第2篇 what a building is.docVIP

1、A building does not express its meaning in the same way as a picture or a sculpture, because it is by nature much more complex. It demands a prior effort of analysis. In the first place, we never see a building in its totality; we can never obtain more than partial views both of the exterior and interior, with the result that we are always obliged to relate what we can see to what we cannot see to form a clear picture of the whole. It is impossible simply to indulge the pleasure of the eye: one has to think as well as look. To help us in this intellectual exercise we have an important tool to hand, the plan, which inform us simultaneously（同时） about exterior and interior, the whole and the part. Together with the cross section, which reveals（揭示） the structure, it gives in abstract form a composite image of the building which photographs-in whatever number-could never give. It is therefore necessary, before anything else, to learn to read a plan and to familiarize oneself in a general way with the various means of graphic expression used in architecture (cross section, elevation, axonometric plan). 一栋建筑并不会像一幅图片或是一座雕像那样表达它的内含，因为它的自然属性会更加复杂。在欣赏建筑之前，人们需要先进行充足的分析工作。首先，我们从不会看到一个建筑以其整体的姿态出现，而且我们也只能看到内部景象与外部景观的部分场景，因此我们经常会将我们看到的与我们看不到的组成一个清晰的关于整体的样貌。仅仅满足视觉的欢愉是不可能的：人们必须边看边想。为了帮助我们更好地进行这项消耗智力的练习，我们应当去掌握一个重要的工具，那就是平面图。平面图可以同时告知我们内部与外部的信息，也可以告诉我们整体与局部的信息。它与显示结构关系的横向剖面图一起，共同给我们提供了一个抽象的关于整栋建筑的合成图，这种图像是内部摄像所不能提供的。因此，了解与欣赏一个建筑之前，先学会看懂平面，同时让你熟悉认知建筑中多种图像表达方式（剖面，立面，轴测图等）是很有必要的。 The transformations（变换） to which buildings are subject constitute（构成、设立） a second difficulty. Very often we can no longer see today what the builders would have wished: projects are abandoned or modified（修改） before completion, parts that were complete are demolished（摧毁）, others, added later, are of a different character. Time, it is true, alters（改变） all works of art, but its effect on architecture is more noticeable because the construction of a major building takes a long time, and because buildings ---alway