Roots of ‘Parametric Thinking’ in Palladio’s Villas. Surveying, interpreting and visual programming the plates from I quattro libri di architettura

In this work we want to link the considerations relating to the rectangular ratios and harmonic proportions of Palladio's plans, through the automation of the Shape Grammar rules rewritten here in Visual Programming Language. This operation allows to program generalized automatisms for the construction of some Palladian villas (e.g. Villa Thiene, Villa Sarego, Villa Poiana), cataloguing them in families mainly linked to the size of the tartan grid used (e.g. 5 x 3). This experimentation could show how algorithmic thought has distant roots, finding in the contemporary era a new digital life through software and procedures now available to the designer.