Scale and Proportion

In his book Experiencing Architecture, Rasmussen gives examples of buildings with a great influence in architecture and in understanding scale and proportion. The most important were Le Courbusier's house in Garches and Villa Foscari designed by Palladio. He compares them by emphasising their different ways in proportion and organisation, but also by showing their similarities.

Scale is a concept which refers to the way we perceive or judge the size of something compared to a reference standard or to the size of something else and the proportional relationship between two sets of dimensions. Scale is also a mathematical relationship between an object and a measurable quantity. In architecture scale is used to specify the relationship between the drawing and the actual building.

Visual Scale refers to how big or small something appears to be in relation to its normal size

Hierarchical scale

It refers to the use of size in order to communicate the differences in importance.(larger means more important and smaller means less important)

Distorted Scale is used to create an abnormal or supernatural effect.

Proportion

Proportion is the relationship between two or more elements in a composition. It also is the comparison  we make with the sizes of the objects compared to our own human bodies and refers to the relative size of the parts of an object. There is one proportion which has attracted great attention ever since the days of antiquity. It is called the Golden Section.(a:b= b:(a+b))

Golden Section

This is the proportion that has gathered much attention over time. Its definition is : A line section is divided according to the golden section when it is composed of two unequal parts where the first is to the second as the is stands to the whole.The golden section can be seen almost everywhere in nature.

The power the golden section has to create harmony comes from its unique capacity yo unite different parts of a whole so that each preserves its own identity, and yet blends into the greater pattern of a single whole.   -Gyorgy Doczi

Human Scale

 Is a frequently used scale in architecture as buildings are constructed for human usage. Everything is compared to the human body size. "Le Modular" by Le Coubusier is based on a harmonious measure to the human body scale. This modular is universally applicable in architecture machines. It uses the Golden Section ratio and based on this ratio it's basic greed consists in three measures :43cm, 70cm, 113cm (which is the height of a man with a raised arm.)  Le Corbusier used "Le Modular" in the unite d'habitation in Marseilles.

This modular satisfies both demands of beauty and function and is considered to be of great importance to architects.

Architecture has its own natural way of proportioning and it is a a mistake to believe that proportion in the visual world can be experienced in the same way as harmonic proportions of music.

Regulating lines are used in the Golden Section where they indicate common grouping. The lines can be used to control the proportion and placement of the elements . The regulating line is a satisfaction of spiritual order which leads to the  pursuit of harmonious relations.

Rhythm, balance, proportion, scale, emphasis, unity and variety are the principals of a composition. When the visual weight which is the heaviness of the forms arranged is the composition are distributed equally we have achieved balance. 

Symmetrical balance occurs when two halves of a composition correspond to one another in size, shape and placement whereas in asymmetrical balance the two sides do not correspond to one another.