Experiments and Transformations Chapter IX

IN the last chapter it was contended that whenever a building has the appearance of being unstable, as, for instance, when a stone faade is superimposed upon a sheet of glass, the blemish in the design is not constructional but aesthetic. What is wrong with the building illustrated in Figure XVI. is its lack of homogeneity, the discord which arises when the visible base of the structure is of a texture entirely different from the remainder. Yet shopkeepers continue to demand these wide sheets of glass so that their merchandise may be displayed as prominently as possible. Engineers and architects, therefore, have before them the interesting problem of how to give the shopkeeper his requirements in this respect without at the same time producing an unsatisfactory design. In Figure XV. I showed a new type of façade in which the external wall of the mezzanine assumed the form of a braced girder bridge which was obviously strong enough to uphold the storeys above. Where it may be assumed that the mezzanine is not a very important floor, it matters little if its windows are odd triangular shapes in the interstices of the constructional members of the bressumer. But the interference with the lighting in this storey might possibly be considered serious enough to warrant an attempt at another solution of the problem.

A. Trystan Edwards