Skylines and Skyscrapers
John A. Kouwenhoven1
1 Those engaged adj. 使用中的，忙碌的in discovering America often begin by discove ring the Manhattan n. 曼哈顿岛（美国的一个区
2 skyline n. 地平线；空中轮廓线；
, and here as well as elsewhere adv. 在别处；到别处 they discover apparently adv. 显然地；似乎，表面上
irreconcilable adj. 矛盾的；不能和解的；不能协调的
opposites.  They notice at once that it doesn’t make any sense, in human or aesthetic adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
terms.  It is the product of insane[in'sein adj. 疯狂的；精神病的；极愚蠢的
politics, greed, competitive ostentation[,ɔsten'teiʃən n. 卖弄；虚饰；虚有其表
,
megalomania, the worship n. 崇拜；礼拜；尊敬
of false虚伪的；伪造的gods. Its products, in turn, are traffic jams, bad ven tilation[,venti'leiʃən]n. 通风设备；空气流通
, noise, and all the other ills that metropolitan[,metrə'pɔlitən adj. 大都市的；大主教辖区的；宗主国的
flesh is heir n. 继承人；后嗣；嗣子
to3. And the net result is, illogically adv. 不合逻辑地
enough, one of the most exaltedly exalted [eɡ'zɔ:ltid] adj. 高尚的；尊贵的；兴奋的beautiful things man has ever made.
2 Perhaps this parado xical [,pærə'dɔksikəl adj. 矛盾的；诡论的；似非而是的
result will be less bewildering [bi'wildə vt. 使迷惑，使不知所措
if we look for a moment at the formal and structural adj. 结构的；建筑的
principles which are involved in the skyline. It may be helpful to c onsider the skyline as we might con
sider a lyric ['lirik adj. 抒情的；吟唱的poem, or a novel, if we were trying to analyze its aesthetic [i:s'θetik adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
quality.
3 Looked at in this way, it is clear that the total effect which we call “the Manhattan skyline” is made up of almost innumerable adj. 无数的，数不清的
buildings, each in competition (for height, or glamour n. 魅力，魔力；迷人的美
, or efficiency, or respectability n. 体面；可尊敬；有社会地位
) with all of the others.  Each goes its own way, as it were, in a ca rnival ['kɑ:nivəl n. 狂欢节，嘉年华会；饮宴狂of rugged adj.崎岖的；凹凸不平的；结实的；崴['rʌɡid arc hitectural individualism n. 个人主义；利己主义；个人特征
4. And yet as witness to the universal adj. 普遍的；通用的；宇宙的；全世界的；全体的
feeling of exaltation n.兴奋，得意洋洋and aspiration n. 渴望；抱负；呼气；吸引术
which the skyline as a whole evokes[i'vəuk vt. 引起，唤起；博得
out of this irrational[i'ræʃənəl adj. 不合理的；无理性的；荒谬的, unplanned, and often infuriat ing[ɪnˈfjʊərɪeɪtɪŋadj.令人大怒的chaos'keiɔs n. 混沌，混乱
, an unforeseen unity has evolved vt. 发展，进化；进化；使逐步形成；推断. No building ever bui lt in New York was placed where it was, or shaped as it was, because it would contribute to the aesthetic[i:s'θetik adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
effect of the skyline-lifting it here, giving it mass there, or lend ing a needed emphasis n. 重点；强调；加强语气
. Each was built, all those now under construction are being built, w ith no thought for their subordination[sə,bɔ:di'neiʃən n. 从属；附属；［语］主从关系
to any over-all effect.
4 What, then, makes possible the fluid [ˈflu:ɪd] adj. 流动的；流畅的；不固定的and
ever-changing unity which does, in fact, exist?  Quite simply, there are two things, both simple in themselves, which do the job. If they were not simple, they would not work; but they are, and they do.
