In October of 2024, Canning Liturgical Arts sent a newsletter promising a 2025 series of in-depth explorations into old-world crafts to prove that people still do this. To start this 12-part series and new year, a return to somewhere between 30 and 20 BC and a visit to Vitruvius’ De Architectura will provide our foundations, those being: utilitas, firmitas, and venustas (utility, strength, and beauty). As we often say, quoting Owen Jones, decoration arises from and is attendant upon architecture. Good decoration relies on quality architecture, which has been in the making for millennia, but never fails to impress. Roman architect and author, Vitruvius’ treatise, though over 2000 years old, provided a guide and structure to the greatest architects from antiquity to the Renaissance, to our new year of 2025.

Vitruvius’ triad of utilitas, the efficient arrangement of spaces and mechanical systems to meet the needs of the building's occupants; firmitas, physical strength that ensures the building's structural integrity; and venustas, the aesthetic quality that imparts style, proportion, and visual beauty, composes our theme for 2025 and has imbued architecture with a delicate balance of the arts and sciences. Designing a building is precarious business, but designing a work of art which people can comfortably interact with, admire, and inhabit for centuries is another feat entirely.  Nicolas Charbonneau, a classically trained architect and director of Harrison Design's Sacred Architecture Studio, adds:

“Vitruvius’ three principles are still relevant, even chiefly relevant…If a building is useful, durable, and beautiful, the architect has discharged their duty to their client, but also to humanity and the built environment itself. Even the order of the principles is well considered. A building must first be useful to its inhabitants, then it must last the test of time and the onslaught of the elements, and then (which Vitruvius says is the most difficult to achieve) it must be well considered proportionally and appropriately ornamented so it can be enjoyed as a beautiful work of art. Each principle builds on the others.”

It is fitting, therefore, that Vitruvius lays the foundation of both this field and this series as we explore how traditional trades, much like the buildings they have constructed and adorned, have endured.

Vitruvius discusses the placement of a city and its buildings, marking health of the land as the chief consideration, and stresses a return to the old ways of augury and analysis of the local animals to decide if a landscape is healthy enough to withstand a city or building. He then discusses floorplan layout and materials like stone, wood, and brick and their role in construction. Proportions are elaborated upon as well, as he explores sacred numbers and the proportions of the human body. This concept of sacred numbers especially endured since scale, column arrangement, and building layouts were considered more and more as cities and the size of buildings grew. Proper utility, lasting strength, and a prioritization of beauty all culminate into a well-constructed and beautiful building and resulted in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and Charbonneau’s inspiration: Rome. In De Architectura, no stone is left unturned and the foundations for centuries of architecture in the Holy City and across the world were carefully laid.

Today, we tend to construct places of worship, governance, or residence with similar principles as the Roman architects; though an architect today may consult topographical maps and drawings rather than local fauna. A designer, especially of churches, synagogues, and mosques, must also take into account the orientation, since certain placements allow for more natural light and many faiths prioritize East-West orientation or orientation towards a holy site. Whether or not the building will rely on natural light determines window placement, heating and cooling units, location of the façade, and many other details, and a location with high winds or inclement weather will determine its height, width, and roof slope. Despite our advancements in materials and engineering, we must consider similar constraints as architects long before us if we desire long-lasting, useful buildings.

To make a space useful and beautiful, designers must also reflect upon proportion, the surroundings, the rituals or ceremonies held within, and practical accessibility like modern ADA standards. In a Roman Catholic church, an ambulatory around the sanctuary must allow enough space to comfortably navigate without being so open that it distracts a viewer elsewhere in the sanctuary or nave. In most Christian churches, side aisles ought to be spacious enough to allow two people to comfortably walk past one another while center aisles ought to be wider to accommodate a holy procession. The work of liturgical architects like Charbonneau, Duncan Stroik, and James McCrery take these realities into account and make full use of their historic provenance for both practicality and beauty’s sake.

Purpose, decoration, and construction all inform one another. Government buildings often have stone and glass arranged in a classical Greek structure to embody democratic ideals; churches in America typically have towering spires pointing to heaven; and museums display either a flowering historical Greco-Roman style or a sleek modern design, signifying progress in science and study. Each of these building types tend to adhere to certain decorative styles and construction materials in a delicate balance of informing the viewer and inhabitant the purpose of the building in a pleasing and useful way. The modern imbalance between Vitruvius’ three principles has resulted in, as Charbonneau bluntly puts it, “a myriad of novel ways of making buildings useful, with the introduction of systems to increase usability and serve more needs, but this has led to a myopia with regard to durability and beauty, which are largely left aside as long as immediate usefulness is delivered. So, we have buildings lasting not much longer than 30-50 years, not even a single human lifetime, not to mention many eyesores and we must bring the conversation back to these principles in the culture at large in order to restore the built environment.”

These structures of drop-ceilings and concrete will not stand the test of time as the Roman buildings have. Luckily, a dedicated group of artisans like Charbonneau remains, as he puts it, “steeped in the past, in the forms and principles of classical and traditional architectures, that we may benefit from the wisdom of a multitude of generations of architects and craftsmen” but remaining “free to create, to search for the peculiar solution to each architectural need that comes across our desks, and to consider the appropriate use of new technologies.” By blending tradition and innovation, the ability to create beauty is more accessible than ever, as long as we can be patient and diligent in its creation.

Vitruvius’ basis for designs prioritized utility: proper functionality and good use of space; strength: proper construction materials to make the building long-lasting and safe; and beauty: proper decoration and proportions that please the eye and are harmonious with the natural order of the world. This triad informs design today in architecture, decoration, and construction and emphasizes the value of good, and therefore beautiful and long-lasting, craftsmanship. This series will showcase the people across the country who still hold to these values and create objects of beauty as we have for centuries. We’ll see you next month!

Some of you may not have received last month's Canning Liturgical Arts newsletter: The Old Made New: The Beautification of the Priory. Click here to discover the Priory of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.

To browse and read previous newsletters, click here.

Before conducting work on a historic building, you need to know what materials, decorative scheme, and building design you are working with. The building's history can tell you all of this, if you know where to start.

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