Program: Marketplace

Mayan agriculture relied heavily on the seasonal cycles within their region for harvest. The Maize God was revered in his powers for providing the reason for harvest and his own life cycle symbolizing the changes from fall to winter. In addition, the storage of their crops played an essential part to how they activated their own profits as well as public gathering, for the more harvest there was, the more people would buy and at times the more there would be for storage. And much like the harvest they fostered, the farmers would set up shop and within days have it disassembled to begin another year of cultivation.

The client in regards to such a place would hold the position of a rural farmer within the city of Uxmal. He would need to be allocated within a space that can provide for large groups as well a local scale of commerce. His space for commerce would be subdivided into aisles or nitches that could hold smaller groups that were in search of specific fruits or items. The pathway within the said space is cyclical in order to ease flow throughout the space. Light and sound play a direct correlation into this portion of the intervention, as light guides the time and hours of operation for the market and sound acts as a catalyst for commerce and informs the aisles of forthcoming density and space.

A gathering space is also essential for the client because there needs to be somewhat of a plaza for the villagers to occupy besides the market. The space is fitted for large groups of occupants and holds to the idea of an adjacency to the market as well as a program that provides multiple axes of directionality. Those that gather in this plaza of sorts are in a shift from ground to a man made construct signifying a change in significance, much like many other Mayan constructs. The gathering space would also house niches for those who are enveloped to sit and socialize. The space is then converted to a promenade, where the plaza informs the adjacent areas and acts as a transportation system in itself.

Beneath the gathering space would be compartments drastically smaller in scale for the farmers to store their crops. The spaces are shallow and lengthy in order to store many crops in a confined space to avoid spoiling and utilize space that is necessary. The space also intersects with the market throw the main threshold as to provide an accessible entry for storage.

These 3 scales of space work together to create an atmosphere that one can barder through commerce as well as gather. However, there is a particular piece within the structure that provides a different form of significance to the intervention. Many times, the farmers had to provide some form of payment to higher officials such as the royals or high priests. A top of the market there would be a space for such a transaction to occur. The space creates a path from the Governors Palace to the market for the farmers to perform the ritual of transaction as form of pay for setting up the market in the space provided on the great platform. the Space adds to the hierarchical set of the market and is isolated from the gathering spaces to bring a disruption to the itinerary of the overal intervention.

Artifact:: God of Maize Plate

The Maize Plate is a ritualistic piece in Mayan society. It is centered around the Maize God, which represents the cyclical life of their harvest. It acts as what can be considered the chora of their civilization because the conceptual principles behind the origin of the actual artifact informs the daily routine and path of the Mayans. The artifact integrates a religious environment into a cultural stability that is the Mayan civilization.

Located in the center of the Artifact, the portrayal of the Maize God anchors the ornamentation around it. The Maize God is dancing with his hands towards the west, representing the cycle of the sun, which sets in the same direction. His headdress is in the shape of what looks to be a cornucopia, often used to hold vegetables and fruit in festivities. The ornamentation that encompasses the Maize God depicts the other Gods with significance to the Maya. The two systematically depict how the Maya have categorized what they hold as important and why myth and nature have united to inform the itinerary within Uxmal. The Plate has three layers to its aesthetic and the shift in their scales is what adopts the intervened spacial qualities to the moment where it can be held and observed.

The artifact itself creates an opportunity to integrate the daily rituals of the Maya with what is more ceremonial and proper. It intersects the concept of public and private program, where certain aspects of such an intervention become remnants of an overall itinerary. Much like the void between the Governor's Palace and the cemetery group, the intervention unites what potentially could be a commonplace for the occupants of the site, otherwise unoccupied at the moment. This phenomena of ellipsis occurs at various times, each different in experience and ambiance. The Maize Plate is ritualistic at a larger scale, in the form of a gathering platform, much like the jaguar thrones throughout Uxmal that would provide a space of ceremony. However, these spaces lacked the specifics for observation. The plate is also domestic, being a tool that is used in daily living and regarded as something which anchors necessity (food). However, there are moments where the ellipsis plays a part of idolization.

Diagrammatic Analysis through Articulated Edge Part II

The Governor's Palace holds much meaning and significance to the site. It has the longest standing facade and is the origin of transition for many governmental and religious ceremonies in Uxmal. The construction is anchored into the topography through man made structures that are a result of the habitual landscape. The Palace is also a threshold into time passed as it has been built upon structurally and figuratively through the years. The hierarchical elements within the construct allow for occupation beyond the threshold and moments which could only be experienced through occupation rather than observation. Its facade illustrates a series of levels and orders which ornament the roof and provide a grid for what is significant.

Diagrammatic Analysis through Articulated Edge

The Governor's Palace holds much meaning and significance to the site. It has the longest standing facade and is the origin of transition for many governmental and religious ceremonies in Uxmal. The construction is anchored into the topography through man made structures that are a result of the habitual landscape. The Palace is also a threshold into time passed as it has been built upon structurally and figuratively through the years. The hierarchical elements within the construct allow for occupation beyond the threshold and moments which could only be experienced through occupation rather than observation. Its facade illustrates a series of levels and orders which ornament the roof and provide a grid for what is significant.

