The Beauty of Proportions in Architecture

What makes architecture beautiful?  Can a building be beautiful without having a certain proportion?  Does everybody share the same opinion about beauty in a building?  Buildings around the world share some beauty, but does that have to do with proportions or with the human eye?  How can both terms complement each other so well?

                Proportions have been around since the early years.  Since then, humans have used them to design buildings, making them seem beautiful and perfect.  The golden ratio seems to be another interesting topic that has left people in shock for a long time.  Even though some modern buildings have been designed using these proportions, almost all ancient buildings have them, and I find that fascinating.  Those people didn’t have the technology we have today, so they used the human scale to measure everything.  Even the human body was made with these perfect proportions.

                Every person has a different opinion about beauty.  Some find a certain building beautiful while others don’t.  For example, a lot of people don’t tend to like Antoni Gaudi’s designs, but some find them fascinating.  This also happens with some modern designs.  People tend to like symmetrical and ornamented buildings, while others find asymmetrical buildings weird or chaotic.  Some studies have proved that humans tend to like things related to nature, which can explain why a lot of people like ornamented buildings since most of them have sculptures of people, animals, and plants.  These are just elements that satisfy the human eye.

                The relation between proportions and beauty is interesting.  I personally find the proportions’ perfection beautiful.   Buildings made with these proportions are beautiful and traditional, but that doesn’t mean that modern architecture isn’t beautiful.  Everyone has a different taste and opinion about beauty.