Ruth,

It is a very convenient way to lay out a design into patterns of
rectangles and squares that all have the same proportions.  I don't
believe for a second that the resulting shapes are individually any
more beautiful than any other individual shape.  However, as a "system"
they tend to produce designs that hang together without the jarring
surprises that are found in arbitrary shape and size selection.  Its
also convenient because a lot of plate glass and spandrel glass is
produced in these proportions.  Its been in use for a long time.  The
Modernists and others who confuse architecture with religion really get
off on it.

As a practical matter for us preservationeers, its good to be able to
recognize it and work with it when you are analyzing a building's
design.  It helps make the building predictable.  Predictability helps
us be persuasive.

I can not reply directly to Ralph.  I note that he said it was a load
of shit.  He is of course mostly right and very brief.  Now if we could
only get him to take his briefs off his head.

Golden Ration, Golden Mean, Golden Rectangle...all pretty much the same
thing.  BUT!  Golden Mullion was a very special class I once survived.

-jc


On Jan 30, 2005, at 9:13 PM, Ruth Barton wrote:

> What is this Golden Ratio?  Is it anything like the rainbow with a pot
> of
> gold at the end?  Ruth
>
>
>
>
>
> At 11:26 AM -0800 1/30/05, Cuyler Page wrote:
>
> I once saw a lecture about the Golden Ratio in which famous works of
> art
> were analysized to see if they contained Golden Ratio proportions.
> The
> point of the lecture was that we humans are hard-wired to appreciate
> Golden
> Ratio proportions, whether created consciously or not.   A famous
> Jackson
> Pollack painting, made by dripping paint from the top of a ladder, had
> recently been sold at auction (the painting) for the most money of any
> of
> his works, and featured a big black spot on a yellow background with
> the
> spot centred procisely at a Golden Ratio division point.
>
> Some said he was a weasel, but not all.
>
>
> cp in bc
>
> --
> Ruth Barton
> [log in to unmask]
> Dummerston, VT
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>