Selected Bibliography Architecture - Form Space and Order | Page 146

V E RT I C A L L I N E A R E L E M E N T S

Cloister and Salle des Chevaliers,
Mont S. Michel, France, 1203–28

A regularly-spaced series of columns or similar vertical elements form a colonnade. This archetypal
element in the vocabulary of architectural design effectively defines an edge of a spatial volume while
permitting visual and spatial continuity to exist between the space and its surroundings. A row of
columns can also engage a wall and become a pilastrade that supports the wall, articulates its surface,
and tempers the scale, rhythm, and proportioning of its bays.

A grid of columns within a large room or hall not only serves to support the floor or roof plane above.
The orderly rows of columns also punctuate the spatial volume, mark off modular zones within the spatial
field, and establish a measurable rhythm and scale that make the spatial dimensions comprehensible.

FORM & SPACE / 1 3 1