The Foundations of Classical Architecture: Classical Design Principles

In the final video of the ICAA's four-part educational video series on classical architecture, architectural historian Calder Loth explores several classical design motifs, as well as basic design principles to be aware of when working in the classical language today.
Viewers may receive one continuing education (CE) and/or AIA credit by watching this video and subsequently scoring at least 80% on a quiz that tests your understanding of the material. To learn more, click here: www.classicist.org/calder-lot...
Read more: www.classicist.org/articles/t...

[@davidb5205]

As someone with zero knowledge of architecture, I found this 4 hour series surprisingly engaging. Thank you for making this freely available.

[@theawesomesausage]

This was absolutely brilliant. I'd love a series like this for gothic architecture as well.

[@rubenpietermark7923]

That's not really a subject for the 'classicist' though.

[@theawesomesausage]

@@rubenpietermark7923 I know.

[@mehmethac7168]

Oh my bruh

[@davidb5205]

Agreed! I would love to find a similar detailed channel/institute for Gothic, Baroque, Islamic, East Asian (differences between China, Japan, Korea roofs)

[@NFTenjoyer]

This video series has been a treat. I'm not an architect but I thoroughly enjoyed them and learned new things I didn't know.

[@NFTenjoyer]

@Clint Eastwood that's a bit harsh. I think modern architecture is beautiful.

[@NFTenjoyer]

@Clint Eastwood you're not blind, just have a different notion of beauty. Beauty is subjective

[@NFTenjoyer]

@Clint Eastwood exactly.

[@goognamgoognw6637]

Wow i don't see what Clint Eastwood said but he's been gagged, not cool. Too much totalitarian violation of the right to freedom of expression by youtube creators and youtube.

[@danielw.2554]

@@NFTenjoyer y_

[@LiwaySaGu]

what a treasure trove! my only regret is that it's only 4 videos long. many of us around the world who don't have access to classical architure experts rely only on these videos. please consider making more extensive lessons. this would do a huge service to the world's collective pursuit of classical architecture.

[@ClavesCoelorum]

I can only agree with the other commenters here. The series has been extremely helpful in acquiring the "grammar" of classical architecture. It has made me want to learn more. Thank you!

[@imperialsecuritybureau6037]

It’s great that these guys not only do their paid lectures, but also release all of this content online for free! Awesome. Well-made video too. Thanks!!

[@xv12commander]

It's so bad you did only 4 lessons... I'd watch 10 without getting bored!

[@goognamgoognw6637]

I'd have to agree.

[@r.t.dominguez1717]

I have never seen an architectural video of this caliber let alone so historic in nature. I wish I've seen your videos 15-20 years ago. It would have helped me on my lectures tremendously. Great job Professor Calder Loth. I'm a fan. ❤️ What a treat!

[@goognamgoognw6637]

That's because you're a lazy ass. Everything he presented was available in most public libraries in the architecture section for the last 40 years at least and now you can find all the original historical drawing books on digitized online libraries for free ! Most people are just lazy asses who don't go explore and need to be spoon fed to learn anything.

[@gustavsamuel]

@@goognamgoognw6637 And who are you?

[@roundninja]

This whole series was fascinating. Wish it was longer.

[@MrMotoMojo]

A delightful sojourn into the elements of classical architecture and its widespread influence in American design beginning with Colonial America. His passion and scholarship make his lecture series a joy to experience. Having spent years amid these designs as a native Marylander I am finally able to see with new eyes the beauty of my birth place. Thank you!

[@KurtisHord]

jack me off in greek bro

[@AntPDC]

Simply wonderful survey presented with connoisseurship and enthusiasm. Thank you Mr Loth.

[@elijahjones9240]

I enjoy watching and listening to America history and it's amazing architecture.

[@Aesthety]

There is no way for me to express my genuine gratitude for those series! A true gem. Please please PLEASE keep the videos coming! With such rarity of materials on the subject this really is invaluable!

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

All I can say about this wonderful course is: more, more, more!

[@A_name_is_a_name]

This stuff is actually a lot cooler than I thought it’d be.

[@Kid_Naps]

Pretty cool documents. I use them to better my building skills in Minecraft xD

[@ThePlayfarer]

Ah, a man of culture!

[@rokano]

Someone who plays Minecraft and also studies classical architecture-now that's a rarity.

[@jamesondiep6609]

@@rokano I'm a 14 yo and I am that rarity. Quite a nerd am I?

[@ourowndevices5907]

Hahahaha exactly why I'm here

[@icemanmusic44]

As someone who is blatantly obsessed with ancient Greece and Roman Architecture, this video marks all of the boxes, I know that there are many who would find this video boring but I could not stop watching as it fed all my obsessions over classical architecture. I have a dream to build a classical style dream home and want to make sure I have it done so correctly.

