Architect and engineer . ble to acquire a sufficient knowledgeof them from written material. Our immediate predecessors in archi-tecture had the same difficulty adapting theClassic to their designs. It was only afterthey had stripped the ancient buildings totheir meagre skeletons and learned theprinciples of the construction and the rela- THE ARCHITECT AND ENGINEER ^25 ? SEPTEMBER, NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE tionship of the sculpture to the constructionthat they were able to make logical modi-fications. Every building built alongClassic lines today has the appearance ofsome building done by the Gree
Architect and engineer . ble to acquire a sufficient knowledgeof them from written material. Our immediate predecessors in archi-tecture had the same difficulty adapting theClassic to their designs. It was only afterthey had stripped the ancient buildings totheir meagre skeletons and learned theprinciples of the construction and the rela- THE ARCHITECT AND ENGINEER ^25 ? SEPTEMBER, NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE tionship of the sculpture to the constructionthat they were able to make logical modi-fications. Every building built alongClassic lines today has the appearance ofsome building done by the Greek or Ro-mans themselves. It may have been merelyshorn of its sculpture, or perhaps only arow of columns was used. Still, they were buildings. Where were their columns used?What did their columns support? Whendid they use ornament? All these phaseswill have to be met face-to-face and dealtwith accordingly, if w^e expect to obtainproper results. A certain architect in designing a NewYork skyscrapeer in Maya character ap-. DETAIL. WEST WING OF THE NUNNERY QUADRANGLE AT UXMAL. YUCATAN To the modern observer the exterior of the Yucatan buildings display an overabundance of fantastic and spectacular ornamentation interwoven on a field of purely geometric design. Every bit of this carving, however, had its definite meaning and its definite position on the building. used as in the original. We would neverset a column on its cap, and use its base asa cap. Yet. if we did, the separate partswould still be Classic. In this same waymay our adaptations be true Maya and yetused improperly. As our predecessors began from thecore of the Classic, we must begin fromthe core of the Maya. We must first learnthe essential units of the facade of their proached his subject from this angle. Hebegan by restoring the Great Pyramid atTikal, which is now in an advanced stateof ruin, and then made his studies to con-form. The design of the resulting edificeis indeed creditable. For Greater Simplicity Disrob
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