The Golden Section in Architectural Theory

Abstract

The never-endingbut always youngdiscussion about the Golden Section in architecture never lacks a hint at Luca Pacioli and architectural theory. But what it always lacks is a thorough study of the Golden Section in architectural theory. This paper aims to present this analysis. Marcus Frings traces the Golden Section from the mathematical and rather theoretical character of Paciolis concept, the the treatises of Alberti, Serlio, and Palladio, to Adolf Zeising in the nineteenth century. and to theorist Matila Ghyka and the practitioners Ernst Neufert and Le Corbusier in the twentieth. In the latters writings and designs the Golden Section seems to play the role of a scholarly element which shows the masters theoretical erudition, leading to contemporary architects such as Ricardo Bofill.