[@erhubbell]

I am so much enjoying this series! I have always loved beautiful buildings, but this series helped to unpack what exactly made them beautiful and why some replicas look cheap or "off." Thank you for this.

[@3sampv]

Truly excellent lecture series, thanks for sharing them.

[@goognamgoognw6637]

An alright series with the main merit that it exists.

[@lisaschmidt9718]

This needs more views!

[@Lucas-me9pf]

Excellent videos! Please one on proportions for facades Regulating lines, Golden Ratio, etc... thanks!

[@mralvarez147]

these videos should be watched by all craftsman

[@user-hs1ku7nd2l]

Thank you very much! You`ve done a great job for many generations!

[@JTD95]

Absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for these videos!

[@antoniadelaunay8585]

Absolutely engrossing. Prof Calder Loth you should be cloned. This is required viewing for every person who says they are an architect and for all or us who thought if you see one classical facade you've seen them all. I have a lot of catching up to do...THANK YOU for your straight talking too. Fortunate indeed are your formal students and your lay amateur audience too. :) You Tube is a gift to humanity for making this possible.

[@Eirikr430428]

Thank you for introducing me to the uses and misuses of classical architecture!

[@capsicumthief1731]

I wish there were more of these. Please make more.

[@user-qf4pj1ok3y]

This video opens the gate to a new world for me.

[@n30hrtgdv]

I'm learning classical architecture for a gamedev project, this video is amazing!! thanks for sharing knowledge with the world!!

[@horaciomillan4181]

How much have I learned with this videos! I thank you so much for them. And more so, you've put in words my thoughts, something I could not be able to do by myself. You have to know a lot and have a great genius to do such a thing. Thank you so much, I will use this knowledge in my classes.

[@richardsmith2879]

Well, these lectures are pure genius. Thank you.

[@andrewlandry2447]

This entire series was impeccable. As fine an introduction to classical principles as one could ask for. Informative, insightful, surprising, and clever. Calder’s knowledge, pacing and dry wit made the entire series an absolute joy. Thank you!

[@danielleboyd3070]

A delightful and informative presentation. Thank you.

[@r.t.dominguez1717]

I have never seen an architectural video of this caliber let alone so historic in nature. I wish I've seen your videos 15-20 years ago. It would have helped me on my lectures tremendously. Great job Professor Calder Loth. I'm a fan. ❤️ Thank you for making and sharing these videos! ❤️

[@goognamgoognw6637]

That's because you're a lazy ass. Everything he presented was available in most public libraries in the architecture section for the last 40 years at least and now you can find all the original historical drawing books on digitized online libraries for free ! Most people are just lazy asses who don't go explore and need to be spoon fed to learn anything.

[@laureanosamuelolmoromero5756]

thank you Calder and thank you ICAA, very much appreciated, thank you!!

[@doeixo]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! WE THE DISSIDENTS IN ARCHITECTURE WILL CONTINUE FIGHTING!! AND LONGING FOR MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS. THANK YOU SINCERELY, WE NEED MORE OF THIS SHIT. THANK YOU SO MUCH. -DO EIXO

[@36-777]

Such beautiful piece of architecture.

[@TheCaffeinatedOrganist]

Perfectly grand lecture. I enjoyed it all very much.

[@lmyrski8385]

FASCINATING! Thank you!

[@RoccosModernPiano]

Thank you for posting this!

[@arider81]

this series is a goldmine for students of architecture, thank you so much!

[@williamsignet1693]

I really enjoyed these presentations. Thank you. As I live in Mexico currently, I am now walking the streets seeing many of the motifs presented here, but which obviously came through a geographical route other than the Greece to Rome to England to the Eastern Seaboard dealt with here. I am guessing that colonial Spanish architects studied the Romans and Italians as well. Thanks again.

[@SwedehartYT]

Thank you for this series it was amazing

[@ady8817]

thank you for this amazing work

[@Thirteenthdi]

Thank you. This taught me so much.

[@christinamifsud155]

“Don’t go there unless you know what you’re doing.” - Prof. C. Loth

[@4160boy]

You did the world a great favor!

[@artisanhome8980]

Thanks for sharing!

[@adonaisf]

This classes are awesome

[@euly]

I put this on to fall asleep but it's presented so well and so sassily I'll sadly not sleep well

[@goodboybuddy1]

Very well done! Thanks

[@HostileLemons]

Wonderful video!

