PROPORTION: science, philosophy, architecture.Richard Padovan Richard Padovan (born 1935) is an architect, author, translator and lecturer. The Padovan sequence is named after him. , London: E & FN Spon. 1999. [pounds]24.99 E & FN Spon is a technical and scientific publishing house, and it is remarkable that they are behind a book which attempts to deal with some of the big questions of architectural philosophy, as expressed through the relationships between proportional systems and the architect's view of creation. Furthermore, Padovan starts with the admission that he is writing a polemic po·lem·ic n. 1. A controversial argument, especially one refuting or attacking a specific opinion or doctrine. 2. A person engaged in or inclined to controversy, argument, or refutation. adj. rather than a handbook, and his own prejudices permeate permeate /per·me·ate/ (-at?) 1. to penetrate or pass through, as through a filter. 2. the constituents of a solution or suspension that pass through a filter. per·me·ate v. the book: in particular, his promotion of the late Dutch monk-architect Hans van der Laan, and his dismissal as simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple of the theories of Wittkower and others. There is here a highly concise guide to thinking about the meaning of proportional systems from Plato to modern times, illustrated all along by step-by-step mathematical examples This page will attempt to list examples in mathematics. To qualify for inclusion, an article should be about a mathematical object with a fair amount of concreteness. Usually a definition of an abstract concept, a theorem, or a proof would not be an "example" as the term should be and analyses which should not be beyond the grasp of the average architect reader. Padovan uses Worringer's dichotomy between 'empathy and abstraction' as his principle tool, and distinguishes between the philosophical assumptions of the architect when starting to design, and the geometrical analyses performed by later generations on elevations and plans which, as he so rightly says, can prove anything. He quotes James Pennethorne Sir James Pennethorne (4 June 1801 – 1 September 1871) was a notable 19th century English architect and planner, particularly associated with buildings and parks in central London. , writing in the 1840s, proposing that architectural creation may once have led the way for mathematical theory, perhaps by generations. Padovan adds that 'much modern architecture [ldots] reflects a naive desire to keep up to date with (or, by moving very fast, to remain only a few decades behind) the latest discoveries in physics and mathematics'. Unfortunately he does not mention in this context Erich Me ndelsohn, whose work seems to be running alongside Einstein's thought rather competently, as Kathleen James' recent monograph mon·o·graph n. A scholarly piece of writing of essay or book length on a specific, often limited subject. tr.v. mon·o·graphed, mon·o·graph·ing, mon·o·graphs To write a monograph on. describes so well. Padovan has been a student of Le Corbusier's Modulor for nearly 50 years; his view of this sometimes rather camp drama is a wry one, and he contrasts it with van der Laan's 'plastic number', which is more to do with relative rather than absolute proportions. One can certainly find holes in this book, but Padovan has much to offer all architects, not only in respect of what they design but also of how they see the world as a whole. And that is quite an achievement. |
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