Proportion: Science, Philosophy, ArchitectureThis handbook provides readers with a well-illustrated and readable comparative guide to proportion systems in architecture, setting out the mathematical principles that underlie the main systems and illustrating these with examples of their use in historical and modern buildings. The main body of the text traces the interplay of abstraction and empathy through the history of science, philosophy and architecture from the early Greeks through to the two early twentieth-century architects who made proportion the focus of their work: Le Corbusier and Van der Laan. The book ends with a reflection on the present and future role of proportion in architecture. |
Contents
Chapter one THE HARMONY OF THE WORLD MADE MANIFEST IN FORM AND NUMBER | 1 |
Chapter two ABSTRACTION AND EMPATHY | 15 |
Chapter three UNIT AND MULTIPLIER | 33 |
Chapter four THE HOUSE AS MODEL FOR THE UNIVERSE | 53 |
Chapter five THE PROPORTIONS OF THE PARTHENON | 75 |
ORDER OUT OF CHAOS | 96 |
CHANGE CONTINUITY AND THE UNIT | 113 |
THE GOLDEN SECTION AND THE FIVE REGULAR SOLIDS | 133 |
Chapter eleven HUMANISM AND ARCHITECTURE | 210 |
Chapter twelve RENAISSANCE COSMOLOGY | 249 |
Chapter thirteen THE WORLD AS A MACHINE | 264 |
Chapter fourteen FROM THE OUTER TO THE INNER WORLD | 281 |
Chapter fifteen THE GOLDEN SECTION AND THE GOLDEN MODULE | 307 |
Chapter sixteen THE HOUSE AS A FRAME FOR LIVING AND A DISCIPLINE FOR THOUGHT | 342 |
REFERENCES | 377 |
| 387 | |
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Common terms and phrases
abstract aesthetic Alberti ancient architect architectural proportion Aristotle arithmetic Art of Building artist beauty Cathedral centre century Chapter Chartres circle Classical column complete concept construction Corbusier Corbusier's corresponding cosmology cube D.Hume decagon derived diagonal diameter dimensions dodecahedron double square elements empathy equal equilateral Euclid example facade Fibonacci series Figure foot measure geometry golden rectangle golden section Gothic Greek H.van der Laan Hambidge harmony height Heraclitus Hume Ibid icosahedron ideas infinite inscribed irrational numbers Jay Hambidge knowledge Laan's laws Le Corbusier Le Modulor length mathematical measures mind modern modulor nature objects octahedron Palladio Parthenon pentagon philosophy physical plastic number Plato polyhedra Proportion in Architecture proportion systems Pythagoras Pythagorean R.Wittkower ratio regular relation Renaissance right angle S.Sebastiano semicircle shape side square root stylobate system of proportions Table Theory of Proportion things Timaeus triangle unit University Press Vitruvius whole whole-number width Wittkower writes