Abstract:The Villa Rotonda, located on the outskirts of Vicenza in northern Italy, is a representative work of Andrea Palladio. The building is famous for its combination of a perfect square and circular structure alongside with its Greek loggias protruding on all four sides and its central Roman-style dome. As the ideal type of centralized building, it has become an iconic example of Palladio’s ideal villas, and Palladio’s introduction to the building in his I quattro libri dell'architettura makes it even more influential. However, how to read this ideal villa historically? And what complex forms and historical conditions are hidden beneath the perfect architectural form. This paper attempts to make a profound interpretation and exploration of these questions from the perspectives of environmental landscape, geometric characteristics, and morphological origin and complexity.
