In architecture, a ''parti'' is an organizing thought or decision behind an architect's

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

, 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 objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

, and

elevation The elevation of a geographic 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 surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

diagrams.

History

Producing a quick sketch (''esquisse'') of the ''parti'' was a critical part of architectural training at the

Beaux-Arts de Paris The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences ...

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

. 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 Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

and based on the classic 9 square problem that was used

among others, by

Peter Eisenman Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which have been called high modernist or deconstructiv ...

to design some of his house

and

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...

in the design of many of his villas

https://re.public.polimi.it/retrieve/handle/11311/1039839/247508/FA%2005%20Measures%20and%20Proportions.pdf

Gallery

File:Greekhse1.jpg, Roman house plan after Vitruvius Image:PalladioRotondaPlan.jpg, Palladio's plan of the Villa in ''

I quattro libri dell'architettura ''I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (''The Four Books of Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture by the architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), written in Italian. It was first published in four volumes in 1570 in Venice, illustrated wi ...

'', 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