Leon Battista Alberti (Book 1) review
In this essay I will be discussing the first book out of a group of ten written by Leon Battista Alberti. Alberti (1404-1472) was in fact no architect but rather a schooled humanist educated in the arts of rhetoric, poetic and philosophy. It was however an interest and high consideration of architecture which led him to pursue it further and transform himself from a writer to a practicing architect. In his first book entitled "Plans", Alberti examines the parts that make up every building. It is from a utility point of view that he explores such components which must therefore be considered at the very beginning of any consideration of architecture. As he also mentions in the opening of his book, the whole art of building consists in a balanced interconnection between design and structure. And it is exactly this unity which will dictate to the Edifice and all its parts their proper places with factors such as the surroundings, the ground on which the building is