Selected Bibliography Architecture - Form Space and Order | Page 35

PL ANAR ELEMENTS

The ground plane ultimately supports all architectural
construction. Along with climate and other environmental
conditions of a site, the topographical character of the ground
plane influences the form of the building that rises from it. The
building can merge with the ground plane, rest firmly on it, or
be elevated above it.
The ground plane itself can be manipulated as well to establish
a podium for a building form. It can be elevated to honor a
sacred or significant place; bermed to define outdoor spaces
or buffer against undesirable conditions; carved or terraced
to provide a suitable platform on which to build; or stepped to
allow changes in elevation to be easily traversed.

Scala de Spagna (Spanish Steps), Rome, 1721–25.
Alessandro Specchi designed this civic project to connect the Piazza di Spagna
with SS. Trinita de’ Monti; completed by Francesco de Sanctis.

Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut,
Dêr el-Bahari, Thebes, 1511–1480 B.C., Senmut.
Three terraces approached by ramps rise toward the base of
the cliffs where the chief sanctuary is cut deep into the rock.

Machu Picchu, an ancient Incan city established c.1500 in
the Andes Mountains on a saddle between two peaks, 8000
ft. above the Urubamba River in south-central Peru.
20 / A R C H I TE C TU R E : F O R M , S PA C E , & O R D E R