Architectural Record Volume 4; V. 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1894 edition. Excerpt: ... Any one who has made any study of architectural design has probably realized that buildings of fine and harmonious effect follow. as to general dimension. the proportions of simple rather than irregular figures. That is to say, the relations of length to breadth and other such proportions are as a rule expressed by nearly related numbers rather than by those widely separated. And were we to analyze the plans and elevations of the masterworks of the best days, we would find that such geometrical figures as the square, the equilateral triangle, and such rectangles, isosceles triangles and right-angled triangles as possess ratios of simple numbers, either as between the length of sides or degree of angles; we would find that such figures may frequently be circumscribed about their outlines and the parts into which the design is divided or inscribed upon diagonals. octaves and several keys, and in designing objects or buildings we have a more or less wide range of shapes, planes and relative sizes of geometric forms which it would be possible to use. And as no melody can be built out of the accords of a single octave, but must combine consonant notes or chords of several in a well-proportioned succession or arrangement, so no pleasing design can be made out of merely a circle, a triangle or a parallelogram, but must be shaped from a selection and combination of such simple generating forms in just such variety that there is a consonance in the series of parts and in the whole. A random succession of chords on beautiful lines can result in no composition however simple, eiher in music or design. The idea of measure must be introduced. From the plainest of songs to the most elaborate effects of instrumental harmony, there is necessity for..