Abstract
The plastic number discovered by Dom Hans van der Laan differs from all previous systems of architectural proportions in several fundamental ways. Its derivation from a cubic equation (rather than a quadratic one such as that which defines the golden section) is a response to the three-dimensionality of our world. Its basic ratios, approximately 3:4 and 1:7, are determined by the lower and upper limits of our normal ability to perceive differences of size among three-dimensional objects. Proportion plays a crucial role in generating architectonic space, which comes into being through the proportional relations of the solid forms that delimit it. Architectonic space might therefore be described as a proportion between proportions.
First published as: Richard Padovan , “Dom Hans van Der Laan and the Plastic Number”, pp. 181–193 in Nexus IV: Architecture and Mathematics, Kim Williams and Jose Francisco Rodrigues, eds. Fucecchio (Florence): Kim Williams Books, 2002.
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Padovan, R. (2015). Dom Hans van der Laan and the Plastic Number. In: Williams, K., Ostwald, M. (eds) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_27
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