Abstract
Continued from part 1, in this part I made a list of all (80) examples of the word "ordo" from the "De re aedificatoria", grouping them in several meanings, and concluded that in relation to design process, this word had two meanings : order and image of classical form. Vitruvius had used a word "symmetria" about order, in his "libri decem". Alberti didn't use the word symmetria, but said the concept in several words, namely "ordo, ratio, genus, columnatio and lineamentum". Comparing these words, I thought that "ordo" related to impression and the general name of forms of order, but "ratio" related to methods of making formes of order. And more generally than order (column & entablature etc.) in the design of architecture, "ordo" has a function of systematic structural image. Probably, this image may be made of some fragments of old Roman monuments, fantastic parts of architecture in pictures and a few of contemporaneous architecture of Brunelleschi's school etc.. And, I think, this image has more personal character than concrete standerds of judgment. On the contrary, "ratio" has a methodical objectivity as "modulor" or knowledge of classical construction etc.. Consequently, in design process, "ordo" has function of a ideal classical image and "ratio" has faculty of methodical judgment.
