TheAmerican Architect
The ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. CXXIVWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1923NUMBER 2427
FOREWORD
TO THOSE who plan and construct builddigs, they are living things possessing
individual character and expression. Thenpersonality is as varied as that of humans. They utter a voiceless message that is clear to us who would listen and endeavor to understand. But like us humans, they can have form and substance and be without life—like the statue of supreme beauty, a thing of lifeless marble, or as an embalmed cadaver.
The building- is finished, equipped and furnished. It stands in all its beauty and strength, a thing of dignity and simplicity and yet intimate and engaging where appropriate. But it is without voice and life. Those organs that constitute life are not functioning. It is not habitable. And yet it has all of the elements of life.
When the boiler is fired and steam generated, tbe power generators in turn activate the motors— then is felt the quickening pulse of life. Heat and light are born to make brightness and warmth; frigidity is made to serve our needs ; absent friends talk to us; we listen to the word, the song and the music from far places ; we are elevated to high places without effort ; food is prepared and served to satisfy us; cleanliness is everywhere; food and shelter make life possible and desirable.
All of these elements of life are hidden from us—to most, of us they are not attractive. Perhaps they are uncouth, crude and barbarous looking things—noisy and ill-smelling. Or they may bo things that revolve with incredible speed— silent, shapely and beautiful. Some of the parts move, open or close without the intervention of man. They do this to serve the needs of the moment, do this automatically even as some of our parts do without effort or direction. All are as well balanced, proportioned and harmonious as are the life giving elements of a normal man. From them radiates all that vast network of pipe
and wire that circulates life to the remotest parts.
What constitutes the analogy ? The huge, ungraceful, hot and greedy furnace and boiler is the source of all this life. The pulsations of the generator are as the heart from which flows the life giving currents that energize the structure even as the life blood in the arterial system energizes the human body. Those hidden wires are as nerves bearing messages from one part, to another, activating those organs and things that otherwise would be lifeless.
To those of us who have learned the unskopen language of the building that lives, these things are a source of wonder and beauty because they serve—serve faithfully without evasion, serve in fullness of power and when well cared for they sing of power, joyousness and constancy in harmony with themselves and those who are fit for their service.
Even as we care for and maintain those parts of our bodies that make- normal living possible, we should care for those similar parts of the correctly constructed building so that it may have a normal life and serve- us as well. To do this, these parts must have room in which to do their work, for they do work. And in working they expand and contract, push and pull, raise and lower, all under tremendous strain and stress. We never hear them complain except when we neglect them; then they speak in an unmistakable language that is plain to the ear that is properly attuned.
With these things in mind and having an appreciative understanding, why do we relegate them to improper quarters, engage in false economies in vital and minor parts, leave untended to hasten decay—these things that serve well and faithfully to their utmost ?
That you may better know them, the following
pages are presented to you.
(Copyright, 1921. The Architectural & Building Press, Inc.)
The ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. CXXIVWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1923NUMBER 2427
FOREWORD
TO THOSE who plan and construct builddigs, they are living things possessing
individual character and expression. Thenpersonality is as varied as that of humans. They utter a voiceless message that is clear to us who would listen and endeavor to understand. But like us humans, they can have form and substance and be without life—like the statue of supreme beauty, a thing of lifeless marble, or as an embalmed cadaver.
The building- is finished, equipped and furnished. It stands in all its beauty and strength, a thing of dignity and simplicity and yet intimate and engaging where appropriate. But it is without voice and life. Those organs that constitute life are not functioning. It is not habitable. And yet it has all of the elements of life.
When the boiler is fired and steam generated, tbe power generators in turn activate the motors— then is felt the quickening pulse of life. Heat and light are born to make brightness and warmth; frigidity is made to serve our needs ; absent friends talk to us; we listen to the word, the song and the music from far places ; we are elevated to high places without effort ; food is prepared and served to satisfy us; cleanliness is everywhere; food and shelter make life possible and desirable.
All of these elements of life are hidden from us—to most, of us they are not attractive. Perhaps they are uncouth, crude and barbarous looking things—noisy and ill-smelling. Or they may bo things that revolve with incredible speed— silent, shapely and beautiful. Some of the parts move, open or close without the intervention of man. They do this to serve the needs of the moment, do this automatically even as some of our parts do without effort or direction. All are as well balanced, proportioned and harmonious as are the life giving elements of a normal man. From them radiates all that vast network of pipe
and wire that circulates life to the remotest parts.
What constitutes the analogy ? The huge, ungraceful, hot and greedy furnace and boiler is the source of all this life. The pulsations of the generator are as the heart from which flows the life giving currents that energize the structure even as the life blood in the arterial system energizes the human body. Those hidden wires are as nerves bearing messages from one part, to another, activating those organs and things that otherwise would be lifeless.
To those of us who have learned the unskopen language of the building that lives, these things are a source of wonder and beauty because they serve—serve faithfully without evasion, serve in fullness of power and when well cared for they sing of power, joyousness and constancy in harmony with themselves and those who are fit for their service.
Even as we care for and maintain those parts of our bodies that make- normal living possible, we should care for those similar parts of the correctly constructed building so that it may have a normal life and serve- us as well. To do this, these parts must have room in which to do their work, for they do work. And in working they expand and contract, push and pull, raise and lower, all under tremendous strain and stress. We never hear them complain except when we neglect them; then they speak in an unmistakable language that is plain to the ear that is properly attuned.
With these things in mind and having an appreciative understanding, why do we relegate them to improper quarters, engage in false economies in vital and minor parts, leave untended to hasten decay—these things that serve well and faithfully to their utmost ?
That you may better know them, the following
pages are presented to you.
(Copyright, 1921. The Architectural & Building Press, Inc.)