[@user-rz5ho2jj2t]

This is amazing, I will never look at the buildings around me the same way

[@nickrozzi3125]

Thank God for you guys!

[@creestee08]

i feel so smart now. thank you!

[@antoniusrusticus383]

If you hammer a plate or bowl out of copper, it's easier to get a flat bottom if you hammer the nob in the middle of the plate first.

[@MrOliverwoods]

wonderful speaker

[@doeixo]

TRULLY EXCELLENT

[@haroldmclean3755]

Excellent 👍

[@abrahamdiazr.1698]

"DON'T GO THERE, UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING" should be written in stone (specially in architecture schools all over the world)

[@scottjustscott3730]

I've always wanted to visit Europe and the near east just to see the incredible ruins and even the ancient buildings that are still occupied to this day. We don't have things this old other than native American structures like Chaco and Mesa Verde which I find equally fascinating.

[@r.t.dominguez1717]

Dear Professor Loth, ICAA: My name is Romeo Ty. Member of AIA and C1PRC but living in the Philippines. I'm also a classical Lecturer. I would like to be a member of ICAA. How can I become a member? Thank you!

[@Celtopia]

Thank you so very much .

[@nciuper]

Thanks for sharing this !!

[@user-qm7nw7vd5s]

LOVE IT! 👍👍👍👍

[@walterwally983]

I watched the whole series! this was just amazing, even the lecture on bricks! I have such a better appreciation for architecture, old and new! Thank you so much for doing this and posting it here!!!

[@caivsivlivs]

patera corner blocks on door and window frames just look so right to me. all my windows and doors gonna have em

[@rasheedlewis1]

Amazing. The script, the examples, the progression. Everyone involved needs to collaborate on a book on pedagogy for us plebs. Thank you

[@PilgrimofMatter]

Hi. Palladio's use of mixed scale columns is not without precedent from ancient times-in other words it is NOT his own original fancy. Specifically, I refer to the use of the greater 'composite' order with the lesser Corinthian Order which is in fact in use on the facade of San Giorgio Maggiore. The precedents are Triumphal Arches and the interior of the Basilica of Constantine. In the latter, the greater composite order held up the walls and vaulted ceiling of the great central nave while the lesser Corinthian columns held up the ceilings and lateral walls of the side vaults. The interior of the Basilica of Constantine is of course derived from the interior of the frigidaria of many of the great bathhouses of ancient Rome where such a mixture may have been used earlier.

[@carlosmendez6729]

I'm ready to make a cathedral!

[@niallgerardoconnellsnr1686]

Thanks for sharing. Niall O'Connell. Ireland.

[@davidweston9115]

Skip to 10:35 for a glimpse of the wonderful humour the professor shares. He tears apart modern garbage "architecture" in the best way possible, just a photograph, and even an illiterate will know it's garbage after seeing the correct uses of the motif shown beforehand.

[@actionjackson1836]

As a complete novice, this is incredibly delightful to watch & learn!!!

[@kanefay2363]

Thank you

[@PilgrimofMatter]

Of course, there are no pedestals in ancient temples. The ancient Roman temple was typically built on a podium. The podium was in effect a pedestal for the entire temple, beginning with the columns. A pedestal added on top of the podium would have been quite excessive.

[@kingsleykronkk3925]

32:30 OK you guys the supervisor is away tomorrow so we will surprise him by fitting the down pipes, right here looks great.

[@dreed7312]

I'm skeptical of your explanation of the button in the Pattern. It's probably a shield, and the button was some sort of rivet that held a strap or grip on the back side. Since the stone supposedly represented earlier wooden structures, it may have been trendy to nail shields, plates, disc's, or whatever on your wooden entablature as a decoration. I'm not convinced by the finger through the paper plate.

[@calderloth6058]

Dear D. Reed, Thank you for raising the question about the patera. My explanation is that we have many ancient examples of paterae. I illustrated one, and they commonly have the bump in the middle for anchoring your thumb to steady it while holding it in the palm of your hand. The paper plate admittedly was a rather crude way of showing the principle. Perhaps I shouldn't have had my neighbor's thumb penetrating the surface. The patera often became symbolically represented as a decorative motif in stone, wood, or other materials (but not paper).

[@finnersmcspeed5646]

What is the name of that building in Glasgow ?

[@goognamgoognw6637]

His explanation for the "belly button" at the center of the patera is an incorrect guess. The correct explanation has another practical reason, and an important symbolism. When the slaughtered animal blood is pouring, catching it with a flat bottom vessel would splash it out of the vessel for sure. A rounded form in the center disperses the blood inside the vessel without spilling it out.The viscosity of blood is like milk only thicker. Try to pour milk into a flat frying pan from a feet above, it will rebound and spill out (don't argue, just try). The second reason is so as the blood would cover the half sphere in a symbolic way creating a red eye center, typical of ancient sacrifices.

