A giant order — also called a colossal order — is a façade composition in which columns or pilasters run through two or more storeys, sometimes the full height of the building. In the ordinary use of the classical orders each storey has its own row of columns; in a giant order a single row spans them all.
Why it was used
The effect is monumental: the building reads as one whole rather than as stacked floors. Horizontal articulation is replaced by vertical, which makes the structure look taller and more dignified than it actually is. That made the giant order popular for buildings meant to convey authority: town halls, palaces, churches, banks and later museums and exchanges.
Origin and spread
The giant order was used in the sixteenth century by Michelangelo and Andrea Palladio among others. Palladio’s I quattro libri dell’architettura (1570) carried the motif across Europe. It is a defining feature of Classicism and returns in the Neoclassicism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
How to recognise it
- Pilasters or columns running from the plinth to just below the cornice, with two or three rows of windows in between.
- A single entablature (architrave, frieze, cornice) at the very top, rather than one per floor.
- Frequently used on a projecting bay, the forward-stepping central section of a façade, giving it extra emphasis.
- Sometimes combined with a smaller order at ground level.
Distinguishing related ideas
- Order — the coherent system of column, capital and entablature (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, Composite).
- Pilaster — a flat, shallow pier projecting from the wall; in a giant order often used instead of a free-standing column.
- Articulation — the way a façade is divided horizontally and vertically.
Related terms
- Classical orders
- Pilaster
- Column
- Entablature
- Articulation
- Classicism
Want to know more about building terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.