Dynamic Symmetry: The Cure for the Common Kitchen
Do you know what a pineapple, the space shuttle and your finger have in common?
They are all designed using identical proportions. The sequence of the Fibonacci numbers:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144...etc, whereby adding consecutive numbers equals the third, and the first number is 62% of the next number. In a beautiful pineapple, counting the seedpods in a clockwise direction, then counter-clockwise, obtains differing amounts - usually 11 and 17, consistent with the Classical Proportion. The shuttle, also, fits neatly into the Golden Rectangle its wingspan being 62% of its height. Look at your finger, the first digit is two-thirds the length of the second digit; adding them together equals the third (2+3=5), which are Fibonacci numbers.
Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of a man outstretched within the circle is a familiar symbol we all recognize. In the proportions of Michelangelo's "David", the floor to navel distance is 62% of his height.
The enduring Parthenon's columns are also 62% of the temples height. ##5## A survey taken 130 years ago compared rectangular shapes, with the Classical Proportion ratio of the width 62% of its length preferred by 75% of the people! Within the Golden Proportion is a square with another Golden Rectangle turned the opposite direction. A beautiful face has the proportions of a square formed by the width of the mouth up to the bottom of the eyes.
The original definition of symmetry was the balance of harmony and proportion based on weight or mass. A ballerina in the arabesque position is balanced at the center of gravity of the sacrum, upheld by the tip of her toe and one outstretched leg; she moves and the beauty of that moment is gone. Without symmetry, art does not exist. The modern definition has regressed into the idea of axial (or mirror) symmetry - a vertical line with two items equidistant from each side. This works with small objects or only minimal time to understand the design. On a large scale it is monotonous. Dynamic Symmetry's greatest values suggest vitality and movement producing equilibrium on a seesaw.
Without contrast there is no rhythm. If all musical notes are the same, we become bored and cease listening. Unity does not mean uniformity families have differing personalities. Cabinets in a row like soldiers are static. Symmetry cannot be obvious. When you go from point A to point B, why see the same thing?
We are constantly looking for clues to make order out of chaos. Masterpieces, by painters Jan Vermeer and Georges Seurat, have precisely sized objects skillfully positioned around the canvas directing the scene.
Major architectural elements are drawn together in the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Taj Mahal, similar to connecting stars in a constellation.
Stonehenge not only clocks the seasons, it is arranged using Classical Proportion. The ultimate presence of Dynamic Symmetry is the fascinating spiral of the seashell, which also emulates the rotation of the galaxies in the universe. Conceptualizing a design for the Earth and beyond is easiest following just one plan from microscopic to telescopic. With the harmonious relationship of patterns so prevalent, there can be no doubt nature inspires the "geometry of art".
Below is an example on my showroom wall which is 2+3=5 proportion. Across the top are two canopies. This unit relates to the finger proportions. As you view the composition from right to left then up and across the top emulates the spiral movement of the nautilus and galaxy.
Mark Rosenhaus, CKD
Rosenhaus Design Group
New York City
Linear Mode
