Sacred Geometry & Humane Architecture

Sacred Geometry & Humane Architecture

Sacred Geometry: 

Sacred definition: does not mean ‘holy’, but rather pertains to certain truths of mathematical and geometric constructs that are rooted in deep meaning both as microcosmic and macro cosmic scales. ‘It is our own sacred connection with creation eternity and the totally of the great ecosystems, inner and outer’.

- Plato defined a range of Platonic solids in which he posted that each form represented an element and were so elegant and essential that they make up our entire universe. These forms Were defined as:
  • Cube (earth)
  • Pyramid (fire)
  • Octahedron (air)
  • Dodecahedron (ether)
  • Icosahedrons (water)
- The idea of these cosmic building blocks remains and resonates today. Microcosmic and macrocosmic relationship. The whole related to the parts and the parts related to the whole.
- Mans fascination with the forms of our cosmos has constant. From the astronomers of the ancient Arab worlds through to he philosopher and mathematician Pythagagoras.
- Stone henge is an example of mans fascination with geometric conditions and complexities.
- Artefacts found in diverse cultures - carved stones from Skara brae.
- We find geometry in all forms of nature:
  • Snowflakes
  • Beehives
  • Shells (Fibonacci sequence)
- Fibonacci sequence is such that each number is the sum of the two before, this produces in drawn from the golden section. 1:1.618033988749895… generally accepted as a sublime proportion. Nature to explanation.
- Da Vinci demonstrated ideal proportions of the human body.
- This geometry lowed Renaissance man to represent the world in three dimensions using perspective.
- Geometry has long been used in architecture to generate plan, section and elevation.

To conclude this weeks blog, sacred geometry allows us to conjoin the cosmos with with the tiniest building blocks of matter, allows us to conjoin the metaphysical and intellectual, the tangible with the intangible and the measurable and the unmeasurable. I think sacred geometry is important as humans have learnt the proportional system based upon the human body which has then become built form - how we view architecture to this day.

Humane Architecture:

Humane architecture is in its tradition, responding to the human needs at a number of different scales of consideration. This humane response is present across diverse ancient cultures 

Sara Brae, Neolithic settlement in the Orkneys, Scotland - will find a place to sleep, store, defend, cook, and at the heart of these spaces ‘the hearth’.

As i have discussed in previous my previous blog articles, these settlements are examples of communal architecture, where coexistence with others within a settlement is as important as the individual dwellings. I believe this gives a sense of community, bringing these people together socially and in an act of defense (e.g. a singular point of entry). The genesis of urban design.

We also see similar patterns to this in later architecture, for example she’s Danish Summerhouses hunker down behind hillocks in Denmark.

Response to the humans needs can be considered at these four different scales:
  • 1.0 - the hand (e.g. David Mellor cutlery)
  • 2.0 - the body (e.g. chaise lounge - le Corbusier)
  • 3.0 - the city (e.g. Venice)
  • 4.0 - the deities (e.g. Baltimore streetscape)
Exemplars of this way of thinking about architecture exist within the the more contemporary Nordic world in the work of such luminaries as Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) and Jorn Utzon (1918-2008).
















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