Eye-catching Architecture​—Ancient and Modern

By “Awake!” correspondent in Brazil

WHEN did it all get started anyway? There was no hint of a need of any kind of architectural skill in perfect man’s original paradise. Weather extremes, and even rain, were unknown. Rather “a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground.” (Gen. 2:6) No dangerous wild animals had to be protected against. Imagine being able to dwell in the outdoors and sleep in the forest without fear!

Judging from the fact that there are still primitive tribes today who live in caves and rude shelters, some have concluded that it has taken man many thousands of years to develop an architectural sense. According to this theory, modern man’s forebears had to grope their way through many ages of mindless development before intelligence began to dawn. But what are the facts?

An Early Start

Let no one mislead you into believing the monkey-into-man story, because our most trustworthy record of earliest human history tells us that the first man’s firstborn son, when he grew to manhood, engaged in building a city. That was Cain. The city he built may have been no more than a fortified village, but it doubtless had gates, houses, doors and other architectural features. Indeed, Cain’s immediate descendants were already fashioning and playing musical instruments and forging tools of metal.​—Gen. 4:17-24.

Over 1,500 years passed. Already vast projects were being undertaken. This was in the days of the rebel Nimrod, a man who defied the Creator, put himself prominently before men as a leader and engaged in building city after city, commencing with Babel. Men had mastered the art of building with kiln-dried bricks and mortar. Prominent in Babel and well-calculated to catch the eye and dominate the landscape was the lofty temple tower, probably of the ziggurat type of structure, each story stepped back from the one below.​—Gen. 10:10-12; 11:3, 4.

The God of heaven saw fit to interfere with the grandiose scheme​—a scheme undertaken for the avowed purpose of honoring and memorializing self-important men. He confused their speech so that they could not understand one another. (Gen. 11:7-9) In all directions the peoples scattered from that teeming center of population in the Mesopotamian land of Shinar, bearing with them the memory of the lofty, impressive structure.

Today we can still observe. the long-lasting influence of those ancient architects in the pyramids of Egypt, the ruins of the Maya empires of Central America, the remains of colossal shrines in Cambodia and India, and the stepped-back structures of New York and other large cities.

Calculated to Impress

Proud rulers of all ages have delighted to build lasting monuments of their own fame. The Cheops pyramid, for example, originally towered to a height of 481 feet. It comprises over three million cubic yards of stone; its base covers thirteen acres; its limestone blocks weigh, on the average, two and a half tons. “It has been calculated,” according to historian James Baikie, “that the houses of a town to hold 120,000 people could be built out of the materials of the pyramid. . . . The area of the base of the Great Pyramid is two and a half times as great as that of St. Peter’s . . . more than nine times as great as that of Westminster Abbey.”

Then there is that largest known temple built by man, the ancient Egyptian temple of Amon in Karnak. Its great hall, with internal dimensions of 329 feet by 170 feet, contains 134 columns. The columns of its central rows are seventy-eight feet high. By raising the walls of this hall above the surrounding roofs and by an imaginative system of pierced stone trellises, its architects produced what is called a clerestory. Thereby adequate lighting was provided, setting the style for later Roman basilicas and medieval cathedrals.

Ambitious and wealthy potentates have been able to enlist the aid of men of taste and imagination. Think of all the varied types of graceful columns and ornamental pediments that have embellished their architectural masterpieces! There is, for example, the Sad-Sutun or Hall of a Hundred Columns at Persepolis. More graceful even than Ionic columns, they had a ratio of height to diameter of 12 to 1, as compared to the 8 to 1 of the Doric column, 9 to 1 of the Ionic and 10 to 1 in the Corinthian.

And the aims of all those builders of monuments? “One would suppose,” says one authority, “that the spirit moving Egyptian [and other ancient] architects was always so to impress the people with the overpowering, almost supernatural, dominance of their rulers and deities that they might never think for themselves or entertain the possibility of changing their social status.”​—The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1946 ed., Vol. II, p. 280.

That all of these mighty structures, ancient and modern, have the effect of flattering the vanity of the wealthy and powerful while also awing the lower classes into silence and obedience, is something that becomes obvious to the observant. Can you imagine the attitude toward fellow humans of one like Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who could boast: “Is not this Babylon the Great, that I myself have built for the royal house with the strength of my might and for the dignity of my majesty?”​—Dan. 4:30.

Honor the Giver of Artistic Sense

As we gaze upon the eye-catching productions of the architects of the present and the past, we do well to dismiss from mind the petty vanity of men. Consider, rather, how marvelously the Great Architect of the universe implanted in men so great a variety of capabilities! It is not a case of simply piling stone on stone. No, there are other considerations​—beauty, symmetry, that perfection of balance that must appear in the completed structure.

