Who Was Vitruvius—and Why Should You Care

You’ve probably seen the image—Leonardo da Vinci’s famous sketch of a man standing with arms outstretched inside a circle and a square. It’s called the Vitruvian Man, and it’s become one of the most iconic images in Western art and science.

But what most people don’t realize is that the drawing isn’t just a celebration of the human form. It’s a tribute to an ancient architect named Vitruvius, who lived over 2,000 years ago in the Roman Empire. And his ideas still shape the way we design homes and cities today—whether we realize it or not.

This post is about why that matters. And what we’ve learned since then.

The Vitruvian Triad: The First Architectural Checklist

Vitruvius wrote a treatise called De Architectura, or The Ten Books on Architecture, sometime around 30 BC. In it, he laid out three things every building must have:

• Firmitas – It must be solid and durable.

• Utilitas – It must be useful and functional.

• Venustas – It must be beautiful.

Simple. Powerful. And still true.

Leonardo’s drawing—Vitruvian Man—was a way of showing that the human body embodies these same principles. It’s symmetrical, balanced, and made of interrelated parts. Vitruvius believed that buildings, like bodies, should reflect that same harmony.

So why bring this up now?

Because in today’s world, we’ve lost touch with those ideals. And if we want to build better homes and neighborhoods, we need to return to first principles—and maybe update them for our time.

What I’ve Learned From Designing Timeless Homes

I’ve spent my career studying what makes homes feel good to live in—not just trendy or efficient, but truly right. Along the way, I’ve come to believe that the Vitruvian triad is still essential—but we need a little more knowledge and commitment to apply it.

Here’s what I use in my own work:

• Simple Massing – The overall form of the home should be clear and composed. Not a jumble of gables, bump-outs, and fake features. A home should read like a single, confident idea.

• Order Through Visual Hierarchy – You should know where the front door is. You should sense what’s most important. A good home guides your eye naturally, calmly. It has order, not chaos.

• Use of Natural Materials – Wood, stone, clay—materials that last, that age well, that feel like they belong to the earth. Not fake stuff that peels, fades, or tries to imitate what it’s not.

• Well-Proportioned Details – Trim, windows, doors, columns—they should all be deliberately placed to tell a story. They should feel balanced and right in scale. That’s what turns a house from forgettable to beautiful.

  
  

Why This Still Matters

The sad truth is, most new homes today don’t follow Vitruvius’ advice.

They’re built fast, optimized for real estate listings, and filled with features that are flashy but meaningless. They might check the boxes on square footage and countertop material, but they fail to do the one thing good architecture should always do:

Make you feel at home.

When homes are designed using timeless principles—when we take the long view—they start to do something remarkable. They settle into the landscape. They get better with time. They feel like they belong.

And more than anything else—they feel human. 

Final Thoughts: What This Means for You

You don’t need to be an architect to recognize a beautiful home. You feel it. You know it when you walk in.

But the reason you feel it—the reason some homes just feel “right”—is because they’re built on these kinds of principles. They’re rooted in something deeper than taste or trend.

So next time you’re building, buying, or just walking a neighborhood, ask yourself:

Does this home feel proportioned?

Does it guide my eye naturally?

Are the materials going to get better with age?

Does the form make sense, or is it trying too hard?

If the answer is yes, then that home is doing what Vitruvius asked for 2,000 years ago—and what we still need today.

Durable. Functional. Beautiful. Timeless.

That’s worth pursuing.