In architecture, a parti is an organizing thought or decision behind an architect's
design
A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...
, presented in the form of a parti diagram, parti sketch, or a simple statement.
The term comes from 15th century French, in which "parti pris" meant "decision taken."
The development of the parti frequently precedes the development of
plan
A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an Goal, objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a modal logic, temporal set (mathematics), set of intended actions through wh ...
,
section, and
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
diagrams.
History
Producing a quick sketch (''esquisse'') of the ''parti'' was a critical part of architectural training at the
Beaux-Arts de Paris during the 19th and early part of the 20th Century.
In architecture school during the 1900s in the United States, one would have understood the term ‘parti’ as the "main idea" for the planimetric layout of a building. Its roots in the American architectural education system are derived from the
Beaux-Arts de Paris. The word "parti" refers to the concept of ‘parti pris’, and refers to the main ‘idea’ of the organizing principle that is embodied in a design and often expressed by a simple geometric diagram. The "parti" often expresses the essence of an architectural design reduced to its essence.
Example
The parti
of the
Lonja del Comercio building in Havana (in plan) is a perfect
square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
and based on the classic 9 square problem that was used
among others, by
Peter Eisenman to design some of his house
and
Andrea Palladio in the design of many of his villas
Gallery
File:Greekhse1.jpg, Roman house plan after Vitruvius
Image:PalladioRotondaPlan.jpg, Palladio's plan of the Villa in '' I quattro libri dell'architettura'', 1570
File:Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae- Ground plan of a building with the arms of Pope Julius III engraved at the center MET DP870352.jpg, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola
File:Sebastiano serlio, pianta della villa di poggio reale a napoli, 1540 (mi, bibl. braidense) 02.jpg, Sebastiano Serlio
File:Villa Cornaro pianta Bertotti Scamozzi 1781.jpg, Plan of the Villa Cornaro
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Bibliography
* Colin Rowe, “Mathematics of the Ideal Villa,” Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1976). First published in Architectural Review, 1947.
* Wittkower, Rudolf, "Architectural principles in the age of humanism," London, Warburg Institute, University of London, 1949.
External links
Parti Diagram with KyleHow To Think Like An Architect: The Design ProcessArchitecture + Diagramming , Let’s Parti On , Vol. 01 , feat. Glenn Murcutt House and Casa da MusicaArchitecture + Diagramming , Let’s Parti On , Vol. 02 , feat. Seattle Library and Chichu Art Museum
Architectural terminology