Theory: Symbolism

Mayan architecture has proportions and details symbolic of its cultural figures. The ruins have left an imprint from what they valued during their time and how they chose to tribute it or express such an attribute.

The Magicians pyramid is significant to Uxmal because it is the grounds where the priest would perform his rituals to the Gods. Along the sides, details of Chac with his headdress are facing north and south, at opposite ends, suggesting a constant vigilance. The temple of the priest at the top of the pyramid houses a throne with the headdress of Chac adorning the top, symbolizing superiority. These elements combined along with the statue of a two-headed jaguar at the bottom of the courtyard suggest an overwhelming amount of power.

Essentially, the Maya saw its symbolism as a way of converying their prosperity. As mentioned in previous posts, they built over their city every 52 years, leaving behind what was there in some form to emulate prosperity in their civilization.

Vocab List

Puuc
Anchor
Corbel
Juxtaposition
Archaeoastronomy
Hieroglyphic
Quadrangle
Palimpsest
Memory
Group
Axis
Topography
Superimposed

Theory: Detail

Puuc architecture is connected to "decoration" as well as function for the building. Uxmal evidently is built in the Puuc region of the Yucatan. "The general concensus for the structures in the city is that the facade of all of them are generally blank and slabs of concrete put together to house a space. The roof is what separates from the concrete, creating a small overcast from the ground and adding tremendous detail to the elevation."

The ornamentation of the roofs symbolizes Maya culture and each building is different is ornament. For example, in the Nunnery, the North structure has on its elevation a serpent running along the front, where as in the Governors Palace the roof is ornamented with patterns of what look like textiles. Gods are also placed in the decor. Another building is the house of the Turtles, where the ornaments are literally turtles that have a religious significance to them in Maya culture.

The importance of the ornamentation is that is acts as a boundary in Uxmal. It holds to the idea that each building has a specific function and is allotted that space in which it is surrounded by. The Nunnery is square as too block out intruders, much like the Snake of Chac does for its enemies. Also, the decor catalogs each building and can distinguish which structures have similar function

Theory: Armature from Void

The Maya emphasized in their architecture an importance in Mass and little significance in interiors. Being people of War, they sought it fit to create these vast temples in order to bring fear upon smaller villages or civilizations that did not have the means to do so. However, in Uxmal, there is a greater understanding of interior space that is not present in other Mayan cities.

Taking sections from the cities topographical map, it would seem that many buildings with similar function are in relationship through a juxtaposition of placement. For example, the Great pyramid and the Magicians pyramid are related by the level in which they stand on the ground in section. Both are in a plateau among the puuc region that encompasses it, signifying that these structure have a central importance for everyone. The voids between the structures acts as an armature in the sense that it creates a metaphysical connection between structures. this connect is further supported by the plaza that these building are located on.

Although the spaces are exterior in nature, sectionally, they act as interior spaces, forming to the outside and housing depth within. The sections also show levels on which the Maya have built and the differences in elevation in comparison to buldings.

Artifact:: Maize God Plate

The Maize God was an important God within the deities of Mayan culture. Much of its significance stems from the myth that the Maya were created from the deities of out corn, or Maize.

In Maya mythology, the Maize God, is half human/ half animal. The headdress he bears emphasizes such. His life is cyclical, just like the harvesting season for Maize, and he is most represented through the ornaments he wears; primarily feathers and jade.

I chose the plate as my artifact because it hold a ritualistic experience I feel cannot be found in other artifacts. To begin, the fact that the Maize God is centrally located on it suggest this plate is for a more ritualistic use, rather than daily utility. In addition, it gives insight into what the Mayans valued for themselves. Maize God was seen as perfect and an individual to admire. His purpose in the culture was to provide food for the Maya empire.

The depictions on the border of the plate are rival deities that come upon him, such as the God of the underworld, depicted as a Jaguar. The story depicts essentially how the world goes into seasons, and that the reason is the Jaguar makes the Maize God go into hiding as to avoid being killed.

Theory: Hierarchy within urban structure

The Mayans relied heavily on the cosmos and supernatural to inform them of certain aspects of their own civilization. The site of Uxmal is situated within hills and mountainous terrain on the Yucatan Peninsula. Its directionality is informed not only by the terrain that envelops at times the structures within the city, but by the constellations and astrological information the Mayans saw as beneficial for the site.

Uxmal retains a core relationship with its surrounding topography. An axial gesture down the city anchors the entire city and allows for circulation of movement as well as significance. This anchor is organic in nature and holds to the cities angle, which is due north 14 degrees. As a result, what is in registration with the axis is connected through the vast plaza at the south side of Uxmal. The plaza is a counterbalance for the mass that is being enveloped by the topography. It acts as an itinerary.

Similarly, the interior spaces that are created from the axis are directly effected by the topography. In the governors palace, the entrance is in the east side, unlike in the Nunnery, where the entrance is on the south. This signifies that a shift in circulation may have occurred and all the systems working together within Uxmal are beginning to weave and open new thresholds for later development. (i.e. the cemetery group is a continuous expansion since the birth of the city.)