The following images are scanned from Johann David Steingruber’s Architectural Alphabet (1773) - Steingruber (1702-1787) was the son of a master mason from a place called Wassertrüdingen an der Wörnitz, near the town of Dinkelsbühl. After an apprenticeship in which he worked on constructing palaces at Mannheim and Rastatt, he came to work at the Brandenburg court at Ansbach in the service of the margrave Friedrich Carl Alexander. He was soon appointed court and public surveyor, and was later made principal architect of the board of works. Besides completing many building projects, Steingruber expounded on his architectural theory in his books Architecture Civile (ca. 1748) and Practica Bürgerlicher Baukunst (Practical Course in Civil Architecture, 1763). He is the creator of the Architectonisches Alphabeth, so called because each capital is in fact a floorplan of a building.
it is interesting to see how all the alphabets used are symmetrical. Well, i think that was a MUST factor for the classical architectures no i am thinking about it. I wonder which alphabet Frank Gehry or Eric Moss will choose if they wanted to use alphabet for the floorplan. I am sure it will be something Asymmetrical :) and very FUNKY !! One day, when I am rich and famous, I want to own 3 houses that are made like these with initials of my name. S. R. K. Now it is my life goal. lol
now* not no.
s is my favorite due to its lurking and suspicious nature, as opposed to the others for example H if one person was standing at one side of the hallway and another on the opposite side one would see some sort of notification of the other’s presence. The S also seems like a more comfortable living environment, the round shape makes people more comforted than the angular room.
First time I saw the architectures I thought very interesting, but after while It makes me think the structure of alphabet. Especially the alphabet ‘H’ or ‘S’ seems has pretty perfect form not just as word but structural value,also.
I wonder what that looks like from a bird’s eye view. Would people notice it from a plane? Do those buildings still exist?
I wonder what a “Q” would look like . . .
i think if i visited or lived in those buildings, I would never notice that floorplans of those buildings look like alphabets. and i wonder the intention of the architect.
So….. did he build it based on that plan ?
Hm.. if there is it, I want to go look around there.
And I wonder why he was interested in Alphabet