Scientific American Supplement, No. 633, February 18, 1888 — John Shaqi
Scientific American Supplement, No. 633, February 18, 1888Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 633, February 18, 1888
Various
Science -- Periodicals
For we must remember that architecture, although a form of artistic
expression, is not, like painting and sculpture, unfettered by practical
considerations. It is an art inextricably bound up with structural
conditions and practical requirements. A building is erected first for
convenience and shelter; secondly only for appearance, except in the
case of such works as monuments, triumphal arches, etc., which represent
architectural effect pure and simple, uncontrolled by practical
requirements. With such exceptions, therefore, a building ought to
express in its external design its internal planning and arrangement; in
other words, the architectural design should arise out of the plan and
disposition of the interior, or be carried on concurrently with it, not
designed as a separate problem. Then a design is dependent on structural
conditions also, and if these are not observed, the building does not
stand, and hence it is obvious that the architectural design must
express these structural conditions. It must not appear to stand or be
constructed in a way in which it could not stand (like the modern shops
which are supposed to stand on sheets of plate glass), and its whole
exterior appearance ought to be in accordance with, and convey the idea
of, the manner and principle on which it is constructed. The most
important portions of the interior must be shown as such externally by
the greater elaboration and emphasis of their architectural treatment.
If the general arrangement of the plan is symmetrical, on either side of
a center (which, however, it cannot often be except in the largest type
of monumental or public buildings), the architectural treatment must be
symmetrical. If the building is necessarily arranged, in accordance with
the requirements of the plan, unsymmetrically, the architectural
treatment must follow suit, and the same principle must be carried out
through all the details.
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