golden ratio in irish architecture
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As a secondary teacher of Mathematics I try to foster an interest in all aspects of Mathematics. One of our transition year modules leads to an open ended study …. of many ideas .. the particular area that I would welcome some help from you on is The GOLDEN RATIO as documented in Irish Archtecture. I would love to know if such a study or references exist
Thank you
LilaWhat, you mean the Golden Section?
.667 or whatever it is? It’s a very interesting subject indeed. Basically
it’s ratio/composition/ordering system
that comes completely naturally to
everybody – very hard to consciously
resist.Anna Karenina
All chapters numbered until 2 thirds through
the chapter is called ‘Death’.Most Symponies have some climactic moment around .6.
Virtually all visual art uses the proportion.
Even the presenters on TV always have their eyes placed 2 thirds the way up on screen no matter how wide the shot.
BBC Radio 4 did a fascinating programme about it 2 years ago.
JohnIt can be calculated on the principle that the ratio of 13:8 is the same as 21:8, (13+8=21). For example, if you draw a picture that is 21 cm wide, the central focus of the picture should be 13 cm from the left. It has been used in buildings, but I can’t think of any examples in Ireland.
Many thanks to Tom amd John for their reply.
Delighted to witness the 13:8 example cited by Tom.
These two numbers from the Fibonacci sequence form the origin of our interest in the GOLDEN RATIO.
The following website may be of interest http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibInArt.html
Last year our open ended study featured the Greek architecture .. this year I thought it may be possible to find Irish sources.
Investigations are continuing
Many thanks
LilaI was doing a little research on the history of Berlin’s column of victory (Siegessäule) and I cam across this nicely lay explanation of the Golden Section in architecture for all who might find it useful:
http://www.ewersarchitecture.com/goldensection.html…sorry, Lila, never been to Ireland,
cheers…
Wow! You learn something new every day.
I always thought the ratio for the Golden Section had something to do with the square root of two and that it was also connected with the relative dimesions of A0 vs A1 sheets of paper etc.
Lila: Would it be a usefull exersize for your students to take examples of modern and georgian architecture in Ireland and try to apply the Golden Section priciple to the proportions of the elevations and then review whether or not it has been used in Irish Architecture at all?Wouldn’t it be interesting to try exercises involving seemingly random actions like arranging things/people/words etc and seeing how they fall in the proportional sense? Do people conform to the golden section without knowing it? Is it a universal pattern that everything comfortably falls into? Might explain why we find it attractive.
Isnt there a relationship between the human proportion and the Golden Section?
It is also vital for harmonics in music. Almost all harmonics obey this 2 thirds rule.
It also has a solid foundations in mathamatics (fibonacci sequence, 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,etc.).
Copositionally, it is and has been used in art and architecture for centuries.
This can be interesting for your students to see the links between art, music and mathamatics.Is’nt it exciting and profound all this – the Golden Section and The Canon Laws that governed classical antiquity and beauty….. alas now all forgotton and absent to a considerate degree in most practices.
….according to the Canon Laws does’nt the height of a persons head equate to 7 or 8 parts the same size to the overall persons height. Also does’nt the span from fingertip to fingertip of each arm outstretched equal the persons height……See Leonardo’s drawing’s of the human body’s proportions. Everything is composed of the science of numbers – the building blocks of life and all we see around us.
Lila
Rob Krier published an architectural textbook some years ago called Architectural Composition (Acadamy Editions) which contains a very lengthy and well researched user guide to golden section, golden rectangle and golden rectangle proportional systems as manifested naturally in the proportioning of the human body,foliage and planting and as applied artificially in architecture.
Additionally, you may find Corbusiers ‘Modulor’ – an anthropometrically based proportioning system for architects based upon golden section proportions, to be of interest.
Finally, if you are into this kind of thing yo ushould read Colin Rowes ‘Mathematics of the Ideal Vila’ in which he analyses and compares Palladian Golden section proportional systems as applied in various palladian Classical Vilas with the Modulor system as manifested in Corbusiers 20th Century Architecture particularly the Villa Garche).
Regards
JK
Nessa Roche in her book ‘The legacy of light – A history of Irish windows’ has a particularly clear and concise section on the application of the Golden Section to a typical facade. It is simple enough for the dimmest of architects to understand and god knows there are a lot of dim architects about.
Good fenestration is a rarity these days.try this one on for size….
http://www3.telus.net/JNHDA/The Golden Rule http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4583808,00.html
Nexus Network Journal (Architecture and Mathematics On-Line) is a peer-reviewed on-line research resource for studies in architecture and mathematics, funded by the Graham Foundation for Advanced studies in the Fine Arts.
A special issue of NNJ last Winter, the first dedicated to a particular subject, was devoted to the Golden Section: http://www.nexusjournal.com/index_v4n1.html
An informative, if dry, historical overview is provided in NNJ: Marcus Frings, “The Golden Section in Architectural Theory”, Nexus Network Journal, vol. 4, no. 1 (Winter 2002), http://www.nexusjournal.com/Frings.html
Frings, an art historian at TU Darmstadt, shows that it was not before the middle of the 19th century that the Golden Section, as distinct from other proportional systems, entered architectural theory. One of the earliest of those on the trail of the Golden Section was one Adolf Zeising (1810-1876) – a former secondary school professor, like lila, who began this thread! He it was who intoduced the Golden Section into the literature on art, after the term ‘Goldener Schnitt’ (golden cut or golden cross-section) had first appeared in German lesson books on geometry and mathematics in the 1830s. Fring is also interesting on the influential use (or misuse!) by Neufert and Le Corbusier of the Golden Section.
Misconceptions about the Golden Ratio – an article by George Markowsky, a mathematician at the University of Maine – includes:
Misconception: the name ‘Golden Ratio’ was used in antiquity
Misconception: the Great Pyramid was designed to conform to the Golden Ratio
Misconception: the Greeks used the Golden Ratio in the Parthenonhttp://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/maa/markowsky.pdf
……to MK there’s a definite link between human proportion and the Golden section….check out Corbusiers modular bulding scales
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