Design and Tradition / A short account of the principles and historic development of architecture and the applied arts

by Amor Fenn

Doric Base

The Doric base is extremely simple. It consists of the square plinth on which rests a torus moulding surmounted by a smaller moulding of the same section and a fillet above.

The width of the plinth is one and a third the diameter of the column, and its height a quarter diameter or half the total height of the base. The other half is made up of the large torus, the small torus and fillet. The torus moulding should be bold in projection, practically semi-circular and at the fullest part of its curvature in vertical alignment with the centres of the horizontal faces of the plinth block. The small torus and fillet are about equal in height.