When designing a home or commercial building, architects and designers interested in utilizing classical design elements have many choices indeed, including which style of architectural columns and capitals should be used and where they should be placed. In order for the design of the project to blend well with the architectural columns and other elements being used, an architect may desire the assistance of an architectural products specialist who can advise on both overall style and how that style will work within the established Orders of Architecture.
The Orders of Architecture And Why They Matter
The classic Orders of Architecture are Roman Doric, Roman Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite styles which include not only element proportions but include specific design motifs. Additional styles of decorative capitals that don't fall within this framework, but are still very popular today include Empire, Scamozzi, and Temple of Wind. The Orders of Architecture define not only the look of these ancient styles but also follow a particular set of mathematical rules that manages the actual proportions of the decorative columns.
Financial, educational and like institutions want their communities to perceive them as a substantial entity, with strength and a superb foundation. For architects needing to convey this message, the Tuscan and Greek Doric styles should be considered. Tuscan architectural columns are simple and elegant in design and have a powerful, clean appearance as they give the impression of supporting a great deal of weight. Greek Doric decorative columns are also very straightforward and substantial in design. The simple Doric capital combined with weighty fluting and no column base; convey a permanence and authority not found with other styles. In today's marketplace, Tuscan architectural columns can be ordered in both wood and fiberglass while traditional Doric decorative columns can be found in wood.
Based on the rules of the Orders of Architecture, proportionally the diameter of a Tuscan column would be seven times the height of the column. The diameter of a Greek Doric column would be five and one half times the column height. This means that these architectural columns would be shorter, stockier, and more solid in appearance than other column styles, and work well with certain building styles, especially structures that are large in scale.
