According to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible.
Leon Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria,
saw beauty primarily as a matter of proportion, although ornament also
played a part. For Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that
governed the idealised human figure, the Golden mean.

Durability – a building should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.
Utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used.
Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing.

Origins and vernacular architecture

Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials
and attendant skills). As human cultures developed and knowledge began
to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, building became a
craft,

Texts on architecture have been written since ancient time. These texts
provided both general advice and specific formal prescriptions or
canons. Some examples of canons are found in the writings of the
1st-century BCE Roman Architect Vitruvius. Some of the most important early examples of canonic architecture are religious.