LAWS OF CONSTRUCTIVE ART.
The character or distinctive appearance of a building depends essen tially upon the grouping of its leading masses. This grouping is governed by the same law that obtains in the creations of Nature, and that gives to each individual organs of the size and shape best fitted to enable it to fulfil its mission in ,the economy of the universe. In the same manner must the architect fix the number, size, and relative position of the spaces which in their entirety compose the required building. The more accurately he conceives his idea, the more fully he realizes it in his distribution of spaces, the nearer will he approach Nature, and consequently the more perfect, characteristic, and beautiful will be his building.
It is this which shows in the highest degree the artistic and creative power of the designer. This is especially the case wlidn the size and relations of the spaces to be obtained do not depend entirely upon the material requirements, but more or less upon the impression they are to make and the idea they are intended to convey to the spectator. This impression and this idea must to a certain extent be embodied in the plan, and thus the building owes its leading character to the combination of ideal and material requirements in the arrangement of its spaces. This is consequently the first and most important stage of artistic creation.
In our determination of the extent to which this artistic creation shall represent Nature's mode of work we must, according to the greater or lesser amount of idealism which the resultant building is to express, decide to bow great an extent the mere external requirements of space shall be dominant and how far they shall be subordinate to the demands of the ideal.
this case artistic creation can again borrow one of the fundamental rules of natural creation. This rule is Order, and the artist must more particularly be guided by it wben the exact arrangement of the spaces required cannot be mathematically determined. The arrange ment of a building demands that the size and number of the individual apartments shall bear a clearly-defined geometrical relation to one another. A certain geometrical relation of length, breadth, and height
produces even in a single room a harmonious and pleasant appearance, just as harmony of tone is based upon a determined simple law of numbers. As for the separate apartments, so also for the building itself a simple, clear, and well-defined geometrical ratio can be found. The number of rooms should depend on a law of a nature similar to that which gives the numerical ratio of the separate apartments. The greater and lesser apartments should be grouped according to the principles of unity around a centre or around one or more axes, and the higher and lower ones should be placed side by side or built one over another.
Symmehy.—The great law of symmetry which pervades Nature is also a fundamental law of artistic construction, but, as Nature does not • sacrifice symmetry to the purpose she has in view, the architect should not place this law above the practical requirements of a building. Here we can recognize the genius of the master, because in this he must use discrimination in the highest degree.
Not only does regard to the utility of a structure compel the architect to deviate from the law of symmetry, and even that of harmony, but a mul titude of irresistible forces and elements also restrict the construction of a building by the interference, as in Nature, of one law with another. Complete artistic success demands abundant room, so that the structure may arise unhampered save by the requirements of the essential rules of art. If the work is to reach full artistic development, every means which artistic requirement renders essential must be employed.
The tree does not seek its nourishment so deeply in the soil where it is rooted that it cannot be dwarfed by lack of space, while the weight of the snows and the fury of the tempests, exerted unequally upon its various parts, prevent it from attaining that absolute symmetry which Nature designed. In this way forms which are one-sided even to deformity and mutilation may result from the crossing of their simple law of growth by other natural forces.