REDUCTION/AMPLIFICATION: While it’s illogical to have two disparate scales present within a particular molding sequence, it’s not unusual to have varying scales in moldings belonging to different features of the same building or space. In fact, in structures of any complexity, one is often compelled to use moldings of diverse scales. The challenge is to adeptly bring about what I call the REDUCTION or AMPLIFICATION of scale where they meet.
In Fig. 10, the TORUS and PLINTH moldings that articulate the base of the building are hefty in size and scale, because they are in proportion to the overall height of this very tall urban structure. The moldings of the door surround, on the other hand, are literally reduced in size so they can relate to a more human scale appropriate for a door. Equally important is how they come together. Notice that the overall height of the step and pedestal element in the doorway is contained within the bottom flat member of the building’s base, and how the greater number of divisions at the door element, versus the single division in the base, conveys the reduction in scale. The same happens immediately above the big flat, where the height of just a single large TORUS is given over to both a TORUS and a PLINTH.
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[via Traditional Building Magazine]
