A temple is a cenote

The Mayans believed that on the passage from the underworld to the afterlife your soul is reborn again. The underworld is the gateway to immortality. The soul is carried down a river, mostly an underground river called a cenote. A cave incorporated into a mountain is the access point to the river. As you travel down the river there is a transition in which salt water and fresh water meet called a halo cline. Once through and on the other side, this is where you have traveled and reached Xibalba. There are nine places where rivers come out of mountains. Similar to this, Pakal built the Temple of Inscriptions using the idea of a mountain,cave and a river. The river that floes nearby to the palace and the temple will be where the soul is carried to the afterlife. Pakal wanted to create a temple where mountain,cave and river unite.

In my map the horizontal lines create the nine levels of the underworld and the access point. The shifted vertical lines are similar to the river and the halo cline, the transtional point from the underworld to the afterlife. The series of vertical and horizontal interweaved lines create the two and a half years the Mayans believe it would take for one to travel to Xibalba. The void above is the above is the final destination in which the soul is reborn.

Theory # 5 Sky

The Mayans construct in the southwest corner of the palace a tower four stoties high. The tower is particularly important in its relationship to the Temple of Inscriptions where the tomb of Lord Pacal, Palenque's great ruler lies.

At the winter solstice, which happen once a year, the sun sets a direct line from the Palace tower to the center of the Temple of Inscriptions. At this moment of the year, when the sun was directly overhead the Mayans would start their calendar.

Power Theory

Both the Temple of Inscriptions and the Palace represent Power by relating to the topography. Edge conditions display that it creates the boundary in every direction. They are the center points of the site, and in every direction, all other constructions are less significant.
The Temple and Palace were both made for Pakal, and are therefore the most prominent structures. The Temple was built for Pakal's occupation in death, and the Palace was built as his occupation in life. The nine levels also represented the levels of the Underworld, relating to his death.
Being that they are both the largest and tallest buildings, they are the two constructions you can view the rest of the site from them. the height They are bordered by the river and the hills, making their immensity visible to all. The hills and river create edge conditions while also placing the Palace and Temple as the center points of the site.

Ground-Construction-Sky

Students were asked to research Mayan art and architecture. The focus was on Palenque; the Palace and the Temple of Inscriptions specifically. This is the ruin chosen for Project 2. Students were required to present a minimum of three theories that propose the reason(s) that this site was chosen. They were asked classified their theories as related to ground, construction or sky, and post them on a wall of the studio.

This method of organizing the information and work allowed the students to engage in conversation about each others work.

Theory Thesis Paragraph

The ancient Mayans used their site's natural resources in a way that emulated the topography of the area. They positioned Palenque in a region bordered by limestone and, thus, used this stone to construct such buildings as Palenque's Palace and Temple of Inscriptions. The Mayans then designed such buildings to mirror the sloping terrain. They literally paralleled their cityscapes to their environment; it is as if the city rose from the ground and was shaped by the elements in the same way the actual land was.

Update:

words = fold (verb: to fold), layer (verb: to layer), datum (noun: the datum)

My project's purpose is to fold the ground and construction and to layer masses in order to create points of power within "Palenque".

The site and intervention above are a relief construct that display the relevence of status within both the Mayan society and the future business empire that will occupy what was once the Palace of Palenque. The future business will use the theory that this project is based on in order to build their hierarchial structure; it will still emulate the land to form a powerpoint at the peak and will layer the multileveled structure to inform status amongst the company.

Theory 8

There are core, structural and situational similarities between the Temple of Inscriptions and the Palace in Palenque. The structural similarities are primarily shown through the relationship between the piers of the temple and the houses of the palace. Specifically there are seven different sectors of the palace that relate to the seven different piers of the temple.
Though there are numerous entrances to both the temple and the palace the main ones are situated on the northern face. This further proves a structural similarity within the two constructions. This specific situation of the entrances provides a sense of uniformity not only between the two constructions but also within the general site.
This then leads to the situational similarities between the two. It was common in Mayan architecture that when a site was developed it would first be divided into various sections. These sections would then serve as a grid-like system in which the constructions were situated. Specifically in Palenque, it is apparent that the two largest constructions, which are conveniently placed almost perpendicular to one another perhaps to emphasize the grid-like system, provide a point to which the west side of the site almost draw to. This type of uniformity, once zoomed into, provides us with a site within a site. In other words the Temple of Inscriptions and the Palace both present a critical role within the site of Palenque however are also able to stand alone within their own field/zone.

PROCESS - Collaborative Site Model

Students discuss ways of creating site conditions in the class model that give information and potential to each individual project. "..think of the Palenque without dirt..."

Studio sketch

Part of the class diagram showing possible costruction.