Why? Late 70's at RISD we discussed it - apparently Corbu used it.

I suggest reading "The Mathematics of the Idea Villa" by Colin Rowe.

Eric Hammarberg
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-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Walter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 12:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: golden mean


No, DEb,

They didn't teach the golden mean in architorture school when I was
thereAriz
State) in the early-mid 70's.  It certainly wasn't mentioned in design
studio, and I don't remember it having been discussed in arch'l history.  In
fact, the classical approach was so out of fashion that one of the studio
critics used to say "Symmetry is dead," and nobody objected.  Genius that I
was,  I somehow knew he was full of shit about that, but since that
particular teacher was a particular doofus, it wasn't as if anybody I
respected said anything so distressing.

Then again, one would have a hard time looking at Queen Anne or Eastlake
buildings and finding symmetry..  Personally, I've always considered the
golden mean and similar design rules as more than a little suspect, and been
very dubious when people claim to have found it in existing buildings (other
than the Parthenon, et al).

Contributing less than my 2 cents worth once again, I remain,

Ralph