Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
joyaux d’invention plastique
English translation:
jewels of architectural ingenuity
French term
joyaux d’invention plastique
| 4 +2 | jewels of architectural ingenuity |
philgoddard
|
| 4 | jewels of inventive sculptural presence |
Yvonne Gallagher
|
Non-PRO (1): mchd
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
jewels of architectural ingenuity
I suggest: "Leonidov's projects were jewels of architectural ingenuity and spatial elegance, a century ahead of their time".
You could also say invention or inventiveness.
| agree |
Melanie Kathan
: I like this suggestion as well.
22 mins
|
| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: the "plastic" element has to be retained/you haven't retained it because plasticity & architectural are not synonyms. And "finesse" doesn't mean "elegance" here either.
26 mins
|
|
I have retained it, but I've put "architectural" rather than "plastic", which I always think sounds a bit pretentious in this context.
|
|
| agree |
B D Finch
2 hrs
|
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
jewels of inventive sculptural presence
"spatial finesse" can be literally translated
what "plasticity" means in architecture
https://mgerwingarch.com/m-gerwing/2011/01/24/plasticity-–-a...
Not even sure if "jewels" is the best fit here.
Perhaps "masterpieces" (or even "paragons" "archetypes") might be better?
something like:
Thus, Léonidov's architectural projects were groundbreaking, avant garde masterpieces of sculptural presence and spatial finesse a century or so in advance.
Discussion
https://www.google.co.uk/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNStxrO4jdjrbP3S6Z...