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.
Now this dependence of architectural design upon plan and construction
is one of the conditions which is often overlooked by amateurs in
forming a judgment upon architectural design; and the overlooking of
this is one reason of the uncertainty of opinion about architecture as
compared with such arts as sculpture and painting.
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