5 One is the gridiron[ˈg rɪdˌaɪən n.（炙烤食物用的）烤架；美式橄榄球球场；船架；火刑铁格pattern of the city’s streets— the same basic pattern which accounts for说明（原因、理由等Denver n. 丹佛（地名，美国城市）
, Houston, Little Rock, Birmingham, and almost any American town you can name, and the same pattern which, in the form of square townships n. 镇区；小镇
, sections n. 截面，节段；型材（section的复数, and quarter n. 四分之一；sections, was imposed vi. 利用；欺骗；施加影响
by the Ordinance'ɔ:dinəns]n. 条例of 1785 on an almost continental scale n. 规模. Wh atever its shortcomings when compared with the “discontinuous street patterns” of modern planned communities, this artificial g eometric[dʒiəu'metrik adj. 几何学的；几何学图形的
grid[ɡrid]n. [计]网格；格子，栅格；输电网
-imposed v. 欺骗（impose的过去分词）；把…强加于
upon the land without regard to contours['kɔntuən. 轮廓；等高线；周线；电路；概要
or any pre conceive d[ˌp ri:kənˈsi:vd adj.预想的，先入为主的pattern of social zon ing n. （美）分区制；都市的区域划分
— had at least the quality of rational['ræʃənəl adj. 合理的；理性的simplicity.  And i t is this simple gridiron船架street pattern which, horizontally adv.水平地，横地, controls the spacing and arrangement of the rectangular 'rek'tæŋɡjuləadj. 矩形的；成直角的
shafts n. 拍杆；轴；箭杆；杆状物
which go to make up the skyline.
6 The other thing which holds the skyline’s diversity together is t he structural principle of the skyscraper. When we think of individua l buildings, we tend to think of details of texture n. 质地；纹理；结构；本质，实质
, color, and form, of surface ornamentation[,ɔ:nəmen'teiʃən]n. 装饰物
or the l ack of it. But as elements in Manhatten’s skyline, these th ings are of little consequence. What matters there is the vertical['və:tikə
l adj. 垂直的，直立的；头顶的，顶点的
thrust[θrʌst vt. 插；插入；推挤, the motion n. 动作；移动；手势；请求；意向
upward; and that is the product of cage or skeleton['skelitən n. 骨架，骨骼, constr uction in steel — a system of construction which is, in effect, mere ly a three-dimensional[di'menʃən adj. 空间的；尺寸的
variant['vεəriənt adj. 不同的；多样的
n. 变体；转化
of the gridiron street plan, extending vt. 延伸；扩大；推广vertically adv. 垂直地 instead of horizontally.
7 The aesthetics[i:s'θetiks]n. 美学；美的哲学
of cage, or skeleton['skelitən n. 骨架，, construction have never been fully anal yzed, nor am I equipped to analyze them.  But as a lay observer, I am  struck v. 罢工，打，打击（strike的过去式和过去分词by fundamental differences between the effect created by height in the RCA building abbr. 美国无线电公司（Radio Cor poration of Amer ica 5 at Radio ci ty, for example, and the effect created by height in Chartres cathedr al[kə'θi:drəl]n. 大教堂
6or in Giotto’s7 campanile. In both the latter (as in all the great architecture of the past) proportion n. 比例；部分；面积；均衡
and symmetry['simitri n. 对称（性）；整齐，匀称
, the relation of height to width n. 宽度；广度
, are constituent[kən'stitjuənt n. 成分；选民；委托人
to the effect.  One can say of a Gothic cathedral, “This tower is t oo high”; of a Romanesque  adj.罗马风格的dome
[d əum  n. 圆屋顶
, “This is top -heavy.” But there is nothing inherent
adj. 固有的；内在的；与生俱来的，遗传的
in cage construction which would invite  such judgments. A true skysc
raper  ['skai,skreip ə
like the RCA building could be eighteen or twenty stories taller, or ten or a dozen stories shorter without changing its essent ial aesthetic
adj. 美的；美学的；审美的，具有审美趣味的
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effect. Once steel cage construction has passed a
certain height  , the effect of transitive  adj. 及物的；过渡的；可迁的
upward motion has been establishe d; from there on, the point at which you cut it off is arbitrary
glamour
['ɑ:bitrəri  adj.
