Proportions

[Barrie Christian]

Proportions, in architecture, simply put, refers to the relative sizes of parts or shapes of a building.
Perhaps the easiest shape to imagine is a rectangular window. The window opening will have a height and a width. The ratio of the height to the width is the proportion of that window.
But windows are seldom just a rectangle. They are invariably sub-divided into two or more secondary shapes, and those parts may in turn be further subdivided. The whole arrangement of subdivisions -the shapes and their sizes, relate to each other in sometimes complex ways.

Windows Proportions.jpg

[Barrie Christian]

While preparing this topic, I came across some notes I had made on architectural proportion, dating from about 1967. The notes were summaries of various books: Heath Liklider - Architectural Scale, P.H. Scholfield - The Theory of Proportion in Architecture, and Matila Ghyka - Geometry of Art and Life.
It is thus a longstanding, and on going, topic of interest for me.

[Barrie Christian]

Window openings are one of the most important secondary elements of a building.
Their size, shape, proportions and placement have a major affect on the appearance of an elevation.
The subdivisions of a window adds a further layer of visual subtlety, effected by the thickness, shape and arrangement of those subdivisions.

Georgian buildings are often regarded as having a beautiful appearance, largely due to the disposition of the windows on the front elevation.
It might be assumed that the proportions of the windows are derived from the classic ratios of the Golden Rectangle (phi φ1.618) or root2 (√2 1.414 ).
An examination of one building in Bath shows Georgian architects (builders) did not follow these precepts to any extent, if at all.
In the building shown, the ratios of the windows from top to bottom, are 1.8, 2.3, 2.0 (double square).
This change in shape is a result of:
- each floor in the building having a different ceiling height.
- the size of windows reflect the height of the floor; the higher the ceiling, the taller the window.
- to produce an ordered appearance the windows align with each other horizontally and vertically.
It follows therefore that once the width of the window is fixed, windows of different heights will inevitably have different proportions.
This has been the case since Roman times, and has been the dominant (almost exclusive) arrangement of windows in all building types ever since, from the humblest cottage to the grandest palace.
[attachment=0]Rectangles 1.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Georgian Windows.jpg[/attachment]

[Barrie Christian]

There has been a marked trend in late 20thC/early 21stC architecture towards less uniform or regular building shapes.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is an extreme example perhaps.
This apparent free-form architecture comes at a heavy price in terms of design and structure.


Part of the same trend has window placement tending to be less regular and more arbitrary.
This recent example on the edge of Bath, on a very prominent site in the Green Belt, shows little apparent regularity of window placement, size or shape. How the windows relate to the internal spaces cannot be fathomed from this view. In that sense, it is difficult to "read" or make sense of the building compared to a more regular pattern of windows.

What is not apparent is that underneath the surface skin is a very strong module, a regular pattern of prefabricated wall panels. There will be joints between panels at floor level, and at intervals along the wall. These joints are not expressed on the outside (It is just possible to make out the lines for the floor and roof). It is hard to tell if the window openings fit wholly inside a panel, or if any of them run across a panel joint.

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[Perhurov6]

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[Barrie Christian]

Which word best describes the window placement in this building?
Arbitrary? Random? Irregular?
They are definitely not randomly placed.
And I would be very certain that the placment is not arbitrary. Neither are the shapes. A lot of effort went into the position, shape and size of these windows.
This freedom was allowed by the wall construction - two sheets of solid steel filled with concrete - although there may well have been detailed stress analysis which would have been a big influence.
This is the Mikimoto building in Ginza, Tokyo. Designed by Toyo Ito in 2005.
[attachment=0]Mikimoto_Ginza.jpg[/attachment]

[Barrie Christian]

About four kilometres from the Mikimoto building in Tokyo is a building with similar windows - Pacific Square Miyamasuzakaue, Shibuya, by architect Hiroyuki Wakabayashi, completed about a year later.
[attachment=0]Pacific Square.jpg[/attachment]

[MichaelNog]

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