Page 95 - Between light and shade

Shade

in the hands of men and its physicality bears
witness to its era.

Drawing 7 needs to simultaneously comply
with the intangible rules of proportions 8 and
legibility to move people and contain within it
an understanding of construction 9.

It is expressed within the scope of the seven
perceptible orders of magnitude, from milli-
metres to kilometres with the metre at the
centre, and calls to mind the seven octaves of a
piano keyboard with the musical note A with a

7 Even that relating to “new” architectural programmes, inclu-
ding those associated with transport, work and even health,
must comply with the same rules.
8 Rediscovered by Hans Dom van der Laan, (see footnote no 57).

They refer to Pythagorean 3/4/5 triangles and the ratio φ as
derived from the equation φ = φ³ +1 and comply with the rules
of proportion, which governs the architectural space (in three
dimensions) in the same way the “golden ratio” φ as derived
from the equation φ = φ² + 1, which governs the painter’s two
dimensional space. This is how, as my drawing progressed, and
in particular when dimensioning parts of a building, I learned
the virtue of the basic dimensions of 135cm in plan and 180cm
(4/3 × 1.35) in elevation, with their multiples and sub-multiples
(in cm) 135 / 112.5 / 90 / 67.5 / 45 / 22.5 / 11.5 / 5.675 / 2.8375… and
135 / 157.5 / 180 / 202.5 / 225 / 247.5 / 270 / 292.5 / 315 / 337.5 / 360…
9 The hand-drawn line that sets out the construction details as

the drawing progresses as far as the workshop drawing is now
powerfully complemented by an intelligent “digital model”
(BIM: Building Information Modeling) with its three-dimen-
sional components, to which various characteristics can
be attributed by allowing it to be used by all the necessary
software packages, such as those for structural calculations,
the building’s physics or its costs. It represents a real revolution
in the way of thinking about construction.

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