The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 02, February 1895.: Byzantine-Romanesque Doorways in Southern Italy — John Shaqi
The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 02, February 1895.: Byzantine-Romanesque Doorways in Southern ItalyVarious
History
The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol. 01, No. 02, February 1895.: Byzantine-Romanesque Doorways in Southern Italy
Various
Architecture -- Periodicals
"These two methods will aid one to tell from a drawing how the building
will actually look when executed. It will give an idea of the scale of
ornament, if a cornice looks just the right size on a certain building,
the plate will tell you just how high that is. The T-square sketch is
very valuable in cultivating the sense of proportion. Draw to scale such
parts of the sketch as can be easily measured, and put in the remainder
in proportion, and make these sketches at the scale at which you are
used to working in the office. They will be of immense advantage in
giving you a sense of absolute scale.
"There is such a thing as 'absolute scale,' and scale is not simply
proportion. A drawing might be made in good proportion, and the building
look well if executed a thousand feet long, and yet lose all its
effectiveness if executed but one hundred feet in length, the relative
proportions of the parts remaining the same. It is a fact that certain
designs, which look well on paper, will not look well in execution,
except at a large scale. Therefore it is valuable in making a sketch to
put on it some of the measurements; and freehand sketches with
measurements marked on them have a value in giving absolute scale.
"The back of a photograph is a very convenient place on which to make
notes of the building itself, in regard to color, material, suggested
changes, etc., and will be very useful in recalling the building to
memory.
"Measuring buildings and drawing them out to scale is solid
architectural work, and nothing else can take its place. It gives a
realization of the actual size and appearance of things, and brings to
notice the stone-jointing, sections of mouldings, vaulting, roofing, and
construction in general. Measured work must be done very accurately, or
else the results have no more value than approximate measures on
sketches.
"The drawing should be made exactly as the building exists, without any
change or improvement, or else the drawing will lose a great deal of its
value as a basis for study. Many of Letarouilly's are nearly valueless
as data for study because he has improved on the original, and thus his
drawing does not represent the building as it actually exists.
"A good method of measuring buildings is to measure first the general
dimensions and block out the building on paper at a small scale, then
measure up windows, columns, etc., and set off full-size sections of all
the mouldings with a strip of thin lead, such as may be had at any
whole-sale lead store: only the thinnest sheet-lead will work, as the
thicker leads are too stiff to bend. The large final drawings can then
be made away from the building. It is important to draw out the building
completely at a small scale, however, as it is very annoying when making
the final drawing far away from the building to find that some important
dimension has been forgotten.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account