Why the Orders Belong in Studio

Abstract

The Orders, the long-time emblematic centerpiece of architectural education, were banished from studio in the United States a half-century ago. They were exiled to the curriculum's sparse offerings in history when the Bauhaus system of education in architecture displaced the Beaux Arts system. The Orders stand for an entire system of design based on recognizable building components, proportionality, and coherence. Their presence would improve the formal qualities of designs across the entire spectrum from buildings addressing the increased interest in traditional qualities in buildings to those pushing forward the legacy of Modernism's founders, men who themselves knew the Orders well.