THEORETICAL STUDY:
Geometry, Numbers and Proportions: Beauty and the Golden Section INTRODUCTION Also known as the Divine Proportion, the Sacred Cut or Phi, the Golden Section has a long tradition in western culture. It can be found in plant seed patterns, in bees’ family trees, in the Pyramids, in Gothic Cathedrals, in Renaissance paintings, in the human body or in shells: these examples are part of an infinite series. The history of the Golden Section began with calculations on Babylonian clay tablets and emerges today in the digital age.1 Even though the Golden Section is found in many aspects of culture and science, a visible experience of the ratio is best seen in structures of ancient and modern architecture. Proportions have been fundamental to architecture’s claims on the beautiful since the time of Pythagoras (c 570 – 490 BC) when the art of building was first described by a theory. He identified proportion as the instrument for establishing the mean between extremes and blending opposites into a relationship.2
1 2
Hemenway, P. (2008). The Secret Code The mysterious formula that rules art, nature, and science. EVERGREEN GmbH, Cologne, Germany. Westfall, C.W. (2013). Beauty and Proportionality in Architecture. [online] Newlington-Cropsey Cultural Studies Center. Available at: http://nccsc.net/essays/beauty-and-proportionality-architecture.
J. Douglas-Hill
University of Adelaide