Art
This 16th-century architectural drawing shows Villa Giulia, a pleasure house near Rome. Though created in Europe, it reveals how Renaissance ideas about ideal living—comfort, beauty, and leisure—eventually shaped American homes. Ordinary people studied such designs in pattern books and adapted them to their own means.
Art · Full story
You stand in a patron's study, candlelight catching the ink lines on parchment. The architect has drawn every detail: the graceful arches, the open loggias where cool air flows through. Running your finger along the incised lines, you can almost feel the stone, imagine stepping into those shaded rooms on a hot afternoon.
Reflect
What rooms in your own home are designed for pleasure rather than work or necessity?