how was the architecture and the cities of the incas ?

Answer 1

It was soooooooooo cool! You should go to a library and find a book on the architecture of the Incas!

And don't feel the need to bother with all those troublesome words. Just look at the pictures!

Answer 2

The essence of Inka architecture cannot be distilled into a single word. Three themes demand recognition: precision, functionality, and austerity. The Inka stonefitters worked stone with a precision unparalleled in human history; their architects clearly esteemed functionality above decoration; yet their constructions achieved breathtaking beauty through austerity of line and juxtaposition of masses. The Inka seem to have presaged Mies Van der Rohe's philosophy of "less is more".
The dominant stylistic form in Inka architecture is a simple, but elegantly proportioned trapezoid, which serves the dual ends of functionality and severely restrained decoration. Trapezoidal doorways, windows, and wall niches are found in Inka constructions of all types, from the most finely wrought temples to crudely built walls in unimportant buildings. The doorways and windows are obviously functional, and the niches probably served a variety of functions as yet unidentified by the archeologists. Placement of these trapezoidal openings was primarily functional, but occasionally, esthetic arrangements might dominate the placement of the trapezoids, if there was no conflict with functionality.

Perhaps the single field in which the Inka builders allowed fancy to supercede function is in their playful handling of flowing water. Sparkling streams cascade from stone spouts, sometimes decorated with carved designs, into joyfully splashing basins, then flow through quite unnecessarily complex stone channels to pour into the next fountain or bath, and so on from fountain to pool to basin, one after the other. Clearly the Inkas enjoyed the sight and sound of water and, quite possibly, enjoyed demonstrating their mastery over the course of this essential fluid.

Various aspects of Inka architecture-- construction methods, design, and characteristic features-- will be illustrated in the following paragraphs, using photos taken in well-known archeological sites in the Cusco - Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu area. No special archeological or architectural expertise is claimed by the strictly amateur compiler of this webpage, just a respectful awe of the achievements of these superb Andean architects and engineers who left modern society these astounding monuments to enjoy and puzzle over.


Materials, stonecutting, and construction methods:
Let us start by looking at the working of the stone medium with which the Inkas built. They built with locally available rock, from limestone to granite. However, the "local" supply might be several kilometers distant and involve a transportation problem that would have daunted a less capable people. At Ollantaytambo, huge blocks were quarried from one side of the Urubamba Valley, shaped in part, and then brought down the mountainside, across the Urubamba River, and up a long construction ramp to the great fortress-temple complex above Ollantaytambo village.
The fortress-temple of Ollantaytambo is famous for its beautifully fitted great slabs of red porphyry forming a portion of what must have been intended to be its principal temple. But this complex, a work in progress when the conquistadores arrived, was never finished. A number of large cut blocks were abandoned en route to the site and remain today, known as piedras cansadas or "tired stones". Within the complex, a stone that was in the process of being maneuvered into its final position can be seen lying on its emplacement ramp. Other stones exhibit peculiar grooves which were meant to be filled with molten bronze or copper to lock two adjacent stones together (as was done by the Greeks in their temple construction, and also by the people of Tiwanaku near Lake Titikaka).

How the Inka cut stone without iron tools is not known with any certainty, but in all likelihood stone was cut and shaped mainly with stone tools. Bronze or copper tools may also have been used, but would be of limited use with the hard varieties of igneous rock commonly used by the Inka. In Cusco can be seen an interesting stone that was evidently abandoned while being cut in two; the row of narrow holes forming the line along which it was to be split seem to bespeak the use of a metal tool. Probably this stone represents post-conquest work for the Spaniards. The conquistadores admired Inka stonework sufficiently to employ Inka stonecutters and techniques in colonial buildings, and many of the "ancient Inka" walls in Cusco belong to the colonial period, such as this wall with carved snakes and stones in non-Incaic shapes.

BTW this is a too long subject.