Architectural aesthetics
7.2 Size, Scale, Proportion
The subject of size, scale and proportion is dis-cussed at various places in this book. Here we draw
attention to some general aspects concerning which there are no universal aesthetic rules in art. A short poem or a miniature painting may be of the same high aesthetic value as monumental cre-ations, like War and Peace by Tolstoy, the paintings in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. This applies to architecture also. The Il Tempietto in Rome by Bramante is just as much a masterpiece as the Saint Peter Basilica also in Rome. Driven to the extremes of small or huge size, a work may be admired not so much for its aesthetic value as for the expertise in producing it in such minuscule or enormous dimensions. At the one extreme small elaborate sculptures in ivory or miniature paintings may serve as models. At the other extreme sky-scrapers, pyramids, long-span suspension bridges, may serve as models. The opposite of what was previously said is also true: size in itself may not dis-qualify any art object from aesthetic appreciation.
Size, and other related characteristic categories – such as scale, proportion – must harmonize, how-ever, in some measure with the actual expecta-tions of people, or, on the contrary, be convincing with their new, and possibly revolutionary, charac-teristic features. Technological aspects have a function here. The cathedrals from the fifteenth to Figure 7.2 Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, USA, architect: Frank O. Gehry. Deconstructivist architecture; design based on computer program, cladding from titan sheet.
the eighteenth centuries utilized to the full the technological potentials of their period. Cathedrals with a similar stylistic approach but built in the nineteenth century (St Vlasius in the Black Forest region, Germany) or in the twentieth century (Notre Dame de la Paix in Yamassoukrou, Ivory Coast) evince admiration for their sheer size but the anachronism between style and the period of design and realization acts adversely. As has been
stated earlier (see Chapter 3) new architecture has very much altered perception of size: skyscrapers and wide-span structures have been widely accepted.
Similar statements as for size may be made for scale and proportion. Absolute size and relation-ships of size may be very different from what was generally acceptable in historical styles.
7.3 Geometry
Many authors, with widely different professional backgrounds, believed in the existence of certain systems of proportion, scale and numbers.
Alberti wrote:
It is manifest that Nature delights in round figures, since we find that most things which are generated, made or directed by Nature are round ... We find too that Nature is sometimes delighted with figures of six sides; for bees, hornets, and all other kinds of wasps have learnt no other figure for building the cells in their hives, but the hexagon ... The polygons used by the Ancients were either of six, eight or sometimes ten sides. (Leone Battista Alberti, Ten Books on Architecture, Florence, 1485, cited in March and Steadman, The Geometry of Environment).
The various series of numbers (the Cantor set, the Fibonacci series), of curves (the Koch, the Minkowski and the Peano curves), the system of fractals, the golden section, Le Corbusier’s ‘modu-lor’ (based on repeated golden rectangle propor-tions) are but a few examples (Van Der Laan, 1983, Mandelbrot, 1983, Bovill, 1996). It has been assumed that certain such systems must be applied in architecture also (Padovan 1999, Salin-garos, 2000). Geometric systems (as for example the module system) are transformed into number systems and vice versa (as for instance the Van Der Laan scale) (Van Der Laan, 1983). Certain styles and some architects did introduce various systems of proportions, scales, rhythms and mea-Figure 7.3 First Interstate Bank Tower, Dallas, USA,
1985, architect: Henry N. Cobb. Uninterrupted large-scale slanting glass facade (unknown in historical architecture).
sures. Palladio designed the plans of his villas on rectangles with whole number proportions: 1:1, 1:2, 2:3, 1:4, 3:8 (Elam, 2001, Padovan, 1999).
Architecture, after all, is a manifestation of geome-try applied for the purpose of the design of build-ings. Research attempted to create geometric sys-tems for structural or architectural design, as has been seen already when discussing space frames, shells, domes and membranes. Some of the sys-tems are of a pure mathematical or geometric char-acter, in others structural or architectural design forms the basic background. There are attempts to develop fully automated structural design systems with geometric representation for structural domains, using automated techniques for finite element modelling, coupling self-adaptive integra-tion of optimizaintegra-tion techniques with geometry models (Kodiyalam, and Saxena, 1994). ‘Solid mod-elling’, meaning representation design, visualiza-tion, and analysis of three-dimensional computer models of real objects, finds application in the design of buildings but in other quite different fields also.
The attributes of symmetry and harmony gained favour in historical architecture: asymmetry, how-ever, was appreciated only to the extent that it achieves harmony. On the other hand
Viollet-le-Duc, a nineteenth-century architect, wrote: ‘Sym-metry – an unhappy idea for which in our homes, we sacrifice our comfort, occasionally our common sense and always a lot of money’ (quoted by March and Steadman). Rhythm meant either repe-tition or variations with pleasing relationships. In modern and post-modern aesthetics, sometimes seemingly arbitrary deviations from repetition and disharmonic alterations became welcome. So, for instance, the memorial colonnade by Oscar Niemeyer was designed with variable column dis-tances.
However, even the most sophisticated systems do not prevail forever, and invariably change over time. Styles and architectural design have to cope anew repeatedly with this transience and must devise their own solution for attaining pleasing appearances of buildings. What, however, is
‘pleasing’, is in itself a dynamic concept and the history of art and architecture continuously reports new design concepts that initially were judged to be ugly but as time went on were considered to be agreeable (Kroll, 1986).
The geometry of new architecture buildings may also display new features. Straight lines become curves, verticals and horizontals may be slanted and cut into each other at odd angles. Curves that Figure 7.4 National Assembly, Dacca, Bangladesh, 1962–83, designer: Sher E. Banglaganar. Geometric patterns (triangle, etc.) may be dominant on a façade.
traditionally featured in gothic, renaissance and baroque architecture are ignored; partly regular curves (circle, etc.) and individually designed curves take their place.
Naturally, the foregoing does not apply to all new buildings. Neo-classicist and late-modern buildings may adhere much more closely to the old rules.
Japanese architects have been ingenious in their application of geometric forms. Tadao Ando, for instance, favours a grid derived from traditional rice straw tatami mat with dimensions of 90 by 180 centimetres. Ando designs concrete walls with an exposed surface and each of his moulding boards (with the size of a tatami) has six holes through which the boards’ screws are driven. Arata Isozaki accords preference in his geometry to the square
and the circle. In some designs he uses segments of curves and curved surfaces. On occasion grids are applied combined at slanted angles.
Size, scale and measure are changing. Large-size surfaces are articulated and contain uniformly spread identical small-scale elements or forms. In such cases a certain uniformity of the surface may be achieved and the contours of such surfaces can be selected almost at random.
It was pointed out that new architecture often extends components to the outside of buildings and sometimes into the air space. This is typical for suspended structures with external masts and cable systems but it can occur in other cases too, see, for example, Himmelblau’s office extension in Vienna. An innovative architectural component is the tall atrium often applied in large hotel buildings and office buildings. The internal height of such atria may reach up to 40 or more levels and poses a fresh challenge for their internal design (see the interiors of the hotels designed by John Portman).