Analogy between the structure of human body and Architecture

To draw an analogy between the structure of the human body and architecture is

tempting ,as much for aesthetic as for symbolic reasons. In our subjective

representation of the order of the universe it is not the atom but our body which is the

primordial element of reference. It is our way to measure big and small ,geometric and

amorphous ,hard and soft ,narrow and wide ,strong and weak. A healthy human body

appears balanced to us. It is a whole to which nothing more can be added;we can dress

or decorate it, but cannot add a third arm, nor extend a leg. Our sense of beauty is

probably linked to form of our body.

What interests us us for the moment are analogies between the form of human body

and certain architectural elements. The best known example is provided by the three

classical orders of antiquity. The subject of passionate interest during the three

centuries of vitruvianism from the renaissance onwards. As analogy to the human body

the column can be ‘male’ evoking strength, solidity and virile beauty: that is the doric

column with a diameter one-sixth to its height . it can be female , a Corinthian column,

more slender with a diameter one-eighth of its height, more graceful and decorated with

a capital reminiscent of a head of curly hair. Finally it can be ‘female’ like the ionic

column. In ancient Greece examples may be found that replace the columns with

human figures; as is the case of the caryatids of the acropolis or the colossus of the

Odeon in the Agora at Athens .

Many buildings allude to the image of human body or to one of its parts in their

organization or dimension. Without however, going as far as mimicry. Francesco di

Giorgio martini (1439-1501) was seeking an allegory of the human body not only in

columns, but also in town plans ,plans of buildings and church facades. Analogies

between body and building appear even in our vocabulary; skeleton, skin façade.

Commensurate proportions

It is said that the equilateral triangle is the basic to the construction of cathedrals. The

Greeks used in addition to commensurate proportions, the ratio 1:√2 and they knew the

golden section. The true reason for fascination exerted by the golden section does not

lie simply in the aesthetic quality ,but also in its mathematical property of being

successively sub divisible to infinity in both directions.