….Foundations ought to be twice so thick as the walls to be raised thereon, and therein the quality of the earth, and the greatness of the building is to be regarded, making them more large in soft and looser ground, and where there is a great weight to be sustained. The plain of the Trench must be Level, so that the weight may press equally, and not inclining to one part more than another, may prevent the cleaving of the walls. For this reason the Ancients used to pave the plain with Tiver∣tine, * 1.1 and we lay Planks and Beams, and build thereon.

Foundations are made sloping, that is to say, to diminish as they rise; yet so, as that there may be so much left on one side, as on the other: so that the middle of that above may fall perpendicularly upon the middle of the lower work, which must be also observed in the diminution of Walls above ground; because by this means the building becomes much stronger, then by making the diminutions any other way.

…450 years ago, Andrea Palladio, THE FOUR BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE…1570,

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