任意的；武断的；专制的
and makes no difference.
8 Those who are familiar with the history of the skyscraper will re member how slowly this fact was realized. Even Louis Sullivan  — grea test of the early skyscraper architects — thought in terms of  h
aving  to close off  and climax
n. 高潮；顶点；层进法；极点
the upward motion of the tall building with an “attic  n. 阁楼；顶楼；[
” of co rnice
['k ɔ:nis  n. 檐口，飞檐
. His lesser contemporaries  n. 同龄，同辈人（contemporary 复数形式
worked for years on the blin d 掩饰；借口；assumption that the proportion
n. 比例；部分；面积；均衡
and symmetry  n. 对称（性）；整齐，匀称
of masonry
['meis ənri  n. 石工；石工行业；石造建筑
architecture must be preserved  adj. 保藏的
in the new technique.  If with th e steel cage one could go higher than with load-bearing masonry
n. 石工；石工行
业；石造建筑
walls, the old aesthetic
effects could be counterfeited v.仿制，（ counterfeit 的过去分词 ）by dressing the façade as i f one or more buildings had been piled
n. 堆；大
量；建筑
on top of another — each retaining  n.保留，保持，维持防护the illusi
on  n. 幻觉，错觉；错误
of being complete in itself. You can still see such building s in New York: the first five stories perhaps a Greco-Roman temple , t he next ten a neuter  n. 无性动物；中性名词；阉割动物adj. 中性的；
warehouse
n. 仓库；货栈；大商店
, and the final five or six an Aztec pyramid 8. And that Aztec pyramid
n. 金字塔；角锥体
is simply a cheap and thoughtless equivalent  adj. 等价的，相等的；同意义的
of the more s
ubtle Sullivan cornice.  Both structures attempt to close and climax the upward thrust
[θrʌst] vt. 插；插入；推挤
, to provide something similar to the Katharsis in Greek tragedy['trædʒidi n. 悲剧；灾难；惨案
.
9 But the logic n.逻辑，逻辑学of cage construction requires no such climax n.顶点，极点；. It has less to do with the inner logic n. 逻辑；逻辑学；逻辑
性of masonry[ˈmeɪsənri 石工工程，砖瓦工工程；砖石建筑forms than with that of
the old Globe-Wernicke sectional bookcases, whose interchangeable adj. 可互换的；可交换的；可交替的
units (with glass-flap fronts) anticipated[æn'tisipeit adj. 预期的；期望的
by fifty years the modular['mɔdjuləadj. 模块化的；模数的；有标准组件的
, unit systems of so-called modern furniture.  Those bookcases n. 书柜，书架
were advertised in the ‘nineties as “always complete but never fin ished”— a phrase which could with equal propriety have been applie d to the Model-T Ford.  Many of us remember with affection n. 喜爱，感情；影响；感染
that admirably simple mechanism n. 机制；原理，途径；进程；机械装置；技巧
, forever susceptible adj. 易受影响的；易感动的；容许…的
to added gadgets[gæ,dʒets n. 小配件；小工具（gadget的复数）
or improved parts, each of which was interchangeable with what you already had.
10 Here, then, are the two things which serve to tie together the ot herwise irrelevant adj. 不相干的；不切题components of the Manhattan skyline: the gr idiron ground plan and the three-dimensional adj. 空间的；尺寸的
vertical'və:tikəl]adj. 垂直的，直立的；头顶的，顶点的grid . [计]网格；格子，栅格；输电网of steel cage construction. And both of these are closely related to one another.  Both are compo sed v. 组成；作曲（compose的过去分词）；著作
of simple and infinitely['infinitli adv. 无限地；极其
repeatable units.

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