to the ground, and the element classical architecture made expressive: Greece codified its proportions and ornament into the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, and two and a half millennia of buildings have spoken through them. In modern framed construction the column returned as plain steel or concrete, its placement freed from the walls.
Facts
Element Kind First Used EraAncient; codified into the orders by Greece 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
A pilaster is a column flattened onto a wall surface, following the same proportional systems as a freestanding column but usually without entasis.
Seen In
The Doric order, with Ionic elements inside.
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
The Ten Books on Architecture
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, translated by Morris Hicky Morgan, Harvard University Press, 1914Books III-IV, the classical orders
Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996Seen In: Palace of Versailles
Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996Seen In: St. Peter's Basilica
Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996Seen In: The Alhambra
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