Theory No. 11: Organic Growth

I believe this site was chosen because the Maya intervened in a landscape, but used the ground as a tool to map the site. The Maya established a core and allowed the city to grow organically from that core.

As Miller said, “The Maya found no attraction in rectilinear city streets or the city grid pattern.”* They established a core with the Palace and the temple of Inscriptions. From that point, the rest of the city unfolds along with the landscape. “The Maya rarely leveled a hill;” they used the topography as a starting point, a map. The use of the landscape allows the Maya to create interesting public spaces protected by both the construction, and the natural landscape, a true hybrid of a natural setting and an intervention.

*MILLER, MARY ELLEN. MAYA ART AND ARCHITECTURE. THAMES AND HUDSON LTD. LONDON. 1999