as inthe nature of good construction, but a higher evelopment of this "seeing" will be

construction seen as nature-pattern. That seeing, only, IS inspiredarchitecture.

ThisdawningsenseoftheWithin as reality whenitisclearlyseenas Nature will by
way of glass make the garden be the building as much as the building will be the
garden: theskyas treasureda featureof daily indoor lifeas theground itself.
Youmayseethatwalls arevanishing. Thecavefor humandwelling purposes is
at lastdisappearing.
Walls themselves because of glass will become windows and windows as we
usedto knowthemas holes inwalls will be seennomore. Ceilingswill oftenbecome
aswindow-walls, too.Thetextilemaysoonbeusedasabeautifuloverheadforspace,
thetextileanattributeofgenuinearchitectureinsteadofdecorationbywayofhangings
andupholstery.Theusualcamouflageof theoldorder. Modernintegralfloorheatingwill
followintegrallightingandstandardizedunitarysanitation.Allthismakesitreasonableand
goodeconomytoabolishbuildingaseitherahyper-boxmentorasuper-borough.
Haven'tsenselesselaborationand falsemass become sufficientlyinsultingand
oppressive toour intelligenceas a people? And yet, senselesselaborationand false
massweretyrannicalas"conspicuouswaste"inallofournineteenthcenturyarchitecture
either public or private: Wherever the American architect, as scholar, went he
"succeeded" tothat extent.
Another reality: continuity
Butnow, as thirdresource, theresourceessential tomodernarchitecturedestined to
cut down this outrageous mass-wasteand mass-lyingis the principle of continuity. I
have called it tenuity. Steel is its prophet and master. Youmust come with me for a
momentinto"engineering"socalled. Thisistobeanunavoidablestrainuponyourkind
attention. Because, unfortunately,gentlereader, youcannot understandarchitecture
as modern unless you do come, and-paradox-you can't come if you are too well
educated as anengineer or as anarchitect either.Soyourcommon senseis needed
morethanyour erudition.
However,tobeginthisargumentforsteel:classicarchitectureknewonlythepost
as anupright. Call ita column. Theclassics knewonlythebeamas a horizontal. Call
itabeam. Thebeamrestingupontheupright, or column, was structurethroughout, to
them.Twothings,yousee,onethingsetontopofanotherthinginvariousmaterialsand
put thereinvariousways. Ancient, and nineteenthcenturybuilding science too, even
building la mode, consisted simplyinreducing thevarious stressesof all materials
andtheirusestothesetwothings: postandbeam. Really,constructionusedtobejust
sticking upsomethinginwood or stoneand puttingsomethingelse inwood or stone
(maybe iron) on top of it: simple superimposition, you see? Youshould knowthat all
"Classic" architecture was and still is somesuch formof direct superimposition. The
arch is a littleless so, but eventhatmust be so "figured" by thestructural engineer if
you askhimto "figure" it.
NowtheGreeks developed this simpleact of super-impositionprettyfar byway
of innatetasteful refinement.TheGreeksweretrueaestheticians.Romanbuilders too,
whentheyforgottheGreeksandbroughtthebeamoverasacurvebywayofthearch,
did something somewhat new but with consequences still of the same sort. But
observe, all architectural features made by such "Classic"agglomerationwere killed
for us by cold steel. And though millions of classic corpses yet encumber American
ground unburied, theyare readynowfor burial.
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