Experiencing architecture!

“Seen from an aeroplane high in the air, even the most gigantic skyscraper is only a tall stone black, a mere sculptural form, not a real building in which people can live. But as the plane descends from the great heights there will be one moment when the buildings change character completely. Suddenly, they take on human scale, become houses for human beings like ourselves, not the tiny dolls observed from the heights. This strange transformation takes place at the instant when the contours of the buildings begin to rise above the horizon so that we get a side view of them instead of looking down on them. The buildings pass into a new stage of existence, become architecture in place of neat toys -- for architecture means shapes formed around man, formed to be lived in, not merely to be seen from outside.”

SCALE AND PROPORTION.

This chapter of the amazing book of "Experiencing Architecture" begins with the alleged legend of Pythagoras’s experiment with tautly stretched strings.

The famous Greek mathematician show that when the lengths were related to each other in the ratios of small number the strings produced harmonious sounds. This discovery was fantastic for the ancient philosophers, because it proved, according to them, hidden order of the world.

Proportioning is what makes the beauty of old Greek temples classical. Like great blocks from which the air is literally carved out between the columns. And whether we look at a building from the Baroque, from the Renaissance, or from our own time the ones we wish to look at, the ones we admire - they are all well-proportioned: this is what is decisive.

The idea that through mathematics people can produce utter beauty. It’s worth noticing that their idea of melding science with art will be continued by Renaissance architects.But there is one proportion which has attracted great attention ever since the days of antiquity. This one is the Golden Section.

Golden Section.

In this book Rasmussen also gives a very clear explanation of how the Golden Section is constructed and discusses how it was used by Le Corbusier in the 1920s as part of his system of subdividing or creating a series of related parts described as “Le Modular.” Appearing in many architectural structures, the presence of the golden ratio provided a sense of balance and equilibrium. The geometrical figure of the golden ratio is essentially pleasing and easy on the eye.

The Parthenon was built in the 5th century B.C. when the Athenian Empire was influential and models the power and supremacy of the empire. It was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. The temple was constructed by three architects during Iktinus, Callicrates, and Phidias. The symbol for the golden ratio, the Greek letter phi-, was named after the sculptor Phidias. The golden ratio appears in several constructions and layouts of the Parthenon.

Steen Rasmussen indicates that although both ideas, musical harmony and golden section, regard similar, they do not show any other relation, that is the numbers and proportions of golden ratio don’t refer in any way to the numbers of musical harmony.In terms of golden section professor also refers to buildings of Andrea Palladio, especially his Villa Foscari. The comparison of Palladian and Le Corbusier’s architecture is, in my opinion, a fantastic thought, due to the fact that both architects are regarded the most influential individuals in history of architecture. And now we see that they also have followed similar ideas.

We have such as other buildings built according to the golden section such as:

1. The Partheon.

2. Notre Dame.

3. The Taj Mahal.

4. Toronto´s CN Tower.

Philharmonic Building, Copenhagen.

Another building, connected with the idea of building through geometrical rules, is the project for a philharmonic building in Copenhagen by Ivar Bentsen. A building where the fenestration was based on the Golden Section, designed of windows of the next stories so they gradually expand in one dimension towards the ground level.

We as architects must must look into the true nature of things, we have realised that certain shapes and certain lines are seen as more attractive or even as more beautiful than others and actually most people can appreciate that difference.

Andrea Palladio.

Andrea Palladio at the beginning of his career went on the tour to Rome, where he spent time on analyzing Roman ruins. What must have fascinated him at that time, were ideal proportions of architectural elements and although, even then, their bad condition, they must have still awoken imagination on their previous shape. Though being only ruins, they sustain their specific atmosphere, after all.

He inevitably was also familiarized with the common Renaissance premise, that harmony comes from nature, nature understood in the most general sense, with the special indication on mathematics. Therefore, he must have believed that if he will build referring to this ideas, his architecture will be as beautiful as nature itself.

The similar values are also evident in Mies van der Rohe buildings, especially Farnsworth House (after all, architecture of this successful modernist were often compared to the ancient buildings). His ingenious sense of proportions compiled with glass walls, which open the resident’s view on nature, create an atmosphere, which we might guess, Palladio was looking for.

Frederik’s Hospital in Copenhagen shows how dimensions of the room are made in regard to the most important component, that is a bed. Width between the particular beds are counted, so people could easily go move among them, and also all beds are organized on the sides on the axis, which goes straight through all rooms and enables nurses easy access to their patients.

It must be mentioned that the difference between Rasmussen’s examples, comes inevitably from the clients of the architects. Palladio was designing his villas for the rich of that world, which could afford lack of conveniance (maybe even common sense, but history of architecture is full of examples of building vividly against society e.g., Versailles). What they wanted was nobility and in fact, when one visits villa Foscari, even not knowing about all its perfect calculations, one intuitively feels the lavishness of the place.

Moreover, the further architects’ emphasis on function, obviously comes from the societal changes, which degraded the enormously rich higher class for more just distribution of wealth. Thus, architects, following engineers of this time, started to produce buildings, which say, “First things first – we must serve people properly, not be slaves of unhealthy ambitions of few.”

Hope everyone of you enjoys my latest post, but do not forget to read also the next posts that I am posting every week according to the Architecture. Stay tuned! I truly wish and hope that everyone of you enjoys my posts, this makes me happy. From the bottom of my heart I wish you have a nice week, and no worries! Thank You.