This essay briefly traces the history of architectural ornamentation in Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Modern architecture. It argues against the lavish use of ornamentation that proliferated in the Roman Empire and rather for a masterful use of ornamentation that is truthful and faithful to the expression of function and structure. The essay concludes by admonishing architects of the next generations to integrate ornamentation in architectural design that is, by definition, a combination of various arts intimately related together. |
