Name two classic architectural theories and summarize their core ideas.

• A. Vitruvius's firmitas, utilitas, venustas; Le Corbusier's five points of new architecture.
• B. Mies van der Rohe's glass box; Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style.
• C. Le Corbusier's five points; Walter Gropius's Bauhaus principles alone.
• D. Vitruvius's architectural orders; Alberti's treatises.

Answer: (A)

Two enduring theories at play here are Vitruvius’s triad and Le Corbusier’s five points of new architecture. Vitruvius argues that a good building must achieve firmness, utility, and beauty. This framework ties together structure, function, and aesthetics, reminding us that durability, usefulness, and visual or experiential appeal should be integrated from the earliest design ideas to the finished form. Le Corbusier’s five points respond to the possibilities of modern materials and technology, proposing that buildings stand on pilotis (columns), use free plans unbound by load-bearing walls, feature free façades, employ ribbon windows for light, and place a roof garden atop. That set of ideas marks a shift from traditional load-bearing construction to a flexible, light-filled, machine-age approach to form and space. Together, they show how architectural theory can span from ancient principles that emphasize a balanced, purposeful whole to modernist ideas about structure, light, and organization of space. The other options mix styles or emphasize single movements rather than presenting a paired theoretical framework in the same widely taught way.