[@VictorLepanto]

The Euro note including an ignorant, anachronistic element is somehow emblematic of what the EU is all about.

[@leonguyen2279]

excellent words " ...But the reputation of classical minimalism suffers because of its association with totalitarian regimes, notably, those are Hitler and Mussolini. Both of these dictators adopted this style for their many public works. Their motivation was to break from the florid classical styles of monarchy and imperialism and start anew. But they also wanted to distance themselves from the sterility of the modernistic international style and its connections with communism. Classical minimalism was considered by the fascists to be a suitable compromise because it maintained the classical tradition, had a clean, modern look and conveyed the authority of dictatorship...."

[@jeffa.7298]

32:00 Is it at all possible, in an example such as this, that the builders put the columnas in the wrong place?

[@calderloth6058]

If the architect was aware of such an error it should have been ordered to be corrected. Hence, I don't think the architect knew any better-- it was likely designed that way. Many architects think they can play the game without knowing the rules. That was one of the reasons the ICAA asked me to prepare these video lectures.

[@jeffa.7298]

@@calderloth6058 Since this series has made me aware of such rules I've been looking. I was laughing out loud, at what looked to be an architectural blunder, the other day. I don't know the rules either but it looked incorrect. On the other hand, the house I grew up in always appeared beautiful to me, I will be sad when I learn it's flaws. Thanks for awakening me to this!

[@mosabyarob8051]

how can I take the quiz ?

[@ClassicistORG]

Check out the updated link in the description. We're updating our KZbin channel so that it can point more clearly to the AIA quizzes.

[@gallettone86]

Didn't Gibbs have any copyright on his designs? where does inspiration end and copying starts? Romans copied the Greek to death and eventually started developing their own buildings thanks to engineering discoveries. By the mid 1700's copyright was there already though. Any views on this?

[@JMitchellUK]

@43:00 The speaker says “19th Century” but the annotation says 18th. It’s early 1800s under Alexander I (19th Century).

[@claudiamanta1943]

55:51 With those spiderwebs you would think that there lives Adams Family.

[@Schnatz1987]

Research Tartaria, mud flood, old world, old tech. .. possible start @ Jon Levi, Martin Liedke, UAP, Wise up, Justin Pavlak, Dirth, Autodidactic and so many more.. good luck @ these awakening..

[@BrendanRiley]

I drove by a dentist office in Saint-Jerome, Quebec, called "Al Dente".

[@eulinpetit-woodyear6816]

This episode was essentially a scathing attack on attempts of clasical architecture done in modern times.

[@illuminatedsinger]

Epic

[@dickiller2199]

nice

[@sonjak8265]

Excellent but a bit harsh on architects who have made errors I have not even noticed.

[@kylejmarsh3988]

lol 'may not always be a treat' ;)

[@claudiamanta1943]

39:14 It is bizarre, but not difficult to understand. It represents three gates in one- reference to Christian Trinity and the Pope’s three crowns in one. I don’t know what that head is supposed to represent- Moses with the enlightenment horns?

[@jaymenjanssens720]

21:01

[@Craig6844]

anyone notice at 11:57 you know it when you see it

[@christianpatriot7439]

Armchair architects of the world unite! We can do a damn-sight better than most professionals since the 1920s.

[@LowryYT]

'even in my home I have symbols of ancient t sacrifice' haha

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Modern architecture is a nightmare, in my opinion, and at its worst when when they just stick classical elements in willy-nilly without regard to the rest of the building, especially its scale and proportions. It reminds me of earliest-Tudor architecture, when they missed the whole point of classicism and just stuck “Antique” carved roundels, with classical heads on them, into their asymmetrical Tudor vernacular architecture. This is also ubiquitous in modern practice of just gluing on dados and other moldings here and there. My Victorian home had been “improved” in the 80s by gluing on cheap “wainscot” panels everywhere in rooms that never had it and the scale was all wrong for the proportions of the rooms. The previous owners also tore out the original pass-through (kitchen to dining room) china cabinet, something I find hard to forgive. They could at least have stuck in in the garage, then I could reinstall it, but it went out with the trash. They also cut the beautiful, solid 6-panel doors into angled shelves for paint cans in the garage, barbarians.

[@lilithgrrrl]

At least where you live, Victorians are still around. In Los Angeles, anything old is in mortal danger ….

[@danielw4394]

Great series But what are “ rules and principles “ in art and architecture? Anything that is more or less the same is boring, I would think so.