Proportional Systems in Late-Modern Architecture: the Case of Alejandro de la Sota

Abstract

The aim of this paper is the analysis, in terms of proportional systems, of a number of buildings designed by the Spanish architect Alejandro de la Sota, whose work is characterized in general by a particularly clever and unconventional use of different dimensional and proportional systems, and can therefore be regarded as a significant perspective in the understanding of the design strategies in Modern architecture. Beyond the well-documented use of modules and grids in his work, these analyses try to show the presence of proportional systems based on the Golden Mean in some of this architect’s designs. These analyses lead also to a discussion on the nature of proportioning techniques in architecture, their relationship to analogous structures in musical composition, and the necessary compromises between the ideal proportions and the reality of construction, something inherent to the very nature of the architectural object.