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Pleasing Palladian Proportions

Posted by Peter Harris on 12th February 2009

Interesting piece in yesterday's Times which explains in simple but effective detail (just up my street!) why Georgian architecture is so pleasing on the eye. The chosen explanatory mechanism is a simple piece of A4 paper which is twicw as long as it is wide. Fold in in 2 and it's in the same proportion. The idea, the article explains, is for all the elements in the house to follow this principle. So for example, windows would be twice as high as they are deep, etc. This applies to room sizes too. Much better though to read the actual piece.  There's also a brain teaser bit of a maths puzzle but I haven't yet risked this.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article5704226.ece

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Peter Harris

Peter Harris

Peter Harris is the founder and original editor of Homebuilding & Renovating magazine. He is MD of Centaur Special Interest Media and publisher of the company's three magazines and group of websites. He has renovated twice and built his own home in the 1990s, which he recently extended. He is now contemplating selling up and finding a new project.

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Palladian Proportions

Jason Orme
Mon, 23/02/2009 - 15:06
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Couldn't agree more Peter. This theory is outlined in more detail at http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/feature/positioning-windows

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