Concepts
The Golden Ratio in Architecture
Also Known As Golden Section, Divine Proportion
Proportion Theory
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The proportion of roughly 1 to 1.618, in which the whole relates to its larger part as the larger part does to the smaller, long claimed as a secret of beautiful building. Le Corbusier built it into his Modulor system of measures deliberately; readings of it into the Parthenon, the pyramids and the cathedrals are popular and contested, since the evidence is measurement after the fact rather than any ancient document.
That designers across history deliberately built to the golden ratio is a widespread claim and a genuinely disputed one: the ratio demonstrably underlies deliberate modern systems such as Le Corbusier's Modulor, but claims of its intentional use in the Parthenon and other ancient works rest on after-the-fact measurement rather than documents, and scholars have repeatedly shown how easily selective measuring finds the ratio anywhere.
Facts
Concept Domain Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
His Modulor system of measures is built deliberately on the golden ratio and the human figure.
The Modulor is Le Corbusier's own twentieth century system built directly on golden-ratio proportion.
Why this is disputed. The Parthenon is the most cited claimed example of the golden ratio in ancient building, but the claim is contested: the proportion is not attested in any surviving Greek building text, and critics argue it is read into measurements after the fact rather than found in them. Ruling on record: this is Status debated, not asserted as fact.
Sources
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Description
Markowsky's 1992 paper argues that the golden ratio's presence in the Parthenon and other ancient buildings is not supported by the original design record: the proportion is read into after-the-fact measurements rather than found in any surviving Greek architectural text, and close analysis shows the golden rectangles claimed for the building do not actually fit its real dimensions.
A dissenting reading, from George MarkowskyGeorge Markowsky, Misconceptions about the Golden Ratio, The College Mathematics Journal, vol. 23, no. 1, 1992
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