INTRODUCTION
3
and
material
laws,
not
merely to account
for the
historyofarchitecture,buttoassessits
value,then
architecture will be judged by
the exactness and
sinceritywith which it expresses constructive
facts,
andconformstoconstructive
laws. Thatwillbethe
scientificstandard forarchitecture: alogicalstand-
ardsofarasarchitectureis
relatedtoscience,andno
further.
Butarchitecturerequires
'
commodity.'
Itisnot
enough
that it
should possess
its own internal co-
herence, its abstract logic of construction. It has
comeintoexistencetosatisfyanexternalneed.
That,
also,is
a fact of
its history.
Architecture is sub-
servient to the general uses of mankind. And,
immediately,politicsandsociety,religion
and
liturgy,
the large movements of
races
and their commot^
occupations, become factors in the study. These
determinewhat
shall
be
built,and,up
toapoint,in
what
way. The history ofcivilisation thus leaves
in architecture
its truest, because itsmost uncon-
sciousrecord. If, then,
it islegitimate to
consider
architecture
asan expressionofmechanical laws,it
islegitimate, noless,
to see in it anexpression of
human life. This furnishes a
standard of value
totally
distinct from thescientific. Buildings may
bejudgedbythe
successwithwhichtlieysupplythe
practical
endstheyare
designedtomeet. Or,bya
natural extension,we
mayjudgethembythe value
