This course elucidates the genesis and practical implementation of geometric proportional systems. By analyzing traditional compositions like Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic, we will begin to recognize such spatial relationships and their effect on communities. We will also seek to understand how the underlining geometry was employed historically and how these methods apply in considering a humane and healthy environment.
With the collapse of literacy both in words and numbers, builders reverted to simple graphic/geometric means to design and order their creations. The sophisticated practices of antiquity were simplified and refocused on construction derived from Roman work.

Two initial branches sprouted into what we now recognize as the Romanesque and the Byzantine. Geometry was seen as the workings of the cosmos from which the ligaments and forms could be ordered as a reflection of the divine order in the microcosm.

Please come equipped with necessary materials. We recommend a Spiral Bound Sketchbook (7X5 minimum, 10X7 preferred), Compass or Dividers, Straightedge, mechanical pencil or lead holder.

Richard Franklin Sammons
Richard Franklin Sammons is an internationally recognized expert in the field of architectural proportion, having taught at the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture in London (now The Prince’s Foundation), Pratt Institute in New York, and the University of Notre Dame in Rome. He received his B.A. at Denison University and Master of Architecture at the University of Virginia. Mr. Sammons began his career with David Anthony Easton. He is a founding director of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and a founding partner of Fairfax & Sammons Architecture.

Fairfax & Sammons Architecture, with offices in Manhattan and Palm Beach, was established over thirty years ago. The firm reflects the ethos that the built environment’s legacy should be imbued with longevity in its approach to materials and practical elements, along with its relationship with the past and present. They have won over forty international and domestic awards, including several Palladio Awards, Stanford White Awards, and Addison Mizner Medals. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Country Life, Architectural Digest, Southern Accents, Old House Journal, Period Homes, Traditional Building Magazine, and New Old House. The monograph American Houses: The Architecture of Fairfax & Sammons was published by Rizzoli International.

Mr. Sammons is a board member of the American College of the Building Arts and the Merchant’s House Museum. He is a member of the INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners (ICTP), an international professional body for traditional architecture practitioners, under HRH The former Prince of Wales auspices. Mr. Sammons wrote the foreword for the re-publication of the book The Theory of Mouldings by C. Howard Walker. He also contributed to Get Your House Right along with Marianne Cusato, Ben Pentreath, and Léon Krier. The foreword was written by HRH The former Prince of Wales.