Of all buildings upon plans of equilateral and equi-angular polygons, the triangle contains the least urea, and on account of the acuteness of its angles, rectangular furniture cannot he disposed on its area without very considerable waste ; the employment of this figure, therefore, occasions not only a loss of surface from its property, but a loss also in placing of furniture: it may, however, be observed, in buildings erected upon equilateral and equi-angular polygons, the greater the number of sides the plan has, the less loss of area will be sustained on account of the property of the figure ; but those with obtuse angles will still have the same objections on account of the furniture. Various figures may be adopted occasionally, for the sake of variety, when the loss of room is not an object ; but for general use, the rectangular disposition of an edifice is the most convenient, as it will compact ad infonaut into rectangular figures, which is the best form of fiirniture for general use.
The accessories of a building are ornaments borrowed from sculpture and painting ; but wherever they are intro duced, they ought to be in character, and to indicate in sonic measure its destination. Figures representing animals are of a higher class than those of foliage or vegetables : the former were generally employed by the Greeks, particularly in the principal parts of their edifices, though sometimes the small parts were covered with foliage, in which the honey suckle was most predominant. The Romans, wh()se taste was inferior to that of the Greeks, indulged in both. It is to the remains of the edifices of these two nations, that the architect must have recourse for the embellishments of the fabric.
Of all the ornaments applicable to buildings, columns arc the most splendid and dignified. and no invention has yet been able to supplant the three Grecian orders, though a lapse of more than two thousand years has past. Pilasters are not only very beautiful, but when wrought in with the work, they reinforce the strength of the walls, and consequently the whole fabric; but they have neither the dignity nor the graceful appearance of columns.
The materials used in the construction of edifices are of various kinds, as timber, earth, mortar, chalk, stone, marble, iron, ere.; every place adopts, in the general construction of its buildings, those materials which are its own native produc tions, or those of other places which can be procured by an easy carriage.
The chief writers on building, whose works have been transmitted to our hands, are Vitruvius, Alberti, Serlio, Scammozzi, Vignola, Palladio, Baldus, Barbarus, Blonde), Catanei, Demoniosius, Friard, Goldman, Perrault, Riyius, Gulielmus, Langley. Ware, and some living authors. See ARCHITECTURE and 1 louss.
Ileutnixo, in masonry, is the art of joining stones together, with or without cement. so as to form the whole or part of an edifice. Building also signifies the mass of body formed by the junction of stone with regular suit:Ices. In this sense it is the same with masonry, or a piece of masonry. Masonry always implies building ; but building does not always imply masonry. See .11ARON111-.