Of the Parthenon of Greece one authority declares: “Its studied refinements of line​—such as the very slight curving of lines intended to appear straight, the slight tilting in of corner columns to correct the appearance of tilting outward that such vertical columns have, the spacing of the columns so as to produce a span at the center slightly larger than at the ends—​these with the complete symmetry of the plan, as viewed from each side and the use of only one structural principle, the post and lintel, all combined to give this building a simple and impressive dignity.”​—The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. II, p. 281.

Gifted with the unique faculty of accumulating knowledge, man has made great strides in architecture. With the advent of the industrial revolution, new materials became available. The development of portland cement in 1824 and subsequent invention of processes for producing reliable mild steel have added extra fields for the imagination of the architect. Urban civilization, with its demands for more and more housing in a smaller area, has produced added challenge.

Modern Eye-Catchers

Buildings that reach for the sky are again in vogue. The first skyscraper, all of ten stories high, was completed in 1885 in Chicago. Its architect had developed what is known as the skeleton framework, that is, the support of walls and floor by the frame. But walls were still too heavy. Then came the daring design to clothe the steel frame of the building with new functional and lighter forms, using fixed glass panes.

In 1931 the world’s tallest building was completed​—the 102-story Empire State Building in New York city. It cost about $41,000,000. Built in less than two years, it reaches, with its radio-TV tower, 1,472 feet into the sky. From its observatory one can see a distance of eighty miles. Nevertheless, it is soon due to be dwarfed by the new World Trade Center in New York’s lower Manhattan, which is to have two 110-story aluminum-sheathed towers.

No longer does the architect think only in terms of square or rectangular buildings. From the huge garden of technology he can pick the flower he likes best​—precast concrete beams that span 100 feet; large, solid-glass panes; roofs of plastic foam or of other material that can fold like an accordion; cable-hung roofs 420 feet across. Nor is the end yet. Says architect Marcel Breuer: “You can sculpt concrete, you can mold it, chisel it, increase the vocabulary of architectural expression.” So a building can take almost any form its architect is capable of conceiving.

The Alcoa Building in San Francisco, for instance, presents a new look, with its crisscross beams firmly bracing it against probable earthquakes. Somewhat like it, but dramatically tapered, the 100-story John Hancock building in Chicago with its giant girders defies the howling winter winds. The serpentine Copán Building in São Paulo, Brazil, offers the occupants of its thirty-two stories a large share of the desirable sunshine.

The large oval Itália Building, in São Paulo’s center, considered the largest reinforced-concrete structure in the world, provides working space in its forty-five stories for 8,000 to 10,000 people. It can also handle an additional 25,000 visitors. An impressive panorama of São Paulo city can be enjoyed from its top.

Rio de Janeiro’s Ministry of Education building, completed in 1943, represented, for its time, an unheard-of marriage of concrete and glass. Its main tower building is flanked on one side by a low auditorium, on the other by an exhibition hall. Its tropical garden adds to its attractiveness. Like the later U.N. building in New York city, it displays the influence of Le Corbusier, the well-known Swiss architect.

Brasília​—City with the New Look

The capital of Brazil, located deep in the interior, has opened up new vistas of architectural beauty. When judging the winning master plan of the city, drawn by Lucio Costa, architect Sir William Holford optimistically said the result would be “a city with solutions, not problems, built in.” The city does not have a single grade crossing. In a setting of flat country, its tall buildings, like the pyramids, provide a harmonious contrast. The residential superblocks come complete with schools, stores and amusement facilities.

The main government buildings combine slender concrete and abundant glass. Its columns have become the symbol of the city. French Culture Minister André Malraux called the columns of the Dawn Palace “the most important architectural element since the Greek columns.” These unique columns are arranged differently in each palace. In the Dawn Palace they give the impression of sails blown by the wind. In the three-story Supreme Court building they touch the roof from the sides, while in the four-story Planalt Palace they are placed in front, giving the appearance of pillars.

In the strikingly beautiful Arcos Palace (popularly called Itamaraty) the arched columns dive deeply into a surrounding pool, in which swans dally gracefully. In contrast with the box-shaped palaces, the Legislative building has a rectangular structure, somewhat underground. What catches the eye at its top is the dome-shaped Senate and bowl-shaped House of Representatives, with their twin 28-story glass-concrete skyscrapers for offices. The whole complex makes up the Plaza of the Three Powers.

Beauty and Utility

The architectural field is truly becoming like a garden with its variety of flowers and shrubs. Imagination coupled with the growing diversity of building forms and materials gives greater scope to the architect. No longer confined to the simpler elements, he can envision and design and execute works in concrete, glass, steel that feature graceful curves, slender columns, canopies and other eye-pleasing impressions.

Man’s sense of the artistic is unique among fleshly creatures. It is the gift of his Creator that enables him to fashion things, large and small, things of beauty and things of utility. Indeed, as man looks around upon the myriad masterpieces of the Creator he has an unfailing source of inspiration. The closer his reproductions approximate the originals of creation, the more pleasurably eye-catching will be his works.