If architectural historians usually examine buildings from the ground up, early modern architectural evidence invites us to consider a different relationship with the earth.

According to Sir Henry Wotton, the first order of business for any construction project was to examine the ground with great care: “We must first examine the Bed of Earth (as I may term it), upon which we will build” (The Elements of Architecture, 1624, 23).

This investigation explores how the critical theme of improving the soil, the focus of many early modern husbandry and agriculture treatises, also critically informed both ideas and practice for early modern architecture. As Wotton argued, knowledge of the soil in fact provided a fundamental point of departure for all building projects.

By rethinking the early modern built environment in terms of a soil-based program, this study explores unexpected connections between early modern architecture and nature, and seeks to unsettle conventional distinctions between these fields.

Lecturer: David Karmon
Professor, History of Art and Architecture
Department of Visual Arts, Holy Cross